Eat cookies. Be quiet.

Let Them Eat Dog Treats!

2009-07-09T00:23:00.004-04:00

Looking for some indoor, anytime fun that you can do with the kids? Make your own dog treats. There are several beautiful things about this project and the recipe shared below. First, it's an age-diversity-friendly project; both Batman (age eleven) and Robin (age four) love being part of all the steps of baking something. Second, it's incredibly easy. Third, it's dog treats. If they sneeze on the dough or lick the peanut butter off the spoon they're still using to stir, who cares? Not the dog. If the shapes are lopsided, or the limbs of the cookie-dogs get left behind on the counter, who cares? (In fact, Robin was really proud of his headless, tail-less dog cookie. Batman said it looked like a table.) It is such a lovely feeling to let go of any attempt at cookie perfection and just let them have fun.

Here is my favorite dog treat recipe:

Simple Simon's Birthday Bones

2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup skim milk

Cooking Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In another bowl, mix peanut butter and milk. Add wet mixture to dry, and mix well. Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and knead. Roll out to 1/4-inch thick and cut out shapes. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake 20 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool on a rack then store in an airtight container. Makes 30 large bones

From the Three Dog Bakery Cookbook (more on this below)

I can't speak to it making 30 large bones, because we usually double the recipe and use a variety of cookie cutters. If you double the recipe, you can just use an entire jar of peanut butter and don't have to measure it out (yuck). We use cookie cutters in all kind of shapes: bones, dogs, gingerbread men, partial gingerbread men . . .

And if you (or your offspring) get tired of cutting out shapes, which is pretty likely if you make a double batch, then it works just as well if you slice the dough into little squares and throw them on the cookie sheet.

The final thing I love about this recipe is that it tastes good. Yep, we've been eating dog treats. Well look at the ingredients. Pretty healthy, right? (The sneeze germs were burned up in the oven. Really.) It doesn't have anything weird like bone marrow or pigs' ears. Robin is a really, really picky eater. He won't eat peanut butter. But he loves eating these "cookies" and would happily eat a couple dozen at one sitting. It does drive the dog crazy, though, seeing the people wandering around munching the dog treats. She knows they're dog treats. Don't ask me how. She just does.

Speaking of dogs, as promised above, I wanted to mention a little something about Three Dog Bakery. If you haven't heard of or read Amazing Gracie by Dan Dye and Mark Beckloff, you should. It's a great dog/people story along the lines of Marley and Me, and it's about how Three Dog Bakery got started. It is sad--I don't think I ever read the end, because you see it coming, like you do the end of Marley and Me--but it's a great book. And that's another reason I like this recipe, because it's connected to a great book, a great business, and great people.

So . . . Eat dog biscuits. Be quiet.

Fabulous Trailer!

2009-06-30T20:09:00.002-04:00

Check out this awesome trailer from the uber-talented Maggie Stiefvater. She made this out of paper cutouts and wrote the music, and she's a great writer, too!

Shut up, Editor Brain!

2009-06-24T21:25:00.007-04:00

I've just spent two wonderful days at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts mini-teacher institute learning about all sorts of American art from incredibly knowledgeable people. As with every good teacher workshop, there were several hands-on activities that we could take back to our students. Now, I've gotta tell you, I'd rather just have a lecture than get involved in a "turn to your neighbor and discuss" type of thing. But VMFA and their awesome education director always do a great job with unusual activities that work in a variety of different curriculums, so I try to keep an open mind.

Today, though, they wanted me to paint a landscape! First, we had a brilliant lecture and slideshow on American Landscape Photography. High brow professional sorts of things were discussed such as composition, the golden mean, how the artist's choices influence the work, and where the artist is in the work.

"Now you're going to use what you learned and go outside and paint your own landscape!" said the cheerful instructor. She started explaining about paint and the paint boards and how we might want to start with a sepia wash and choose our land horizon.

The woman next to me looked at me with wide eyes. "I teach special ed," she whispered.

"English," I whispered back. We nodded our heads in commiseration and horror.

"Those of you who aren't painters are so lucky!" enthused the instructor. "You don't have anything to worry about!"

Somehow this wasn't comforting. My stomach knotted itself smaller. I could hear the "editor brain" start to muster the list of reasons this activity was going to be BAD. The list went something like this: I can't paint; the last time I took art was in high school; I can't do perspective; I don't think I was listening during the slide show; I don't know what my point of view for a painting will be; I can't paint; what if it's horrible; it will be horrible; I can't paint.

I made no great rush to get to the head of the line for paints. In fact, it seemed that those of us lingering toward the end had many of the same reservations. One very art-oriented woman gave us bits and pieces of advice. "You'll want to sketch in the things in the background first." (Huh, wouldn't have thought of that--probably would have just picked the closest thing to me and had at it.) "Get a round brush and a flat brush." (I still don't know why.) "You don't need too much paint." (Well that's for sure.) The getting the paint process was sort of fun. All those colors. For a little bit I forgot about the fact that I'd actually be using them.

Out we went. Helpful, happy interns gave us cups of water and paper towels. The outside was huge. And bright. And full of things that could go in a painting. And full of diligent people finding spots and getting to work.

"Now I'm all nervous again," I said aloud, though nervous didn't quite cover the squished stomach and noisy brain.

"Oh just have fun!" said the happy person.

Fun? I wandered down the walk. How was this going to be fun?

I found a building I liked. And some trees. And a spot in the shade I could sit in. I sat down. I wondered if that sort of yellowish brown would make a sepia wash if I added some water to it. Editor brain yammered on about my deficiencies. Look, I told it, there is not one single person in this entire world who cares if I screw this up. I felt a little better. I tentatively put some lines in. The instructor came by. I resisted the urge to tell her she couldn't see.

"Oh, look at you!" she said. "You're doing great!"

"I am?"

"You've got it sketched in, your perspective is right, and even though you've got something in the center, you've balanced it out!"

(Huh. Things in center=bad?)

The perspective wasn't really quite right, and I didn't have enough white, and I had completely lost the ability (which I swear I had in high school) of mixing colors. I told editor brain that I didn't care if the roof was pink, I was just giving this a try, and I also wanted to try the shadows and the trees, and I wasn't going to get to that if it didn't shut up about the pink roof. Eventually editor brain calmed down and tried to eavesdrop on the conversation of the people nearby.

Before I knew it, it was time to go in, and I didn't want to. I wanted to stay and paint more.

Going in, editor brain began fidgeting. It didn't want me to put the painting out and share. It had all sorts of reasons. I put it out anyway and looked around.

Every painting was different. Some were very painterly, and some weren't. Some looked unfinished, and some looked overdone. But we all tried. No one hid in the restroom (the thought occurred to me), or simply refused to participate, or painted a few lines and quit. I know from other comments I overheard that I wasn't the only "nervous" one, and even some of the painterly people weren't entirely comfortable. But we all managed to shut the editor brain up long enough to give it a go.

