Gifts and cool stuff to do!

Books books and more books can always be found beneath my Christmas tree, and there are lots of recommendations on the recommendations page of my library website.

You might also think about giving to the Library Foundation, which you can do through the Willamette Week's Give! Guide.
You'll find the Library Foundation in the community section. The public library has LOTS of great programs going on, and the Foundation works to support their efforts.

And speaking of the public library, don't forget our fun library promotions we have going on over break. Comment on this very blog OR visit a public library. All the info is on the library page near THIS snowflake symbol:


Hope you're having a great winter break!

Cheers,

Mrs. FB

Poetry Friday - Winter Solstice

It's almost Winter Solstice, The days now are the shortest of the year, but then they'll begin to move back to longer and longer days. I can't wait for that!

Winter Solstice

Jason Krpan

Past
Present
Future,
Very linear
Very simple.

The winter solstice
A threshold
After which
The days become longer
The sun stronger
Yet for the next six to eight
weeks
It becomes
Colder.

Past
Present
Future
Very linear
Very
Very
Simple.

vacation birthdays!!

We have a boatload of birthdays over the vacation, so wish these people a happy birthday, not just a happy holiday!

Let it snow!

6th graders are wishing for snow, and since its not coming down out of the clouds, we made our own snowflakes today in Mrs. Volz's core enrichment class! If you'd like to see actual photographs of snowflakes, check out THIS site about Wilson Bentley. He began photographing snowflakes in the late 1800s(!), and he went on to photograph over 5000 snowflakes and never found two alike.

Happy Winter to you.

Happy birthday, Lana!

Lana chose Blizzard' Wake as her birthday recommendation. She and her sister read it together a few years ago and she said it was really good. Sounds like a perfect winter book. Bring on the blizzards!

Celebrating birthdays!

Three GREAT recommendations this week. Hoot, by Carl Hiassen; one of Meg Cabot's Mediator books; and the lovely Olive's Ocean. Thanks, ladies, for the fabulous recommendations. Hope you had wonderful birthdays and all your wishes come true in the year ahead!

Poetry Friday -Snowflake Haikus

After last winter, a lot of Portland people could do without any snow days this year, but not me. I love to watch it snow! It's so peaceful, and a great opportunity to curl up with a good book :) These haikus are from a Denver newspaper. Readers submited their own snowflake haikus. I just chose a few to put here, but if you want to read more, Click here.

Snowflakes

No two are alike
Settle on my frozen tongue
Pure beauty falling

Connie Masthay

***

Snowflakes are falling
Unique beauties of nature
Amaze and delight

Robin Bathke

***

Snowflakes fall softly
White drifts blanket forest floors
Quiet, peaceful sleep

Elizabeth Singleton

***

Fairy tutus fall
Drifting on the ground below
Enchanted dancing

Barbara T. Bauer

Opuestos - Mexican Folk Art Opposites in English and Spanish - Cynthia Weill

I received this book from Cinco Puntos Press via the Picnic Basket website, and I have to say, I think it would be a fabulous book for our beginning Spanish classes, our ELL classes AND for our art classes.

The book is a simple picture book with words like "alike" and "different, "long" and "short,"face" and "tail, " etc. given in both English and Spanish, and then "illustrated" with a photo of an animal carving done by the Santiago brothers who live in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The animal figurines are brightly painted and the backgrounds on the pages are extremely simple, plain bright colors with a simple border around the page. Each page is a different color.

This book is so simple, yet it is delightful and visually interesting. It will be an excellent addition to our collection and very useful in the classroom.

Goddess Boot Camp - Tera Lynn Childs

LOVED this second book by Tera Lynn Childs about mythology. The first book was called Oh. My. Gods. Both books are hilariously funny, but also a bit serious at times, suspenseful, and chock FULL of mythology. Once you've finished The Lightning Thief, I'd highly recommend these. In the first book, Phoebe has just discovered she's a third generation descendant of the goddess Nike, and she's moved to Greece and is attending a special school that's all kids who are descended from the gods.

