March – Peaceful Reader

New York Times Cooking

Cooking and reading seem to be always on my mind. This week I didn’t cook at all until inspiration hit me on Thursday. Sometimes after school I seriously have to take a 20 minute nap to keep going and while I was building up to get up I scrolled through my NYT cooking app to find a recipe for dinner. Lucky me, I found two. And I had all the ingredients – with a little improvisation thrown in.

Roasted Salmon and Brussels Sprouts was a very easy recipe to throw together and the results were very good. I didn’t have any salmon but I did have 4 pieces of frozen tilapia waiting for the right moment. In our vegetable drawer I had a leftover stalk or two of broccoli so I cut that into small pieces and added it to the brussels sprout mixture. While this was roasting I cooked a small portion of brown rice and we mixed it altogether. Quick, easy with a healthy protein. We don’t generally have any red meat here, a little organic chicken and fish now and then and we seem to be staying healthy through this long-ass winter.

Curried Cauliflower Soup from Martha Rose was pretty simple to assembly while I waited for the first meal to cook. This one I had all the right ingredients and I have it for backup meals this week. This soup is spicy and will taste great with some toasted naan bread. This next week will be very busy with our Spring (?) Scholastic book fair and conferences. Having a few meals prepared will help us get through the week and make it to Spring Break.

In the midst of more snowfall we are headed to Chicago for the first few days of Spring Break 2019! Road trips mean lots of uninterrupted time to read. I’m excited to shop on Devon Street – I need to replenish some spice jars and I love looking at the stores in this area.

This week more inspiration hit and I joined Book-of-the-Month Club because as my daughter said “Just what you need! More books” But seriously ~ I liked the idea of trying some new titles/authors and after showing the list to my husband we both agreed on Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

I’m halfway through Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward and have to hurry to finish because my adult wine-drinking book club meets the Monday after our Chicago trip and our March read is Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I’ve heard a lot of great things about this story so I’m anxious to get started.

Cheers to a good week!

Hello April; Meet my March reads…

I had a great reading month because of Spring Break. Think of what I could get read if every month had a week’s vacation nestled right in the middle. Let me plan the school calendar for next year!

1. A place at the table by Susan Rebecca White (2013): Interesting story that involves a unique cafe and 3 very separate characters who come together. Some of it I liked (Bobby story made an impact with me) and some of it did not fit or felt forced. Three stars on Goodreads. Read for reading retreat

2. Dramarama by E. Lockhart (2007):Two outspoken Ohio teenagers bond at school and then head to summer drama camp at a nearby college. They both have very different experiences while away from home and mixing with other campers. I liked what this book had to say to young adults; it’s okay to be out there, be you no matter what. Four stars on Goodreads. Read for reading retreat.

3. Circa Now by Amber McRee Turner (2014): Interesting story about grief as Circa and her mom learn to live without her dad, the glue that was holding the whole family together. Circa’s mom suffers from depression and isn’t good in some social situations. They are religious and have help in their church family + a neighborhood family steps up to really help out. In the middle of their grief a young boy shows up and needs Circa’s help as well. Three stars on Goodreads. Read with Groovy Girl.

4. Prodigy by Marie Lu (2013): The second in the exciting series with Day, the rebel, and June, the once elite turned rebel, escape to the Rebels and then escape again away from the Rebels. The twists and turns in this one were surprising and I liked hearing more about the collapse of the U.S. Waiting to read Champions now. Four stars on Goodreads. I read this with my 6th grade book club at school and wanted to do something interactive socially with them. I included Lu in a tweet asking if we could visit with her via twitter or any other social media just to talk and ask a couple of questions. She never answered and my young readers are a little disappointed. If anyone knows how to get this accomplished please let me know.

5. A hundred pieces of me by Lucy Dillon (2014): This is the one that I read all the way to Arkansas, through the afternoon bluegrass fest, and then on to Greers Ferry. It was a great story and has all of us comtemplating what brings us joy. What 100 pieces of your life do you hold dear? Five stars, reading retreat.