Lego Lunacy

2009-06-17T22:23:00.002-04:00

There are a lot of Legos in my house. Elder Son (let's call him Batman) falls in love with complicated, multi-hundred-piece sets, receives said sets for gifts, puts them together, plays with them for a week straight, and then deconstructs them so that they become part of the great Lego continuum, which can turn up anywhere from the dryer to my bowl of cereal.

Younger Son (let's call him Robin) wants to be exactly like Batman in every way (except, much like the "real" Robin, with three times as much energy and endless not-particularly-comprehensible commentary). Needless to say, Robin would like to amass just as much Lego as Batman currently has, and if the Lego pieces could all be exactly identical, that would be even better.

Batman recently acquired Lego set 8016, the Star Wars Hyena Droid Bomber, complete with three droid mini-figures. (Let's leave for another blog a discussion of why, a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, they have something named after hyenas.) Robin immediately became the temporary owner of one of the mini-droids, resulting in the following conversation. I am saving it for documentation in case I need therapy or prescription drugs in the near future.

Squabbling along the lines of "I did not!" "You did too!" gradually wears down my attempts to ignore it, and I summon Batman and Robin to my presence.

"What's going on?"

"Robin took my droid."

"I did not!"

"You did too!"

"I did not! This is my droid!"

"It is not! Mom! I put my droid down in a very particular place, and Robin took it!"

"I did not!"

"Wait," I say. "Wait." I repeat this several more times until the "did not" "did too" chorus again subsides. "Isn't there another droid?"

"Yes, but that one's mine, and he took it!"

"Did not!"

"Hang on, hang on," I say. "I mean isn't there another droid. In the house? Right now?"

"Yes, but--"

(me, interrupting) "So go find that one, and then you'll both have one."

"No," Batman explains in exasperation, "we have two, but Robin has mine. I put it down in a very particular spot, and Robin took it."

"Wait," I say. "You have two droids?"

"Yes." They both open their hands to reveal two seemingly-identical little, brown droid guys.

"But Robin has mine."

"Is there some difference between them?" I ask, waiting to be told that the blaster or jet packs or whatever are entirely unique.

"No."

"No?" I ask. "No??" They shake their heads. "Give them to me." I juggle the droid figures around in my open palms as they watch. "Here." I give one droid to Batman and one completely and totally identical droid to Robin. "You're both nutcases," I tell them. They laugh and run off to lose the droid guys in a Lego pile not so far away.

Our Crazy Connectedness

2009-05-30T23:20:00.006-04:00

At the risk of sounding hopelessly ancient, I just want to write for a moment about the amazing connectedness the internet allows us. Not too long after we graduated from college, my former roommates and I decided that every month we would each write a newsy letter about our lives, mail it to one designated person, and that person would make copies and mail them out to everyone. We even had a system for making postage fair. I remember feeling a little sad when we decided we could just email each other our letters. It seemed less personal, and I feared we would be less likely to follow through with writing when there wasn't someone specifically waiting for a letter to include in a packet.

And we have lost that. I no longer get newsy letters in the mailbox from anyone, and I do miss them. Really, I get hardly anything in my mailbox at all. Instead I have the world of blogs, and live journal, and facebook, and it's completely different. With facebook I can keep up with my high school friend who moved to France. Without facebook, she'd be lost to me. With facebook, I know a little more about what is going on with my brother. He only lives fifteen minutes away, but we're all crazy busy people, and (nonsensically) checking in with family seems like something you can always do tomorrow. With facebook, I get to follow little pieces of the lives of people I knew and cared about in college, people who were more than acquaintances but not quite dear friends, people I'd be delighted to run into or see at a reunion, but people I wouldn't otherwise be thinking about. With facebook, live journal, and blogs, I get to keep up with some of the writers I've met through James River Writers over the past year. I feel fairly confident that I would not have had the courage, or made the time, to continue to forge connections with them if all I'd had was snail mail.

With blogs, I get to find out what all sorts of people are thinking about all sorts of different things. I get to peruse the thought-provoking musings of my friends the EDG and Bemused Writer. I can read Demon Baby and Me or Mothers of Brothers and be comforted that I am not the only one with a wild man four-year-old, strange parenting stories, and a take on motherhood that is a bit on the sardonic side. I can get a dose of humor from my friend Wildcat or from The Blog of Unnecessary Quotes (which you may have to be an English major to appreciate; no one else I've inflicted it on so far has been amused). And I can get a supply of information on teaching, reading, and writing that is so close to limitless that it sometimes makes me feel small in the same way that looking at a black sky of endless stars can.

It's different, this connectedness. In some ways, it's incredible. I can find out so much, about so many people, and so many things, so easily. And it can lead to better relationships and deeper understandings, great conversations, and new friendships. Or it can overwhelm with the trivial and mundane, providing a sense of connecting without any actual effort or relationship-building. For every well-written, thought-provoking blog, there's a silly quiz I feel compelled to take. For every scintillating tidbit about someone's life, there's another person telling me what he or she is watching on tv. Good and not so good. Silver lining and cloud.

Connectedness. Use it responsibly.

Great author!

2009-05-15T08:52:00.001-04:00

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater... debuts August 1. Preorder today!

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Don't Judge a Book . . .

2009-04-17T20:17:00.006-04:00

We've all heard that one, right? But we do it anyway. And although the recent phenomenal and surprising success of Susan Boyle offers a great opportunity to write about the ways we take each other for granted, I really meant it in a much more literal (and literary) sense.

Authors don't get to choose their cover art, which should come as no surprise to any reader who has ever scratched her head over a cover that seemed to have nothing to do with the novel inside. It always comes as a surprise to my middle schoolers, who often describe characters based on the cover and not the writing in the book.

Still, you'd think a publisher would want the most successful, eye-catching cover affordable, right? That's why books are constantly being reissued with updated covers.

Which of these two books would you be more likely to pick up, for instance?

The first image is the newer edition, so Penguin is hoping you picked door number one. Personally, I'm partial to the blue copy because that's the one I own. And because, if you look very carefully, you can see the shadow of the sea monster rising between the two pillars of rock. The sea monster is very, very important. (The Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillip: great short fantasy. One of my favorites.)

How about these two?

The one on the left or the one on the right? They're both copies of the fabulous Lament by Maggie Stiefvater. The left-hand one is the more recent of the two (thank goodness) and definitely the one I would have bought. This time it's not a case of liking something because I own it. Much as I love this book, since I own the right-hand cover copy, I pretty much always keep it face down. (Sorry, Maggie. But I know you like the left-hand one better, too. And I've noticed the first image disappearing rather quickly off of websites! In fact, when I came back to this entry a few weeks after I posted it, both images were of the latter cover! Ha! I had to go recopy from library thing.)

