Anne (AMQS) reads in 2016 -- first thread

Happy New Year! 2015 ended with a bitterly cold spell here in Colorado, and 2016 is only a tad bit warmer so far. This photo was taken by my father, Mike Quaintance. There has been a family of foxes living under his shed for years -- he snapped this one on the roof of the shed.

My name is Anne. I am an elementary school teacher librarian in a little mountain school. My husband Stelios and I have two daughters: 14 and nearly 17. All of us have tottering piles of books in nearly every room of the house. We love to hike, play games together, and travel. As our oldest is now a junior in high school, most likely our 2016 travel will be college visit-related.

This is my 7th year in this wonderful group, and there's no place I'd rather be! I read a lot of children's literature, and love audiobooks. I used to read aloud to the girls every day, but since my oldest started high school, there's no time. Still, two of my 2015 favorites were read alouds:)

So welcome! I'm very glad you're here.

Favorites of 2015:
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
Mama’s Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes (thank you, Joanne!)
The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

2015 most fun:
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing Up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

My stab at the meme -- 2015 version:

Describe yourself: Backyard Witch
Describe how you feel: I Funny
Describe where you currently live: Castle Hangnail
If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Around the World in 80 Days
Your favorite form of transportation: The Most Beautiful Walk in the World
Your best friend is: My Family and Other Animals
You and your friends are: Fish in a Tree
What’s the weather like: The Winter's Tale
You fear: The Story of My Disappearance
What is the best advice you have to give: The Importance of Being Earnest
Thought for the day: Fortunately, the Milk
How I would like to die: Death in the Garden
My soul’s present condition: Drama

January, 2016
1. The Last Kind Words Saloon by Larry McMurtry
2. Nooks & Crannies by Jessica Lawson
3. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
4. A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
5. Buckle and Squash: The Perilous Princess Plot by Sarah Courtauld
6. The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes
7. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

February, 2016
9. Etta by Gerald Kolpan
10. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
11. The Nest by Kenneth Oppel
12. Remembering Laughter by Wallace Stegner
13. Who Stole the Animal Poop? by Tim Smith
14. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
15. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
16. The Story of Diva and Flea by Mo Willems and Tony DiTerlizzi

March, 2016
17. As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes
18. Listen to the Moon by Michael Morpurgo

Welcome back, Anne! Looks like 2016 is going to be another busy year for you and your family.


Happy New Year!

Happy new year, Anne! Glad to see you back!

Happy New Year! >3 AMQS: I love where you live. Some days I think I live there, too!

Welcome back!

Anne!.... and a wonderful picture of a red fox! So happy to see you both here! It is cold here as well but I am a wimp. I really shouldn't complain about temps in the 0'C range, but I will, because I am a wimp. ;-)

Happy New Year and looking forward to following your reading - and anything else that crops up here - in 2016!

Hi Anne and Happy New Year! I love the photo of the fox on the roof of the shed. Beautiful.

I wish you a wonderful year full of excellent reading. :-)

>6 ronincats: Hi Roni! Yes, most likely:) Glad you're here!

>7 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky -- glad to see you here as well!

>8 cbl_tn: Carrie, I suspect many of us could live at Castle Hangnail at any given time:)

>9 drneutron: Thank you, Jim!

>10 lkernagh: Hi Lori! Wow, was it cold when we were in Seattle and Vancouver. It gets reeeeeeally cold here -- today is the first day it has been above freezing (32F or 0 C) in more than a week, but the Colorado cold is very dry. It *does* suck the moisture right out of every cell (visitors need some sort of lip protection immediately) but if you layer enough, you can stay warm. Not so in your wetter part of the world, so you are not at all in wimp territory!

>11 EBT1002: Thank you, Ellen! I appreciate you coming by!

Happened to see this on FB today. I had noticed that many picture books are getting very creative with their barcodes:)

http://100scopenotes.com/2015/03/18/gallery-the-art-of-the-picture-book-barcode/

Here are a few from the above blog:

Cloudette


Stinky Cheese Man


This is a Moose

Fortunately, the Milk?! Brilliant thought for the day!

Love the fox picture, especially silhouetted against the night sky.

First day above 0c!? Wow, that is cold. We, of course, have been having lovely weather lately, not a day of rain in the last 2 weeks. And ironically that was on the west coast with its notorious high rainfall. Niw that we are back home, today there is rain.

>13 AMQS: love that cloud one :)

Hi Anne - Happy New Year. Knucklehead was a great read; thanks for the recommendation. I gave it to my son-in-law; he has three brothers. I still have to read the latest Penderwick -- I can't wait to be able to read some of those to Scout. Her two current favorites when she stayed with me are Shh! We Have a Plan and Wave; she requested multiple readings of those.

I love the barcode art!

Beautiful photo of the fox at the top, too.

>13 AMQS: Love these!

Also your father's fox photo!

Mama's Bank Account was also on my best of 2015 list. Such a charmer!

Happy New Year to you and your family! It was a little warmer out there today but the snow was still squeaky under foot.

I miss the fox family that used to live in my neighborhood. They too had their kits under a neighbor's shed, but then the house sold and the shed was moved. No more foxes. Well, I still see them occasionally, just not in my yard! They are beautiful animals and the babies were so much fun to watch in the spring.

I'm worn out from checking out new threads. I think I'll go read a book!

>13 AMQS: Oh my, those are delightful! Thanks for sharing, Anne.
I also loved this one from "Vegetables in Underwear"

Hi Anne! Happy new year!

Dropping off my star....

Wow! Beautiful photo by your dad of the fox on the shed roof, Anne! Happy New Year!

Hi, Anne!

I have to say that I *loved* This Is a Moose - such a funny one!

Hi Anne! I saw your first post yesterday, but thought I'd wait till you were finished setting up, and now I'm 23rd!

Have a wonderful bookfilled 2016, Anne. xx

Happy New Year, Anne! Dropping off my star.

>12 AMQS: - I feel somewhat less wimpy now! You are right, the damp humidity here makes 0'C feel an awful lot colder. I still cannot steel myself to the -20 to -30'C temps I remember from Calgary winters - although, I understand those winters are few and far between these days - but thank you for making me feel as though we do experience some colder weather here on the coast. ;-)

>13 AMQS: - Those are great! I love the one with the ranting rooster. ;-)

>14 LovingLit:, >15 LovingLit: Thanks, Megan! It has since warmed up quite a bit, though it's supposed to snow later this week. We're grateful for the sunshine (and lucky that CO has a lot of it), AND the milk:)

>16 BLBera: Hi Beth! I love Shh! We Have a Plan, but I don't know that I know Wave. Sounds like I need to check it out for the library!

>17 Copperskye: Hi Joanne! Thank you again for recommending Mama's Bank Account. We borrowed it from the library, but ordered a copy for us to have. The girls agreed it is one we need to own!

>18 Donna828: Hi Donna! Yay reading -- the best tonic there is!

>19 EBT1002: Love that one, too, Ellen:)

>20 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie! Glad you're here.

>21 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy! My dad has taken some amazing photos -- I'll be sharing them this year:)

>22 scaifea: Hi Amber! Thanks for recommending This is a Moose -- another one I may need to get for the library!

>23 susanj67: Hi Susan, thanks for coming back! There's always the initial traffic, but my thread could be fairly quiet again this year, as I get so busy while school is in session, and I don't seem to have won the lottery yet.

>24 PaulCranswick: The best wish! Thank you, Paul.

>25 Crazymamie: Hello Mamie, thank you for stopping by!

>26 lkernagh: You absolutely do, Lori, no doubt about it, though those Calgary temps sound frigid! We get cold like that, but not too often.

Happy New Year and Happy New Thread, Anne! Love the foxy topper! I hope you have a great reading year, my friend.

Happy New Year Anne! I can't really imagine that sort of cold at the moment. We have had only two mornings where we have woken up to frost since the beginning of winter!

Happy New Year, Anne! Nice to see Our Souls at Night on your favorites of '15 list. I already miss that guy.

I absolutely love that photo of the fox! I've only seen a fox out and about 3 times in my life. Guess where I live is just too populated.

I also love the pics of the clever barcodes! That's wonderful.

Sandy K

>29 msf59: Dear Mark, Thank you!

>30 SandDune: Hi Rhian! Well, it's not bitter cold all of the time, but we are in the Rockies:) We're lucky to have lots of sunshine too. Teachers went back to school today, and the heat was not on in the building. We were all pretty cold, even though it wasn't especially cold today. Hope the heat comes back on before we get more snow Thursday!

>31 jnwelch: I do, too, Joe. I think I am delaying reading Benediction just because I know it will be the last.

>32 sandykaypax: Hi Sandy! We have tons of foxes, and even more wildlife up where my dad lives. I see a fair amount at my school also. There is a resident mountain lion there that I've never seen, but I've heard him (and I've seen his kill when he's dragged it onto the playground!) His name is Big Kitty. Thanks for coming by!

Wow! I would love to see Big Kitty. From a distance. Through a window.

Sandy K

Anne, it is so kind of you to say that we on the West Coast have that " damp cold." It really can sink into your bones. We had some snow today, but it is already partly melted, turning to ice, with likely more of the same tomorrow. My neighbour has a a very overweight Border Collie ( not that I'd mention that to my neighbour) and the poor dog slipped on the ice and broke a leg on New Year's day. The poor dog probably weighs 120 or more lbs , and I hope the dear old dog can make a recovery. I'm sure that the owners cannot pick up their dog, so I imagine it's quite difficult. I really feel for them and their dog. My guess of 120 plus pounds is likely on the kind side .

>13 AMQS: I really like the barcode art. Very cool.

Teachers went back to school today, and the heat was not on in the building.

I work out of a heritage designated building and the heating system has its issues. It is not unusual for us to encounter cold days in the office, the kind where you put on layers while working at your desk and remove layers before heading outside. ;-) Here is hoping the heat in the school is now back on!

No heat! YIKES! Crossing my fingers that it gets fixed quickly.

Big Kitty!Yikes, I guess so! Here's to hoping your school has some heat today, Anne! I also work out of a very old building; in fact, we're moving the end of this year, and my present location will become a parking lot ... tells you something about the condition of it, LOL!

Hi, Anne! Looking forward to your reviews this year, and hope the heat is working! Brrr!

Found and starred you:)

Hi! I dropped a star here days ago, and just made it back. I don't envy you your cold weather. I sure hope the heat is on.
Love the bar code art. So clever. :)

Wait. Snow tomorrow? Well, heck. After the past couple of "spring-like" days with warm sun and temps in the upper 30s (I think I'm becoming a Colorado girl for realz), I'm not looking forward to more bitter cold and snow.