6. If you find this by Matthew Baker (March, 2015): I received this in the mail right before we left for our trip and I, of course, stuffed in my already stuffed book bag. I’m glad I did as I started this on the reading retreat. The cover pulled me in and A. and V. were interested in the title for their boy’s book club. I preread it for them and for any of you with an adventursome child looking for a good book. I’m going to write a proper review for it soon because someone at Little, Brown kindly sent the book my way. It’s totally worth it. Five stars, gift from publisher

7. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielson (2012): This one has been haunting me for a few months. I wrote a blog post about this book, you can read it here, and the road trip back from Little Rock gave me the perfect opportunity to finish it. I wasn’t disappointed in this fantasy adventure and I plan to read the second one soon. Four stars, for me

8. El Deafo by Cece Bell (2014): I’ve read only a handful of graphic novels and this one was excellent. Cece’s life journey was tough and she is able to make light of in the pages of this book. I imagine it was cathartic thinking about her early years with this big box and ear plugs to help her hear. Every child wants to fit in and have friends as part of life-Cece does a great job of bringing this message home. I’m so happy to have read this. It was an honorable mention for Newberry but it’s truly V’s daughter’s recommendation that made me pull it from our book cart of new books and read it. Extra bonus: I chatted with a few students about how much I liked it and it’s been in constant rotation. Five start, for me.

9. The Ghosts of Graylock by Dan Poblocki (2012): Up for Iowa Children’s Choice Awards we showed a Prezi of all the nominees and this clip was pretty creepy. I had to read the book to see for myself just how scary it was. Don’t read it right before bedtime is my suggestion. I thought it had great connections. The brother and sister work together to solve the problems they are having thanks to a visit to Graylock, the local closed down asylum. I liked Poblocki’s writing style and will look for more from him. Now I know what to recommend to that rotating group of kids who ask the question “where are the scary books?” Four stars, for investigative purposes.

10. Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur (2011): Also an Iowa Children’s Choice nominee and the perfect book to clear my mind of swamps and ghosts. Elise is struggling with the leap into middle school as well as the family she misses. She’s not interested in doing homework and there’s a bully at school making her miserable. She just wants to fit in and her old friend Franklin makes her feel more like a baby than a middle schooler. This was a well-told tale with many layers. Four stars, for school.

How much reading were you able to accomplish in March?

Our weather is cheering me up and the garden is calling my name so April might not be as readable as March was. I’ve already started several good ones though and I got a package again from Little, Brown…treasures await!

Women's History Month

We still have a few days left in March to celebrate the powerful women that came before us, clearing the way for equal rights (someday we’ll truly get there) because we have come so far. Groovy Girl and I have been reading Lives of Extraordinary Women; Rulers and Rebels (and what the neighbors thought) by Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt.

Krull’s introduction begins “Not all governments have been run by men. Here, in chronological order, are twenty women who wielded political power, as queens, warriors, prime ministers, revolutionary leaders, Indian chiefs, first ladies, or other government officials.”

The first person in the book is Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, and I have to say I thought I knew about Cleopatra but there was much to be revealed in her three page spread. Her family loved ruling Egypt so much that they intermarried each other to keep it in the family. She was forced to marry her 10-year-old brother and she dealt with it by ignoring him, like a normal older sibling, really! She traveled extensively and often looted foreign libraries for their papyrus rolls so she could add to her own library. She loved to spend time in her library (of stolen materials…) and may have even written a volume on cosmetics. In the end she killed herself by letting a snake bite her. I don’t think she is someone to look up to exactly but she did lead an interesting life and she tried to be nice to ordinary Egyptians.

Eleanor of Aquitaine is the second ruler in this volume and she was queen of both France and England. Her father died when she was 15 but he had taught her much during her short life. She understood what it took to be powerful, she could read and write, and she was worth a lot of money at that time because of her land holdings. She married Louis VII, the King of France, later divorced him because he was boring. Later she married Henry who later became Henry the II, King of England. They had 8 children together and when she was fed up with Henry’s affairs she moved out and established her own court across town where they made fun of men! Henry eventually had her committed to a convent and after his death she was released.

This book is easy to read, has about three pages per extraordinary woman, and has lots of fun comments in the text. Check out Kathleen Krull’s website.

As a March activity in the library we hung a picture quiz for students to identify famous American women. See how you do…

This is just a select few but not many of our elementary students know these choices. The two they do know is Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, a victory for modern women.