Here's another puzzler for you. If a particular artist is well-known for providing the cover art of a particular author, is it cheating for a publishing company to have that artist do almost the same sort of thing for a different (but similar) author?

Here's a cover for one of Patricia McKillip's books, done by the inimitable Kinuko Y. Craft. Kinuko Craft has done most of McKillip's recent covers (probably the new one of The Changeling Sea, though it's hard to tell). This graphic doesn't really do it justice. The colors are much richer "in person," more like a medieval tapestry. (See the back of this cover, in better detail, at the end of the blog.)

Next is the cover of Juliet Marillier's very enjoyable Wildwood Dancing. You may be able to tell that it, too, is by Craft. I certainly could, because when I saw it in the library I immediately snatched it up, thinking I'd somehow missed news of the latest McKillip. After the shock of discovering that a Craft painting contained the novel of a different author, I thought the novel might have a bit of an uphill battle with me. However, Marillier's own style and unique take on the tale of the twelve dancing princesses drew me right in.

Not Patricia McKillip, but I'd be happy to read Marillier any time I'm waiting in between McKillips.

But the question is, do you think the publisher (Knopf publised Wildwood and Ace usually publishes McKillip) chose Craft to illustrate Marillier's book because her style is somewhat similar to McKillip's and they figured the crossover would be good for sales? Or was it all a big accident?

Here are a few more of my favorite covers.

This cover totally rocks. It's from Spirits That Walk in Shadow by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, whom I love. Gotta say on this one, though I liked it enough to read it twice, I don't think the book rocks quite as much as the cover.

This book rocks absolutely just as much as its cover.

(Savvy by Ingrid Law.)

And, just so you can really appreciate Kinuko Y. Craft . . .

We know we're not supposed to judge by the cover. But a great cover really gets you off to the right start!

Savvy by Ingrid Law

2009-04-17T10:07:00.004-04:00

Oh my gosh, I adore this book! I'm not a gushy person by nature, but the book is just as fantastic as the cover art. (And, yes, I do judge books by their covers, which is unfair and probably worth its own blog.)

The premise was one of the most original I'd come across in a long time, which is saying something, because "Thirteen-year-old comes into magic powers" doesn't seem all that original. Oh, but it is. Mibbs Beaumont is part of a family who each develop their own particular "savvy" at age thirteen. Her older brothers' powers disrupt electricity and the weather. Since she is just a few days from her birthday, Mibbs is awaiting the arrival of her savvy with great anticipation. But then her father is in a horrible accident, and everyone's priorities shift. An unlikely cast of characters joins together as Mibbs embarks on a crazy journey to help her beloved Pappa.

Every character in the book is written with authenticity, originality, humor, love, and individuality. Mibbs' voice is 100% believable, and her assessment of the people around her is focused and insightful. Though there are definitely lessons learned, they're learned from Mibbs' thirteen-year-old perspective. At no point do you feel that they are the author's lessons being preached through Mibbs' mouth.

I wish I could make this the required summer reading book, but it's probably a little too girl-focused for some of my manly-middleschool-men. Plus it doesn't have anything to do with the curriculum. And it would just crush me to hear my students complaining about it in any way. Still, I wish I could require people to go out and read it.

(G: no violence, no sex, no language. I could read it to my four-year-old, but he wouldn't get it.)

The Black Book of Secrets by F. E. Higgins

2009-04-17T09:39:00.006-04:00

Here's another selection from the Virginia Readers' Choice list. The cover is intriguing, though hard to see in my small graphic. The first sentence, if you don't count the "Note from the Author" is awesome: "When I opened my eyes I knew that nothing in my miserable life prior to that moment could possibly be as bad as what was about to happen."

And the premise is engaging: a mysterious "secret pawnbroker" and his assistant buy people's deepest, darkest secrets and write them down in (of course) The Black Book of Secrets. It's a fast, engaging read, and it held my interest throughout.

All that said, this just didn't quite make it to the level of London Calling or Savvy (which I haven't yet blogged about). First, I think the "I found this mysterious manuscript" bit is somewhat overdone. Though I couldn't, of course, at the moment name even one other author who does it. (Dragonology? Help me out here.) Second, I think the mystery about the frog is probably not going to be a mystery to most middle school boys. (In the book's defense, it's not critical that it be a mystery, but it would be more suspenseful if it were.) Third, the ending feels as though it ought to be satisfying, but I was disappointed. I'm not going to go into too much about it here, because I think the ending will be quite satisfying to many. Maybe it's just that I've read a lot (a lot a lot) of fantasy, and it just wasn't that surprising.

Still, there have been plenty of times when I've read a book and thought "Ehh" (how do you spell that sound that goes with a shoulder shrug), and my middle schoolers have loved the book. So I hope this is one of those times.

(PG-12: References to some nasty, intriguing things like body snatching and teeth pulling.)

Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton

2009-04-16T22:46:00.003-04:00

I thought I'd take some time out from all the YA reading I've been doing and check in with the Meredith Gentry series. This is the seventh, and I've read the previous six (which surprises me; I didn't think there'd been that many).

I think I like this series better than the Anita Blake series, or at least better than what the Anita Blake series has become. There is a lot (A LOT) of sex and violence in this series as well, but the sex seems less pointless. Meredith is part human and part fairy, descended from a fertility goddess. So, basically, she is bringing the magic back to fairy through sex. There are things I like and things that bug me about this book, but overall it was fun.

I like most of the characters in the book, and I do like seeing what magical power Merry and her men are going to awaken next. Also I am a total and complete sucker for the Wild Hunt, which plays a big role in this book, so I was sold there. (I've been enamored of the Wild Hunt since I read and reread The Dark Is Rising as a child. Look for it to appear in my own writing.) I thought the Hunt scenes were intriguing and very well done. In fact, the research on the entire fairy aspect appears thorough. I'm by no means an expert, but the few things I know are authentically represented in this series. Finally, despite the fact that the Anita Blake series has degenerated into almost entirely pointless porn, there is one thing both Merry and Anita have in common. They are so very much not rescue bait. If there is something difficult that must be done (killing, dismembering, whatever), they saddle up and get it done.

That said, there are a few nagging points. First, I repeatedly get the sense, both in the Anita Blake series and in this one, that Laurell K. Hamilton is not big on mapping out everything ahead of time. (I could be wrong, in which case I deeply apologize.) However, it seems like every time a protagonist is in a tight spot, the solution is, "Hey, what if she develops this magical/sex-related ability?" Or . . . what if the goddess gives her (or someone, um, "near" her) a new magical/sex-related ability? As much as I like the fact that the goddess goes to bat for Merry, it seems a little too deus ex machina a little too often. Finally, Merry has been whining for six books now (six, really?) about how her poor little mortal self is so fragile and killable. But she's got the Hand of Blood, and the Hand of Flesh, and the goddess on her side. And now she has an additional important artifact. Plus, she's surrounded by all the best fairy fighters, many of whom are getting their god-like powers back. And, apparently, no matter how magical or immortal, the fairies can all be killed by bullets. Let's stop the whining, shall we?

