Awe-Inspiring August 2018 - Children's Readathon - Week 2

For this week's Children's Readathon I was introduced to two new books and got to re-read an old one that I haven't read in a really long time.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus is a cute, short book about a bus driver who has to leave the bus and informs the reader not to let the pigeon drive the bus.  He never says why, but the pigeon does his best to try and convince us it would be a good thing.  My favorite part was when the pigeon used the familiar, "I'll be your best friend" line to cajole us.  I have said that many times to my kids and my family.  This book reminded me of a Sesame Street book called "There's a monster at the end of this book" where Grover implores us not to turn the pages of the book as there is a monster at the end.  Apparently there is a series of "Pigeon" books.  If I had little ones I'd be sure to search them out.

Next I read Number The Stars.  This is a very touching story about the German occupation of Denmark.  I guess I didn't realize how many countries Germany actually tried to overtake.  This book tells the story of two girls, one Jewish and one not, who are best friends.  When it is dangerous for the Jews to be in the neighborhood, the Danish family does their best to get the Jewish family to a safer spot.  Cloaked in mystery from the girls so that they will not be able to reveal the secrets, an evacuation is planned.  The Danish girl is smart enough to realize that the Star of David necklace that her friend wears could be trouble and she pulls it off her neck just before the German soldiers come in the room.  I found this to be a good story for children, explaining the dangers of the time but not so graphic as to scare them.   

Finally, an old classic, Winnie-the-Pooh.  I love the drawings and the interpretive spelling.  There have been some good quotes coming out of this book but I found one that I really like.  It is toward the end of the book and Pooh and Piglet are walking home.  Piglet asks Pooh:  "When you wake up in the morning, Pooh, what's the first thing you say to yourself?"  Pooh answers, "What's for breakfast?  What do you say, Piglet?"  "I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?"  Pooh nods and says, "It's the same thing." 

One of the things that I have been trying to do every morning is say, "Something wonderful is going to happen today, I can't wait to see what it is."  When I start my day that way, even something simple like having a good breakfast CAN be special.  It reminds me to look for the wonderful in simple things that I might otherwise miss. 

 

Have you read these books?  Any Pooh quotes that are your favorite?  Look for something wonderful every day?  Love to hear about it.

Next week it is "Charlotte's Web" which I've read and another one I haven't, "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe."  You can still join in on the Children's Readathon hosted by Jay Cudney if you want, there are two weeks left!

Awe-Inspiring August - 2018 - Children's Readathon - Picture Books

My blogging friend, Jay Cudney, is hosting another readathon and this time it is children's books.  I have not read children's books since my kids were little, thinking that since I'm an adult they no longer have a relevance for me.  Wrong.  It has been so long that I can see new things in them that I didn't notice before.

The three books for this week were: 

"Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak, "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown and "Oh the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss.

Let me get "Where the Wild Things Are" over first.  I am not a fan.  I don't like Max and I don't like animals.  There.  I said it.  I don't think I actually read this book to my kids and if I did it was only once.  I know I did see the movie but I don't know how I sat through it all.  I think my husband wanted to see it.  I had to go to a special section in the library to get it because it is a Caldecott Medal winner for "most distinguished American picture book for children."  Still not impressed. 

The other two books I really love though.  "Goodnight Moon" was a true favorite.  It was a really great one to use for reading before bedtime to settle the kids down.  Each page is filled with wonderful words and pictures and you can use it to help teach them names of colors and objects. 


      


"In the great green room there was a telephone, and a red balloon and a picture of..."  I would have the kids point to the different items and ask them what other things they could think of that were green, etc.  Definitely a fun one to read. 

"Oh The Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss is another one that is great but not just for little kids.  I didn't realize until just recently what a perfect gift this is for giving to graduates of all ages.


  

It explains that there are endless possibilities and choices you can make and that things will not always be sunshine and flowers but that you have the tools to work through the bad times.  Our daughter recently graduated from college and we gave this book to her as a gift, with each of her siblings, my husband and I writing her a special note on the pages inside.  I also added some pictures of her at various stages of her life throughout the book as well.  She was touched. 

Thanks to Jay for hosting this readathon.  I'm looking forward to some of the other books that were chosen.  We'll be doing this the whole month of August so if you want to bring back some good memories (or make some new ones), feel free to join along! 

Making Memories in May - Agatha Christie Readathon Wrap Up

Well, as I suspected, with participating in the A to Z Challenge all month, I was not able to complete the Agatha Christie Readathon organized by Jay Cudney on time.  I did finish though and here is my recap.

I read "The Secret Adversary" but didn't have access to the second, "Peril at End House", so I read "Hallowe'en Party" instead.  It was a Poirot mystery so I felt that I could count it.  It was a good one with lots of suspects as usual.  My favorite part was the way the people made fun of Poirot about the way he walked in his patent leather shoes.  They said he looked uncomfortable and at one point he admitted his feet hurt but he was setting aside comfort for style.  Pretty funny.  This story also had the character of Ariadne Oliver who is possibly Agatha herself as Ms. Oliver is a mystery writer. 

Next was "The Body In the Library."  This one started right off with the murder, no beating around the bush.  Try as I might couldn't guess who done it.  Oddly enough, it was someone that I didn't even consider since, in my opinion, it seemed like almost a side character, not written too much about.    Interesting note about this story is that according to Agatha Christie, she believed that if she wrote two books at the same time and alternated the writing, it would keep her fresh.  She wrote "The Body in the Library" at the same time she wrote "N or M?"  Now I want to read that one to see if I notice any similarities. 

