The Outsiders – S.E.Hinton

Have you ever read a book that exceeded your expectations? Great, isn’t it? I didn’t know quite what to expect from The Outsiders; I’d noticed it had a special placement in my library because it’s considered a classic, but I didn’t look twice. What got me bringing it home, was Patrick Swayze. Yup. Patrick Swayze.
After [...]

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Books to Feed the Soul-A Pocketful of Miracles

It is often said that when the pupil is ready the teacher appears. I believe that said teacher can also be in the form of a book by an inspiring author. So in addition to whatever novel, picture books, etc. I am reading at any given time, I am also reading a book of a [...]

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Middle Grade and Young Adult Reading/Writing

In my search to learn more about writing on the middle grade level, I made a list of titles that have won Newbery Medals as the logical place to begin my education. As the ALA site does not break the titles down by MG or YA, some of the selections I made turned out to [...]

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Full-Frontal Snogging – Humor on the YA Bookshelf

Here’s the full title – Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging – confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison. (Yeah – a tad too long for a post title!) My last trip to my local library had my very wonderful librarian, Jennifer, suggest a book to me in addition to my list of MG and YA titles. [...]

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The Character Who Never Grew

It was my idea that when you read a novel, you should feel something for the character, identify with her in some way, and as you go through the course of the book, cheer her on through adversity, feeing her pain, and then rejoice in her overcoming challenges. But what if the character just never [...]

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Dogsong – Gary Paulsen

There are times when I’ve finished a book, that I don’t quite know where to put it. In my head, that is. The book is so different from anything I’ve read, that it seems to be searching for a place to settle in my mental bookshelf, and meanwhile, it seems to hover in space.
Dogsong by [...]

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Can Children’s Books Reduce Hate?

I got a letter from John Grisham yesterday.
At least that’s what the envelope said. I found it to be an appeal on behalf of a person and an organization that I’ve heard of, but knew little about – Morris Dees, an Alabama lawyer and friend of Grisham’s, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.  It is [...]

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Where the Wild Things Are

Last week in the movies I saw the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are and was all but jumping up and down in my seat – can I wait!!! I came across it again today while online, and for those who have not seen it – I just had to share.
I’m assuming everyone has [...]

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