Still, that said: fun read. (Rated X: sex, gore . . . but, really, less than usual)

Summer Reading

2009-03-24T20:56:00.005-04:00

It's March; that means it's time to pick out middle school summer reading. So I'm doing two things, searching for the one required summer reading book for rising seventh graders, and reading two selections from the Virginia Readers' Choice 2009-2010 list. We (the language arts teachers) are hoping to simplify our lives this year by being able to say, "Read this one required book and then choose one other book from this great list."

I started off looking for a required book that had something to do with myths, since that's our first, short unit in the fall. It had to be as good as Percy Jackson, but not Percy Jackson, since our elementary teachers have now stolen that book from us and are reading it at the 4th and 5th grade level. (For those uninitiated who haven't read previous posts, start with The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.) So, I Googled "if you liked Percy Jackson," and I came up with some interesting choices, one of which was Goddess of Yesterday by Caroline B. Cooney.

I had read and enjoyed Ransom of Mercy Carter and know many students who have read and enjoyed The Face on the Milk Carton by the same author, so I had high hopes. Of course, the book was originally published in 2002, which is practically ancient to a middle schooler (almost two thirds of their life ago!), but on the plus side that means it's out in paperback.

The book is about the adventures of Anaxandra, a girl who is taken hostage from her tiny Mediterranean island home early in the book and continues through a variety of adventures that end up involving Menelaus, Helen, Paris, and the city of Troy. It's well-written and has enough excitement, intrigue and battles to soothe the injured sensibilities of boys required to read a book with a female protagonist. Meanwhile, the strong, self-sufficient heroine is bound to appeal to the girls. (No rescue bait, here, thank you very much!) In all, I thought it was excellent. I wish there were a sequel instead of the author's note at the end. It's a strong contender for the "required" book, but I haven't 100% made up my mind. It's such a lot of pressure to be asked to choose the book people are required to read. And, sadly, the cover flap gives away over half of the book.

(PG-13 for some of those battle scenes, and some hinted at adult situations that don't happen at all or don't happen "on screen.")

London Calling by Edward Bloor is off the Virginia Readers' Choice list, and I'm so glad that I got to read it! I chose it as one of the two books I'm previewing because, from the blurb I read about it, it seemed to have some fantasy elements (I'm "the one who likes fantasy" on our team). Also, I really enjoyed Bloor's Tangerine, which has been on the sixth grade summer

reading list for several summers, usually garnering enthusiastic responses.

Anyway, other than being well-written, engaging, and authentic, London Calling is completely different. It's about a seventh grade boy who is aimlessly sleeping his life away, living a solitary existence in his basement, and really at loose ends. Despite how it sounds, he's not whiny or self-pitying, and it's easy to like him and identify with his fears and foibles. Martin inherits a mysterious radio from his grandmother that seems to allow him to travel back in time (in very vivid, realistic scenes) to WWII. Or is he dreaming? And if he's dreaming, why is he dreaming about things he himself has never heard of ? This book has a strong (but not at all preachy) religious element to it that I thought worked beautifully within the story. I also particularly appreciated the supporting cast, since so many YA books have the main character acting alone against the world. It was interesting to see who Martin chose to tell his secrets to, and how that worked out for him. I'm not really doing it justice here because I don't want to give away any of the mystery or angst or the well-drawn, annoying, heart-breaking, and uplifting relationships between the characters, but I highly recommend this book. There are so many different levels to appreciate.

(PG-13 . . . or PG-12 since it's on the middle school list. Some adult situations and battle scenes.)

Silks by Dick Francis and Felix Francis

2009-03-08T21:20:00.006-04:00

So here's the danger of allowing me to browse the "New Fiction" section in my local library. I end up ignoring my work, the beautiful weather, a perfectly decent literary novel loaned to me by a coworker, the laundry, the insidious layer of god-knows-what creeping through my house and taking over every horizontal surface (papers? Legos? junk mail?), and I spend the weekend reading Dick Francis.

I love Dick Francis books. I've loved them since I was in high school and my dad got me started on them. (My dad, by the way, has read everything.) They're very similar to each other, so it's difficult to remember the plots, though they all have something that stands out. My dad and I will discuss them as, "The one that started with the guy standing in the fountain," or "The one that ended with the main character chained to the steering wheel." It's always interesting to me to see what exactly my brain chooses to remember from books I've read. But that's another blog entirely.

A very smart and savvy author, Dianne Mott Davidson, who was here last year for the James River Writers conference, told me that Dick Francis did not actually write his books, that his wife did. From what little I've read, it's true (or they, at the very least, collaborated), so it would make sense then that, since his wife's death, he is now writing with his son Felix. I was interested to see if I could tell a difference. The last Dick Francis I read was Under Orders, a Sid Halley book I was disappointed in. I loved the first three Sid Halley books, but the fourth just wasn't as good. Maybe it needed help it didn't get from Mary Francis.

Anyway, on to Silks. It was pretty good. Good enough to devour in a 36 hour period, anyway. The main character is a barrister (British lawyer), and it was somewhat interesting to see the workings of the British legal system, though they were, I thought, over-explained. (Perhaps that was Felix?) I was much more interested in the part about why race horses get nose bleeds and how their lungs work, but maybe that's what's left of my horse-crazy younger years showing.

The characters were reasonably compelling and engaging. The pace moved along well (except the over-explained law bits). No one really did anything out of character or especially stupid. Good, quick Dick Francis read. And Felix. Maybe it will be "the one with the guy with the baseball bat."

(Rated R: violence, language, sex)

Robert B. Parker Overload!

2008-08-11T19:59:00.003-04:00

So . . . I also caught up with the books I hadn't read in the Sunny Randall series. I like Sunny, sort of reluctantly, so I was happy to find there were four I hadn't read. On Robert B. Parker's website, it says he wrote the series so Helen Hunt would have a Parker movie role. Really Sunny's just a female Spenser. They talk and think alike, so the books really aren't noticeably different from the Spenser books. Except for no Hawk, which is a definite negative. She has Spike, though, and Spike's wonderful. And Rosie instead of Pearl for us dog lovers.

I can't quite get my head around Shrink Rap. The actual book didn't seem familiar, but the plot was so deja vu that I couldn't help wondering if I'd read the book before. It almost seems like Parker might have used this same plot (woman has to go undercover to trap a psychiatrist who is victimizing women) in a Spenser novel. Usually I remember actual scenes or phrases from books I've already read, and this didn't ring any of those bells. Still . . . this plot . . . I've been there before.