Finally, there was "The Murder at the Vicarage."   I thought I had this one figured out but of course I was wrong again.  Since this was the first introduction to Ms. Jane Marple I enjoyed sensing the skepticism about her abilities to solve the puzzle and then at the end seeing her prove her mastery.  Dame Agatha said about this story, "...I cannot remember where, when or how I wrote it, why I came to write it, or even what suggested to me that I should select a new character - Miss Marple - to act as the sleuth in the story."  You'd think she'd remember how one of her most famous characters came into being! 

The quotes I used in this post came from "An Autobiography," by Agatha herself but they were excerpts in a book called "The New Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Agatha Christie" edited by Dick Riley and Pam McAllister. 

This is a very informative book with multiple quotes from Dame Agatha and a synopsis of each of her stories.  It also gives a history of each of her main sleuths and a bit about the people who portrayed them in movies and on television.  There are some crossword puzzles and things inside as well to test your knowledge of the great Dame and her work.  If you are an Agatha fan, I highly recommend it.

Another book I would like to recommend is "Father Figure" the newest book by James J. Cudney. 

I haven't read it yet but it is definitely on my list as I really enjoyed his first novel, "Watching Glass Shatter."  This one describes the story of two girls, living two decades apart, told in alternating chapters.  I love the cover of the book with the mysterious house off in the distance and the crossroad path.  Makes me wonder which is the right path to take - if there is a "right" one.  From now until May 10 you can get the Kindle version of this book for free on Amazon.  I'm not a fan of reading books on electronic devices but free might make me want to give this one a go!  I am not an Amazon affiliate, just a James J. Cudney fan.  

So, now that I "finished" the Agatha Christie Readathon, I'm choosing "Wicked" as my next book in my own personal 2018 Reading Challenge.  Right now I am two books ahead of schedule!  Hope I can continue to keep up.

What are you reading?  Love Agatha?  Finish the challenge?  Did you read "Watching Glass Shatter" or "Father Figure?"  Love to hear about it!

March Meandering - 2018 - Books, the Moon and the A to Z!

Here we are at the end of March.  Before we get to the April A to Z I just have a little more meandering to do.

I finished the book "Boys Will Be Boys" about the Dallas Cowboy glory years.  Unbelievable how much goes on that you don't know about, even when you think you know it all! 

My next book is The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie.  She is my favorite mystery author and when my blogging friend Jay Cudney said he was going to do an Agatha read-a-thon I had to join in.  You can too since we are starting the challenge tomorrow and reading four books through the month of April.  I am hoping I'll be able to finish them in that amount of time!  You can get all the details here.   

This is the first story with Tommy and Tuppence, two of her lesser known sleuths.  I don't remember reading it so I'm excited to start.  I just need to figure out which category I can use it for in my PopSugar Challenge.  

I have to give a shout out to the Silver Legacy Casino in Reno.  Hubby and I went earlier this month to celebrate my birthday and I had my camera with me to take some pictures.  The other day I was getting ready to take pictures for my A to Z theme and the battery on my camera died.   I am pretty methodical about where I keep the charger and extra battery for my camera so when it was not in either of the two places it usually is, I instantly thought that I might have left it at the Silver Legacy.  The battery and charger are kind of expensive for cameras so I took a chance and called the Lost and Found Department at the hotel.  I spoke with a really helpful gentleman who informed me that of the 1500 or so guests who check out of the hotel on a daily basis, about 300 of them leave something behind!  Most of the time it is charger cords for phones.  I was able to give him the room number and the date that we checked out and a description of the charger.  He looked in the computer and sure enough, one had been turned in for that day.  He said they are all kept in a box and he would give a look to make sure it was mine and call me back.  Less than 10 minutes later he called back and said that they did have it!  I was so grateful.  He directed me to the Silver Legacy lost and found website and I put in a claim to have it mailed back to me.  It is well worth the $16 it costs to ship it since the battery alone can be about $30 easily.  Side note, the Legacy sent us another comp card for two nights so I'm seeing another visit in our future.  

Tonight is the second full moon of the month so it is another Blue Moon.  It is the second blue moon this year (the first one was in January) and that will not happen again until October 31, 2020.  Unfortunately, I don't have the battery for my camera yet!  Fortunately, hubby has a camera and I'm sure he'll let me borrow it.  I took a shot with my phone the other night after work.  This is what I got:

Here are a few from tonight.  Magic this moon!

 Talk about zoom huh?

I love getting the shots through the trees.  Almost makes me think they are hands, playing with a ball.

Or holding on to a crystal ball, waiting to show me my future!

Susannah Conway is doing her April Love photo prompts again but I'm not sure I'll be able to manage it with the A to Z.  Here are the prompts if you want to try that one. 

  

Last but certainly not least, tomorrow is the start of the A to Z!  I know you are all anxiously awaiting my Michaels insights.  I do have to say that Tuesday will be my last working day there, since I turned in my notice a few weeks ago.  I got some really nice compliments tonight from a few of my coworkers who were in the break room as I was clocking out.  They were telling me that they really were sorry I was leaving because I was so nice and easy to get along with and such a good worker.  One of my supervisors really made my day though when she said that she "didn't have to learn to like me," she just did.  That is especially gratifying as I am easily old enough to be their mother!  I reassured them that I would definitely be back as a shopper so they would still see me.  They promised to continue to give me the employee discount!  That would be sweet.  

Oh yeah, Happy Easter all!