Anyway, Happy New Year and happy new thread, Anne!

ETA love the pic of the fox up top!

Enjoy!

>2 AMQS: Anne, I've finally found you and dropped my star. The Penderwicks was one of my favorites from last year too (as I think you commented on my thread).

>3 AMQS: Great meme answers!

>13 AMQS: What great barcodes! It's a shame adult books don't do that too.

Just adding my love for the bar codes - and the beautiful fox picture. Thanks for sharing.

>34 sandykaypax: LOL, Sandy, that's about where and how I'd like to see him also:)

>35 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah! Great to see you:) We were in your lovely city over our Thanksgiving, and absolutely loved it. But it was very cold! We had beautiful sunny weather while we were there, but it was cold. Poor doggie! Oh, that's terrible! Hope he feels better soon. One of our favorite book series is The Penderwicks, and in the last one, Batty Penderwick is hired to walk a dog who has grown so fat she could barely move. I suppose dogs aren't so different from humans -- too much food and too little exercise will do that to you.

>36 Oberon: Hi Erik! Thanks for stopping by. I had noticed some very cool barcode art in recent years. I guess I'm not the only one:)

>37 lkernagh: Hi Lori -- it's on now! Yesterday was another bitterly cold day (21 degrees F or -6C). I have outside bus duty morning and afternoon every day, so I have to be warm, but the library was perhaps a bit overheated:)

>38 Crazymamie: Thanks, Mamie. Students did not return until Wednesday, by which time the heat was on. Teachers had to report back Monday, however. I understand that the lack of heat was a cost-saving measure the school district took. Because why spend money on the comfort of teachers?

>39 lit_chick: Oh, Nancy, I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm always sad when buildings are torn down, but there are cases where that's the best thing to do. But a parking lot? On an only somewhat related note: Cyprus only recently opened the border between the Republic of Cyprus (Greek) half and the Turkish-occupied half at a checkpoint in the capitol. Like many Greek Cypriots, Stelios crossed to try to find his childhood home his family lost during the war, but where the house sat is now a parking lot. Makes me sad, although his grandmother (who built the house with her husband with their own hands, and they were shoemakers) used to pray that the house had been destroyed because she couldn't bear the thought of Turks living in it. Occasionally you hear stories of Turkish Cypriots living in the homes of their former neighbors and keeping everything that belonged to them in case the owners were someday able to return, but that wasn't the case here. Major digression -- sorry about that! Hoping your new location is warm!

>40 aktakukac: Hi Rachel! It's on now -- turned on when students returned, not teachers!

>41 karspeak: Hi Karen!

>42 nittnut: The heat's on now, but the cold came back! We got several inches of snow yesterday. Glad you made it back!

>43 Storeetllr: Thanks, Mary! Yes, I think you are becoming a Colorado girl! I don't think we got as much snow as was predicted, but there was a fair amount at school, and enough that I had to shovel yesterday:) I just looked at the forecast, and it looks as though next week we'll be back in the 40s!

>44 DianaNL: Hi Diana -- weekends are the BEST! Hope you're enjoying yours:)

>45 thornton37814: Hi Lori -- nice to see you! I recommended The Penderwicks to a colleague of mine and her daughter -- they listen together in the car, and love the books, but this one leaves them reeling at times (I'm sure you know exactly what I mean), and they like to stop in the library in the morning and accuse me of breaking their hearts. I just love those books, and love the characters so deeply. I wonder if she'll write more.

>46 charl08: Hi Charlotte! You sneaked in there while I was posting:) Great to see you!

Speaking of Big Kitty: this is not him, but this mountain lion was photographed by my father in July. A friend called him and told him he had a mountain lion on his property and asked my dad to come and take pictures. He used his long telephoto lens to stay safe and disturb the cat as little as possible. They're so cool! The Denver Zoo has a photo of a family taken while hiking in the high country. It wasn't until later when viewing the photo that they discovered a mountain lion watching them while the photo was taken. They're out there!

What a gorgeous beast!

We've had some cougar sightings in the region recently. There have been some sightings in West Tennessee so officials think it's possible that one could have made its way this far east. But they don't think it's likely. I'll keep a close eye on Adrian just in case!

What a gorgeous beast! indeed! Oh my goodness, Anne, those are remarkably impressive photographs! Is this what you dad does professionally?

Great photos, Anne! Thanks for sharing.

1. The Last Kind Words Saloon by Larry McMurtry, audiobook narrated by Tom Stechschulte and Carine Montbertrand.

This book is more like a series of vignettes than a novel, sharing stories mostly of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday beginning with their idleness in Long Grass, TX, and ending in (idleness) at Tombstone, AZ and the shootout at the OK Corral. Occasionally other characters make an appearance, notably cattleman Charlie Goodnight and his wife Mary, Quanah Parker, Buffalo Bill, and journalist Nellie Cartwright (can't quite tell if she is a real or fictional character..?). This is NOT Lonesome Dove, though I do enjoy Mr. McMurtry's style and setting, and it is not a very cohesive narrative, but rather, as the author describes it: "a ballad in prose" that simply does not approach Lonesome Dove, one of my favorite books in recent years. The audiobook production team made an interesting choice, with Tom Stechschulte narrating most of the book, and Carine Monbertrand "hosting" (her words -- she was the one to say "end of disc one," etc.) and narrating the epilogue. This audio surprise at the end was jarring, and while Tom Stechschulte narrated admirably, I couldn't stand any of his female characters. A mixed bag for Book #1, though at the end of the day I enjoyed it.

Yay, visitors!

>50 ronincats:, Isn't he, Roni? Though, if you look closely, he is sitting near the remains of a recent kill. I guess we can't expect them to eat as we do, though;)

>51 cbl_tn: Not a bad idea, Carrie! We have lots of animals who are a threat to pets. Mountain lions get a few every year, but more common are coyotes, owls, and foxes. One night we were coming home late, and on the center of a roundabout near our house there was a fox, completely frozen and staring at a man who was walking his snack-sized dog. We see coyotes and foxes a lot, but mountain lions hardly ever. Do you live close enough to Florida to have panthers? (and are there any left?)

>52 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy! My dad is a retired airline pilot who became interested in photography when I was 8 years old or so, and started contributing to the local paper. For years he specialized in wildflowers, but since he's been retired, he and my stepmother take road trips regularly to photograph wildlife in Colorado and Wyoming. I plan to share some of his photos in my threads this year.

>53 bell7: Thank you, Mary! I'm glad you enjoy them:)

2. Nooks & Crannies by Jessica Lawson

Isn't that an awesome cover? There's a lot going on in that cover, and a lot going on in the book. This is a stuffed-to-the-gills children's mystery, with many standard elements of the genre, including a neglected and unloved child (lonely Tabitha, who has a love for Inspector Percival Pensive mystery novels, dreams of being a Scotland Yard agent, and has a mystery-solving mouse named Pemberley as her friend and sidekick), a haunted old mansion with secret passageways, a raging blizzard, a philanthropic countess with a murky past, failing-at-just-the-right-time electricity, and a £100,000 inheritance to be bestowed on one of six children. Reviewers who liken this book to those of Roald Dahl are not too far off. It is twisted and fun, and written by a Colorado author.

>56 AMQS: You got me with that one!

>56 AMQS: Sounds fun!

Anne, your cold snap to start off 2016 has moved east into Iowa tonight. It is 5 degrees F as I type this, with a windchill of -16. This winter has been amazingly mild so far, so I'm not complaining. And I would always rather have the cold than more snow or ice, so for me it's an acceptable trade-off.

The fox is lovely, as is the mountain lion. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your dad's photography through the year.

>54 AMQS: that cover is very appealing. Not sure why as I'm not rural and I don't like horses...maybe it's because it reminds me of Cormac McCarthy!

>60 LovingLit: & >54 AMQS: & >56 AMQS:

I reckon on the covers front >56 AMQS: has it. Very attractive that one.

Have a great Sunday, Anne.

Very interesting about your dad, Anne. I look forward to seeing more of his photography on your threads this year.

You remind me that I want to read more of Larry McMurtry's work.

Nooks & Crannies has delightful cover and title! That looks like a delightful read! It is so interesting how depending on where we live, what we consider too be cold. Honestlly, I don't think I live in very cold climate, except for the odd day . But a friend of mine who grew up here has moved to the BC Interior, but now finds the " damp cold" so much colder than the dry cold in Kamloops B.C. They have more extreme temps, but it is a dry climate. I guess it is all in what you get used too.

>57 cbl_tn: Ooh, a hit! Hope you enjoy it when it comes your way, Carrie!

>58 thornton37814: It is fun, Lori!

>59 rosalita: Yes, our weather does tend to head your way, Julia:) We've been known to call my brother in law in Lawrence, KS and let him know what's coming. Glad you enjoy the photos!

>60 LovingLit: Megan, I like the cover, too, though to me it looks snowy. There's hardly a flake in the whole book.

>61 PaulCranswick: Glad a cover caught your eye, Paul! I'm guessing your weekend is already over, so I'll wish you a happy week!

>62 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy! What books of Mr. McMurtry's have you read? I've only read Lonesome Dove and this last one. I know there are sequels and prequels to Lonesome Dove, but that book was so perfect I don't want to go back to that story: I love it just the way it is in my head.

>63 vancouverdeb: Yes, I guess it is!

I read this today and found it a thought provoking and fascinating read:

Why the British Tell Better Children's Stories

>65 AMQS: Anne, that article is a great read. I'm less of a fantasy person and more of a Little House on the Prairie sort of person, but I had never really considered the split between the US and the UK in this way. (Looking at those amazing pictures of the mountain lion, though, I wonder whether the fantasy sphere is where so much popular British writing is set at least partly because there is nothing very scary in real life here. The landscape and the fauna are far tamer than in the US - there is no danger lurking around the corner as there is in a country where bears and mountain lions roam!)

>56 AMQS: That is a gorgeous cover! I would pick that up and look at it, certainly.

>54 AMQS: Your book 1 sounds better than mine, if that helps!

What a beautiful opening photo!

I live outside of a small town in Montana with many of the same wildlife guests that you have. Twice I've seen a mountain lion on my place - once just outside the front window!) but I've never been fast enough to get a photo.

I read my first McMurtry with Mark's challenge last year and would like to read more - sometime!

Hi Anne - I look forward to seeing more of your father's pictures.

I love the cover of Nooks & Crannies and will add it to my Scout list. Thanks again.

