What I’m reading – Page 6

Yoga Day

Tomorrow is the beginning of our big yoga project at my elementary school. On Monday nights I attend and attempt to do mindful yoga with a lovely woman, Mary and she has agreed to come to our school and teach 12 kids several yoga routines. After the students have had a chance to practice they will be videotaped and each teacher, in a week or two, will have a DVD of mini yoga lessons to use in the classroom. Fantastic, right! I am so excited to see this project coming to an end, which is really the beginning, because this initial part has taken a lot of planning and arranging. I have the camera ready. I purchased hair ties, extra workout pants for kids, and I’ve arranged for each student to receive a school t-shirt to wear for the event. I will be so excited tomorrow afternoon when I know it has all worked out!

Other bookish news:

I am working hard to finish gossip of the starlings by Nina de Gramont. I still have An Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech in my library bag as well as Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier. I really appreciate authors with websites and/or blogs-I think it is almost essential at this stage of the game. Thank you to all the authors that do-it makes finding good information about you so much easier.

Namaste-

Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan (2009)

Told in three voices, Claire, Jasper and Peter, try to explain the events right after September 11, 2001. All three are teenagers living in New York City,attempting to grasp the transformation that undertakes their city. Claire is the first one to speak, taking us quickly through the first plane crash and the second. She rushes from her class to find her younger brother, Sammy and stays there, waiting for her mom to come, praying for her mom to arrive, willing her mom not to be dead. In Jasper’s first chapter he sleeps through the entire event, then can’t stop watching it on television, emotionless. Peter is outside Tower Records, listening to music and has to walk up to Washington Square Park to see the first hole in the tower.

This story is so emotionally-told and I love the character’s David Levithan has created to carry out his thoughts. It’s deep, sad, yet ever hopeful. Claire struggles on her own and takes walks at night, in her city trying to find answers. Peter and Jasper struggle through their first date, and… I have to stop talking about it because you have to read it and it should be read fresh. I am so happy to have this horrific event memorialized because it shouldn’t leave our minds. Levithan does a great job of presenting those arguments over 9/11, which divided the country. The overabundance of flags, and Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq, are both issues Claire struggles with and she marches against the war. I related heavily with Claire’s feelings and think this should be required high school reading.

This is the first book I’ve ever read that made me want to make a soundtrack to remember it by. Before I take it back to the library I’m going to make a list of the songs Levithan uses and make a playlist. David Levithan’s website-click here.
This book is a rare gem for all. Click there for Rainbow List review.

Highly Recommended-YA Fiction

5/5 peaceful stars
***Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge***

Reading with my girl

Peaceful Girl and I finished reading Wild Girl by Patricia Reilly Giff, the author of Eleven and Nory Ryan’s Song amongst many others. I am amazed at the variety of Giff’s story- telling topics! Her latest book is about horse racing and Brazilian immigrants. I’m not a fan of horse racing but years ago I had a Brazilian exchange student stay with our family. Peaceful Girl loves horses as millions of other little girls her age and beyond do! I knew when I picked it up at the library the horse theme would transport PG and it did-we also enjoyed Lidie’s story, which begins with Lidie preparing to leaveJales, Brazil for New York to join her family. She has been living with her aunt and uncle for 4 years, after the death of her mother and the departure of her father and brother for the United States.

Mad at her father for leaving her behind and disappointed because the men in her family see her only as the little girl she was when they left, Lidie finds it difficult fitting in to their world. She’s wanted to be with her family so much but once in New York she feels lost:

I lay there listening to the soft clank of the radiator bringing up the heat. But how quiet this house was. In our kitchen in Jales, Titia Luisa would be singing as she prepared our rice and beans. On the porch, Tio Paulo would be clucking over the news in the papers, the pages he’d drifting down the steps. And outside, Santos the dog would be barking as he chased animals he could never catch. The only quiet one was Gato the cat, up on my bed, staring down into my face, while Maria the canary…p. 25

Eventually she finds her own way to communicate all her hopes for her family, even getting her dad to laugh a little. Lidie just wants them to be together as they were in Jales-happy, talking, sharing in each other’s troubles. Immigration and that outsider experience make the book more than just a horse book or a family story. Rafael and Lidie both share how difficult it is to learn how to fit in to daily life. Even though this was meant for an older audience-beyond a sweet seven-year-old- PG got it and it created good conversation about being a newcomer to this country. Peaceful Girl found it difficult to imagine a world without her mom though and thought life would suck with just her dad and older brother. She enjoyed Lidie’s strong spirit matched together well with her horse spirit as well. If you have yet to read any of Giff’s books she has an outstanding collection. Click here for a list of PRG titles.