In this book, Phoebe's been in Greece a while, has found herself a very fine boyfriend, and is training for the Pythian Games, which are similar to the Olympics. But there are a few little problems...one of the problems is that Phoebe's boyfriend is being really secretive and spending a lot of time with his old girlfriend. Uh-oh! Another problem is that Phoebe has never really uncovered the real reason behind her father's death, and she's pretty afraid of what she might find out. But the biggest problem of all is that Phoebe herself has about zero control, or maybe less, over her powers. And if she doesn't get them under control soon, she's not going to pass teh test that's n store for her OR be allowed to compete for a chance in the Pythian games.

Enter Goddess Boot Camp. It's where you go when you're in way over your head and can't get control. But usually you're sent there when you're about ten, not when you're in high school. And usually your evil stepsister isn't in charge of the camp. And usually your boyfriend's ex isn't second in charge. Ugh! Phoebe's sure it's going to be misery all summer and that she won't learn a thing. And on some levels, both are right. But there are a lot of surprises along the way, too.

This was a delightfully fun book, and a great choice to have picked to read on my birthday! This book and the first in the series have been ordered for the WOMS library and should be here right after winter break. Meanwhile, they're available at the Multnomah County Library.

The Saggitarians are celebrating our birthdays now, and have some great books to share.Casey chose The Alchemyst. Harlene, super celebrator, picked Perfect, Yasmine selected Wicked, and I elected to show off I'd Tell You I Love You but Then I'd have to Kill You - we have the mp3 of this one now, did you know? All fabulous books for fabulous people. Find these @ your library!

Poetry Friday - Crossroads

It's my birthday on Monday, and since I'm figuring I'll live somewhere into my late 80s, I really am in the beginning of the second half of my life. Wow! That's kind of a strange concept. I love Joyce's Stuphen's outlook on the second half, though! Here's to wandering feet and new dreams every night!

Crossroads
by Joyce Stuphen

The second half of my life will be black
to the white rind of the old and fading moon.
The second half of my life will be water
over the cracked floor of these desert years.
I will land on my feet this time,
knowing at least two languages and who
my friends are. I will dress for the
occasion, and my hair shall be
whatever color I please.
Everyone will go on celebrating the old
birthday, counting the years as usual,
but I will count myself new from this
inception, this imprint of my own desire.

The second half of my life will be swift,
past leaning fenceposts, a gravel shoulder,
asphalt tickets, the beckon of open road.
The second half of my life will be wide-eyed,
fingers shifting through fine sands,
arms loose at my sides, wandering feet.
There will be new dreams every night,
and the drapes will never be closed.
I will toss my string of keys into a deep
well and old letters into the grate.

The second half of my life will be ice
breaking up on the river, rain
soaking the fields, a hand
held out, a fire,
and smoke going
upward, always up.

Bunches of birthdays!

What with the week off for conferences and vacation and the birthdays this week, we've got a huge run of photos to share. Happy birthdays to Jacob, Riley, Aaron, Kristen, Jenna, Deisy, Tyler, Jonathan, Neal, Tina, Matthew, Paul and Kaitlyn! They've chosen some great books to recommend on their birthdays, so take a look. you just might find something you want to read!!

I am thankful for GAB

Here at WOMS I am lucky enough to lead a fabulous group of moms and daughters in our West Orient Mother Daughter Book Club called GAB - Girls and Books. At our November meeting we did a super fun craft project using, you'll never guess from looking at them - Hershey bars. Anything that combines crafts and chocolate is bound to be a winner, and look how cute these tuned out. There's always rooms for more members, so let me know if you're interested in joining!

The Christmas Cookie Club - Ann Pearlman

OK, full disclosure, I have not yet read this book, but I want to. However, even more, I want to win the fabulous prize offered over at BermudaOnion's Weblog for posting a Christmas cookie recipe, so here's one of my favorites:

Recipe: Toffee Squares
From: Erin Fitzpatrick-Bjorn

1 c. butter or margarine
1 c. packed brown sugar
2 c. sifted flour
1 egg yolk
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
3-4 7/8oz. milk chocolate bars or 1 ½ c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped nuts

Cream sugar and butter, egg yolk and vanilla. Stir in flour and salt until well blended. Spread in 13x10'' rectangle on cookie sheet. Leave about 1'' around edge of cookie sheet (it will fill it up. Once I made this and it was all over the oven because I didn't listen to the directions. E.). Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees until evenly browned. It will still be soft. Remove from oven. IMMEDIATELY place separate choc. squares on top and let stand until soft. Spread choc. over entire surface then QUICKLY sprinkle with nuts and cut into small pieces while warm.