>49 AMQS: Beautiful pictures of the mountain lion! The black around the eyes gives it a mysterious look.

We have not many predators around here, some foxes and some birds of prey, last year a buzzard flew agains my kitchen window, as he was chased by some crows. I went outside to look if he was alright and he flew away.

>56 AMQS: I read this one last year and liked it, and think the cover is lovely!

Stopping by to get caught up and to wish you a lovely week. Anne!

>49 AMQS: - Amazing pictures!

>54 AMQS: - This is NOT Lonesome Dove I know... *Sobs*.

Hi Anne! I'm finally getting caught up on threads. Our Souls at Night was one of my favorites of 2015 too. And Nooks & Crannies sounds sounds like a fun one too. Hope 2016 brings more good reading!

Have a lovely weekend!

Hi, Anne ~ Happy Friday! Hope it is the start of a fabulous weekend for you!

>54 AMQS: Love McMurtry's westerns, even if he plays fast and loose with history sometimes (as he has freely admitted doing). Did you read Telegraph Days? The Last Kind Words Saloon is a companion piece to Telegraph Days, with some of the same characters, including Earp and Nellie Courtwright. Here's a link to an interview with McMurtry about TLKWS that you might enjoy.

Hi Anne,

I have finally found your thread in the start of year madness that is LT. Beautiful mountain lion photo but I would be quite freaked out to find one on my property! Are they interested in humans? (Err, eating us, not just observing us?)

Nooks and Crannies looks like a book that Teresa would enjoy. I'll have a look for it. She is a huge Roald Dahl fan.

Have a lovely weekend! (Ours has started but I guess you are still on Friday afternoon.)

>75 cushlareads: morning Cushla ;) thought you mistook the fox up top for a mountain lion for a second, hehe.

I read W The Twits and was shocked that he didn't love it more. Humph. At the moment I am reading him a Famous Five one, and he complains it is boring, until it gets exciting that is. :)

Have a great weekend Anne. Marina's doppleganger has just celebrated her 12th birthday these last few days.

Stopping by to wish you a happy Sunday, Anne!

>66 susanj67: Hi Susan! I had never thought about it too much before. I love the British fantasy and the Little House equally, but I will say that nothing captivates my imagination like those British fantasies. I need to get over to your thread, but I truly hope that your reads have improved since that sorry first read. Of course, you're probably in double digits by now!

>67 streamsong: Hello streamsong, and thank you for visiting! Yes, we share many similar landscapes (and mountains, of course) as you. I have never been to Montana, and would love to go. I haven't read too much McMurtry either -- just Lonesome Dove and The Last Kind Words Saloon, but I love his voice and love his settings. Hope you're having a great weekend!

>68 BLBera: Thanks, Beth! Scout will be the best read kiddo around:)

>69 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! We have quite a lot of wildlife here as we are in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. More IN the Rockies, of course, but we do enjoy our visitors. Your dear dog in your profile picture could pass for a big cat in the right light, too:)

>70 aktakukac: Hi Rachel! It's a fun one, isn't it?

>71 lkernagh:, >78 lkernagh: Hi Lori, and happy weekend to you! It's a three-day weekend for us, as tomorrow we observe the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. It makes our Sunday even more enjoyable to know that we don't have to roar out in the morning. And >71 lkernagh: some books and some authors just have no equals. I guess that's one reason I've never been in a hurry to read any Lonesome Dove prequels or sequels.

>72 porch_reader: Hi Amy, and happy new year to you! Good to see more McMurtry love here:)

>73 DianaNL: Hi Diana, and hooray for Friday!! Best feeling to have the whole weekend stretched out ahead of you. It's Sunday now, but as I told Lori, it's a long weekend for us -- still enjoying it! Hope yours was wonderful.

Glad you're enjoying your long holiday weekend! The weather has been just gorgeous, if cool ~ so welcome on a mid-January weekend! Are you watching the football game?

>74 Storeetllr: Hi Mary! Yes, I do love long weekends:) Hope yours is lovely. Stinking Broncos aside... I didn't know that The Last Kind Words Saloon was a companion to Telegraph Days. I haven't read it, but I like the characters (excepting Earp -- he's a jerk). Safe to read it, I think as I liked The Last Kind Words but didn't LOVE it like Lonesome Dove:)

>75 cushlareads: Hi Cushla, glad you're here! Mountain lions tend to stay away from humans, but when I lived in the mountain, we had to watch our small children when they were outside, particularly at dawn and dusk. There was a little boy who disappeared on a group hike one time. His parents each thought the other had him. It is thought that a mountain lion got him. They'll go after pets, too. Some people have them enter the house through dog doors to get to the dogs. Nooks and Crannies would be a fun read for Teresa, I would think.

>76 LovingLit: Hi Megan! There are some awesome books I can't get my kids to read. I guess a book hits you just at the right time in the right way. Hope Wilbur sticks with the Famous Five!

>77 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul! Yes, I saw on FB that it was her birthday. Hope your lovely girl had a lovely day!

>80 Storeetllr: You sneaked in, Mary! It is a bit windy where we are, and where the Broncos are. I don't think that's why they're stinking so much. It's awful -- hope it improves, or it's just as well we don't move on. Poor Peyton -- I would like to see him win in what should be his last year:(

3. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, audiobook narrated by Donald Sutherland

Such a melancholy tale, lovingly told. Santiago is an old fisherman who has run into bad luck. Bad enough luck that the boy can no longer fish with him -- his parents have insisted he fish with another boat. But the boy believes in the old man, and is lovingly devoted to him, making sure he has food and bait, and checking in on him. One day the old man goes farther out than he normally would, as he hooks an enormous marlin but cannot bring him in alone. He is pulled along by the fish far out to sea for days, embarking on journey that tests his skill and will, and sends him back through memory and regret; and exhaustion and madness. Lovingly and subtly read by Donald Sutherland.

4. A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, audiobook narrated by David Baker and Cynthia Bishop

Oh, wow. This could end up on my list of top reads in 2016. Based on a true story, this short YA novel alternates between the story of Salva Dut, a young boy in 1980s southern Sudan, and Nya, a young girl in southern Sudan, 2008. War erupts in Salva's village while he is at school. His teacher urges the boys to flee into the bush, and not to go home. Salva flees, running, and then walking for hours, then days, then weeks, then months, then years. His harrowing voyage through bush, wild animal territory, war-torn devastation, desert, and across the Nile is harrowing. Nya walks hours each morning to a murky pond to fetch water for her family, then turns around and repeats the journey each afternoon. She does this seven months of the year; the remaining months are too dry to rely even on this poor source of water, so the family migrates to camps on the shores of a lake, where conditions are brutal, and warring tribes competing for the same resource bring unrest and unease. How Salva's story intersects with Nya's will give you goosebumps, but there are a lot of years of unimaginable hardship in between. This is such a powerful and heartbreaking book, but DON'T let that dissuade you from reading it, and DON'T miss the commentary by Salva Dut himself -- he is a real person, and the story is based on his experience -- and author Linda Sue Park (I love everything I've read of hers). The book is ultimately uplifting and hopeful. I cried a lot throughout the book -- both from grief and from joy. I finished it earlier this week, and have become something of an evangelist for the book, pressing it on everyone I know. Stelios took me up on it, and is listening in his car, just as mesmerized as I was. I was so struck earlier this week while listening to the book: I was driving my nice car with seat warmers on nice, paved roads to a store to buy cardstock to make die-cut letters for my school's news broadcast team -- all such frivolous luxuries, when Salva and Nya lack even the most basic necessity: clean water. I think everyone should read this book.

Hi Anne, oh, you've given me an idea with Old Man and the Sea ... and read by Donald Sutherland! He's got such a wonderful voice.

Great comments on A Long Walk to Water; I will definitely look for it. It sounds like Dut was a Lost Boy? Have you read What Is the What?

I loved the audio of Old Man in the Sea read by Donald Sutherland - I thought he was a perfect match for it, and I love when that happens.

>85 lit_chick: Hi Nancy! Donald Sutherland is really wonderful reading The Old Man and the Sea. Callia has read the book for school, and Marina will in a year or so, and I suggested that she listen to the audio along with the text because Donald Sutherland is so good. Neither of them knew who he was until I said he plays President Snow...

>86 BLBera: Hi Beth! Yes, Salva Dut was a lost boy of Sudan, and his story is so, so compelling. I have not read What is the What yet. It sounds like I need to. I have read Zeitoun and have The Circle on my pile. Mr. Eggers knows how to tell a compelling story!

>87 Crazymamie: Me too, Mamie! He was just perfect:)

5. Buckle and Squash: The Perilous Princess Plot by Sarah Courtauld

"I'm a man of simple pleasures," he said. "All I ever wanted was a castle, my own pride of lions, a jeweled crown, a choir of elves singing me awake each morning, sainthood, the power to make gold, the best mustache in Europe, a Jacuzzi, an elephant from the indies, another one to be its friend, a singing giraffe, the power of invisibility, Magical Cheese Powers, a tiger with the feet of a lamb, the head of a lamb and the body of a lamb -- basically, a lamb -- power over the sea, power over the letter C..."

Dear Reader,
This is just a note to say, I cut the next 4,235 of Mordmont's simple pleasures, because really they weren't that necessary. Or simple. And because I like to save paper where I can.
Love,
Sidney the Tree

"...and a meringue that speaks Japanese," Mordmont said finally. "Is that really too much to ask?"

Moat dragons, interjections by Sidney the Tree, Prince Kanye the Anachronistic, musings of the life dreams and goals of a goat, knee-switching, the Black Death, and fairy tale obsession run amok combine to create a super fun children's book. Now THIS is a children's book that was actually written for children!

Sisters Eliza and Lavender live on the Old Tumbledown Farm in the Middle of Nowhere with Grandma Maud and Gertrude the goat. Eliza spends her time doing farm chores and dreaming of mystery-solving and swashbuckling adventures. Lavender spends her time getting out of farm chores, pining over princes, and practicing fainting. When Lavender disappears to find her prince and is kidnapped instead by Count Mordmont, Eliza and Gertrude set off to rescue her.

Another book that channels Roald Dahl, this fractured fairy tale is silly, hilarious fun, with so much nonsense, wordplay, gross disgustingness, asides, bad puns, and other goofiness kids will LOVE it, and probably fall out of their seats laughing. As I began reading it, I longed for the days when I had time to read aloud to the girls. Then Callia (17 next month) asked me to help her curl her hair. I said I would, if while I did she took a look at this book, several chapters of which she then proceeded to read aloud to me because they were so funny. When I passed it along to Marina (14), she did the same thing. I can't WAIT to share this with my students.