Highly Recommended

Middle Grade Fiction

4/5 peaceful stars
***Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge***

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give
                                            too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
              • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your
                        teasers

Here’s my teasers:

“What are you two?”
“Goddesses!” grinned Aurelia.
“Can I be a goddess as well?” Rebecca asked.
p. 38 of Paula Morris’ Ruined, a fabulous New Orleans ghost story!

One might think I could have produced this TT a little earlier in the morning since it is a snow day here but I read this book until my eyes could no longer stay open a moment longer and so waking up was a bit difficult!! What a problem:) I plan on finishing the book today!!! Yeah, for snow day even though it means we will be going to school until something like July!
Whatever your doing today…Happy Reading!

My Life in Pink and Green by Lisa Greenwald

This book resonates with the idea that young people will be the ones to change the world!!

Lucy, a twelve-year-old, helps out at the family pharmacy. Her mother and grandmother are constantly at each other over bills and whether or not the pharmacy and their family home are going to survive. Lucy’s mom loves causes and the grandmother loves the pharmacy but neither one can see anyway to save it. Lucy, on the other hand, is brimming with fabulous ideas. She knows her products and one afternoon she helps an older student with a really bad hair plan gone wrong. Soon others are coming to Lucy for advise and beauty tips. Through an afterschool Earth Club she locates a Going Green Grant from the mayor. All she has to do is figure out a way to tweak the pharmacy’s business to fit it into a green plan. Lucy’s older sister, Claudia, a first-year college student at Northwestern, helps her fill out the grant information. This is such a great idea for a story with so many important themes running through (green businesses, eco-friendly products, as well as what can happen when bills are a struggle, girl power) to make the book timely and relevant. Lucy’s friend Sunny is a great addition as a multi-cultural character who suffers from her very first boy crush-Lucy gives her wonderful advise here as well. Lucy is all about being yourself and she passes this message out very well.

That said it wasn’t my favorite read so far this year. I loved Lucy-she was a great character but her mom and grandmother fell short for me. They were slightly wooden and spent way, way too much time in the back room of the pharmacy. There were also the little inconsistencies like when I’m broke I can’t go out for pizza (they do) and even though they are broke, Claudia, the older sister, heads to a third-world country to help out on a Spring Break trip. Usually college trips are only partially funded by the university and it seemed an odd choice because of their financial crisis. It would have made more sense for me if they would have just made mention that Claudia wanted to come home to help but couldn’t because of flight prices or homework. It was far-reaching for me to keep hearing allusions to expensive things when in the next chapter their power goes out because the bill hasn’t been paid.

My thoughts are that a younger audience is not going to pay any attention to that-they are going to see Lucy as an energetic, smart character, with great life tips and not worry about these minute inconsistencies. Even though I saw this listed as a YA title on Titlewave and in my local library I really think a younger girl audience would read it.

Highly Recommended

Middle Grade Fiction

4/5 peaceful stars

YA Books Central-good review-a 10-year-olds review!!!

Laura Mercier’s website-Lucy idolizes her and hopes to be as successful as her one day!!

This one I picked up at the public library, counting for J. Kaye’s

2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge

In my mailbox

Today I came home and found two very exciting things in the mail, always wonderful when there are more fun things than bills!! The first wrapped package was obviously a book and I was thrilled to unwrap Meg Tilly’s Gemma, which I won over at Find Your Next Book Here from Jenners!! I love winning things probably because it doesn’t happen very often. Gemma’s tale circles around child abuse/molestation issues so I know it will be a tough read but interesting. I’ve enjoyed Meg Tilly’s odd roles as an actrees so I look forward to reading her latest creation. Thank You to Jenners for her latest giveaway!!

