I’m done with school as of today at about 4:39!! I’m not planning on going back tomorrow either! I’m not on the beach but this is just how I feel. Whoop Whoop!! I have a serious agenda for this summer and only some of it includes playing and reading. My day was jammed packed with finishing up three huge projects and now the bliss begins! I hope your day is ending well and you can think cartwheels if not do them!
Well, all my great library books are due today so here is my quickie review of the top three fantastic nonfiction books peaceful girl and I picked out.
What’s Inside? Fascinating Structures Around the World by Giles Laroche (2009)
Includes a great glossary of each structure.
This is such a cool book for any child who loves to explore. Each page opens the door to the amazing discovery on the next page. Like this: King Tut’s tomb is hidden underground(shown on the opposite page), but this brightly painted building was constructed on the rocky crest of a hill so it could always be seen silhouetted against the sky. Monumental rows of Doric columns support triangular pediments at each end and surround a sanctuary that shelters a statue of this Greek city’s namesake. What’s inside? Turning the page you discover an ivory and gold statue of the goddess Athena! Along the left side of the page are specific details about each structure. The Guggenheim Museum in NYC, a Shaker dairy barn in Massachusetts, and the Sydney Opera House in Australia are just a few shown. Wild Rose Reader has a more extensive review-click here-as well as an interview with Giles Laroche.
If Stones Could Speak; unlocking the secrets of Stonehenge by Marc Aronson with the generous cooperation of Mike Parker Pearson and the Riverside Project. (2010) This is as much a story of the mysterious Stonehenge structure as it is a look at archaelogist Mike Parker Pearson. Aronson tags along with Pearson as he guides a tour around Stonehenge. I would love to see these boulders placed in circle formation more than 4,500 years ago but in case I don’t make it this book gives a really close look at the types of rocks used, where they came from and the many theoriesof how it all came to be. This is a fascinating detailed look for budding archeologists. Includes glossary and timeline as well. Another review is here at Shelf-Employed .
by Brandon Mull
(2006)
I picked this one up from my book fair about a year ago and it’s been sitting on my shelf just waiting for me. My husband has even tapped it, saying things like…”why don’t you read this one-it looks good.” Even with that sales pitch from a man who hasn’t read it, I still didn’t take the bait. Then I read on someone else’s blog that the fifth book in the series was out and my mouth hung a little. So much for being behind the times-I have plenty of excuses but I don’t need to share them-you’ve heard them all before!
Fablehaven is a mysterious safe haven for magical creatures. You know here in the 21st Century we tend to shun all things odd-we like butterflies but not fairies. I’m sure there would be quite an ebay bidding war if ever a fairy were to be found. So all magical creatures have been moved to a variety of large farms. Kendra and Seth’s grandfather happens to be caretaker of one of the largest and most secretive (off the map) of these sanctuaries. The siblings end up staying with their grandfather while their parents are away on a cruise. Grandpa Sorenson gives Seth and Kendra a list of rules they are to abide by and it doesn’t take but about 10 minutes for Seth to start breaking the rules; as most 11-year-old boys would do. He goes exploring in the woods-right where his grandfather has asked him not to-and naturally, he meets a witch. Kendra is more cautious but even she gets lured in by some of Seth’s wanderings. Seth had an excellent sense of humor and it is a joy to watch him test the waters of this new world to explore.
I was fully engaged in Seth and Kendra’s story and the land Brandon Mull has created and I loved living vicariously through Seth’s escapades-except when he looked out the window. I was cringing then, like a typical mother, thinking “oh, no, you’ve gone too far this time”-knowing there would be serious consequences. Now I’ve got a lot of catching up to do to get to book 5! If you haven’t read this one, give it a try!
My family loves baked goods and I’m not talking about the kind you get at the big box bakery or even the small local bakery, although they do eat those if you put them within reach. The kind of baked goods I’m referring to are the ones whipped up in our own kitchen. My family feels “cheated” if there isn’t something freshly baked. I’m not even a pro at baking but they don’t seem to mind, at all.
The question every week is do I actually make them something sweet to eat or do I get by with a package of Matt’s Cookies? What do you do? Do you bake, buy or completely abstain?
Tonight I was in the process of making a long time family favorite, Alice Bachman’s Chocolate Cake. Yes, it has always been called that-even growing up-my mother made it and we always referred to it as Alice Bachman’s CC. Alice was a family friend and while I don’t think she “invented” the cake she brought it to many potluck functions thus the cake became hers. My older brother, Mike uses it for many of his own family celebrations. I tend to just make it on a whim. I do make it with as many organic ingredients as I can-a change from the original but it is not exactly “healthy”-it has two sticks of yummy butter. Hmmm! Good thing I have an active family! Click on Alice to find the recipe.
What a lovely holiday it has been. Something very special about having an extra day off. Tomorrow is Tuesday and back to school.Ugh! Graduation project must be done-check. Inventory and state reports need to be done. No more classes to brighten my day. Reports cards need to be done. Lots of quiet time with paper work will fill my day!
Without further ado Teaser Tuesday is waiting…Should be Reading has all the rules posted so you too can play along.
