My Little Soapbox

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people.

Obsidian Butterfly by Laurell K. Hamilton a recent swap.

Hew was just inside the door. He turned back and looked at me.
“Is Bernardo right? Is Olaf dangerous to me?”

I’m not tagging anyone this time round because most of whom I know read at my old blog have done this one.

Honest its not pr0n! Its a gift idea for my sisters who thankfully don’t read this blog.

Book Thongs

Simple, Useful and Sparkly. What more can a sister ask for!

This year, popular children’s author and entertainer John Lithgow will lead the celebration of National Young Readers Day with a special bedtime reading of The Remarkable Farkle McBride!

What: Webcast
When: November 13, 2007
Where: www.bookitprogram.com/bedtimestory
Time: 4:00 p.m., CST (viewable all night long)

I thought the idea of a mass bedtime story reading was fun. And I have read Farkle before. John Lithgow’s children’s book have made a frequent appearance on our library list. Our favorite has got to be the Runaway Pancake. We found a recording of a live performance that is hilarious!

Other books that have made my favorite bedtime story list are:

I Love You, Little One by Nancy Tafuri

This has got to be our best ever random find at a booksale. Mr. Numbers picked this one up on a whim and it has become my most favorite bedtime book. I think at some point every child asks “Do you love me mama?” I personally love all the answers (animal and human) in this book to that question.

You Are My Miracle by Maryann K. Cusimano Love

This gentle Christmastime tale makes an appearance throughout the Holiday Months. I especially like the line “You are my Noel” which sings to my heart about my reasons for the season.

The Night Pirates

And last my favorite children’s Pirate story. With just enough adventure to make it a fun read and a gentle ending to make it work as a bedtime story. I am tickled ever time we read this one at the laughter at the illustration of the ending.

This Sunday for any who are interested I’m going to a Barefoot Books party. Sooooo if I know you and you’d like something give me a jingle and I’ll hook you up! Now on to my publisher gushing!

Many of you know that I have a large love for books by Usborne and I still adore them too. But I’m also very much hearting Barefoot Books these days. My first introduction to all things Barefoot was through the Barefoot Book of Pirates. (I know..big surprise.) It was a beautifully illustrated anthology of pirate stories from around the world. Neat. And engaging to my pirate crazed kiddos.

Then I ran into the Barefoot Book of Blessings which is a collection of blessings from various faith sets and I found Elephant Dance an introductory book to India. With the acquisition of these books my interest in the publisher was peaked. What else might they have out there that would be a welcomed addition to my shelves? And what else did they offer as a book with cd?

Barefoot books offers some unique and in my opinion very worldly books. Stories of China, Africa, India, The Celts, Mexico. I love that there are books about strong women from history in books like Fiesta Femenina, Goddesses and the Lady of Ten Thousand Names. And more like Knights, Ballet, Opera. And original stories like the beautifully illustrated Tear Thief.

So there’s my plug for Barefoot Books. I think the are worth checking out via your library or your friends shelf should they happen to have a few.

About a week ago I finished up the last book on my winter reads list: Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida. It was a strange book or at least I thought it was a strange book. The main character was so self-centered and unforgiving during most of the book that the happiness and peace she finds in the last 10 pages of the book seemed false to me. I found it to be very well written but Clarissa was so hard and unapproachable that I didn’t like her. I didn’t feel or believe her deep need to find her mother and reconnect. But I appreciated the writing and the flow of the words even as I didn’t like the story.

This reviewer sums it up well:

Liked this against my will, March 1, 2007

Reviewer:

E. Baldwin (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

The characters are unlikable and they behave in ways that make no sense at all. But the author is such a good writer and the story is so well told that I couldn’t put it down.

So what’s up next for me to read? I’m actually running a little low on books at the moment. I’ll finish up the ghost stories I borrowed from a friend this weekend. I have on my list to read some Charlotte Mason by Karen Andreola but that has to be inter-library loaned - a minor pain in my arse. I may dig out some classics for my next round of reading.

I’ve not quite finished cataloging my books at LibraryThing, but I’m enjoying straightening up the bookshelves. I’ve found a few things I forgot I had and that I do indeed have more children’s books than I think. If I can find a few or perhaps build a few more bookshelves I’ll be in good shape. Though I am getting pretty good at stacking them up neatly.

I promised to post how my reading has unintentionally worked well with Project Spectrum. At the beginning of January, I had selected a few books to read outside my typical avenues from the latest BookPage from my library. I somewhat randomly selected the books based upon the little blurbs they provided.

The nine stories in Mothers and Sons examine in depth some of the ways that the bond that is forged–or not–between mothers and their sons is altered, re-formed, or broken forever.

Mothers & Sons was a very gray and blue book. Not the lovely shades of blue that I surround myself with but more the melancholy grey-blue of a dreary day tinged with a starkness. I found this collections of short stories to be interesting but more than anything I found most of them to be tinged with a sadness. There was such disconnect between the mothers and the sons and such a lack of understanding between them. It was like many of them were living parallel lives but never actually crossing paths. Many of the the stories depicted a lacking element to the relationship between mother and son. The story that stood out for me were the one of the mother of the fallen priest. And how though she is upset at her sons’ abuse of boys, she stands strong in the community. And in the end beside her son not as a supporter but as a mother. It was an interesting slice of what it means to love someone unconditionally.

I think I read this from the perspective of the young mother with sons. Perhaps it shaded my view of this book but it seemed filled with shades of gray.

Lil’B is a menace at the library. No not because he misbehaves, but because at two-years-old he doesn’t understand that he can’t check out ALL the books. I marvel at this child. On average Lil’B will carefully select at least 10 books to check out. If we try to slyly put one or two back, he will run through the pile and *know* what we’ve done.

Jr. is getting more selective with his books and only will get one or two. He isn’t quite as interested in picking out a whole pile. But a strange thing happens once we get our current selections home. He will grab a stack to read himself and often will find one of our picks that he’d like read to him. Then its on! If you are trying to get anything done he is at your elbow with his big blue eyes and polite “will you read me this story”. Who can resist!

So guess what?
Books left behind = zero.
Books checked out (as a family) = 40.
Knowing you are instilling a rabid love of the written word in your child = priceless.

I finished about half of Crunchy Cons before it had to be relinquished to the library. They wouldn’t let me check it out again since it had been requested. I did enjoy what I did get read and plan to reserve it again to finish it. I was actually a little surprised of how much I found in this book. I expected to find much I did not agree with but instead I think I may be a little more conservative than I thought. Its somewhat hard to explain because I am just as liberal in my political views as I was before I read the book! But then again there was much of the crunchy con idea that overlapped or ran parallel (as the author noted) with liberals-hippies. After I finish the book I will fine tune my thoughts of the books. I can’t say how much I agree with the conservative idea yet because I only managed to get through the introduction and the sections on food, real-estate (home) and of course homeschooling (education). And since I am a farm-raised girl in a non-mcmansion house that’s homeschooling the kids there was a lot in those particular sections that I found appealing!!

And last but not least. I found a new and exciting pattern for hippie-hat #2 AND a lovely skein of rainbow yarn in the stash we got from my Grandma’s house. So hippie-hat #2 is a set to launch tomorrow. I am excited because with this pattern I will learn a new stitch!

And I found a new teapot today at the thrift store! That I can fit my hand into so I can clean the inside. My last pot was to narrow. And its pretty with pink flowers on it and it looks antique! And for just $4 dollars!

Yes I am that easily amused.