The two sisters took two huge gulps of air, and then dived down into the stinking green water. And Lavender, her eyes shut tight, reached out below her, and touched something slimy. And Eliza, plunging downward, accidentally caught hold of the gnarled old leg...
...of a piano...
...tuner.

What Is the What is based on the life of one of the Lost Boys. It's one of my favorite Eggers.

Buckle and Squash: The Perilous Princess Plot sounds really fun. Another future Scout book... We might need an addition for her books.

>83 AMQS: I loved that book when I read it, and I so admire narrators who can do an even passable jon. When I read aloud to the kids (and I am getting way better at it as the years go by) I realise how hard it is to have good intonation and pace.

>89 AMQS: This sounds MARVELOUS. I will keep an eye out for it! Also, love the mountain lion photos earlier. You've always had such great photos on your threads!

>83 AMQS: I should re-read that one by Hemingway.

Great review of A Long Walk to Water, Anne! I've had several people recommend it to me, but our copies are always checked out at work! Buckle and Squash: The Perilous Princess Plot sounds so fun, and I love the story of Callia reading part of it to you :)

Hi, Anne, it looks like I will become a permanent Colorado resident this summer (in Denver). What fic or nonfic books about Colorado do you recommend? I'm posting on your thread since you have several other Coloradoans following. I've already read and enjoyed Tomboy Bride and Plainsong. Thanks!!

I'm also planning to read A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains.

>95 karspeak: - I'm not Anne, nor from Colorado, but I just loved Hell's Bottom, Colorado, a book of interconnected short stories.

>84 AMQS: That one caught my eye Anne and I will keep that same eye looking out for it in the shops here.

Have a great weekend.

>98 katiekrug: Thanks for the rec, I've seen that mentioned on other threads, as well!

>90 BLBera: It's on my list now, Beth -- thank you for the recommendation!

>91 LovingLit: Hi Megan! Wow, did you really read The Old Man and the Sea to the kids? What did they think of it?

>92 dk_phoenix: Hi Faith! The Perilous Princess Plot is so much fun. Good to see you!

>93 thornton37814: Hi Lori! I don't know that I had read it before. Good read, brought to life by a terrific narrator!

>94 aktakukac: Hi Rachel! You should reserve A Long Walk to Water -- it was great on audio. So glad it's circulating at your library! The Perilous Princess Plot is just so fun. I can't wait to share it with students:)

>95 karspeak:, >96 karspeak:, >100 karspeak: Yay, Karen, I can't wait to meet you! The Plainsong books are some of my favorites, but my favorite Colorado book by far is The Meadow by James Galvin. Sandra Dallas is a Colorado author, and many of her books are set here. I loved Growing Up True: Lessons from a Western Boyhood, and enjoyed Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West. There's always Angle of Repose and Song of the Lark.

>97 DianaNL: Thank you, Diana -- Sooooooooooo adorable!

>98 katiekrug:, >100 karspeak: I read Hell's Bottom, Colorado last year, and liked it, but didn't love it. I think the comparisons to Plainsong didn't help it.

>99 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! A Long Walk to Water is a good one, and a quick but powerful read.

6. The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes

Sweet story of Billy Miller and his second grade year. Great chapter books for younger readers, and a wonderful realistic fiction book for boys that does not feature underpants, gross-out humor, or zombie goldfish. NOT that there's anything wrong with those:) Quietly reassuring with strong characters, and the small conflicts and decisions to be made in second grade.

I'm going to look for Donald Sutherland's reading of The Old Man and the Sea. That sounds like a good combination!

>95 karspeak: I'm not Anne but I guess I'm a Coloradoan at this point! Welcome! As Katie said, Hell's Bottom is excellent, as are Pritchett's other books. Sandra Dallas, Pam Houston, Peter Heller, as well as Kent Haruf. James Galvin's, The Meadow is one I know Anne will recommend, too. And of course, there's Centennial.

If you poke around in my library, I've books tagged Colorado, including some great hiking books. The Colorado Year Round Outdoor Guide is a favorite of mine.

Ok, I'll stop now..... :)

Eta - Crossposted. Yes, there's The Meadow!

>103 Copperskye: Hi Joanne! You ARE a Coloradoan, for sure! I can't believe I forgot Pam Houston and Peter Heller:)

I don't know that I've ever read James Michener, but I remember my parents had several of his books when I was growing up. They seemed huge at the time -- were they?

Some excitement this week at school. An accident on the mountain road our school is on took out power, phone, and internet to the whole town, including the school! The power was out all day Wednesday, and with it the heat. We had to get all of our students through lunch at once as the cafeteria could not keep food at a safe temperature. There's only one window in the library, and it's around a corner, so the library was pretty dark. About halfway through the day our backup battery died, so emergency lights went out. Power was back on by the end of the day, but phones and internet did not come back on until the end of the next day. Weird how much we rely on internet! I refused to *not* check books to kids, so we went old-school, hand-writing names and copying book barcode numbers. Made me wish I had the old fashioned library cards and stamps (some books still have the cards inside). I took the tech-free day to begin a big weeding project in the 500s, but it was very disorienting not to look at my calendar or lesson plans for two days!

>89 AMQS: Anne, that sounds like a really fun read! I must find someone to buy it for, or at least recommend it.

>105 AMQS: I hope there are no more accidents taking out your power or the *heat*! Brrrr! It's not the time of year for that at all.

>101 AMQS:, >103 Copperskye: Thanks!!!

Whoa, quite a couple of days you had at school, Anne. I'm surprised children were kept at school without power? On this point I can totally relate!: Weird how much we rely on internet!

Love it when I find such books at our library, though they are becoming fewer and fewer: Made me wish I had the old fashioned library cards and stamps (some books still have the cards inside).

>106 susanj67: Hi Susan! Yes, it was cold! Crazy couple of days:) The Perilous Princess Plot has a different title in the UK: Buckle and Squash and the Monstrous Moat-Dragon, though I can't say after reading it that it's a better title:) Fun book!

>107 karspeak: Karen, any idea where in Denver you'll be moving?

>108 lit_chick: Hi Nancy, yes it was a crazy two days. Not really an option to close school. Some parents would not be able to come, we could not get buses... kids would trickle out all day, and both from an instruction and a supervision point of view, it was less disruptive to just plow ahead.

I find them quite a bit -- often on books I'm discarding. A fun throwback:) Last year I found a book on Nantucket whaling. The last date stamped on the card was 1968!

>105 AMQS: Wow Anne! That sounds like the kind of event your students will talk about for years! I'm glad you came through it OK.

>105 AMQS: I could very happily do without my phone for days on end, but take my Internet away and I get the shakes! I'm glad things are back to normal at school now.

>109 AMQS: My husband will be working in Lonetree, so somewhere down there. We need to start sussing out the school and housing situation. We'll be renting, at least for the first year.

>110 cbl_tn: Hi Carrie! Well, our little mountain school definitely has some little mountain quirks, and power loss is nothing new (we had no power for most of our first day of school). The students were pretty unimpressed, though they forget -- or are unaware of what relies on internet. Confused about why I had to hand-write barcode numbers. Why I couldn't check their library records. Why I couldn't just show them a video:)

>111 rosalita: Hi Julia! I know, right? It was weird not to be able to check my lesson plans at least!

>112 karspeak: Hi Karen -- we cross-posted. What grades?

>114 AMQS: :). K and 3rd.

>102 AMQS: This is the only Henkes I've read and liked, and I *really* liked it! I'm glad you did, too!

Hi Anne! Thanks for The Meadow recommendation. I might be visiting Colorado later this year, and want to read more books set there. It sounds like one I'd enjoy.

>115 karspeak: Fun ages! Where are you moving from?

>116 scaifea: Not a Henkes fan, Amber? I think I've only read some of his picture books.

>117 aktakukac: Yay, Rachel! Will you have time for a meet up? I'd love to meet you. The Meadow is such a wonderful read -- a mixture of fiction and nonfiction.

>118 AMQS: You'd think I would like Henkes - most folks do - but something about his stuff generally just doesn't work for me.

>118 AMQS: My husband is retiring from the military, so we have moved a lot! We have been in Colorado Springs for 6 months, 4 years in Germany before that, and before that Savannah, GA, Tacoma WA, El Paso, TX, and Seoul, S. Korea. Excited to finally settle down!

Stopping by to say Hi Anne. Making note of the recent reading and it is always amazing how one accident can manage to disrupt power, phone and internet for a large area and for such a length of time.

Weird how much we rely on internet! Frightening, isn't it? Where I work, we have also done away with landlines for phones. Our phone system is web-based and calls are accessed through web connectivity software and head (or desk handsets similar to a normal phone) The software the phone system operates through isn't all that reliable. Dropped calls seem to happen. Suffice to say, I refuse to give up my work issued cell phone...

Have a wonderful weekend!

>119 scaifea: Huh. Well, I can't say that I've read anything of Kevin Henkes but picture books before. I loved Waiting because it reminded me of the shrine my daughter Marina maintained on her windowsill for Peter Pan. She was a bit obsessed with him in first grade and left him trinkets in the hopes he would visit:)

>120 karspeak: Karen, that will be a nice change!

>121 lkernagh: Hi Lori! Yes, some things seems like a good idea at the time... Our school district is huge, and sometimes imposes some newfangled technology on everyone that turns out to be a huge mistake.

>122 DianaNL: Hooray for the weekend! We *might* be having a long one, as we're expecting a foot or more of snow Sunday-Monday-Tuesday!

7. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Oh, I loved this one. Sweet, bittersweet, sad, joyful -- it is all of those things. Loved taking the journey with Ove back through memory, through suffocating grief, through shocking curmudgeonhood, and ultimately, through life. I laughed a lot and cried frequently. Sometimes I leave "the really good ones" (books) on the shelf for the perfect moment, and then wonder why it took me so long to get to such a wonderful book. Glad this one didn't have to sit too long.

8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Audiobook narrated by Stephen Fry.

Silly classic sci-fi fun. I can't believe I hadn't read this one before (suddenly those quips my brother has been spouting since the 1980s make much more sense!) To be perfectly honest, though, it was Stephen Fry who hooked me -- I think I would listen to him read the tax code.

>101 AMQS: no, I didn't read The Old Man and The Sea to the kids! But I do read to them almost every night. kids books:)
Wilbur is getting The 26 Storey Treehouse at present and althoug he still resists reading (me to him even), he is soon into it.