Melancholoy Baby was my least favorite of the remaining three because you know who the "who" in "who dunit" is long before the end. The "mystery" you're left with is "How will they prove it?" Which isn't that interesting.

The best part about Blue Screen was that it combined Sunny and another Parker character, Jesse Stone. Sunny and Jesse seem made for each other because they're both having problems moving on to a new relationship because they're so stuck on their exes. There's some great chemistry there.

However, I'm guessing some fans (or maybe Parker himself) had major objections, because by the time Spare Change opens, their relationship hasn't worked out. It could just be because I read four in a row, but the whole angst-driven thing about the Sunny/Richie "relationship" is starting to get on my nerves. (I'm not much on extracurricular angst, being a middle school teacher.) Another thing that bothered me was that in Blue Screen Richie had remarried and was having a son. But in Spare Change Richie is thinking about divorce and no child is mentioned. What the heck happened to the kid? Angst aside, the main plot of the book was engaging enough, and it would probably be a tie between Spare Change and Blue Screen for which of the four I liked best.

(R: sex, violence, language)

Catching up with Robert B. Parker

2008-08-11T19:41:00.006-04:00

It had been awhile since I'd read a Parker book, and I realized with greedy joy that I had quite the selection to choose from. Thankfully, even with two junior book lovers at home, my library card was not quite maxed out, so I checked out a bunch.

I read Widow's Walk first, and it wasn't that great. It served to remind me of all the things I like about Parker and his main character, tough-guy private detective Spenser. But the client Spenser is working for is incredibly shallow and stupid (and she's supposed to be). It's more fun to hang out with Spenser when he's hanging out with people who are worth your while.

I loved Cold Service because it had lots of Hawk in it, and who doesn't love Hawk? Sadly, because all Spenser books are first person point of view, from Spenser's pov, we don't really get to see what happens at the end. You could claim that just makes it even more mysterious and Hawk-like. But it's still disappointing.

School Days I had actually read before and remembered almost immediately upon opening it. So I just breezed through it. Which is quite the speed read for a Parker book. Since he does a great job with dialogue and plays to his strengths, some pages have almost no words on them. I personally think there's a bit of cheating involved when he starts a new line and the same person is still speaking, but it's (again) a picky English-major point.

Hundred Dollar Baby brought back the character of April. I only dimly remember who April is, and the book was all right, but I wasn't too sympathetic toward her. Let me just repeat that I like Spenser better when I care about the people he's working for.

Now and Then had Hawk, and Vinnie, and Teddy. Tough guy bliss. I enjoyed it. But somewhere around here, I started to realize why it might not be a good idea to read so much Robert B. Parker at one time. It didn't stop me though . . .

(R: language, violence, sex)

I'm Obsessed! Naomi Novik and the Temeraire Books!

2008-06-28T22:47:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure where I heard about these books--possibly on the Creatures 'n Crooks website, since they're having Naomi Novik in for a visit in July. (I can't wait!) Anyway, there are actually four books currently, but I didn't have room for all of the graphics. The fifth book is coming out in July.

I was blown away by His Majesty's Dragon. I think it's the best dragon series since Pern (and yes, my middle school friends, I have read Eragon). She even has a quote from Anne McCaffrey on the front of the third one--don't know if you can see that in the graphic. In fact, it's a lot like Pern with the dragon riders, and the egg hatchings, and the relationship between dragon and rider. However, it's historical fantasy fiction, and it's set in the time of the Napoleonic wars, with dragons used on both sides in the war. I thought that was a tremendously clever idea, and even though I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't remember much from that era of history (Waterloo and Lord Nelson, and that's about it), I'm finding it incredibly engaging.

I think I read the first three in a week, and now I'm trying to ration the fourth one for myself. I have all this homework to do for a teaching class I'm taking, and once I start reading, I know the homework, the housework, and the caring-for-the-children work is going to go straight out the window. (Sure, you can play Nintendo!) So I'm speaking to myself very sternly about it. I'm having a hard time, though, because the books always have an excerpt of the next book at the end, and something completely and thoroughly horrible is happening in book four. I want so desperately for everything to be all right that I want to just get there right now.

I really like it when I discover a series that has a bunch of books already published so that I can read merrily along without waiting for the next one. I tend to devour quickly, which is bad for long term memory of the finer points. (Thank goodnes J. K. Rowling is queen of the catch-up clues!) The bad thing is, of course, that then it's over so quickly. Plus I also don't end up spending a lot of time reflecting on the books, which I'm forced to do while waiting for new ones. Still, I have done some reflecting on these, simply because I like them so much.

So far, the second one is my least favorite. (Funny, the second Harry Potter and the second Lord of the Rings are my least favorites, too.) The main reason I like it less is because I thought the climax was unsatisfactory. After a great deal of thinking about it, I decided it was the most logical climax to have, but it was over in barely a sentence. You blink, you miss it. That made me irritated because there was A LOT of build up. Plus Temeraire spent a great deal of time being sulky in this book, and there were a couple things that seemed out of character or obvious. I won't say what, though, because it was still quite enjoyable, and I don't want to ruin any of it for you.

Anyway, I am right now neglecting homework I was planning on doing, and that's just to type this. It's not even for reading more Temeraire books! So I have to go.

(PG-13: mild language, some not particularly graphic dragon violence, allusions to sex--but in a gentlemanly way!)

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

2008-06-27T23:04:00.003-04:00

I just read this book today, and now I'm wishing that I had spent more time on it, savored it, drawn out the experience longer. The writing is stunning. Take this beautiful sentence, for instance, "The air was coloring everything gray, and the fog was coming up from the ground in white shreds and billows, as if the whole campsite had lifted itself up into the clouds overnight."

It's about Holling Hoodhood, a seventh grade boy in 1967, who is the lone Presbyterian in his class, stuck at school with his teacher on Wednesday afternoons while his Jewish and Catholic classmates go to religious studies. It's not a traditional book where you can say there's one main conflict, solved at one climactic point, and then wrapped up. It's more like life, where there is a never-ending series of mishaps and adventures, each one having its own climax and resolution, and each one impacting other parts of the story.

Although the story does have some sad and some poignant moments, I'd say, overall, it has a more positive tone than many serious young adult books. This one's for the people who always complain that YA books are depressing and dark. This one is touching, inspiring, heart-warming. And funny. There are definitely laugh-out-loud parts.

It's told in first person, and Schmidt really does a great job of establishing Holling's voice. He seemed a little too sophisticated for a seventh grader sometimes, but then I thought about some of the seventh graders I know, and I changed my mind. Anyway, Holling was so real that I just happily went along for the ride.

Honestly, I don't want to say too much about the book because I don't want to give anything away or over-hype it. It did, though, make me feel a little guilty because I spend a lot of time reading, and I'm not always (or, really, very often at all) reading books that I feel are valuable. I read a lot of things just to be entertained. (And don't get me wrong, I do feel there is value in being entertained!) But when I read something that's so well done on so many different levels, it does make me realize that I could do better for myself. Maybe not all the time, but a little more often.