At church this morning we sang a beautiful song that spoke to me and I’m compelled to share it out:
The Peace of the Earth (Guatemalan traditional-translation)
The peace of the earth be with you, the peace of the heavens too;
The peace of the rivers be with you, the peace of the oceans too.
Deep peace falling over you.
The peace of the earth be with you, the peace of the heavens too;
The peace of the rivers be with you, the peace of tthe oceans too.
God’s peace growing in you.
We chanted this together as a congregation-a capella and it sounded amazing!
While snooping around the net, trying to locate a version of the song, I discovered this cool
organic farm blog, Peace of the Earth Farm. I love the gorgeous vegetable photos.
So far my weekend has been great, with lots of reading. I finished Restoring Harmony, Joelle Anthony’s new book. For a dystopia novel it was filled with great hope. I still have reviews to write about Fablehaven (Brandon Mull) and my day in the presence of the Dalai Lama! Right now though I need to go help my husband paint a portion of our house. Yeah-sounds like fun, in 90 degree weather! What fabulous things are you reading or taking care of today?
by Kathryn Fitzmaurice
(2009)
Sadly, this lovely little book was left languishing on my bookshelf all year. I finally pulled it off, finished it and now can return it back to my school library shelf. Next year I’ll be able to talk many students into reading this book.
Eleanor “Groovy” Robinson is a precocious, eleven-year-old girl living near a California beach. She loves to cook, keeps a journal of her cooking ideas and recipes and her best friend is a boy, Frankie. The description from the very first page is striking:
“We lived in a perfect stucco house, just off the sparkly Pacific, with a lime tree in the backyard and pink and yellow roses gone wild around a picket fence.”
There is chaos among this “perfect” setting, of course, and Groovy’s dad is soon picked up by the local police officer as they are walking out of a shop. The rest of the story unfolds as Groovy comes to accept the reasons behind her father’s arrest, her anger and eventually her understanding and forgiveness. Weaved throughout are Groovy’s dreams to go to cooking school and her great-grandmother, Eleanor’s gift, which has something to do with everything.
There are many things to love about this story including her mother’s faith in the daily horoscopes and that a good makeover can change everything. Frankie’s story has a touch of crisis as well and it is interesting to watch the friends help and hold back; counting on each other to know the right thing to do. The characters are very well done and the setting does seem so picture perfect.
My favorite quote introduces Groovy’s great-grandmother:
You see, your great-grandmother was very smart. She had so many books stacked up along the walls of her apartment that it was hard to walk without accidententally kicking over a pile of them. Some of the piles were as high as my head. She always said that good writers are even better readers, and she was a great reader. She probably liked reading better than talking to most people. (81)
This wonderful character description could describe me or my friends!!
And my second favorite quote reminds me of my own childhood in a small town:
Here’s the good thing about living in a small town: You get to know most everyone. Here’s the bad thing about living in a small town: You get to know most everyone. (154)
I know many students who will enjoy this book and its connection to family and dealing with a family member’s arrest and jail time.
Stroll over to April’s Cafe of Dreams and find all kinds of great stories about author Kathryn Fitzmaurice.
At books are my thing, Tina says this about The Year the Swallows Came Early!
Click for the author’s website.
I’ve not read one book yet for the 451 Challenge I signed up for, which is such a shame because it’s an interesting challenge and I only have 6 to read. I’m finishing up the very wonderful elementary chapter book, The Year the Swallows Came Early by Kathryn Fitzmaurice but am also a few pages into The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden. I’m going to share a few lines from both today for my teaser selection.
The bells on the glass door to the Swallow chimed as I pushed it open. Inside the smell of flour tortillas and cinnamon greeted me. Add to that all the onions, peppers, and chilies heating up on the stove, and you could tell it was th ekind of place people liked coming to. p. 31 The Year the Swallows Came Early (2009)
and
The garden was light, but it was a young light without sun, clear and stained green by the shrubs and trees. The peace I had felt at the gates of Les Oillets filled me again and I could have whistled like the birds for well-being and joy. Then, as I stood there in my pajamas looking down, a man came down the iron steps. p. 32 The Greengage Summer (1958)
To check out the 451 Challenge-click here.
My family has had an amazing weekend with both my moms here and our other long distance teenage daughter. After the craziness of yesterday; bike race, bridal shower, 3 graduation open houses (this is what happens when your husband works with youth in several different capacities) and a feast of a dinner that I whipped up last night-today (Sunday) was a day to kick back a little. I’ve still managed to do some loads of laundry, hanging some on the line outside to dry and finishing yesterdays dishes, I was able to read in our backyard hammock for over an hour-I did fall asleep for some of that time but oh, well! As the wind blew up and seemed destined to storm we headed inside to watch Food, Inc., which has been on our shelf for some time now. We’ve seen Fast Food Nation and read several books on the food crisis in our country but this one brought added knowledge as well as frustration, fear and a renewed interest in making the best food choices we can make. This topic generally brings wrath and fury from odd places but it is one of such great magnitude-we eat every day and it seems like a basic human right to know the food we are eating will not kill us.
