Look at this face!
I think this is Pebbles. But I could be wrong. I know it’s not Wilma…
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June 2010
Bree Tanner
Damn Stephenie Meyer. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner was good. Really good. I hate it when I don’t want to like something and then I do. I sure wish Eclipse had ended differently. I liked Bree. And Diego. And Fred.
If you’ve read the other Twilight books, you should read this one. You won’t be sorry.
Cybils Children’s Poetry
I knocked out all of the shortlisted poetry books from the Cybils list last night:
African Acrostics
The Bill Martin Jr Big Book of Poetry
The Monsterologist
Red Sings from Treetops
The Tree that Time Built
I enjoyed The Monsterologist quite a bit. Quick, amusing, great illustrations. African Acrostics was excellent, a nice way to expose kids to a different kind of poetry. The best thing about the Bill Martin Jr Big Book of Poetry is it’s just another Bill Martin Jr book and they all kind of read the same to me. Red Sings from Treetops almost put me to sleep but I soldiered on to my favorite of the bunch…. The Tree that Time Built.
The Tree that Time Built comes with a CD, which I haven’t listened to yet – but I have high hopes for it. The book itself was more than I expected. Poems from great poets. (Langston Hughes, D.H. Lawrence, Mary Oliver, Christina Rossetti… I could go on, but you get the picture….) A brilliant mix of science, nature and poetry with excellent footnotes that are interesting and don’t feel like something I’d skip over because it’s just boring.
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Cybil’s Children’s Non-Fiction (The Last Two)
I went on a Cybil’s binge last night. It’s easy when my binge comes from the children’s category. Quick, easy reads that are usually a lot of fun or pretty interesting. Last night, they were more interesting than fun.
The last two books from the Children’s Non-Fiction short list were The Frog Scientist and Marching For Freedom.
The Frog Scientist was interesting but I can’t see any of my kids reading this one for fun – or just because they were interested in frogs. It’s more like a resource for a paper about frogs or environmental issues. And as a resource for such a paper, it’s a great one. The photos are good. The description of the experiment taking place was excellent. Any kid who needs a research topic ought to consider the plight of the frog and the effects of pesticides on frogs. Fascinating, really. (And way to go Tyrone! A fellow South Carolinian! Nice to see an African American scientist with a really diverse group of research assistants. For that alone, this book ought to be handed to every kid to peruse.)
I wasn’t prepared to really enjoy Marching for Freedom. I’ve read a whole slew of books about African Americans and their fight for the vote, Rosa Parks, MLK, etc…. this one was completely different. OK not completely different but because it really focused on the children and teenagers who played a huge role in the fight for the right to vote, it was a different story. Selma and the march to Montgomery – completely different look when you’re thinking about just how many children CHOSE to march. That’s a story that just hasn’t been told before – and one that we should be telling our kids about. Kids can do great things and make huge contributions – and they should. It’s a scary story – 10 year olds and 12 year olds and 14 year olds being jailed and beaten, but it’s important. Those kids knew that this was something worth standing up for.
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Henrietta Lacks
Awhile back, Sassymonkey told me that everyone was going to be reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I admit, I only half believed her. It is non-fiction, after all. And a story about science and an African American family – not really mainstream reading, unfortunately. I don’t know if Sassymonkey is right and everyone is reading it. I do know my mother started reading it a few weeks ago. And I do know that everyone SHOULD read this book.
It’s a story that pissed me the hell off.
Everyone should know Henrietta Lacks’ name and everyone should know what happened to her, to her cells, and to her family.
Did I mention this pisses me off? I’d like to see Skootz do a book about “The Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland” next. (Or maybe someone has already written this one and I just haven’t stumbled across it? I’m off to look.)
Hello Kitty Must Die
I love the “Just Returned” shelf of the library. I always find interesting things there. Things like a book with a hot pink cover called Hello Kitty Must Die. If you like Dexter, you’re going to like this book. You might even like this book more than you like Dexter. (I know, I’m scaring you now aren’t I?)
Try it. Trust me. I take my serial killer books very seriously.
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Alt Ed
Alt Ed is like The Breakfast Club but without Ally Sheedy. Or without any of the really cool characters that made up The Breakfast Club, now that I think about it. The Breakfast Club Lite? Errr. It wasn’t a bad book, it was a nice book. But it’s impossible to not compare it to the movie – and of course this nice little book will come up way short in those comparisons. If I hadn’t grown up with The Breakfast Club, I’d probably like Alt Ed a heck of a lot more than I did.
Two for the Road
I’m a big fan of “Roadfood” and if I liked food in general just a little bit more… and also travel just a little bit more than that… I’d be envious of Jane and Michael Stern. What better job than to drive across the country, eating at diners and truck stops and hole in the wall restaurants? Thanks to Two for the Road, I can just convince TW to make some of these foods at home and live laugh vicariously through the Sterns’.
Homicide in Hardcover
I read the second book in the Bibliophile Mystery series before I read the first. I hate it when that happens so I reserved the first one, Homicide in Hardcover, to get the back story. It was an ok book but the second one was much better, I think. (And how often does that happen?)
Fun chick-litty mystery series that involves food but only because Brooklyn really likes to eat. I’m looking forward to the next book.
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Last week on BlogHer
I’ve been so darn busy with “secret projects” (hah) at work that I haven’t had much time to actually read the blog posts that editors at BlogHer.com are writing. I just took a lunch break and played catch up a wee bit. There were some pretty fabulous posts written while I was distracted – So fabulous that I thought I’d share them here:
Nordette rocked two posts really hard: http://www.blogher.com/cylons-cometh-humanmachine-hybrids-and-our-impending-immortality and http://www.blogher.com/social-media-takes-freeing-scott-sisters-mississippi — Amazing work on both of these pieces (and I was thrilled to see the comments on the Scott sisters piece.)
Professor Kim blogged what I consider a bit of a PSA for all of us about fair use – and she did it using Twilight as an example. SMART woman that Professor Kim: http://www.blogher.com/fair-use-dos-and-donts
Mia the intern took my idea for a True Blood parody round up and turned it into something funny as heck. Snoop Dog? Who freaking knew??? http://www.blogher.com/five-funniest-true-blood-parodies-plus-snoop-doggs-tribute-sookie
8th grade graduation??? Oy, good thing I didn’t have time to actually read this before because I could have done a lot of ranting. Now, I’m just going to let it slip by. (Maybe) http://www.blogher.com/8th-grade-graduation-american-comingofage
I did hear something about a flood. In Oklahoma. But until I read Susan’s post… I had no idea. Wow. http://www.blogher.com/oklahoma-city-flooding-strands-drivers-stuns-city
Oh, I did read this yesterday because I was starving (there has been no real food in my house all week – don’t ask) Kalyn and her weekend menu planning post sucked me in with the biscuits. Kalyn can write a round up, can’t she? http://www.blogher.com/weekend-menu-planning-endless-options-homemade-biscuits
This one I also read yesterday because Laura Henry looks awesome in this swimsuit and I had to stop what I was doing to say so: http://www.blogher.com/be-your-own-pinup-diy-swimwear
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