children – Page 3 – Peaceful Reader

January Recap {I know it's February already}

Okay I know it is February 7th-my how time flies, right? I read several good books during January and wanted to give them each a quick little shout-out.

I am J by Cris Beam: A truly amazing book that chronicles the life of a young boy trapped in a girl’s body. The struggled portrayed is heart-wrenching as Jeni tries desperately to shed any part of her person to be just “J”. He hates his thin frame and anything to do with becoming more female. His best friend writes him off as gay and his parents are confused and angry. Spending a few days on the streets, escaping from his parents, he discovers that there are others who feel like him and they are able to take testosterone to persuade the body to become more manly. All J wants is for his body to match what is going on in his head. This was so well-written by Bean that I can’t imagine anyone reading it and not understanding the complexity of how a trans-gender child feels as they struggle against family and friends in order to feel right and happy. (ARC-Little, Brown) Highly recommend.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card: Can’t believe I’d never read this through all my library classes, etc. I did recommend it to my son a few years back and he read it, loved it and tossed it back to me with this to say “best book I ever read, to date, mom. Thanks.” Well, okay then. I promised myself I wouldn’t go another year without reading it as next year he’ll be off doing his own thing. It read pretty quickly as it is a riveting tale of a future world. Ender is ostracized, bullied, and confused at school and at home and then the government chooses him to be part of a special group of space warriors. It reminded me a little of I am the cheese by Robert Cormier in that both have characters that are mentally messed with by the government. I was excited to see a movie is being made of this book, which will be fantastic if it is done well. Highly recommend.

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamont: One of the first adult books I read after finishing my master’s program in L.S. was The Red Tent, which my mother-in-law gave me. I still own the book and plan to go back and read it one of these days. I picked up this title at a used book sale precisely because her name was on it. This one was good and had a very interesting cast of characters, and it did keep me reading but it was not as amazing as The Red Tent. Many of the Dogtown characters have stayed with me though and their resilience in the face of such odd diversity was wonderfully hopeful. Recommend.

Runaway Twin by Peg Kehret: Groovy Girl came home from school one day extremely excited about this book she was reading and when she finished it she said “I really loved this book and I think you will too. Will you read it, Mom?” How can one possibly say no to that? I could not. I read it in a day. It was not literary genius but on the other hand it didn’t suck. Now that I’ve read it I can recommend it to students here as well. Groovy Girl is taking her own sweet path to reading and I’m always delighted when she reads a chapter book from start to finish. Bravo! Thank you Peg Kehret.

Guinea Dog by Patrick Jennings: I loved, loved We Can’t All be Rattlesnakes by Jennings but this one let me down in a droopy dog sort of way. Maybe my expectations were too high. I thought Rufus was a fine character with odd parents. His mom substitutes a guinea pig when Rufus really, really wants a dog for a pet. While Rattlesnakes was filled with magical realism in that the book is told from the animals point-of-view this one has just one element…the guinea pig (Fido) is the closest one can come to a dog without actually having a dog-he barks, he follows, he catches frisbees-that is one monster guinea pig! Rufus’s mom is never able to locate the mysterious pet shop where she purchases Fido in the first place. Kids wishing for their own pet might love it.

Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta: As I put books away in the library one day I noticed quite a few baseball fiction titles not getting checked out. Baseball is not the cool thing it once was much to my dismay so I selected a few and plopped them up in a new location and hoped they might get scooped up. They did not but I took a chance and read this one. The young narrator, Roy, has lived in Moundville all of his life and it’s been raining that long as well. The town is cursed through a weird idea that a baseball game jinxed them years ago. Out of the blue (literally) one day the rain just stops and Roy and his dad set out to re-build the old baseball field. I love baseball but this one left me with a lot of questions unanswered which means it would be way confusing for my elementary students.

For me this was a great beginning to 2013. I stuck with my own goals of reading one of my ARC’s from L & B plus reading one off my pile-I read two off the pile and two Highland library books as well. {pat on the back} Now I can breathe and move into February with ease.