If you are unfamiliar with Food, Inc. written by Robert Kenner– here is a synopsis from IMDb:
Did you know that it only takes 48 days for a chicken to go to market. Is this natural? This film explores how food is grown, and the concerns that people have, such as the e-coli outbreak that seems to happen every year. I am a lover of meat, but after this film you will want to change some of your practices like switching to Organic etc. This film also explores demand for certain products that are not Genetically modified.
We all have to eat but we can make decisions based on facts, instead of based on perception. People need to be aware that their consequences may have dire repercussions, so if you need to eat, and we all do, then go out and see this.
Me:
I’ve been a local food advocate for years, which began at my grandmother’s sink, watching her rinse vegetables from the grocery store in her sink with a cold water bath mixed with some vinegar (who needs that fancy veggie spray). I feel blessed to come from a long line of happy gardeners, who’ve paid attention to where food comes from. I’m a huge fan of any farmer’s market and have made my husband stop, while on vacation, at fruit and veggie stands just to pick up some local produce and he does, because he has a similar family background. This movie made clear again how important it is to know where our food comes from because everyday chemical companies are selling us processed food for profit.Of course they are trying to make a profict-they’re in business-but it is hard to fathom how deep it runs and how they just do not care.
This documentary traces our food controversy to Iowa corn farmers and the farm bill, which gave birth to High Fructose Corn Syrup (a very yucky sugar substitute made from corn and produced to make food cheaper to purchase). Since my husband is a runner, he read about HFCS and how prevalent it is so many, many products. Check your bread, cereals, granola bars-even things you might think of as “healthy” and you still might find the dreaded HFCS as one of the number one ingredients.
The meat industry is the next focus and how all that “cheap” Iowa corn is shipped across the country to cattle feed lots. Cows aren’t meant to eat corn and we are forever changing species to fit the needs of these huge companies. Chickens farms (those massive productions) run by Tyson and Purdue are shown up close. One farmer takes us inside her huge chicken house and shows how many of the birds die (so many crammed together) but also how these poor chickens can hardly walk more than a few steps because they’ve been genetically modified to have larger breasts. The chickens literally topple over after a step or two. This is the part where I start talking to the” television”!!
Pay attention to legistation about food. Within the last few years the word” natural” lost any real meaning. Products sold as natural do not really have to be natural…just partially natural. what ??? i’m not kidding!
Spend time online researching companies where your food comes from-many of them have slick ads showing
how green they are, what great strides they are making but browsing websites gives you articles such as this one.
Other helpful websites/blogs:
Local Harvest.org (helps locate a local market/CSA near you)
The Healthy Palate blog-I discovered this lovely little blog while researching this post.
Moms Rising website/blog
Okay, I’ve had my say…
Have a healthy Monday!!
Next up in our informative movie viewing-The Cove.
(biking image courtesy of Robert F. Balazik)I am supposed to be off during a biathalon with my family but we had some bike problems this morning so my stepdaughter is riding my bike. My poor husband is really disappointed that I’m not with them but I’m only a tiny bit sad-personally I love it when they go off on adventures (sometimes) with out me. This is one of those days. I have a wedding shower to get ready for and dinner to prepare for my stepmother who will be at my house right after the wedding shower so the bike race was just adding to much to the mix. I owe him a bike ride, just the two of us, later in the week. Like he can talk-he’s been in a play recently and every night he’s been gone-thankfully tonight is the last performance and he’ll be back home in the evenings.
This free time allows me to shower for the shower, prep for dinner, read a litte and blog…can’t beat getting all that done while the family is off biking.
I finished Three Wishes by Carey Goldberg, Beth Jones and Pam Ferdinand a week or so ago and even though I’m not a big fan of bio’s or memoirs, I enjoyed this book. The women are strong and their stories, told in alternating chapters, are touching. All three women were very successful in careers but had not found love. All three came to a turning point where, while they wanted a partner in life, they knew they wanted to be mothers. They all go about it from different angles and they don’t all even know each other yet but, through vials of sperm purchased by Beth, they eventually meet and form supportive friendships. The story of how the spearm vials work as a catalyst for many goals is often humourous and reflective. I loved reading their individual thoughts on love and what it feels like to want to be a mother as well as what it was like as they become mothers.
Two things that struck me was the option of adoption never entered the conversation,and money was never an issue for them (at different times they are constantly heading to tropical islands, secluded cabins or climbing destinations) and most people during times of stress don’t get this carefree option. I myself am an advocate of the natural birthing process so there were some birthing choices made that bothered me but this is, of course, an individual choice. All three experience tons of genetic testing, which I wasn’t aware of all the possibilites and ramifications late-age births would create. I liked this book but I didn’t love it; if any of these topics interest you though-give it a try! The cover drew me in and the women’s stories made me finish it.
Pam’s Personal Reflections review (thumbs up)
Beth’s Book Review Blog’s review (thumbs down)
I still need to share my Dalai Lama experience and review Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven. Right now I’m reading The Year the Swallows Came Early by Kathryn Fitzmaurice. How can I not love a book with a main character named “Groovy”?
Have you played a round of pac-man on google yet? Gotta try it!!
Happy blissful Saturday…
Peaceful Reader 