My second fun piece of mail was my Vegetarian Times-one of my favorite magazines. I used to get quite a few magazines but found, sadly, they were often the last thing I would read and I would get months behind. I seem to easily be drawn into Veggie Times’ great articles and healthy ideas. I found some amazingly tempting recipes like: Garlic and Kale Soup, Red Pepper-Carrot Soup, Vegetable Korma and this one which made me think of a summertime farmer’s market, Roasted Vegetable Linguine with Torn Fresh Basil. (I thought I would be able to search VT’s website to add in these delicious dishes but for some reason the website isn’t searchable for the magazine’s recipes??? that is a glitch!) Sorry!

I was so happy to find these delightful items in the mailbox I forgot momentarily about my earlier goof. I lost my phone for about 25 minutes and even made a trip back to where my last meeting took place to check the parking lot, to no avail! Luckily, (fueled by my urgent, pleaful prayers) I found it between the seats in the Volvo, when I unbuckled to go pick up my daughter. Yeah!!! I hate losing things-so very frustrating-so I was near-tears-thankful to find it!!
Other important items I read today: a great blog post about AR (accelerated reading) from TeacherNinjas and an email that says I was given a blog award from Natalie at This Purple Crayon. Thanks Natalie! I will have to dream up seven interesting things about myself to share as well as seek out candidates for my seven choices (accepting all manner of bribes)
How about you there-how was your day??

Happy Reading!!

Flowing words bring tears

Love, Aubrey

Suzanne LaFleur

2009

This is an amazing book and I commend LaFleur for her very first writing attempt!! It is melodical and free-flowing! I loved Aubrey’s character so much the very first chapter brought me to tears! Be forewarned…the rest of the book will made you cry also because Aubrey suffers such tragedy!

Aubrey is an 11-year-old, just trying to keep it together. at home, by herself. We gather from her thoughts why her home is empty. Her father and younger sister, Savannah have died fairly recently and her mother, numb with grief, has taken off somewhere. Aubrey is brave and determined to make it on her own. When she is down to her last food items, she heads to the local grocey store to buy what she needs. When the phone rings to much, bringing unwanted help, she stops answering the phone.

Thankfully, the door opens one day and Gram comes walking through the door to save the day! She’s an amazing Grandma and she gave me many flashbacks of my own motherly grandmother. She folds Aubrey into her arms and takes her back to Vermont with her. Gram helps Aubrey begin a long-overdue healing process, using little chore lists to get her moving. As fate would have it I lovely young family, with an 11-year-old daughter, Bridget live next door and through their friendship and a counselor at school, Aubrey moves forward, past her grief.
I don’t want to give much away as it is full of sweet surprises but here is one of my favorite quotes:

I listened to the rain, which was a bad idea because my stomach started feeling funny and I felt like there was oatmeal stuck in my throat. I pulled a pillow to my chest and held it tight. Bridget put the photos down, and put her hands in my hair, and on my back. ‘It’s okay,’ she said. That didn’t work. Words never helped anything. I pressed my eyes closed and remembered that other rainy day, when words didn’t help us…Daddy, why didn’t you just say it a little bit louder? Why? Why didn’t you make us all stop?’ Bridget didn’t say anthing as I started to cry. She just listened, and kept petting me. ‘I’m glad youre here,’ Bridget said. I liked Bridget, but I couldn’t agree. I should have been down in my own house in Virginia, with my own family. Then I thought I heard Bridget thinking. Bridget was thinking, Tell me, It’s okay, just tell me. And I thought back to her, No, Bridget, I can’t. p. 77

I would have loved a next-door neighbor friend like Bridget, understanding and full of compassion. LaFleur makes Aubrey’s feelings so palpable for me and the dialogue between characters as well as Aubrey’s thought process make this a treasure! I would love to see a companion book to unfold more of Aubrey’s story as she puts her life back together with her mother.
Click on Suzanne LaFleur’s website here.