Happy New Year's Eve day; welcome to our geekdom.

How do you usher in the New Year? We hunker down as a family. Generally we don’t go out on the town or even to parties. Last year we did go to a family friendly bowling party and we had fun but the kids begged to stay home this year. We are grateful for this. In just a few minutes I will be in the kitchen preparing a few appetizers most of which are planned leftovers from friends visiting us the other night. I have homemade hummus and a delicious cranberry salsa dip to share plus Brie cheese to heat up. Easy.

For dinner I am making a Thai chicken curry using the leftover farm-fresh chicken from our Christmas dinner.
We have some bubbly to share and we’ll play a board game or two. Over the holidays we’ve played the card game, golf, Scattergories, Guesstures, and lots of PS 3 Jeopardy. Tonight will probably be Mexican Train and Pictionary. Last night we put together a Christmas gift puzzle of classic baseball cards. It was really so much fabulous fun. As I type though I think there may be naysayers in the crowd who may be thinking “boring” and that’s okay we love our inner geek! I’m happy my kids are happy to be home hanging out. We also watch crazy movies after Groovy Girl’s gone to bed. That list defies our goody-two shoes image with titles as diverse as The French Connection, GoodFellas, Pulp Fiction, The Day of the Jackal, and Seven. My husband loves cinema and wanted the teens to watch specific scenes in each of these movies which involves watching the whole movie of course!

We spend a fair amount of time reading as well. Oldest daughter is reading Emma while I’m reading Abarat by Clive Barker. The girls commandeered the television away from the football boys to re-watch the very first Downton Abbey just to begin to refresh. I want to be ready for the January 6th.

I also have to soak our black-eyed peas for tomorrow’s hoppin’ john. Time to get into the kitchen, pour a glass of wine, and start making some magic.

Hey, how are you spending the day?

Weekend Cooking; One World Kids Cookbook

One World Kids Cookbook;

Easy, healthy and affordable family meals

by Sean Mendez

(2011)

“The most important ingredients in any meal are: Love, bonding and sharing.”

Great advice for families everywhere! Groovy Girl and I checked this book out from the library and browsed through it two days ago while we ate breakfast together. Many of the recipes included odd ingredients that made her not interested. We did love the photography and the sage wisdom sprinkled throughout made it a perfect start to our day.

“To the above, all you need to add is a dash of patience, a pinch of creativity and a heaped cup full of enthusiasm?”

Each two-page spread features a country with a map, facts and proverbs related to food or culture. This would make a wonderful tool for school as students research about another culture or country.

Russia’s food proverb:

“The rich would have to eat money if the poor did not provide food.” (perfect moment for this conversation)

We settled on Rice with vegetables (like I need a recipe for that…) but this dish is from Somalia and we plan to try it soon. I have to admit adding the wide variety of spices to the recipe will make it very new for me. Groovy Girl liked the vegetable choices except she requested we use only 1 garlic clove not 3!

Rice with Vegetables (Somalia)

1 cup basmati rice, rinsed
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 courgettes/zucchini, diced
2 peppers, any colors, diced
1 vegetable stock, cube
4 cardamon pods
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp curry powder
2 1/2 cups water
4 T olive oil
salt/pepper

Heat half the oil in a large pot. Fry onion and garlic for about 8 minutes, stirring often. Add the cinnamon stick and spices, and cook for 3 minutes to release their flavor. Pour in the rest of the oil.

Add the remaining vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Rinse rice until water runs clear. Add rice and water to pot, crumble stock cube in and bring to a simmer. Cook rice according to package instructions.

Remove cardamon pods and cloves, if you can find them!

Tasty Tip: This dish is also nicely finished off with a handful of raisins or your favorite fresh herbs. For those addicted to spice, sprinkle some Tabasco over your dish and tuck in!

Directions include step-by-step photographs featuring young chefs which really adds to the kid appeal.

My favorite proverb comes from Spain:

“For wine to taste of wine, you must drink it with a friend.”