>113 AMQS: I love the sound of your little mountain life :)

Hi Megan! OK, I went back and re-read your post in >91 LovingLit:. I was sure I had read that you had read The Old Man and the Sea to the kids, but rereading it I see where I erred:) I used to read aloud every night. I sure miss those days.

>124 AMQS: I must get to that one soon, Anne. I like my novels like my chocolate - bittersweet!

Have a great weekend.

>128 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! I hope you enjoy Ove when you get to it. It is a quick read, and a good one. Happy weekend to you!

>127 AMQS: funny that you miss it. Sometimes I try to rush through the night time reading, and then I stop myself and think about how much I actually love it, and how much they do. I hope to keep that tradition going :)

>84 AMQS: I Love Linda Sue Park. I will have to move that one up the queue.

>124 AMQS: I must add that one to the pile. I've looked at it a couple of times and passed, but if you loved it, I probably will too.

Fun photos of the mountain lion. My brother used to go camping on his own in the CO mountains. One time, he was standing by his fire and turned around and was eyeball to eyeball with one - not 3 yards away. He backed up to the fire and the lion left, but he slept in his car. Lol.

Lovely comments on A Man Called Ove, Anne. Another friend just recommended that to me.

I also read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy late, and yes, a lot of things made sense to me after I read it.

I also miss the reading aloud days. My daughter also misses them. When she was pregnant, sometimes we would read To Kill a Mockingbird together, and when we got to a part we especially liked, we would read it to each other. My consolation is that Scout does like reading, so I do get to read to her sometimes.

I love the Peter Pan story.

Morning, Anne! I have A Man Called Ove in the stacks, so I am happy to hear that it was a good one. And I LOVED Stephen Fry reading THGttG - so perfectly done and so funny. And like you, suddenly all those phrases I had heard made sense.

I also miss reading to the kids. Such great memories.

>125 AMQS: Hah! Yes, the quips come so easily...my family has been doing this non-stop for as long as I can remember. A lot of the quotes that my father uses are actually from the BBC miniseries version, televised back in the...80s? 90s? I'm not sure. It was a long time ago. Very campy, suitably ridiculous, definitely fun.

>125 AMQS: I haven't read that one yet. I just checked and it's available in Overdrive audio from my library so I added it to the Overdrive wishlist!

Delighted you enjoyed A Man Called Ove, Anne. Love your remarks: Sweet, bittersweet, sad, joyful ... suffocating grief, through shocking curmudgeonhood, and ultimately, through life.,

>130 LovingLit: Megan, reading aloud is our favorite tradition, and was when I was a child also. Last year I did manage to read a couple of books aloud. We still love it, we just don't have the time that we used to :(

>131 nittnut: Hi Jenn! A Long Walk to Water is a good one to move up. I love everything I've read of hers. My brother used to go camping alone also. Drove my mom crazy. She would worry like crazy until he got home. One night he came home at night and went up to tell her all about his trip. She was so relieved he was home safe. Then he went down to unpack his car and heard noise in the driveway. He stepped out of the garage to check t out and was face-to-face with a bear. All that worry and the bear encounter was on our driveway:)

>132 BLBera: Hi Beth! I don't think there's anything better than reading aloud. There's such a push for me to do tech projects at school -- which I love to do -- that I don't have many opportunities to read aloud, especially to intermediate students. I try to work them in whenever I can, and students love it. I treasure our family's read aloud memories!

>133 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! A Man Called Ove is a good one, and a quick read, too. I hope you enjoy it when it comes your way!

>134 dk_phoenix: Hi Faith! I was at least passably familiar with the titles in the series, but I had never read them. I wonder if my brother saw the miniseries? Or the movie -- did you see it?

>135 cbl_tn: Hi Carrie! It's silly, and a lot of fun. Hope it's a good read for you!

>136 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy! You read it last year, didn't you?

>125 AMQS: Ha! I'm listening to that one right now, too! I've loved the series since I was in junior high and Stephen Fry is absolutely perfect for it!

Oh! Glad you enjoyed Hitchhiker's Guide! It's one of my favorite, albeit slapstick, scifi novels. I've only read it in print; must try the Fry audio sometime.

Hope you got all your grocery shopping done. I didn't get out today. I may be paying for that tomorrow. :)

Wasn't Ove just the sweetest? I'm so glad you liked it as much as I did! You got me with Hitchhikers Guide read by Stephen Fry. It's been ages since I read it and that sounds like a good way to revisit it. My audio book tbr is growing in leaps and bounds.

Stay warm and dry!

>137 AMQS: I did see the Hollywood movie! I thought it was very entertaining and surprisingly well done.

Happy Monday, Anne! One of my coworkers loved A Man Called Ove, and I was already interested in it before I read your comments. Glad you liked it, too. I'd love to meet up if we can make it happen! I'll let you know more when I know a bit more :)

>124 AMQS: Oh I loved A man called Ove too. Glad that you pulled it down sooner rather than later.

Wow, your brother met a bear on the driveway. I think I'd be on the floor passed out. Shiver.

That happened to my brother a few years ago! He rented a cabin in Gatlinburg. The morning they were headed out early for Cades Cove, he took some things out to their van and ran into a bear in the driveway.

>138 scaifea: Great readers think alike, right Amber? Are the other books in the series as good as the first?

>139 Storeetllr: Hi Mary! Hope you were able to get your grocery shopping done before today. I was pretty put out that we didn't have a snow day yesterday, especially in the mountain schools, but I am THRILLED to have one today! They're like a gift!

>140 Copperskye: Hi Joanne! The Stephen Fry narration would be a great way to revisit the series, I would think. As I said above, I would listen to him read the tax code, and his voice(s) really bring out the silly humor of the book. Are you at work today?

>141 dk_phoenix: Faith, I may have to watch it. I was surprised to see it come up in Alan Rickman's credit list, but I think his voice would be perfect for Marvin:)

>142 aktakukac: Yes, let me know as your plans shape up, Rachel! I urge you to give A Man Called Ove a try:)

>143 charl08: Me, too, Charlotte! Too often I wonder what I was waiting for! Wildlife is definitely a part of mountain living. We'd see bears every so often growing up -- usually when one neighbor would spot one he'd put a note in all of the neighborhood mailboxes. If we stay out of each other's way, everything's usually fine, but bear-people encounters usually end up badly for the bear. Me elementary school periodically sent home letters to our parents asking them to remind us not to play with the buffalo:)

>144 cbl_tn: They're out there, aren't they, Carrie? Hope both your brother and the bear came through it unscathed:)

I plan to do a lot of reading today as I spend my gift of a SNOW DAY! Our long-promised "big one" finally delivered (disappointed not to have a snow day yesterday, and given our drive and attendance, I'm thinking the mountain-area schools should have had one) but today makes up for it! We have well over a foot -- maybe as much as 18 inches, which we will "enjoy" shoveling once it stops snowing. Snow days are the BEST!

Yay for snow days! Enjoy yours. What are you planning to read today? Something set in a hot, sunny beach town? LOL

It's still snowing lightly here in southeast Centennial, and the roads are impassable for my little red sports car. I'm not going in to work today ~ the woman who runs the place told me to stay home, that it's awful in Elizabeth, where she lives, and worse in Denver. So, another day of mostly reading for me. B.A.G., as Mark would say.

I haven't been out of the house since Friday night. My sis stopped at the grocery on her way home and picked up a few things for me, but I've got enough in the larder for a couple more days.

Enjoy your snow day, Anne! I am seriously depressed about the lack of snow and winter weather we have had so far this season, but in a way it's been very nice not to have to worry about driving to Michigan and back on snowy or icy roads.

>147 Storeetllr: Hi Mary! Not hot and beachy, but an adventurous western romp! Glad you are able to stay home, and that you have provisions to see you through:) Snow days are somehow different from weekend days, when I often don't have time to read because I feel obligated to plow through my ever-growing to do list. Snow days are like fairy gifts -- and I give myself permission to indulge completely. I finished my book and may finish another, and I finished a murder-mystery puzzle with the girls (Callia solved the whodunnit). Shoveling snow and starting the dishwasher were the only "must dos" of the day!

>148 aktakukac: Thank you, Rachel! Yes, I do love a snow day, but they are rare. I love the snow, but I hate driving in it -- now more than ever since Callia is driving. Are you driving to Michigan and back for work?

9. Etta by Gerald Kolpan

Two weeks ago Marina and I had a movie night together and watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (aside: they don't make 'em like Messrs. Newman and Redford anymore). Love that movie, and always have. It reminded me that buried in a pile somewhere was Etta, which Joanne had read and reviewed years and years ago, so I dug it out.

Hardly anything is known about Etta Place, companion to Mr. Harry Longabaugh, aka the Sundance Kid. Here, Gerald Kolpan imagines her life as a sweeping saga beginning in wealth and privilege and driven to outlaw life following pursuit by the mafia and a stint as a Harvey Girl. The book is fun, if far-fetched, and Etta is a very strong character who lives life on her own terms, conducting herself with grace and grit. I do enjoy books that mix the real with the fictional -- Etta here is mostly fiction as so little is known about her, and in addition to Cassidy and Sundance, she mixes with Eleanor Roosevelt, "Buffalo" Bill Cody, and Charles Siringo, the famous Pinkerton detective.

I enjoyed the book but... this quibble is perhaps unfair: I often resist watching movie or TV adaptations of books because the production rarely matches the story as I've created it in my head. This book suffers from the reverse. I love the movie so much that the book just doesn't fit into the same place in my brain occupied by Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and Ms. Etta Place.

Wonderful review of Etta, Anne. You remind me that a) I need to rewatch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; and b) that they don't make 'em like Messrs. Newman and Redford anymore. Interesting quibble, as you put it: This book suffers from the reverse. I love the movie so much that the book just doesn't fit i. Thumb-up!

Hi Anne, I hope you had a wonderful snow day today! Our office had a 10am start but since it was still snowing this morning and I had my laptop with me, I opted to work from my kitchen table. It was nice to be able to multitask and do some laundry, shovel snow, and walk and play with Skye. All and all, a good day.

I'm glad to see you enjoyed Etta. I think it would have suffered from a comparison with the movie if I had watched it just before reading this book!

It sounds like everyone enjoyed their snow days. Now for the shoveling.

>151 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy, and thanks for the thumb! Yes -- everyone should re-watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid!

>152 Copperskye: How wonderful to stay home and not go out in the snow, Joanne! I'll bet Skye loved playing outside. Etta did suffer in comparison to the movie, but it was a fun read for which I have you to thank. You know you're probably responsible for the majority of my TBR list!