(PG: There is nothing to worry about in this book at all. Holling self-edits any language, and there are no troublesome references. I'd give it a G rating, but it's really for a more sophisticated audience--middle school at least.)

Generation Dead by Daniel Waters

2008-06-27T17:44:00.003-04:00

Cool cover, huh? And yet it doesn't quite fit any of the characters in the book. But that is a small point when you end up with a cover that's attractive, eye-catching, and mysterious. I understand first time authors don't get much input on the cover, and Mr. Waters certainly seems pleased, judging by the funny post on his blog.

This book has one of the most original premises I've seen lately. Some dead teenagers are coming back to life, for no reason the medical establishment has gotten a grip on yet. In the meantime, their families have to decide what to do with them. Those who have recently come back to life have difficulty speaking, have cold dead skin, no heart beat, but still have the character of their former selves. The setting is a high school that has a high percentage of dead kids going to school there; prejudice is high. Phoebe, the main character, becomes intrigued with one of her dead fellow students, and trouble follows.

This was well written and intriguing enough that I sped through it. The main characters are engaging and easy to care for. It is in third person limited point of view, but from multiple chracters. That is, you're only in one character's head at a time, but you get into quite a few heads. The only problem I had with this was that sometimes their thoughts don't have a different enough feel to them. They all think with pretty much the same vocabulary. At one point, the bully thinks to himself that his former friend has developed a lot of poise over the summer. "Poise" was so distracting to me that I bounced out of the story and sat there for several minutes wondering if the story wasn't maybe in third person omniscient so that everyone's thoughts were really supposed to be filtered through a god-like narrator. I'm thinking this is a nit-picky thing only a word-obsessed person like a writer or English teacher might find distracting, though, because clearly when you're in the bully's head there are way more pressing issues than his vocabulary choice.

Since I'm being annoyingly picky, though . . . there is a lot of skipping in this book. (Anything more than three is a lot, right?) Maybe the author means it metaphorically to show his female characters arriving or leaving in a bubbly, enthusiastic manner. Maybe he has a better acquaintance with high schoolers than I do, and there's more skipping than I think there is. It was a little distracting.

Anyway, it's different from most of what's out there, and worth a look just for that. I would think those that have enjoyed Stephenie Meyers would smoke through this while waiting for her next installment and feel lucky to have it.

(PG-13/R: violence, language, sexual thoughts. The violence that happens in the book is not "R" graphic, but the intention is there in a character's thoughts. If we saw everything that happened, it would be R.)

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

2008-06-27T11:20:00.003-04:00

It's going to look like I do nothing but read Rick Riordan books, but I'm way behind on my blogging! So I've decided to blog about the most recently read (and therefore best remembered) backwards.

This is the fourth book in the Percy Jackson series. I had to read it to keep up with the middle schoolers and keep up my credibility. Plus it's a pretty entertaining series. Unfortunately, it's been awhile since I read the other three, and I'm having trouble remembering details. Still, a vague recollection is good enough. Though if you haven't read any of them, I'd definitely start with the first one, The Lightning Thief.

The basic premise of this series is that the Greek myths do exist, and Percy Jackson is a half-blood, with one mortal and one immortal parent. It's entertaining to see how Riordan deals with the old myths. Almost all of them have a new spin on them that fit in with contemporary American culture. (The sphinx has its own game show, for instance.) If you know the myths, it's fun to figure out which is which. If you don't, it's just fun to go along for the adventure. The characters are well done, and Percy has an authentic, teenage boy voice.

I thought this was originally supposed to be a trilogy, so I was really disappointed with the third book, which created way more questions than it answered. But this one did a good job of creating action and adventure without leaving you hanging too badly at the end. There's definitely room for more, though. Which is good news, because my middle school males who like fantasy really LOVE this series.

PG-13: fantasy violence, but nothing too graphic; no swearing; no sex

Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot

2008-06-27T10:54:00.005-04:00

This is a light, frothy, summer beach book. I found out about it from my "book-of-the-day" calendar, and it was a fun, fast read. It's told completly through e-mails, answering machine messages, IM's, journal entries, and other media (like notes slid under the door). Occasionally, this feels a little contrived, but mostly it's just fun and funny.

It's about Kate (a sweet, innocent girl from Kentucky, whom you could easily see as another Anne Hathaway character) who works in human resources for a T.O.D. (tyrannical office despot). She's trying to move on from a ten year relationship with Dale, an up-and-coming rock musician who is rather clueless and afraid of commitment. (He reminds me of the guy who marries Lane on Gilmore Girls.) The crux of the story is her budding relationship with Mitch, a nice lawyer whose family really puts the "fun" is "dysfunctional" (at least for those of us reading the book, not for Mitch).

The plot wasn't particularly original (very much Working Girl, which it even mentions), but it goes so fast that it's hard to disengage from it. And the characters are entertaining.

PG-13: a lot of references to sex, but nothing "on scene," some language. No violence at all. A lesbian character (addressing more the difficulties of "coming out" rather than sexuality).

VOTE NOW for Hamburger James!

2008-06-16T17:45:00.002-04:00

Big Red Tequila by Rick Riordan

2008-06-02T20:50:00.009-04:00

I think this graphic is going to be way bigger than my others, but it's so much cooler when you can really see it, that I think I'll leave it. Plus, if I start fiddling with it, I'll be here for hours.

The first Rick Riordan book I read was The Lightning Thief, book one in the young adult series Percy Jackson and the Olmypians. (A slightly annoying title because I can't spell lightning or thief without looking them up.) Anyway, I put The Lightning Thief on our seventh grade summer reading list, and the results were electric. Boys who didn't like to read anything were begging their moms to buy them the second and third books. (Now there are four.) So I was interested to learn Riordan had started with an adult action/adventure/mystery series way before he got into young adult fantasy.

The series concerns Jackson Navarre III, who goes by Tres. Cool, huh? Tres Navarre? It's practically worth reading just so you can hang out with someone who has such a cool name. I like action/adventure and have read a decent sampling of it, and this is a pretty adequate representation of the type. Tres is typical of the tough guy/reluctant knight errant, a la Travis McGhee and Spenser. I liked the setting of San Antonio, which I know almost nothing about.

It was engaging, the mystery pretty much held up, no one really did anything terribly out of character just to push the plot along. I'm not going to rush out and get book number two, because my "books to read" list is way too long as it is, but if I found it in a beach house I was renting, I'd happily pick it up.

One note. . . Tres has a cat named Robert Johnson (after the Delta blues singer--I looked it up). Now, maybe I was being dense or a poor reader, but I don't think he immediately made it clear Robert Johnson was a cat. Clearly he's some sort of animal, but Riordan had him in a "cage" not a "cat carrier." So I was imagining him being a lemur or something really cool. I was pretty disappointed that he was a cat, especially since I'm not a cat person (achoo). Plus then I felt stupid.