Countries included:

Russia, Brazil, USA, China, New Zealand, India, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, Morocco, Columbia, Somalia, Spain, Philippines, Iran, Australia, U.K., Ghana, Greece, and Jamaica.
My favorite recipe hailed from Morocco-couscous with chickpeas and peppers. An extra section on smoothies is included plus lots of cooking tips.

Check out Superchef‘s review with another recipe, Chicken and Spinach Curry from India.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a meme hosted by Candace at Beth Fish Reads. Click to her site for many more food-related posts.

A 9-year-old's view of the farm

(You can see which part of the farm Groovy Girl, holding Henrietta, loves the most-this one I snapped)

My two children and I just spent the last day and a half at my mom’s house in Northern Iowa. We went to relax and spend time on the farm. The basil was flowering and my mom had beckoned me to make a few batches of pesto as well. Groovy Girl ran around today taking photos of her choice on my new phone.

(the pretty girls)

(the wind tunnel)

(Herb’s Tub-my stepfather’s humor)

Thanks Mom-we had a great time! We did make two batches of pesto (now in my refrigerator), rested, ate two delicious meals, and played a great game of Spite and Malice. Great photos, right?

What's for dinner?

I dislike that question from my children. Don’t you? I want them to like what ever is set before them. Really I do. They rarely do. It is one way for them to take ownership of their little corner of the world. “But Mom….remember I don’t like onions [insert food of choice, rotates on a daily basis]”and said in a somewhat whiny voice. It’s okay, whatever I make is good for you and you’re going to eat it, said with a smile is my general response.

(Two Lodge skillets with pizza dough)

Pizza is one universal food they can agree on. Teenage boy has said he could eat it every night of the week without fail. His second choice of daily meals: buttered pasta. I know, right. So lacking in imagination. What happened to my boy who loved veggies, and tofu, and ate what I put down on the table ‘cuz he loved me!

I woke up this morning with pizza on my mind, even though I’ve cut WAYYY back on bread/gluten items. Over the winter I’d read an article in MS’s Living magazine about making pizza in a cast iron skillet. I didn’t make it then but it’s been jiggling in the back of my mind ever since. Today was the day.

(The big pizza got a sprinkling of black olives and sauteed portebellos)

I didn’t have a chance to make the dough this morning because I’ve been religiously going through my yoga routine first thing and then I had to get to my husband’s performing arts camp to help out. That was alright though as I thought when I bring Groovy Girl home she and I can make the dough and it can have half a day to sit. Not the best but okay. I can be flexible. I regretted this later as the dough was very sticky.

(Just out of the oven)

I used the Mel’s Kitchen Cafe dough I’ve used the last 5-7 times I’ve made pizza. How many times does one use someone else’s recipe before it becomes their own? Maybe never! I then googled pizza in cast iron skillet thinking I would come up with Martha’s article but nope I got King Arthur’s recipe instead. I like KA products and as I read through the recipe it sounded good. The skillets were slick. The pizza slides right out I added a garlic olive oil drizzle to the pan before I pressed the dough. The kids loved it, especially the thick Chicago-style crust. It was a little two deep dish for me and I limited myself to one slice but the flavor was great. Making the little one for Groovy Girl without the mushrooms and olives was perfect. She likes crust and red sauce with just a dusting of cheese. Using the skillet made it less of a production, which makes me think I could whip out a little one for her for lunch.

Guacamole; A cooking poem by Jorge Argueta and Margarita Sada

One day over at Jama Ratigan’s fabulous blog, Alphabet Soup, I entered one of her drawings and I won!
I almost missed my opportunity to win this book because I missed her email message to me and she nicely emailed me a second time. Thank you Jama!

Groovy Girl and I were both home when the post person brought the package from House of Anansi Press with this very green poetry food book inside the yellow bubble wrapper. We actually sat down in the grass and read it right away.