>153 BLBera: Snow days are magical, Beth! We had a lot of shoveling to do, but we also have four shovels and four pairs of hands, so we got it done. Aside from shoveling, I did pretty much nothing but read. Our district only budgets for one snow day per year, and since we had one in December, we will have to make this one up. Since I know I am deferring a day of work I feel like I can enjoy any snow days that come our way guilt-free!

Morning, Anne! Nice review of Etta. My Dad and I used to watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - haven't seen that one in years, but we both loved it. I need to watch it again.

>145 AMQS: I loved the whole series!

>83 AMQS: Anne, I enjoyed your comments on The Old Man and the Sea. I read it as a young person and disliked it, but when I picked it up again a few years ago, I saw and felt the beauty of it. Lesson learned: don't give up on those classics. They are classics for a reason!

>105 AMQS: That sounds like a very challenging school day. I used to love the old-fashioned check-out system with the cards in the pockets. That way I could see who had read the book before me! I'm still a voyeur when it comes to books…

>124 AMQS: I'm always happy to see more love for A Man Called Ove. It's wonderful to see such a sweet book get some attention. Anne, I'm eternally grateful for your recommendation on The Meadow. I think I'm due for a reread this year. Keep up the warbling, my friend.

Yay for another Snow Day! I just hope it is snowed out by March when I plan to be in Denver. Fat chance! I remember March and April as being snowy months. I haven't planned the specific days yet. I'm hoping to avoid your spring break this year. When is it? I hope we'll be able to get together.

Good morning, Anne, and Happy Wednesday.

A Man Called Ove sounds wonderful. I will put that one on the burgeoning wish list.

You know, I feel the way you do about "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" -- I absolutely love the movie and I've seen it dozens (well, maybe one dozen) of times and the characters are indelible and rich and real in my mind. I like the idea behind Etta and I may read it just for fun, but I bet it will suffer from the same quibble you note.

By the way, I love "The Sting," too. :-)

>155 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! It's such a good movie. I remember watching it with my mom. We watched it when the kids were younger, but they were too young. They both loved it this time.

>156 scaifea: Good to know, Amber!

>157 Donna828: Lesson learned: don't give up on those classics. They are classics for a reason! So true, Donna! I love revisiting classics on audio. There are some amazing narrators who bring them to glorious life.

It has been a long, long time since I read The Meadow. I may need to reread it soon as well. Our spring break is the week of March 21st. We will likely be doing college visits, but I'm not sure where yet. Which week are you thinking to come? March and April are very snowy -- April has historically been our snowiest month.

>158 EBT1002: Good morning, Ellen! Maybe read Etta before watching the movie again. Then all will be right with the world:) I don't think I've ever seen The Sting, but i definitely need to!

Oh yes! I will carefully avoid spoilers (and I encourage you to avoid any summaries of the story) but if you like Newman and Redford together during that era, "The Sting" is a Must See!!!!!

10. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix, audiobook narrated by Jonathan Davis

Great book!! This audio had me holding my breath and gripping the steering wheel. Set in the near future, the government has established a population law and families are only allowed to have two children. The penalties for having a third child are severe. Luke is one of those "third children." His existence is illegal and a great family secret. Aside from taking precautions, Luke lives a fairly normal, if sheltered life. But the government forces his family to sell land and clear their woods to build houses, and Luke is forced inside. With neighbors, he can't even sit at the dinner table with his family, and must spend all of his time in his attic room. One day he sees a face in a neighbor's window he is sure belongs to another third child. Luke must weigh his fear and the risks of reaching out to this child against the boredom, frustration, and loneliness of his life in the attic.

Many students come into the library asking for The Hunger Games, which I can't have in the collection because of its maturity level. Now I can recommend this series along with Suzanne Collins's Gregor the Overlander series. Would be a great younger-reader alternative to The Giver as well.

>160 EBT1002: I'm reserving it at the library right now!! if you like Newman and Redford together during that era... Who doesn't?? Eeeeeeee, so excited! Thank you for the recommendation.

Yay.

>161 AMQS: Good review of Among the Hidden, Anne. I've added it to the WL.

Another Scout book, Anne. Thanks.

I think our school district allows for 3 or 4 snow days. We hadn't had any so far this year. I have a friend who grew up in Fairbanks. I asked him about snow days, and he laughed. The only time they have snow days is if the buses don't start.

>161 AMQS: Looks like another one for Margo's pile. :)

For some reason, this morning I found myself humming, "Raindrops keep falling on my head"....

Oh, and The Sting is a great movie!

>137 AMQS: I was never read to as a child, at least, I don't remember it. I suppose I must have been!? *woe is me*

Ah well, I turned out alright! I do remember when we went travelling for a year (as a 7-8 year old) being made to write a diary every single night. It felt like hell at the time, and now I read over my diary and see some days all I wrote was "drove all day, set up camp, wrote diary, went to bed". And I laugh. What a drag it was! Other days I wrote other, much more informative stuff.

>165 BLBera: allows for snow days? What happens if there are ten snow days?

>163 EBT1002: :)

>164 jnwelch: It's a good read, Joe, and the first of a series. Not a new series, but a good one:) Hope you're having a great week!

>165 BLBera: Hi Beth! A good one for Scout. Yes, we Colorado types scoff at other places that shut down with a flake or two, but I'm sure we'd quake before an Alaskan winter! Sometimes that is the rationale here: too cold for buses to start. Our district is pretty tough, though. We've had school with 12+ inches before. We had about 18 at our house with this latest storm, though, and it snowed all day, so I'm very glad they called it!

>166 nittnut: Hi Jenn! A good one for Margo. I'm just thrilled to recommend something for kids who want The Hunger Games.

>167 Copperskye: That was such a lovely scene, Joanne! Marina's face lit up when the song started. She had heard it, of course (and said her 6th grade teacher sang it), but had never known it had been in a movie.

>168 LovingLit: Woe IS you, Megan! Though I will say, reading aloud to your children is nearly as good:) I was a dedicated diarist when I was 9 or so, but a very dull one. And you went traveling for a year! Wow! That's an irreplaceable experience!

I can answer the snow day question for my district at least: we make them up. We have one snow day budgeted for the year, so if we have more than one, we have to make the day up. This week's snow day was the second, so we'll make it up in May. Usually it's added to the calendar in some way -- a staff development day (no school for students) turns into a regular instructional day. Or a staff comp day. There are two days held after the last day of school for snow day makeups. Our state law says that students have to be in school for a certain number of instructional days. Our state also ranks embarrassingly low in state funding for education (Colorado is 48th or something terrible in the country for how well we fund our schools), so schools are always in critical budget crises, and operating right at the edge of instructional days required by law saves money. If we don't have snow days, that is. Some years we don't get that much snow, so then the gamble pays off. Some days are just jokes. Monday, for example, perhaps should have been a snow day for mountain schools. We were missing about a quarter of our students because we had so much snow. So it really wasn't "an instructional day" but it counted. A good thing, I suppose - one day I won't have to make up.

11. The Nest by Kenneth Oppel

This middle-grade book was published late last year and is one of the scariest, most disturbing books I've ever read. I read it in a single sitting. And now sleep with the light on.

Young Steven just had a baby brother. But something is wrong with the baby, and the family's days are consumed with worry and hospitals and tests. Steven starts to have dreams of an angel-like creature who is soothing and reassuring, and who offers to help make the baby better. In his waking hours, Steven discovers a wasp nest growing just outside the baby's window. Over the course of a few days, Steven comes to realize that he is visiting the wasps in his dreams, and that their plans for "fixing" the baby are not what Steven had bargained for at all. The wasps offer to fix him as well -- Steven is a child who suffers from disturbing nightmares, anxiety, and OCD, which adds complex layers and nuance to an already tangled problem (for starters, when he reports disturbing dreams about the baby, it is assumed that his mind is troubled, and he is sent back to his therapist). Wouldn't it just be easier if Steven could be fixed? If the baby could be perfect? If the grief and worry could just go away? A very powerful (and completely terrifying) exploration of courage, acceptance, and what is "normal." Full of dreams, the story itself is dreamlike, and so compelling I couldn't put the book down.

The book came from the vendor with its jacket on (see image above) but not attached to the book the way library jackets usually are. The loose jacket bugged me while I was reading it, so I took it off, only to find this underneath:


...which scared me so much I actually gasped. Read the book -- I need someone's heart to pound like mine did!

Oh, Anne, I've come here to find two books calling to me! I'm adding Among the Hidden to my wishlist, and I just saw The Nest on the New Audio Book shelf at the library and if it's still there today, I'll pick it up! WOOT!

>161 AMQS: This is a great series! I read it years and years ago, but it's perfect for the younger audience. When I went to do an author talk at an elementary school last year, a couple of kids there asked me if I'd read it, so it's definitely connecting with the age group. I find that Haddix is a fantastic writer who's really able to target her audience in a way that speaks to them. I greatly admire her.

You got me with The Nest, Anne! Adding it to the list. A very good review - did you post it? If so, I will thumb. Happy Friday to you!

I need someone's heart to pound like mine did! Done! Achieved!

>125 AMQS: Stephen Fry narrates? I'm sold!

>170 AMQS: I have an ARC of this sitting at home somewhere. I think it needs to move up the TBR pile a little.

Also, happy reading this weekend!

> The Nest sounds scary. Added it to the wish list.

I don't know about The Nest; it might be too scary for me.

Re: snow days. If we go over the allotted days, we also make them up. That happens rarely.

Have you read Listen to the Moon? Margo just got it for a prize for the summer reading program (they have the BEST summer reading program EVER at the local library) and she loved it.

>171 scaifea: Yay, Amber, I got you! Hope you enjoy them both when they come your way.

>172 dk_phoenix: Faith, I have seen her books for years but I had never read one before. I want to read more of her work -- she's a popular author in the library.

>173 Crazymamie: Hi Mamie! Yes, I posted the review today. Can't include pictures, though. Hope you enjoy The Nest!

>174 lit_chick: Yay, Nancy! I can't wait to see what you think. I've been thinking about it ever since I finished it.

>175 tapestry100:, >176 tapestry100: Hi David! I'm with you there on Stephen Fry! As for The Nest, I'll look forward to your comments. As I told Nancy, I've been thinking about it a lot! Hope to get some reading done this weekend. I understand my Broncos are playing in some kind of game this weekend... :) Hope yours is a good one!

>177 SandDune: Hi Rhian -- it IS scary! And very good!

>178 BLBera: It is a scary one, Beth, but a good one. Meaty also. We had to make up a snow day last year, and will again this year -- at least once:( Have a great weekend!