Anyway, entertaining, light summer reading. You could do worse.

(R rating: sex, violence)

Sunless Non-Tanning

2008-05-25T22:13:00.004-04:00

So I had a sunless tanning "accident." My skin is generally so pale that I could convince people of the existence of vampires if I shunned sunlight. And I should shun sunlight because I can get a sunburn standing outside for fifteen minutes at 10:30 in the morning. So I'm always thinking I should try these sunless tanning lotions, though in the past they haven't darkened my skin much at all.

I'm not sure what went wrong this time. Maybe I was in a hurry? Maybe I was tired? (I applied the sunless lotion, the first time, around 11:00 p.m.) Maybe I shouldn't have saved the stuff from last year? (Hey, it says it doesn't expire until 5/09 . . . I thought that was the year.) Anyway, I ended up looking like I either had some sort of bark-like skin disease or I was maybe, gradually, turning into an Oompa-loompa. In a streaky sort of way.

First I tried to fix it by applying the sunless tanning lotion in between the streaks and swirls. This didn't really work, plus I ended up with several more streaks and swirls. I tried this twice a day over three or four days. So it really, really didn't work. I wore black stockings to an event last Thursday, and if you looked, you could see the blotches through the hose. (No one was looking. It wasn't that kind of event.)

Anyway, I went online, of course, and googled "sunless tanning remove" and got a great, hysterical site with lots of good advice. The main gist of it was, however, "just wait; it's not permanent." :Resigned sigh: Maybe what I'd wait on was taking the kids to the new pool we'd signed up for--just until I didn' t look like a mad scientist's skin grafting experiment.

But then something interesting happened. I put bug spray (non DEET, mostly citronella) on the kids and myself so we could survive on the deck for half an hour, and when we came in, I grabbed some baby wipes and rubbed the bug spray off everyone. When I rubbed it off of me, my baby wipe came away strangely orangeish. Wait . . . orangeish?? Could it be? YES! Baby wipes remove the color from sunless tanning products. At least the Huggies one I used did. And I think it was the baby wipe and not the bug spray/baby wipe combo.

I know. Moms everywhere are nodding in understanding, not surprised at all. Baby wipes are the secret mom weapon. They get out grape juice and pizza stains. They clean sticky fingers of toxic goo. I should have thought of them earlier. Now all I have to worry about is my swimsuit fitting!

The Outlaw Demon Wails - Kim Harrison

2008-05-25T11:50:00.007-04:00

This is book six in the Rachel Morgan series, and I've read and enjoyed all six. The series takes place in an alternate here-and-now, where vampires, werewolves, witches, elves, and demons all more or less co-exist with humans. It's a bit like Laurell K. Hamilton without the pointless sex. (The series has sex. Just not pointless sex.) The characters are truly unique and engaging, and Harrison draws you in and makes you care about even the ones with insignificant roles. (More about this new gargoyle, please!) The reintroduction of Marshall is a solitary example of a character I don't really care about. His presence feels pointless (except to develop more relationship angst, see below).

Harrrison does a great job of catching you up if, like me, you have trouble remembering any but the most sketchy details from the previous books. Still, despite the plethora of back story, I think you'd only be deeply, deeply confused if you were reading these out of order. (Dead Witch Walking is the first one.)

One of the author's weaknesses is a way-too-realistic emphasis on relationship angst. Sure, Rachel's life is 100% screwed up, and any normal person would spend at least as much time worrying about it as she does, but reading about her worrying about it gets a little old. Plus the whole "Oh no, has my relationship with Ivy changed?" thing is now tedious. Let's just write down on a pad of paper that Rachel and Ivy are in it for the long haul. Refer to as necessary.

Another thing I occasionally find irritating is Rachel's charming recklessness. It's fun most of the time (and I realize she and the author are trying to tone it down this time around), but sometimes she just seems stupid. If I can remember that her kitchen is not on hallowed ground, she should be able to, even when distracted. And she takes the word of other characters far too easily for someone who traditionally questions everything.

Still, all of the negatives are outweighed by my genuine interest in the characters and a great sense of pacing. Would I read it over? Probably not. Am I eagerly awaiting the next one? Absolutely. And I'm hoping the gargoyle gets a bigger part.

(R rating: some sex-like vampire bloodlust, some violence, some swearing [including pixie swearing, which is more fun than offensive]. This particular volume is probably closer to PG-13, but the series as a whole has an R feel to it.)

Thanks, Wildcat!

2008-05-19T21:07:00.005-04:00

Hey, my friend Wildcat made me cookie graphics! Aren't they cool? (See the sidebar on the right. Or go back and look at the reviews, now with cookies.)

Check out Wildcat's highly humorous site The Wildcat's Lair, and stay tuned for more book reviews WITH cookies!

Teacher Gifts

2008-05-17T10:29:00.004-04:00

It's that time of year again, where the school year is spiraling to a close like a penny down a coin vortex, and some of you are thinking about teacher gifts. This is my eighth year teaching middle school, so I do have some ideas on the subject.

First, it's not necessary to buy teachers gifts at all. The teacher will not think less of you or your child and will not miss a gift he or she doesn't get. I know some teachers who would prefer not to get any gifts at all.

That said, maybe you'd really like to show your appreciation, and you're looking for something that best accomplishes that. The simplest way to go is to write a heartfelt note. This may seem like too little or too lame, but believe me, a genuine note can really make a teacher's day. Particularly at this time of year when students' minds are already on vacation and they're telling me things like "is" is a noun and "of" is a verb, some genuine appreciation goes a long way. The way to write a truly valued note is to be specific. Has the teacher gone above and beyond in some particular way for your child? Does your child really have a connection with that teacher? Could your child write the note? A note that says, "Thanks for being my teacher. I learned a lot" is not going to be memorable or meaningful (particularly if "alot" is spelled as one word). But a note that mentions an incident in class, an interesting thing the child learned, or special attention a parent is grateful for will really stand out.

You don't have to spend a lot (two words) of money to thank a teacher. The best gift I received was for my birthday. One of my students had been telling me all week that he was going to buy me something for my birthday, and all week I'd been telling him it wasn't necessary. On my birthday, there was a lunch cooler on my desk. Inside was a chilled Dr. Pepper and a printout of funny English errors from an internet site. There was also this note, "Sorry, my mom wouldn't take me to buy you anything, so I got you this." But it was a great gift! Dr. Pepper is my favorite soft drink, and he had paid attention to something particular about me as a person. Also, he had thought of it himself.

