Hi, I'm Mrs. F-B!

Friday, June 08, 2012

Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It, Gail Carson Levine

This is a book of poetry modeled after William Carlos Williams' poem called "This Is Just to Say", which is one of my favorite poems.  This book is a hoot!  The subtitle is false apology poems, and I'm going to give you a teaser of just one.

This is Just to Say
I have shortened
my nose
with your saw

because
honestly
telling lies
is so much more fun

Forgive me
I don't care
about becoming
a real boy

Know what that's referring to?  If you guessed Pinocchio, you're right.  If you got it wrong, it's only because you didn't see the picture in the book.  If you saw the drawing accompanying the poem, surely you'd have gotten it right.   Matthew Cordell illustrates the poems, and the drawings are as fun and whimsical as the poems themselves.  Many of them refer to nursery rhymes or fairy tales, but others do not.  I especially loved the Little Red Riding Hood poem and the Humpty Dumpty one.

Gail Carson Levine gives a little lesson on how to write these formulaic poems about 1/3 of the way into the book, where she also "sneaks" her introduction poem.  This would be a fun, fun book to use with a class or on your own to practice writing some false apologies.  You never know, they might come in handy sometime!! 

It was an excellent book to snuggle up with on the couch today, this rainy, ugly, SO not summer day, but it will be just as fun in the bright sunshine.  You could sit outside and read it, then write some of your own while you soak up the Vitamin D. Enjoy!







Another summer reading program for kids!

Barnes and Noble is also having a summer reading program for kids.  You can win a free book!  And the best news is, you can use the reading you're doing for any other summer reading program (like GBSD Middle School Sizzling Summer Reading or Multnomah County Summer Reading) to count for the B&N program.  You could be double or even triple dipping!!!!

Rules for B&N summer reading are

Step 1:  Read any 8 books and record them on the B&N Reading Journal form
Step 2: Bring the completed form to your local B&N store
Step 3: Choose a FREE BOOK from their selection on the Reading Journal list!!!
Get all the details and the PDF form here.


Sounds like fun to me! Now why isn't there a grown-up summer reading program???

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

It's the day OF The Day Before

Very exciting news, people:  Lisa Schroeder's book The Day Before is out in paperback TODAY! This is a powerful novel in verse for older readers by Oregon author Lisa Schroeder.   I wonder if the cover will be the same?? The hardback version is an amazing photo!  Enjoy!



Monday, June 04, 2012

Why it's been forever since I posted

Wow! Seems like a long time since I posted here, and when I look, it really has been!  Why, you ask, has Mrs. FB stopped reading?  Well, I just want you to know that I haven't stopped reading, I've just not been finishing much because I'm trying to get through one of the longest, weirdest book I've read in some time. The book I'm reading, and have been for quite some long time, is 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.  It's a magical realism book - meaning it has a bunch of realistic stuff in it, but it also has this element of magic - in this case, time travel.  It's fascinating and puzzling and wacky and so, so interesting.  There are really two stories which are tangentially related and I'm so curious to watch themas they're coming closer and closer together.

I really love this book, but it's around 900 pages, and it takes some slow reading and focus to get through it without being confused.  And I'm trying to read some other things other things at the same time.  Consequently, I'm not getting much finished at all.  But bring on vacation.  I'm gonna get a whole buncha books read!!  See you again soon!