>179 nittnut: Jenn, I haven't read it, but I just looked it up and it looks terrific! Sadly it's too old for my library, but I requested it for myself from the public library. Why/how is the summer reading program so good? What do they do differently?

I really loved A Man Called Ove, too, Anne. Very interesting article @65. I think I was very blessed to read more of British Fiction as a child. One of my grandma's was especially keen on reading to me as young child. my parents, with 3 kids in 4 years did try to read to us, but it was more of a special treat. But by the time I was 5 I was reading and pretty keen about it.

As for snow days, I don't remember a snow day here in Vancouver, despite the chill you might have felt. Really never snows here - or only briefly. I think The Nest sounds too scary to me.

I do miss reading aloud to my sons. It was a lot of fun! Perhaps in time I will have a grandchild to read to? :)

I picked up the audio version of The Nest yesterday at the library - I'm excited!

>181 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah! I would say I read a healthy measure of both British and American children's literature growing up. Lots of wonderful books, but there is something really magical about British children's books. I wish you lots of happy reading in your future, hopefully some of it aloud!

>182 scaifea: Yay, Amber! I'll be curious to hear your reaction to it.

12. Remembering Laughter by Wallace Stegner. Audiobook narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Remembering Laughter is Wallace Stegner's 1937 literary debut. It is a short little book, beautifully and descriptively written, and desperately sad. Cassandra Campbell is a wonderful narrator, capturing the musical Scottish brogue of the principal characters, the loveliness of the landscape, and the bitter, repressed grief, shame, and resentment that steals the youth and joy of Margaret, Alec, and Elspeth.

Alec and Margaret Stuart are a young couple, immigrated from Scotland, and hardworking and successful Iowa farmers. The novel opens as they joyfully await the arrival of Elspeth, Margaret's younger sister, coming to live with them following the death of their father. Elspeth is captivated by the beauty of the farm, the prosperity of her sister and brother-in-law, and the charm and humor of Alec. Her gaiety and youthful exuberance contrasts with Margaret's upright propriety, social prominence, and stern disapproval of Alec's (occasional) drinking. Alec and Elspeth are drawn to each other, and when the lovers are discovered by Margaret, their happy home dies a sudden, unspoken, frozen death. Appearances are maintained, lies silently constructed, and family bonds suffocated. The book is lovely and sad. Ms. Campbell's narration is truly wonderful. Today I drove past the supermarket twice without realizing what I was doing because I was so absorbed in the story.

>170 AMQS: lol, I almost want to go there....almost...
*shudder*

Oh and- Go the Broncos! :)

WahHOO! There was much whooping and celebration going on down at the Pecan Paradisio, I can tell you. So thrilled for Peyton and for the Broncos!

>185 AMQS: Love it!

We won!

Congratulations, Anne!

What a defensive display out there, and Peyton calmly brought it home.

Oh, Anne, bang, bang, I am dead! Stellar review of Remembering Laughter. This one is immediately onto my list. Love Wallace Stegner, but was not aware of this one, his debut.

About those Broncos, LOL! (cannot comment other than to cheer you on because I know nothing about football!)

eta: ... and I'm back. Found the audiobook at Downpour for $9.56! It's in my computer! Thanks, Anne : ).

>186 LovingLit: LOL, Megan -- it's a big decision to read a children's book that you know will disturb you! And the Broncos went! Super Bowl Champs!! Lots of celebrating last night, today, and tomorrow (parade in downtown Denver). Very exciting!

>187 Crazymamie: Woohoo Mamie! Lots of celebrating here. Lots of neighbors set off fireworks last night, and most of us went outside to cheer. Very cool.

>188 cbl_tn: Thanks, Carrie! That picture is two years old -- our school went all out the last time we went to the Super Bowl, and were crushed. I think everyone had a more measured wind-up this time (we were not favored at all), but I was glad to bring out this picture:)

>189 thornton37814: We did, indeed, Lori! Great night:) Parade tomorrow!

>190 jnwelch: That WAS a defensive display, wasn't it, Joe? Wow. Like the Orange Crush of old (really old). The offense, though, a different wow. Drove me away from the TV by the start of the 2nd quarter. Too nervous!

>191 lit_chick: Yay, Nancy, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! I wasn't aware of this book either, but ran across it at the library. All you need to know about football is that the Broncos won:)

>192 AMQS: NZ just won a three match series against our traditional adversaries, Australia, so I know how you feel about the Broncos winning the game of games.
Ps I was taking about cricket :)

>185 AMQS: Nice!! :)

Hi, Ann! It looks like I have not been by in awhile, but I see books being read and that is what is important.

Good review of Remembering Laughter. Sounds good and I am a fan of Cassandra Campbell. She narrated my last audio. The book was just okay but she was stellar.

Hope all is well, my friend.

>193 LovingLit: It's a thrill to have the home team win the big game, isn't it, Megan? Glad you clarified the sport, though. I might have guessed it given five shots at it:)

>194 Copperskye: Thanks, Joanne! Thrilled for the Broncos and for Peyton. Did you watch?

>195 msf59: She is fantastic, isn't she, Mark? I'm sure I've heard her reading before All is well -- the sun is shining, the Broncos won... life is good!

Stopping by to see how things are with you, Anne. Great reading (love the reviews!) and yay for snow day, even if it was the second one of the year, which means you have to make it up in May. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.... they just don't make movies - or actors - like they used to. *sighs* ;-)

Have a happy weekend.

Stopping in to wish you a Happy Friday, Anne! Hoping that your weekend is full of fabulous!

>197 lkernagh: Hi Lori! Oh, it was still worth it! The snow day we will make up had been scheduled previously as a staff development day. I would much rather be teaching than sitting through meetings!

>198 DianaNL: Fridays are so sweet, aren't they, Diana! Happy weekend to you.

>199 Crazymamie: Thank you, Mamie! It is a very happy Friday indeed, because there is no school! Today is a comp day for staff to make up for extra time for parent teacher conferences. Loving having the long weekend stretched out before me!

Today Marina and I have errands and things to do -- she needs a blood test ahead of her rheumatology appointment next month, and then we'll shop for a present for her to bring to a birthday party tomorrow. This afternoon we have a rehearsal. Then Saturday and Sunday she and the Chorale are singing with the Colorado Symphony and Sierra Boggess! The kids are super excited. Sierra is a Chorale alum (I knew her when she was Marina's age), and requested the Chorale to be on this concert. We're singing some of her favorites from when she was in Chorale. Should be fun! Working weekend for my other daughter: she is the stage manager for her high school musical and they open next weekend. Her 17th birthday is Monday. I'd like to bring cupcakes or something to her rehearsal for the cast and crew. So no grand ski adventures on our long weekend. Still grateful for the time off:)

Happy weekend everyone!

>185 AMQS: Made me smile, Anne.

Have a lovely weekend.

Happy Valentine's Day, Anne!

>201 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul! It was a lovely long weekend, but pretty busy, as weekends tend to be:)

>202 Crazymamie: Thank you, Mamie! We celebrated with a concert yesterday. My daughter Marina performed with the Colorado Children's Chorale, the Colorado Symphony, and Sierra Boggess! It was a truly incredible concert.

She was born to read! Callia turns 17 today.

Happy Birthday, Callia. What a great picture. What do you have planned?

>204 AMQS: Great!

A Very Happy Birthday to Callia! What a sweet photo!

Thank you, Beth, Joe, & Mamie! I have made Callia her birthday dinner request (stuffed shells with feta and artichoke hearts), and have made her a mocha cake. She has been gone all day to rehearsal as her high school opens its musical next weekend, so this is production week. She is the stage manager, and went off this morning wearing a present:


It may be too small to read: it says "Obey your stage manager. Though she be but little, she is fierce."

Tonight will likely be quiet as we get ready for school tomorrow and a tough week for her. My brother is flying in from Germany (I am leaving now to go pick him up) and we will swing by the school on our way home with an assortment of drinks for the cast and crew -- seltzers, Starbucks frappuccinos, Izze sodas, "craft" root beers, etc.

Lovely photos of Callia, Anne. Love her tee-shirt! And how fabulous that your brother is coming from Germany! What a week for all of you at your house ...

Scout has a sweatshirt that says "Though she be little, she be fierce."

Happy birthday to Callia! I hope you survive your busy week!

>208 AMQS: I love the T-shirt! How very clever and what a fun gift. Happy birthday to Callia!

Happy birthday to Callia! I hope she had a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday to Callia!

I did of course send Callia a message on FB - a proud mum and rightly so.

Have a great weekend, Anne.

>209 lit_chick: Thank you, Nancy! It was a big week. Opening night was tonight, and the show was terrific! My brother was able to come, so Callia was thrilled. And is now very tired:) Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

>210 BLBera: Perfect! Does it suit her personality? How old is Miss Scout now?

>211 cbl_tn: Thank you, Carrie! We're all pretty tired, but we survived the week, and opening night was fantastic! We go again next Saturday on closing night, and can't wait to see it again.

>212 rosalita: Thank you, Julia! She had a great birthday. She wore the shirt again tonight for opening night:)

>213 scaifea: Hi Amber, thank you! She did have a great day. A working day, but she was doing what she loves.

>214 lkernagh: Thank you, Lori! Stelios and I are having a hard time getting used to the number 17... yikes!

>215 DianaNL: It's here, it's here! We're so ready:) Hope yours is wonderful, Diana!

>216 PaulCranswick: Paul, you are so sweet -- I know she appreciated hearing from you on her birthday. I AM a proud mum! She stage-managed her school's musical, which opened tonight. We loved the show, and she was celebrated by crew and cast alike. Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

13. Who Stole the Animal Poop? by Tim Smith

Author Tim Smith writes Buck Wilder Adventures, and is coming to visit my school on March 1. I've been sharing information about this author and his books with my students, who are K-5th grade. You know any book with the word "poop" in the title has got to be good:) I think Mr. Smith/Buck Wilder will be a hit with our kids. He writes outdoor adventure-themed books, both fiction and nonfiction, which my mountain kids will love. While this particular mystery hooks kids with the silly, the book is full of nature facts -- poop missing from the woods would cause a problem for the critters living there, who rely on its scent to navigate and pursue prey/elude predators. In addition to the simple but engaging story, there is flicker-page animation and a secret message in the form of a word puzzle kids can solve (with a plea not to write in the book if it's a library book -- thanks for having my back, Buck!). I'm looking forward to our author visit... but I'm not going to tell you who stole the poop -- you'll have to read it for yourself!