So you don't have to spend money, but if you want to anyway, here are a few more ideas. Avoid things that are specific to a sense of style or taste unless you really know what the teacher likes. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone likes candles, and there is such a thing as too much bath soap. I can go either way on candy. It's one size fits all, but, let's face it, teachers can be a sedentary bunch (it's all that grading). Do they really need the extra calories? A fruit basket with some funky, seasonal fruit might stand out more.

Gift cards are, of course, always appreciated. Most teachers supplement their classroom supplies out of their own pocket, so gift cards to an office supply store or a bookstore are good choices. (When buying bookstore gift cards, don't forget local independent bookstores. You can buy a gift card from www.booksense.com that your favorite teacher can spend at independent bookstores all over the U.S.) Other gifts I've appreciated were a gift card to get my nails done (chalk: bad for nails) and a mother actually packing me lunch for a day (one less thing to do--yes!).

This is not to say that I haven't appreciated every single gift I've ever received. I have. Whenever someone takes the time to say "thanks," it gives you a warm feeling. However, as you search for the perfect gift, I'll leave you with this final thought that I got from a really great room mother. She told me, "I try not to give things that require dusting." Yep. That's a good one all right.

The Light-Bearer's Daughter by O.R. Melling

2008-05-13T20:53:00.003-04:00

This is the third book in Melling's excellent "Chronicles of Faerie" series. The first is The Hunter's Moon and the second is The Summer King. All three stories are connected, but the characters reoccur only peripherally. I read somewhere that all will be rejoined in the fourth and final book, so I can't wait for that one.

In this book, Dana, who is being raised by her father in Ireland, is tapped by the Queen of Faerie to go on a special quest. Melling does a fabulous job in all three books of capturing a real feel for Ireland as well as for the Faerie realms. All of her characters have depth and passion, and it's easy to care for them. Some parts could have been developed further and allowed to gain more impact, but perhaps it's my fault for not lingering longer. I admit that I rushed through in my eagerness to devour it. If you're paying attention, you'll make some of the critical connections well ahead of time, but the outcome is satisfying either way.

I highly recommend this series to anyone who has enjoyed Susan Cooper or C. S. Lewis, or who simply likes fairies and Ireland. It is well-written, engaging, and fun.

(PG rating: no bad language, young adult pov more accessible to 6th grade and up)

Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata

2008-05-13T19:49:00.004-04:00

I just finished this great dog book. I'll give it 4 out of 6 stars (or maybe I should make that cookies). Five cookies would be "I can't wait to read it again," and six would be, "I'm soon going to have the opening paragraph tatooed on my leg." (I don't read many sixes.)

Anyway, it was recommended at a young adult book seminar I go to almost every year, and it mostly lived up to the buzz. It's about a dog handler and his German Shepherd and what they go through during a small part of the Vietnam war. Particularly well-done were the parts from the dog's point of view. Normally, I'd shy away from anything told in an animal's pov, but this is neither mushy nor hokey, and it's pretty much what you were figuring your dog was thinking anyway. ("Should I bite that guy on the nose? No? Well I could if I wanted to.") Another plus is that I didn't know anything about dogs being used during the war, so it was also interesting in that regard.

This next part might be a little bit of a spoiler, so stop here if you don't even want a hint about the ending. (Why are you still reading?) I have to admit by about page ten I had already decided that I couldn't stand it if this turned into the

kind of "classic" where the dog gets killed off to add pathos and drama to the story. And since Cynthia Kadohata is a Newberry winner for the very sad (I've heard) Kira Kira, I was wary. So I did something I never, never do. I read the last five pages first. And then I kept reading the book. I'm not saying nothing bad happens at all, but I kept reading. And I'm glad I did.

(PG-13 rating: only mild language, some violence--hey, it's war)

I am not unique!

2008-05-04T20:53:00.005-04:00

So, I have this weird spelling of my first name: Katharine. With an A. Or two, really. Growing up I found it irritating to always be correcting everyone. (Everyone except my piano teacher, who said he was only going to learn one way to spell it, so he'd learn my way.) I kept waiting for someone to give me a cool nickname that would stick. Not much luck there. Somewhere around college, though, I decided that I really liked the fact that my name was spelled differently. It set me apart from most of the other Katherines and Catherines. (My college registrar told me, by the way, that there are eleven different ways to spell this name, at least that she'd found.)

Of course, I know that Katharine is not a completely unique spelling. After all, Katharine Hepburn spelled her name that way. Katharine Kerr is an author who spells her name that way. Katharine Graham of the Washington Post spells it the "right" way, too. As you can see, I sort of collect Katharines.

However, all this time, I did at least think that my strangely-spelled first name and my middle name, Thayer, made an unmatched combination. Imagine my surprise, then, to see in the Richmond Times-Dispatch recently, that there is a Katharine Thayer Bigelow (married to the brother of the Richmond guy who is going to marry George W.'s daughter, if you can follow that).

It was disconcerting. I can't get it off my mind. I'm not as unique as I thought I was. Or at least my name isn't. So now I want to write to Katharine Thayer Bigelow and find out where she got the combination. Did she get it from each of her two great grandmothers? Are we somehow related? Of course, this means I should probably also write to the Katharine Thayer who is a photographer and the Katharine Thayer who is an obgyn. (Google is a wonderful/scary thing.) Are we related? Do they have trouble getting people to spell their name right? Have they ever found a mug or a rubber stamp with their name spelled correctly on it? (I actually did once, at Disney World.)

I'm going to have to bring this up with my parents! How dare they name me something so common? Clearly the search for the cool nickname must continue.

Davidson Wildcats!

2008-03-24T17:02:00.002-04:00

I don't follow basketball. I barely remember the rules to the game, though I did get an A on the basketball quiz we took in P.E. in high school (probably just because I was so glad not to be changing into my marigold-colored uniform). But I did go to Davidson, and even I, sports-challenged person that I am, can understand and revel in the joy of Davidson making it into the Sweet Sixteen!

What I wouldn't give to be back on our tiny campus this week. I'm eating up the news coverage and laughing at the bewildered people who have never heard of my old stomping grounds. One newspaper reported in awe that Davidson has a stadium that will "only" seat 5700. They finished that stadium the year I graduated. We, in fact, were the first class to graduate in that stadium. And we couldn't believe it, looking around. Why had they built a stadium that would seat the entire college community with room left for 3000?

There are many, many reasons I'm proud to be a Davidson grad, and my Davidson friends are some of the best, most-enduring friendships in my life. And this week, I'm happy to be able to share that pride with the rest of the world, who has, for once, a small appreciation for my feelings.

Who Am I?

2008-03-24T16:55:00.003-04:00

I've been procrastinating about starting this blog because I didn't know who I wanted to be on it. Did I want to use my real name, unique spelling and all, or try to hide my identity so that I could rant about things that might get me in trouble?

I've decided to behave myself and only write about things that will not get me fired, reprimanded, or sighed at by my mother. I think it still gives me a lot of leeway.