Rich cookie that tastes like toffee candy. Especially good at holiday time.

Makes 3-4 dozen cookies.

Even kids can make these, so go for it, WOMS students. Enjoy!

Welcome back

This is an awesome video from New Zealand about how books can come to life. Amazing artistry. Enjoy!

Poetry Friday - The Yawn

Some days, like the day after a big holiday, I spend a lot of time yawning. Seems like my body says, "Ah, I can finally rest." Better listen and get on taking a nap!

The Yawn

Paul Blackburn

The black-haired girl
with the big
brown
eyes
on the Queens train coming
in to work, so
opens her mouth so beautifully
wide
in a ya-aawn, that
two stops after she has left the train
I have only to think of her and I
o-oh-aaaww-hm
wow !

from The Cities (Collected Poems), 1985
Persea Books, New York, NY

Front and Center - Catherine Gilbert Murdock

This is the third book in the Dairy Queen series, and as is typical for most series I read, when I love the first one, I'm often lukewarm on the second and then I have to decide whether to read the third. This time I decided to go for it, and I am really glad I did! I liked this one a lot.

DJ Schwenk is growing up, and she's still wants to blend into the woodwork as much as possible, but it's not very possible...not at all. Because really, DJ's been a football star, had a bad break-up with a boy she really liked, and had a superstar brother become paralyzed in a football injury. Living in a small town, things like this make hiding nearly impossible. Add to this that her goofy friend Beaner wants to date her and isn't afraid to announce it in front of everyone, and that her coach is pressuring her to be more of a leader on the basketball court, and it's clear that DJ Schwenk won't be hiding this year.

She can't hide from her brother, either, even though he's far away and in a rehabilitation center. He's calling her constantly asking her about college and playing basketball. DJ Doesn't want to really even think about it that much, and she darn sure doesn't want to play at a big school where the pressure is insanely intense, but some other people have different ideas.

There's a lot of introspection in this story. DJ spends a lot of time thinking, about both her present and her future. And she's learning a lot about herself - what she's capable of, what she wants, what she doesn't want. It's a nice finish to this trilogy, although I'm kind of disappointed it's the end. You never know, though, stranger things have happened, and perhaps we'll see a return of DJ later on. We'll just have to wait and see.

I've ordered this for our library, so we'll have it soon, but in the meantime you can find it at the Multnomah County Library.

Sunrise Over Fallujah - Walter Dean Myers

I listened to this book on my iPod, and I finished it in record time. I was really into this book. Mater Dean Myers, as always, packed a punch into this novel, and the narrator enhanced the experience incredibly. In fact, I'm thinking of checking out who the narrator was and trying to find other audiobooks by him he was so good!

I'm not usually a huge fan of war books, I'm pretty much a peacenik, but my nephew mentioned he wanted to read it, so I thought I'd read it and see what I thought about it. What I thought was WOW! As with most war books, there is a lot of heartbreak and death. There is also a lot of action and suspense. But this book, more than most other war books I've read, delved deep into the personal thoughts of Iraq war soldier Robin Perry, a young man who joined the army instead of going off to college, much to the dismay of his parents. Robin proves to be a deep thinker, though, even at such a young age, pondering who exactly are the enemies in this situation, and where God is in all this, or if he even IS at all.

All the scenarios in the story seem quite realistic, from the friendships built throughout the story to the combat scenes to the nightmares and pain. This story definitely does not glamorize war in any way. I do not know whether Walter Dean Myers was a soldier himself, but his writing certainly makes it seem like he has some shared experiences with these young men an women.

I highly recommend this novel for 8th graders and up who are looking for realistic war stories. Available at the West Orient library.

A Brief Chapter in my Impossible Life - Dana Reinhardt

This is a great story about a young woman, Simone Turner-Bloom, who was adopted as a baby and has always known she was adopted. She says she never cared about her birth mother, doesn't even call her that, in fact. She says she never wanted to or wants to know anything about her. And then Ryvka (spelling may be wrong because I listened to this one on my ipod) calls. Simone does NOT want to talk to her, but her parents keep pushing her. They push gently, but still they push. She can't figure out why because they've always said it's up to her but now they seem to be changing their tune. Finally Simone gets out of them that Ryvka is sick, very sick, and she really wants to see Simone.

