Fabulous Summer Reading List

When I was growing up I loved reading. My favorite characters were Pippi Longstocking, Ramona, Claudia (Mixed Up Files), Judy Blume books and The Borrowers.  I was constantly reading and spent a lot of time at our local library. I was in a library book club and I remember we read Watership Down and The Hobbit. I read Johnny Tremain as a kid and loved it. These books built empathy for me, made me laugh, and gave me the feeling of comfort and well-being. 

Today’s world of kids lit is like an explosion of variety! So many many choices! While we did have Cleary, L’Engle, Blume, and Konigsburg we didn’t yet have the brilliance of Kate DiCamillo, Allan Gratz, Katherine Applegate, Stuart Gibbs, Dan Geminhart, Jacqueline Woodson, or Jason Reynolds. That’s just a handful that come to mind and my library is filled with many other great authors. And furthermore we didn’t have graphic novels! Sure we had comics but that style was not my jam. I love graphic novels! 

The last few summers I’ve donated a lot of my reading time to reading elementary fiction books that are on our state award list. I love being on the committee to choose the next round of books because I have a good amount of young readers who love to read and challenge themselves to read the books on the list.  I get to read a whole batch of really excellent stories. I’m not going to tell you about each one of these stories but know they are excellent. 
I start off the list with Tom Lake by Ann Patchett which is adult fiction that I decided to listen to using the Libby app because I read that Meryl Streep narrated the story and she was amazing! This story focuses on summer stock theatre and the play Our Town.  The rest of the list is all elementary fiction with a few graphic novels thrown in.  Just Keep Walking was an adventure to read as the mother/daughter team hike The North Shore of Lake Superior. First State of Being is interesting science fiction tale about friendship. Half Moon Summer deals with a young boy watching his dad deal with an illness. 

Even amidst all this reading I am having a great summer. I’ve done a far amount of traveling starting back in the spring with a weekend trip to Cleveland to watch my nephew, Jasper, graduate from Case Western. And we just arrived home from a family trip to Asheville, NC. Road trips are the best; I like to drive as much as I like to sit in the passenger seat and read page after page. I’m headed to Minneapolis in a week to hear some live music with my brother and sister-in-law. And in August I am taking a very exciting trip with my friend Barb.  Summer is the BEST!

Whether you read the new stories or the classic stories be sure to keep reading…

29 days of book love…

Inkheart 
Cornelia Funke
(2003)
originally published in German
This book is a thrilling ride crafted for fantasy lovers and book readers of every kind.  Imagine how it would change your reading style if your reading abilities could change the story as it does for Meggie and her dad Mo.  Mo loves books and is good at fixing them. He was also a very good storyteller at one time.  Soon after her mother’s disappearance though Mo won’t read to Meggie and she doesn’t understand why. Mo has such incredible reading abilities that even a few bad guys are interested in his talents.
What if, I as a librarian, read in such a way that my library patrons one-by-one began disappearing as I was reading?  Would you want to send your child to the library anymore? Meggie and Mo’s journey and the unique cast of characters smattered along the way make this an incredible story worth sharing.  I once read it aloud to a class of 5th grade students in Little Rock. Their teacher and I were friends and she struggled with readalouds so I agreed to help her by modeling.  This is the book I chose, I went every afternoon to read to them, and they were mesmerized by the story. It was one of the best experiences I had of transporting children (and their teacher) to another land far, far away…
The movie is not worth it and even the second book not so much. This book is a stand alone for me.  It’s so good it doesn’t need anything more. 

Groovy Girl and poetry

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My daughter has written three amazing poems, maybe more, but 3
that I know of and this one I’m going to share. She doesn’t even realize what amazing talent she has in this area.  All three of my children are great writers
and so far one of them wants to write for living. This was written for a class assignment. Enjoy.

Where I’m From…



I am from Tye-dyes
I am from Pesto pasta and skim milk
I am from Warm honey dripping down my throat and coating my lips
I am from French braids and peace rallies
Fighting war and oil pipelines



I am from Little Rock and inner city Chicago
From dirt between my toes and wide tall trees
I am from Creativity and make believe
From Tutus and imagination
I am from Sunday school and hallowed be thy name
My church I know like the back of my hand



I am from Lavender oil and dancing in the rain
From Gooey brownies and strawberry rhubarb pie
I am from Cartwheels and ballet slippers
I am from edamame and basil,
Buttered toast and sweet corn



I am from the kissing hand and our tree named steve
I am from furry dogs and fairy houses
From dinner times and blues clues band aids
I am from laughter and snow angels
I am The baby from 3lb 2oz
I am from sea salt and ocean waves



These memories I keep in my mind locked away only mine
They carry me along my way through my life they will stay.

