Three More Cybils – Children’s Poetry

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Poetry /

And with these three, I finish up the Poetry category from the 2010 Cybils Shortlist.

Sharing the Seasons was a nice enough book of poetry. It seems like there’s a new seasonal poetry book every year, doesn’t it? This one is pretty much just like those. Some poetry that you’ve seen in other places plus some new poems. The illustrations are nice. I didn’t love the book or hate it. It was nice.

Next, a book I really liked. It reminded me a wee bit of another book from the short list that I didn’t like… (Ubiquitous). You might remember that I didn’t like that one because I didn’t like the poetry. I liked the science-y descriptions but the poetry bored me. Dark Emperor of the Night was similar in that it had a page of poetry and then it had factual discussions that were related to each of the poems. The poetry was excellent. The discussions, equally excellent. The kicker was the artwork. I kept running my fingers over the images – Rick Allen’s prints were amazing. I would buy one of his prints, it doesn’t matter of what, and hang it on my wall. Beautiful work. Beautiful choice for this book.

Finishing it up, Switching on the Moon. Very nice book of bedtime poetry. I even liked how it was sorted into sections and I liked the poems chosen to end/start each section. Nicely done. No complaints about this one.

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The Quest of the Warrior Sheep

1 Comment / 2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Favorites, Fiction /

KitCat was the first person I saw talking about The Quest of the Warrior Sheep. The minute I finished reading her post, I reserved the first book. Who cares that I’m behind – I have to read that book!  A few weeks later, Sassymonkey talked about the Warrior Sheep and I gazed longingly at my library book cart where the book has been sitting for ages. I thought I’d never get around to reading it!

But I did, last night.

Super fast read. Amusing, because sheep mysteries always are, aren’t they?

Sheep in a tube.

Sheep on a plane.

Sheep on a train.

How damn amusing is that?

And, oddly enough – I didn’t see that bad guy coming!

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Mama Ruby

2011, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction, Women /

I picked Mama Ruby from the shelf at the library because I thought it looked interesting. I didn’t think I’d get to read it because I’m so far behind on my stacks – but TW said it was good so I decided to deviate from my plan and read it.

It was… ok.

I’ve never read The Upper Room, which this was a prequel to. Maybe I’d have liked Mama Ruby better if I’d read it and been wondering about the history of the characters in that? I don’t know. I just didn’t find myself liking any of the characters.  

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I Am Creating Jobs For USA — Are YOU?

Coffee & Tea, Daily Dose, NaBloPoMo, News and Politics, Work /

We went to Starbucks this morning, it is Wednesday after all. I was extra excited about going because I knew I was going to be helping to create jobs for the USA. I knew this not just because I saw a press blurb about it last week but also because I sat in on a conference call with Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz (and led by BlogHer Co-Founder, Lisa Stone).

I always make small contributions to whatever charitable program Starbucks is promoting in their stores. It’s what I do. Starbucks gives me my Quad Grande Non-Fat Caramel Macchiato three days a week (and on holidays and special occasions) and I support causes they ask me to support. It’s the least I can do, really. And I have found that every single cause Starbucks has promoted has been one that I’d be happy to support.

HIV, Fresh Water, Literacy. Yep, Yep, Yep.

Creating Jobs for USA. DEFINITELY.

So I bought ten wristbands this morning and chatted about the program with my baristas who thought it was extra cool that I’d been in a conference call with Howard, heh.

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Those ten wristbands cost $50. That’s less than I spend at Starbucks in two weeks (less than I spend at Starbucks in one day if all of the kids are home on a coffee day.) That $50 goes an awful long way:

–          Every $5 = $35

–          $50 x $35 = $1,750

It takes $20,000 to create (and sustain) one new job. My contribution HELPED and yours can too.

You don’t have to buy 10. Just buy one if that’s all you can afford or all you choose to give. That’s one quad grande nonfat caramel macchiato… it’s worth it.