The first thing you notice are the gorgeous illustrations that show the young children interacting playfully with the food. The second point is that the story is told bilingually with Spanish and English. It begins:

“Today I’m going to make you guacamole,”
I say to my mother and father
and my little brother and sister.
They stare at me with their big eyes
that remind me of the green avocados
in the basket on the red kitchen table. (1)

and it continues with vivid colors and words used to describe the process of making a delicious bowl of guacamole! I adore how this young chef sings and dances around the kitchen with her apron on. She continues with:

I wash them in the fountain of the sink
and then, dancing and singing,
I put them on the red kitchen table. (6)

This is a treasure of a book for the kitchen or the library. It is a celebration of food and fun and this young girl celebrates the simple process of making a family tradition. I think I’m going to add it to my school library collection but I’m not ready to part with it at home yet. I am waiting for some beautiful avocados to slide my way so I can give this recipe a try. Thanks again to Jama for offering such a great poetry giveaway!

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Anne Ursu

2011

312 pages

I consumed this book.
I finished it last night and even though the story ends wonderfully I just wanted it to go on. Hazel is an astonishing girl heroine!

Things to know and love:

It took place in Minnesota.
It made me miss snow.
It is a retelling of the fairy tale The Snow Queen.
The two main characters, Jack and Hazel, are lovable.
The two symbolize the difficult journey of growing up.
The parents are odd and generally not helpful (typical).
Anne Ursu makes some wonderful references to other great literature.

I read this beautiful retelling of The Snow Queen by Amy Ehrlich and Susan Jeffers to Groovy Girl tonight just to compare with what took place in the book and it is pretty accurate. Ursu has lengthened it by adding many adventures to the forest but it only makes the story more enticing. I am extremely pleased I purchased a copy of this book as I love the front cover and it is worth rereading. I will also want Groovy Girl to read it in her own time. I rated it five stars on Good Reads. Thank you, Anne, for this beautiful tale.

This is why I read; Stiltsville by Susanna Daniel

Stiltsville

Susanna Daniel

2010

306 pages

This book spoke to me as a woman who loves being part of a family. Stiltsville refers to a community off the coast of Florida with small cottages built on stilts in the surrounding water. It tells the story of Frances who as a young woman finds her true love during a chance meeting at his family’s stiltsville cabin. It happens like that in just a moment, in an odd location, and in a blink of an eye you meet the person you will spend the rest of your life, for better or worse. Through their courtship, marriage and the birth of their daughter, Margo, you see what family and friends brings to your life. I laughed and cried at several memorable moments that had to do with Margo’s adolescences and as Frances and Dennis struggle with the confines of marriage.

Margo is mature physically for a fourth grade student and at a school conference her teacher suggests to Frances and her husband, Dennis, that Margo might feel more comfortable skipping fifth grade and jumping right to sixth. Her parents go along with this idea and Margo finds herself in the midst of sixth grade serious drama, teasing and bullying. She is invited to a popular girl’s sleepover where she leaves half way through the party because the girls have set her up in a most embarrassing way (mooning a group of boys) and laughing at her afterwards. The incident was well-written and made me feel for poor Margo and her parents as they try to figure out how to help her through this new year.

I found this book filled with poignant moments like this that mirror my own life in some way. I worry about my youngest daughter who is innocent and lacks the ability to see through the mean girls in her own fourth grade class. I also loved the college Margo as she ventures forth to find her own path leaving her parents to explore their empty nest, which just leaves room for more worrying. I loved the story of Stiltsville, Frances and Dennis, his parents and his sister, Bette, their set of friends, and Margo all make for a memorable story; one that I keep thinking about many days after finishing.

My handsome husband competed in his 11th marathon this past weekend and I was there to cheer him on. I read and finished this book while I waited for him at various stops along the race route. It was cold outside and I openly cried as I finished the last two chapters.