By: Groovy Girl

For the LOVE of reading.

Last night I was sitting on the quiet side of the dance studio where my daughter gracefully dances and I was reading a book. I’d brought two books with me; The Light between oceans by M.L. Stedman and Donalyn Miller’s book The Book Whisperer. I’ve been trying to read Miller’s book for the last two years as I’ve had many people recommend it to me. I’ve even had one friend tell me that the book sounds just like me! With that said and after only reading the first few pages I came upon this quote which DOES describe me to a T!

“I am a reader, a flashlight-under-the-covers, carries-a-book-everywhere-I-go, don’t-look-at-my-Amazon-bill reader. I choose purses based on whether I can cram a paperback into them, and my books are the first items I pack into a suitcase. I am the person whom family and friends call when they need a book recommendation or cannot remember who wrote Heidi. (It was Johanna Spyri.) 

My identity as a person is so entwined with my love of reading and books that I cannot separate the two. I am as much a composite of all the book characters I have loved as of the people I have met. I will never climb Mount Everest, but I have seen its terrifying majestic summit through the eyes of Jon Krakauer and Peak Marcello. Going to New York City for the first time, at forty, was like visiting an old friend I knew from E.L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale. I wanted to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, hide in the bathroom until it closed, and look for angels. I know from personal experience that readers lead richer lives, more lives, than those who don’t read.”(10-11)

I’ll stop there but I could even go into the next paragraph which furthers her (and my) LOVE of reading! I was crushed when we visited this summer and never made it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art but in fairness I was there years ago as a teenager. I ask my children to take a book with them wherever we go-you never know when you might be stuck in the car or an elevator or in line and have just a few minutes to read a page or two. I can’t wait to finish typing this post so I can read my school lunchtime book, Ungifted by Gordan Korman. What has you inspired?

Weekend Cooking: Easter baskets and pie!

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I can remember to Easters of my past, waking up at my Grandma Bruch’s house with a huge basket next to my bed from the Easter bunny.  My basket overflowed with green, shiny grass with chocolate bunnies, oval malted eggs and jelly beans of every color poking through the grass.  On top looped on the sides was always something to wear for Easter servies at my grandmother’s Lutheran church.  I remember a beautiful Easter bonnet, a pair of white gloves, and black patent leather Mary Janes nesting in my basket in different years.

I loved those baskets filled with simple joy and thought it certainly equaled Mary Magdalene’s thrill at seeing Jesus out of the tomb.  I’ve kept this tradition going with my own children although I don’t fill their baskets with as much candy as I remember from my baskets.  They do usually have an item in their basket to wear for church although as they get older it is difficult to thrill them.  College boy is partial to picking his own clothes which leaves me to stock his basket with a packet of white T’s and AE boxer shorts for the last few years.

Groovy Girl, on the other hand, adores the clothes I pick for her.  This year I’ve heard that the Easter bunny is bringing her a pair of {audible gasp} high heel patent leather Mary Janes.  She’s 10 and I’ve never really allowed her to wear something with a heal even though she’s begged and pleaded.  I think she’s going to love them!  I predict she’s going to dance with them on all the way across the hardwood floors at 6:10 a.m. as we prepare to head across town for our sunrise service. She’ll probably have chocolate in her mouth as she twirls

Our Easter celebration will end with this pie because what says Springtime more than bright yellow lemons:





Aunt Betty Jean’s Lemon Pie
Sweety Pies; an uncommon collection of Womanish observations with pie by Patty Pinner

One 9-inch single Flaky Pie Crust, rolled out, fitted into a pie plate, and edge trimmed and crimped

1 cup sugar
1 T unbleached all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, beaten
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup (1/2 stick), unsalted butter, melted
1 T. grated lemon rind
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Whipped cream and thinly sliced rinds for garnish

Makes one 9-inch pie

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare the pie crust and set aside.  (I made the pie crust already but am not including the recipe from the book as it is a pretty standard pie crust recipe-if you really want this one request it in the comments section and I’ll see that you get it)

In a medium-size bowl, combine the sugar and the flour, then add the beaten eggs and corn syrup, mixing well.  Stir in the melted butter, lemon rind, and juice.  Pour the filling into the crust, place in the oven, and bake until the crust is golden, 45 to 50 minutes.  Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Garnish each serving with a dollop of freshly whipped cream and a thin twist of lemon rind.

Oh, my!  Pie.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads weekend cooking meme.  Click her link to find many other food-related posts to brighten your Easter Weekend.