Snow and Ice Day

What I Am Reading Now....

As a middle school librarian, I try to read books that I can recommend to my students.  Now that we are in full Battle of the Books practice mode, I am trying to read as many Battle of the Books books that I can so that I can write practice questions for the students.

I just finished The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt.

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?titleNumber=100515

This is a wonderful book that takes place in New York in 1967.  It is about a seventh grader named Holling Hoodhood.  That's correct....Holling Hoodhood--(I know the nerve of those parents!).  Holling is neither Jewish nor Catholic, so on Wednesday afternoons(instead of joining his classmates at Catholic school or Hebrew school), he reports to his language arts teacher, Mrs. Baker, who teaches him Shakespeare.  Holling discovers the underlying meaning of much of the Shakespearian terminology and proceeds to use in it in places where he otherwise might use a curse word.  This book is funny, for the most part.  Holling (bless his heart) has to deal with quite a bit of bullying and sometimes makes choices that do not help his cause. As I read this book, I found it predictable because I was able to tell what kind of life Holling had after the first few chapters.  I recommend it to anyone who enjoys middle grade humor yet at the same time can relate to being picked on.

I have just started Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/318404.Drums_Girls_And_Dangerous_Pie

So far, this book has had its funny moments, but it is real quick to slap you back into reality. The main character, Steven, loves to play the drums. He is in middle school and has a five year old brother, Jeffrey, who gets on his nerves. One morning, Steven is fixing oatmeal for Jeffrey, who is sitting on a barstool. Jeffrey somehow falls off the barstool and Steven gets blamed for his bloody nose that will not stop bleeding.  Jeffrey is whisked off to the ER by their mother and Steven spends all day at school trying not to think about Jeffrey.  After school, Steven returns home to find out that his brother does not just have a bloody nose.  He has ALL, which is a form of leukemia.    That's about as far as I have gotten.  I want to go and pick it up right now and continue reading it.  I think I will...but before I do that, I wanted to share this jewel with you:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Belle-Weather/Celia-Rivenbark/e/9780312362997

Yes it's Belle Weather Mostly Sunny with A Chance of Scattered Hissy Fits by Celia Rivenbark.  This is my adult book right now.  I have only read one chapter of this so far and it is great.  It is a lot like her other books--full of southern colloquialisms and sarcasm.  I love it!  I look forward to laughing out loud as I read this.

That's what I am reading right now.  How about you?

Getting Our Moneys Worth at the Pediatrician's Office

This is the story of a little boy who had pink eye. His name is Seth. His daddy took him to the doctor one morning because his eye was very red and had stuff oozing from it. The doctor said, "Definitely pink eye." In the meantime, the doctor decides to check Seth all over to make sure there is nothing else going on (throat, ears, etc.). He looks in one of Seth's ears and sees a dislodged ear tube (he remembers this from Seth's well-child visit in December). The doctor asks Rob to help him get the tube out of Seth's ear by holding Seth down for him to extract the tube. He is successful.

Seth's dislodged waxy (ewww!) eartube (at right) in comparison to an earring (please note the earring was not in his ear, it is just for scale purposes)

The doctor then looks in Seth's other ear and discovers a treasure! Not a ball of wax, a sprout, or a dinosaur, but a purple bead! He again asks Rob to assist him in holding Seth down so that he is able to extract the purple bead. Again he is successful.

Apparently the bead reached Seth's ear unknowingly (yeah right) but after some inquiry, it was discovered that some crafts were done in his preschool class right before New Years involving beads. What can be learned from this story? Supervision is absolutely necessary when 3 and 4 year olds are playing with beads. Also, one can see from his bead color choice that Seth Bright is truly a ECU Pirate fan! Arggghhhh!!!

Brrrrr.......!!!!

Our thermometer this past Monday....

Happy Birthday Mumsie!

On January 3, we went to Robersonville and Williamston to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday. We were able to attend church with her, my parents, and my aunt and uncle. After church, we went to Williamston to have lunch. I think about all that Mumsie has seen and heard in her 90 years. She is one of the most optimistic people I know and I love her so much.

Happy Birthday Mumsie!

A New Year

Happy New Year even if it is a little late. I started back to school this past week and it's not going back to school that I hate. It is getting back into the routine. It is tough for EVERYONE. All the kids have to relearn everything. Seriously....they forget all the rules and expectations during those 2 weeks we are out.

We are still technically at the beginning of winter, but you would think it was the middle considering how cold it has been. For the past week and a half, we have risen in the morning to see the thermometer reading, 17 or 19 degrees. And the wind, oh the wind will bite you. We did get a little bit of excitement this past week with a chance of snow that went BUST! Wait, it did snow about 25 flakes on Thursday night. Then it decided to warm up just enough so that it wouldn't snow.

I am helping two friends of mine, Katie and Lauren, conduct an auction for a very special little boy. Many of you may know him....Jonah Williams is his name. He will be one year old on February 27 and Katie came up with this great idea of holding this auction in his honor. Currently we are working on soliciting donations for the auction. We hope to have a variety of things including gift cards, handmade items, photo packages, autographed items. If you have something you would like to donate or know of someone who should be contacted, please let me, Katie, or Lauren know. The auction will be held the week leading up to Jonah's birthday, and it will be set up at a site all its own. You can reach the site by clicking on the auction button on the right. I forgot to mention that all proceeds will go to DEBRA. Thank you for all the support!