Highly Recommended-Middle School

5/5 peaceful stars

Happy Reading!!
(p.s. this one was one of my random library picks from last week, thus counting for my brand new 2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge)

Housecleaning-End of the Year thought for 2009

I finished my last book for 2009-The Blind Faith Hotel by Pamela Todd-review is not finished. I’ve gone through both my blog and my Good Reads account to verify what books I read this past year. I read 70 total books this year with most titles concentrated in the elementary, middle and YA levels.
Of course, going through my lists I reminisced over my favorite reads this year.

Here is my list-In no particular order:

Gone by Michael Grant-think all adults dead and teenagers need to run things.
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson-American Revolution and slavery-one girl’s story.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins-A new America with sections, each section sends two players to the “games”.
Catching Fire (sequel) by Suzanne Collins-next phase of The Hunger Games-Team Peeta!!!
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan-young boy learns he is part human/part god, son of Poseidon.
The Help by Kathyrn Stockett-Amazing tale of Mississippi during Civil Rights movement.
Red Glass by Laura Resau-immigration issues dealt with win Sophie’s family shelters young Pablo.
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout-many stories about New England small town, quirky characters, great blend of stories.
Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff-tear-jerker about Annie and the death of her brother, good neighbor award.
The Luxe Series by Anna Godbersen-the jet set in 1899-great plot twists, would make a delicious movie.
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly-1899, Callie Vee and her grandfather find their own connection while discovering a new plant species in early Texas.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein-esoteric dog thoughts, evolving through one man’s life.
Found/Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix-what happens when a select few play around with the boundaries of time.

My reading increased from last year and will have to increase even more for me to accomplish the challenges I’ve signed up for in 2010.
We always have a family party on New Year’s Eve. A few times we have dressed up in fancy clothes to ring in the year. This year we had a fun finger-food dinner (pig’s in the blanket that Peaceful Girl and I made, asparagus with lots of crackers, bread and brie) and we played a rousing game of Scattegories while we munched. Several of us love this game-lots of giggling with serious thinking in between!! We also do a whole list of predictions for the next year and add to our own bucket lists.

How do you spend your New Year’s Eve??

Family Reading

Peaceful girl and I have been reading quite a lot lately and I’ve been remiss on writing about these books.
Last night we finished Ruby Lu, brave and true by Lenore Look, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf (2004). We read this one because our friend, V, said the second one (Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything) was great. we thought we should read the first one first and it was also great! Ruby loves doing magic, loves living on 20th Avenue South and thinks everyone should wear reflective tape. Her neighborhood is the fun kind, where everyone plays together and gets along-that is until Christina moves in. Christina wears summer clothes not sweaters and makes fun of Ruby and her friends on 20th Ave. South but eventually she comes around. Ruby is especially adorable when she finds she will need to share her room with her young cousin, Flying Duck, who is soon to emigrate to America. Flying Duck arrives wearing some reflective tape of her own! Peaceful girl and I are excited to check out Ruby’s next book. Lenore Look has a popular new series out, Alvin Ho-I think there are two books so far!

Highly Recommended for Elementary Fiction

5/5 peaceful stars

Recently we finished Henrietta; there’s no one better by Martine Murray. This one was just plain silly and I still don’t really get it. Henrietta likes to make things up and her mind moves fast, lightning fast-so fast it didn’t all gel together-for me or little girl. Read more here.

Recommended for the fun drawings-Elementary Fiction

2/5 peaceful stars

A while ago Peaceful Girl and I finished The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler and loved it. What girl doesn’t dream about waking up and finding out you’re a mermaid. Emily lives on a boat with her mom and everything is smooth until she takes her 7th grade swim class and grows ah yes, a mermaid tail. Lots of fun discoveries about her family are uncovered and there are two more books rounding out this fantasy series. Recommended Elementary Fiction -(while she is in 7th grade the audience is more elementary-4th-5th grade) 4/5 peaceful stars

What are you reading with your children??