A quote:

This time she cried almost without sound. We’d made a mistake in pushing her ahead-of this I was certain. I’d let pride influence me. Shamefully, though, I felt a little grateful for the mistake, because my daughter needed me, and I knew she wouldn’t need me in the same way for much longer. Still , I couldn’t shake the image o Margo sitting in Mrs. Madansky’s class, raising her hand again and again. (134)

There is a moment in the book where Dennis and Frances are talking about Margo and Peter, Margo’s new husband and Frances realizes that anything Dennis says to Margo seems to be understood but if Frances brings delicate subjects up somehow it is seen as her being critical of her daughter. As I reader I noticed this throughout their relationship and it definitely reflects experiences my husband and I have had with our own daughters. Somehow fathers have leeway with what they can express to their daughters that mothers are left out of entirely.

I’m sure this must be commonly true but I hadn’t really been able to express it. I have more fond memories of my father and do think of my mom as being more critical. I hope this is not always the case and don’t want my own children to walk away from our home with the same feelings. Hmmm. What do you think? Are mothers destined to thought of in this way? Luckily it does not damage forever as Margo and Frances stay connected throughout the book.

Key Biscayne; Stiltsville

Another review:

Seaside Book Corner

and

Susanna Daniel’s website

If The Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney

It’s been years since I read any of Cooney’s popular titles but I picked up this title as my husband and I browsed for books for Teenage Boy to take on vacation. I’ve griped about this before but he does not like to GO TO the LIBRARY anymore…!? I hope his senses will return to him one day but as I expect him to read-we get him the books, he picks out a few that he “deems” somewhat interesting and he reads them. He read this one over vacation and when I asked him how it was he looked at me and shrugged very nonchalantly (if you have teenagers you know what I mean) and said it was okay in a very flat line voice. So I had to pick it up and read it just to see what that meant.

And guess what…it was okay but only okay with a shoulder shrug…

The story was predictable.The characters were flat.
The candle on the cover doesn’t fit-Jack Fountain on a bike, a television camera, a little boy in a Jeep-any of these would have worked.
It never fully adds up and Cooney doesn’t give me a good reason for Aunt Cheryl.
It was kind of sad to think no one cared about these kids to look deeper into their tragedy! Come on neighbors down the street!

Can you feel my shoulders shrug?

Read The Compulsive Reader’s post if you want a different perspective.
Benjamin at Teen Reads talks about it .
Goodreads synopsis

My husband tells me that I never read books I don’t like because all my reviews are positive so this one’s for you, honey.

School is Out; the Good and the Bad.

(photo courtesy of Mark Lilly’s travel blog)

Our fifth grade students are now 6th graders and won’t be back next year. (Sob) Over the summer they will grow by leaps and bounds, ready to enter middle school and they will search for book clubs! Hurrah. Most of our other students will be back in the Fall, ready to learn more, ready to check-out more books. I worry about many of them over the summer. A few live in households where they will take a vacation, go to the pool, have play dates with friends and have good old summertime fun. Those are not the kids I worry about. Many of our kids have parents who are less-than-involved who will park their kids in front of a television set and go about their business, not caring exactly what parked child is watching or playing.

While I haven’t been to their homes I do listen when they talk and they tell me about movies (starring Freddy and other gruesome things that slash in the night) that I’ve never watched or dream of letting my own kids watch and the same with video games. I worry that these unwatched kids will not get enough food to eat or anyone to greet them in the morning, giving them the kind affirmations that many of our teachers do everyday. Many don’t have bicycles to tool around on or shorts and t-shirts that fit. It all makes me weary. I know many of them won’t have learning opportunities over the summer like my own children will and I wish I could bring many of them home. They don’t have library cards, (sob) which means they won’t know the joy of weekly visits to the library just to show off how many books they read all week!

When we played with sidewalk chalk at school I was amazed at how many kids don’t have this creative and inexpensive tool at home. I wanted to package some up and give it away. I didn’t get it done but I did give away a lot of books to students. I hope they have healthy food to eat over the summer but my second hope is that someone will take the time to read to them sometime during the week.

Thanks for listening to my rambles as I begin my summer, happy, but pensive about the grumpy faces I see everyday who rely on a teacher to cheer them up.