Now Simone has a hard decision to make. She talks it over with another friend of hers who's also adopted, and he is the one who really convinces her. He tells her how much he wishes he at least had the chance to know his mother, but even though he's tried, it's just not going to happen. Simone decides to give Ryvka chance, and it turns out to be an amazing experience for her. She learns about what happened, and how she ended up where she did, why Simone had to give her up, how Simone's family responded. Thee are things she never thought she wanted to know, but once she's begun this relationship she wants to know more and more. She also finds out about her Jewish heritage, something she's never practiced before. She's never practiced any religion.

The story has a lot of philosophy intertwined in the plot, and I think it's a book that would best be appreciated by mature 8th graders or high schoolers. There's nothing inappropriate for younger readers, but I think they'll just get lot less out of it and would appreciate more as an older reader.

Available at the Multnomah County Library.

Ranger's Apprentice - Ruins of gorlan Book I - John Flanagan

Very low expectations sometimes turn out to surprise a person, and this was one of those times. You know I'm not a fantasy fan so much, and the first few pages of this book with all the weird words and names nearly tipped me over the edge, but I was determined to finish the Battle of the Books titles this month, and this was second to last on the list. Surprisingly, once the prologue was over, it wasn't really a fantasy book at all until way far into it, and by then I was so totally hooked I didn't even mind.

This is really a story of self discovery more than anything by a boy named Will who wanted to be apprenticed to battleschool to become a warrior but who was asked instead to be the apprentice of a Ranger. At first Will was very disappointed, but he begins to find that he actually likes the things the Ranger does, although he's not entirely sure what ALL the things are. Seems like he's always learning something new. He finds a lot of adventure and learns a lot about the art of fighting throughout the story.

I thought this was a story with a lot of excitement and action that had great pacing and suspense. It did have some fantasy as I said, but the fantasy elements definitely were not the overriding factor. At the end of the story I could hardly stop reading, even when it was way past my bedtime! I'd definitely recommend this book as a great choice. There are several books in the series for those of you who are series fans. Available on the Oregon Battle of the Books spinner rack.

Still Life - Louise Penny

This book is an adult mystery novel that was reviewed as one of the ten best mysteries of the year. I thought it was a little slow at first, but I grew to really enjoy it. It was one I listened to, and I think that if I had been able to read it, I'd have started to enjoy it sooner. This book is not a thriller mystery, but a bit of a psychological mystery that engrosses an entire small town in Quebec province, Canada after a woman who's lived there for many years is killed by bow and arrow. It seems at first that this was a hunting accident but it turns out not to have been, and this sends the people of the town into a bit of a tailspin.

Many secrets of the town's residents are revealed over the course of the investigation, secrets they clearly would rather have left alone. Some of the secrets turn out to be closely related to the mystery, and some do not, but all dovetail into the answer in one way or another.

There is a whole art component to this story as well, and while it is central to the mystery, it's also quite informative about art, and I thought it was interesting how the author wove this in to the story. I'm curious about her background and whether she knew some things about art before she started or had to research everything. I'm thinking the former, but you never know.

I'd recommend this to adult readers who like mysteries that aren't necessarily thrillers. Available at the Multnomah County Library.

Poetry Friday - The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven

It's nearly Thanksgiving, and I wanted to say, "Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone." I hope you have a restful holiday next week and a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends. Jack Prelutsky has some sage advice here for all you cooks in the crowd! Enjoy :)


The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven

The turkey shot out of the oven
and rocketed into the air,
it knocked every plate off the table
and partly demolished a chair.

It ricocheted into a corner
and burst with deafening boom,
then splattered all over the kitchen,
completely obscuring the room.

It stuck to the walls and the windows,
it totally coated the floor,
there was turkey attached to the ceiling,
where there'd never been turkey before.

It blanketed every appliance,
it smeared every saucer and bowl,
there wasn't a way I could stop it,
that turkey was out of control.

I scraped and I scrubbed with displeasure,
and thought with chagrin as I mopped,
that I'd never again stuff a turkey
with popcorn that hadn't been popped.

Jack Prelutsky