Belated Happy Birthday to Callia. She is just as sweet now as I'm sure she was as a toddler. You have lovely girls, Anne. I hope I get to see them the week of March 12 when I am in town!

Scout is 2 1/2 now. It does fit her. She is pretty good with letting her wishes be known.

*waves at Anne* Catching up. Slowly.

Wishing you a lovely weekend Anne.

>219 Donna828: Thank you, Donna! She is very, very sweet. Hard to believe she's 17. Where does the time go?

>220 BLBera: LOL, Beth:) Most toddlers usually are! Hope that confident, fierce spirit stays with her.

>221 MickyFine: Hi Micky! Glad you stopped by. Have you moved? Did you return from your trip? How are things?

>222 DianaNL: Hooray for the weekend, Diana! Thank you for the wishes.

>223 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul, and to you as well! Happy, happy birthday to Yasmyne!

>224 AMQS: Yup, I'm back from my trip and all moved. Been in my new place for a couple weeks now. :)

Well, if she's like her mama, she will be a fierce one.

>225 MickyFine: Congrats! I hope to be over to visit soon. I am desperately behind on all things LT, and many things in RL as well:)

>226 BLBera: Love it, Beth!

Some books to review:



14. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

I enjoyed this one very much, and appreciated the nudge from Carrie and others who've read and reviewed it here. I actually bought the book a few years ago because I wanted to support my quiet Marina, who definitely did not start out life that way. I recognized her, and myself, throughout the book. Ms. Cain's well-researched book explores varying cultural values, school, home and workplace strategies to support introverts, and physiological and neurological reasons why some people are simply hard-wired to prefer a quieter environment. She recounts numerous stories and anecdotes of famous introverts -- artists, writers, scientists, innovators -- who find solitude and quiet essential to their contributions.

I particularly enjoyed the book as an educator. What a mess education is in. Even the short time I have been teaching I have seen many different sweeping, research-based movements about teaching styles and classroom organization designed to "prepare learners for the 21st century workplace." I have also heard countless times that the jobs my elementary-aged students will have probably do not exist yet, and that current school children will likely change jobs or careers numerous times over the course of their adulthood. So why do we need to make every educational experience a "collaborative" one, when clearly many students do not thrive under this model all day every day, and their future career opportunities are so unknown?

Why do we accept this one-size-fits-all situation as a given when we know perfectly well that adults don't organize themselves this way? We often marvel at how introverted, geeky kids "blossom" into secure and happy adults. We liken it to a metamorphosis. However, maybe it's not the children who change but their environments. As adults, they get to select the careers, spouses, and social circles that suit them. They don't have to live in whatever culture they're plunked into. Research from a field known as "person-environment fit" shows that people flourish when, in the words of psychologist Brian Little, they're "engaged in occupations, roles, or settings that are concordant with their personalities." The inverse is also true: kids stop learning when they feel emotionally threatened.

15. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, audiobook narrated by Zach Appelman

I confess that I do love WWII stories, and this one is really beautiful. And desperately sad. Mr. Doerr weaves a very intricate story, focusing primarily on Marie-Laure, a young Parisian girl who lost her eyesight at the age of six, and Werner, a young German orphan from the poor coal mining town of Zollverein. Woven through their stories are those of Marie-Laure's father, the locksmith of the Museum of Natural History, his uncle Etienne, a WWI veteran paralyzed by shell-shock, Etienne's housekeeper Mme Manec, Werner's sister Jutta, the creepy Nazi Sergeant Major von Rumpel, seeking treasure on behalf of the Fuhrer, and Werner's gentle friend Frederick. Marie-Laure and her father flee Paris to the shelter of Uncle Etienne in Saint-Malo. Werner escapes a future in the mines by being accepted into an elite school, where boys are trained to embody the physical perfection and desensitized brutality of Hitler's military machine. How the two children's stories intersect unfolds slowly, yet breathlessly.

If it seems that there is a lot going on in the book, there is. Added to the list of characters are lengthy passages about mollusks, woodworking, radios, gemology, and ornithology. In less capable hands, this might have been a mess. As it is, the book felt a bit ambitious, but the story was compelling enough to sweep me away and break my heart.

16. The Story of Diva and Flea by Mo Willems and Tony DiTerlizzi

This is a new book in my library -- a short chapter book about a dainty little dog named Diva and a street cat and self-proclaimed flâneur named Flea who become improbable friends and teach each other new things about bravery, friendship, and Paris, the city they both love. Cute story!

>228 AMQS: I'm glad for the reminder on this one. I borrowed it from my mother quite some time ago and didn't finish it, though I really should. Your little write-up makes an excellent point, and I'm thinking I should finish it and pass it on to my brother, who received his first short-term placement this year in a grade 5/6 class. He'd likely find it very useful as he's keen on making changes (where he's able) to help kids with learning...he's young & adaptable still!

Wow, fabulous reading and reviews, Anne! I'm LOVING what you say about Quiet, particularly your POV as an educator. Here in BC, we are currently in the throws of yet another well-meaning, research-based curriculum change. I particularly enjoyed the book as an educator. What a mess education is in. Even the short time I have been teaching I have seen many different sweeping, research-based movements about teaching styles and classroom organization designed to "prepare learners for the 21st century workplace." Argh!

Glad you enjoyed All the Light too.

Great reviews, Anne. Our introverted but very social daughter loved Quiet, and my wife loved All the Light We Cannot See. I'd like to read both of them.

>229 AMQS: I loved that one, too! I remember early on having to spend some time marveling at the idea that a museum would have its own locksmith, and then wondering if they all still do. Seems like the sort of thing that would be ripe for the current craze of "outsourcing", doesn't it?

Nice reviews, Anne. My quiet daughter and I both enjoyed Quiet; I know she thinks about it in her classroom of first graders.

I don't think the Doerr impressed me as much as it did you, but I'll be reading it again for my book group. I'll see what I think of it the second time around.

Diva and Flea looks cute, like the kind of story kids would like.

Hi Anne, great review and wonderful quote from Quiet! All the Light We Cannot See is already on my future reading list. Always glad to see another positive review for that book!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for your recent reviews, Anne. I think Quiet will have a profound effect on me. I have been putting it off because I want my own copy. That is an easy fix...Amazon to the rescue. I'm leaving for Denver a week from today. Any chance of a meetup before your spring break?

>228 AMQS: I'm glad you found Quiet useful both personally and professionally! I prefer to work on my own, and I'm glad I completed my degrees before group work came into fashion.

>229 AMQS: I really must find time for All the Light We Cannot See.

How do I get so far behind around here? Lol

>180 AMQS: I don't know if it's better than every summer reading program, everywhere, but it's great. They have a booklet where they write down the books they've read. Then the last 4 weeks of summer they check in once a week. The library has teen volunteers who ask the kids questions about what they have read. Then they get a prize - invisible ink pen, voucher for the local pool, that sort of thing. The last check in, they get a ticket to the end of summer party. This year it was a pool party. At the party, every kid who checked in 4 times gets a book. Like a really good book. The kids love it.

>228 AMQS: Great review! I so agree with you about education. Also, my husband is an engineer -a profession highly populated with introverts - and the open office plan makes them all crazy. Nobody can get anything done.

>229 AMQS: I loved that book as well - loved all the detail. It painted a really good picture of the lives of the characters. Great writing.

>229 AMQS: Enjoyed your review of the Doerr book Anne. I must get to that one soon.

Have a lovely Sunday.

>231 dk_phoenix: Hi Faith! Quiet is definitely a worthy read, and an important one for any educator. Love your "young and adaptable" quote:) Teaching is all about adapting -- at any age!

>232 lit_chick: Thank you, Nancy! It's never ending, is it? I had an interesting conversation yesterday with my brother about ideas, trends, and fads -- I think many realms take their cues from the business world. It's al about money, and everyone is trying to capture lightning in a bottle. But education does not work that way (and neither do many businesses). It IS never-ending, and too few teacher voices are in the conversation.

>233 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe! Great to see you and to see that you have some excellent reading ahead of you!

>234 rosalita: Hi Julia! Yes, I thought the locksmith aspect of the story and the museum was fascinating. ripe for the current craze of "outsourcing" Yes! Funny, I was just reading an article about a hospital here who had outsourced the vetting of their hires (it was phrased in a much more way: "an expert third-party entity...") and it was discovered a surgical technician had completely invented his military-contractor background, and hidden the fact that he had been fired from four hospitals and also court-martialed. Now, maybe a hospital should rely on a third-party service for that -- they are in health care, not investigative work, but isn't the saying if you want a job done right, you do it yourself? I'd bet the Musee National has big-time tech now.

>235 BLBera: Hi Beth! Diva and Flea is very cute, but it's the kind of book you check out from the library rather than buy. It is similar in some ways to Lady and the Tramp. I've been wondering how I would like All the Light if I had read it in print rather than listened. For one thing, I might have been compelled to skip ahead when the heart-pounding parts cut away to something else! I've read criticisms of the book, and I see their points as well.

>236 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori! Both were great reads. I hope you enjoy All the Light when it comes your way.

>237 Donna828: Hi Donna! I hope Quiet does have an effect on you -- I'm very glad I read it, and I find myself thinking about it a lot. I definitely hope to see you! It looks like that will be the week before our spring break, so we'll be around. Let me know how your plans come together. I'll bet little Hope is so big now!

>238 cbl_tn: Hi Carrie! Re: Quiet: Me, too! I had to suffer through group work when I got my masters. There are certainly situations that require -- or benefit from -- collaboration when I teach, but I make sure I mix it up a lot! Hope you enjoy All the Light when it comes your way!

>239 nittnut: Hi Jenn! I am perpetually behind -- it's not just you:) Sounds like a good program. I prefer tracking books rather than reading minutes.. My girls were terrible about tracking minutes for reading logs. We usually just made it up at the end of a month when the logs were due, though they were always reading, so that part was not made up. Here in Jeffco, there are all sorts of coupons and prizes when you sign up -- Beau Jos Pizza, bowling, discounted tickets at Lakeside, etc. You have to track minutes (ugh) and when you turn in your form with the required number of minutes you got to pick out a book. We did it for a couple of years, and then my daughters no longer wanted to sign up. Even with the incentive to get a free book. Tracking minutes just wasn't worth it (and we've never had a shortage of either books or minutes read).

Susan Cain directly addresses your husband and other like him. Hard to function when the world is not set up to in a way that matches your needs, is it?

>240 PaulCranswick: Hi Paul! Hope you enjoy All the Light when it comes your way. I thought it was a compelling, if ambitious read.