(If you’re a small business owner or considering starting a small business – you should consider applying for a loan at Opportunity Finance, which is where the funds being raised by Creating Jobs for USA are going.)

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What Is Your Favorite Part About Writing

1 Comment / Daily Dose, NaBloPoMo /

Hah.

Who has time to write?

That’s today’s prompt, the first prompt for NaBloPoMo. I literally laughed out loud when I read it. And then I cursed. A lot.

Awhile back, I tossed out the idea, on Joy’s blog, that maybe I don’t blog anymore because I’m too busy reading other people’s blogs and helping other people blog to actually do it myself. And that maybe, just maybe, those bloggers have stolen my words.

Stolen as in – what’s left to say? I mean really?

I read thousands of posts everyday and some of them are wickedly good.  I shake my head in agreement. I smile in recognition. I sit with my mouth hanging open in awe.

What really is there left for me to say, at the end of the day, that has not already been said?

The truth is – I’m not sure I know what I used to like best about writing. I just don’t have the time to do it, much less think about it.

And yes that makes me a little sad.

Let’s see what happens this month. Will I really write anything at all?

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Guardian of the Dead

2011, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

We finally finished listening to Guardian of the Dead (from the Cybils shortlist) – there was a lot to like about this book but Ellie Spencer drove us a bit crazy. It’s one thing for a teenage girl to be self-deprecating and have body issues but Elly’s issues were excessive. It was tough to listen to and I think it was a little much.

The Maori mythology was cool. I love a good creation story, after all. The magic was interesting.

This book also has something that no other book has… it has THE most disgusting scene ever. (It has several really disgusting scenes actually but one of them, involving geckos… that will live on as being the worst scene ever. EWWWWW.)

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The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman

2011, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Non-Fiction, Women /

A couple of months ago, I was flipping through Michelle’s Bitch magazine and you won’t be surprised to hear that there were several book reviews that caught my eye. The book I had to reserve right then was The Blue Tattoo. The cover, with a picture of Olive Oatman is fabulous. And, since captivity stories have never been my thing, I didn’t know anything about Olive – the Oatman massacre only barely registered as being one of those covered wagons traveling west things gone very, very wrong.

I’m glad I read this. It was super interesting – I just Olive had told us more and had been able to tell us more of her story, without being influenced by men (and society?)  Fascinating. I cannot imagine what that would have been like – not just the massacre or even living with the Mohave for five years, but the re-entry. That… that might have been worse than all of it put together.

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State of Wonder

2011, Books in Bed, Fiction /

Why does Ann Patchett have to let me down every darn time? I fall in love with her books (well most of them: see Lucy Grealy) and then bam – she screws it up in the last five pages. Every single time.

State of Wonder was awesome. Until the end.

I don’t even want to talk about the end. I’d like to forget it happened. I’d like to pretend we’re still in the Amazon with our Martins and our Lapps. That’s it. That’s how I’m going to remember this book from now on. Don’t anyone talk to me about anything else.

Geez.

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Three More Cybils

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Non-Fiction, Poetry /

Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat is a children’s non-fiction book about Ella Fitzgerald. Great photos. Nice storytelling. Ella as a homeless teen is kind of dark, if you have really young kids – but I liked that her difficult early years weren’t glossed over. Nicely done.

Mirror Mirror is a children’s poetry book and it was pretty good. Each duo of poems is based on a fairy tale. The poem is told top to bottom and then bottom to top. Smartly done.

A Sick Day for Amos McGee was not my kind of story. Amos gets up everyday and takes the bus to work at the zoo. He does things with the animals like play chess with the elephant and tell bedtime stories to the owl, who is afraid of the dark. One morning Amos wakes up with a cold and doesn’t go to work – so the animals take the bus to his house and do all of the things for him that he always does for them. It was nice enough and I’m betting my kids would have asked for it to be read to them over and over again while I yawned a lot.

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