June 24th, 2010
Image from BarelyFitz's Flickr Creative Commons
So, it was Father’s Day last Sunday. Per usual, I’m approximately 4 days behind the rest of the world’s calendar. That’s not to say I didn’t give my dad a hug on Sunday (we had him over for a cookout), but I didn’t exactly get his gift to him that day. I delivered it last night.
What do you give a dad who has everything? Who is retired and financially comfortable enough that he has the time and money to get and do whatever he’d like, when he’d like it*? Well, I’ve been giving him booklists. A few years ago, desperate for a gift, I gave him a bookmark with a list of books that sounded “like him.” He carried it around for a year and when he’d come in to volunteer at my school library (yes, he’s that great of a dad), he’d often have one of the books on the list under his arm. He wondered out loud to me once how I had compiled a list of so many great books that tickled his interest.
Ha! Finding books for readers is kinda what I do for a living, Dad. Probably my favorite part.
So, this year, it was time for a new list. And here it is: The Super-Long Father’s Day List of Books. It IS long, in no particular order, a strange mix of nonfiction, mystery, and science fiction/fantasy, and it includes some series halfway through because that’s where my dad is in them. I don’t know why I’m posting it here, except it’s books and it’s a list and I’m a librarian, so pass it on I must in the hopes that someone else somewhere might find their “just right” book.
Enjoy! (And please, I’m always looking for suggestions for next year’s list. Send them my way!)
* Not that he necessarily does. He’s pretty frugal, my dad. Which only makes gift-giving harder because if you give something too extravagant, it might be construed as, well…extravagant.
* I’ve already waxed on about my dad and reading here.
Books and Reading, book look, booklist, indeed, listmania, readers | 
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January 3rd, 2010
According to my bookshelf on Goodreads, I read 143 books in 2009. It’s actually more than that because I didn’t start adding to Goodreads until partway through the year. The rest of my list is here. But anyway… I gave 18 of them 5 stars. They are:
So you’d think these would be my favorites of 2009, right? Um, kind of. While I do still really like all of these books, when I consider my favorite-favorites, I always think about how much the book stuck with me. How much I remember it later. How much I’ve thought about it since I finished it. To me, those are the Truly Best Stories. And those are here:
And just in case you can’t read the covers, that’d be…
All the World
The Mistress of the Art of Death
One World, One Day
The Frog Scientist
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
When the Whistle Blows
Beka Cooper
The Dunderheads
Heart of a Shepherd
Ain’t Nothing But a Man
Ways to Live Forever
Home of the Brave
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December 24th, 2009
I know, school’s already out for most of you, so this post is a little too late. But most of these books are not actually Christmas stories. Instead, they have broader themes of what it means to give and receive. So they can make wonderful read alouds any time of year, right?
(All titles guaranteed to bring contented sighs and/or applause when you finish them–and what’s a better holiday present than that?)
A poor boy never gets what he wants but always what he needs from the Christmas train in the Appalachians.
Lesson Notes
A magical quiltmaker won’t give the greedy king a quilt until he gives away all his treasures. But will he even want it then?
Stick Man must find his way back to his stick Lady Love, their stick children three, and the family tree.
Lesson Notes
- Brainstorm what kinds of things sticks can be used for.
- Have student help with the “I’m Stick Man, I’m Stick Man, I’m Stick Man, that’s me” chorus.
Lesson Notes
Katje, living in war-devasted Holland in 1945, gets package from Rosie, who lives in America. As their long-distance friendship grows, their communities come together.
Lesson Notes
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October 19th, 2009
I have a new gig. I’ve started reviewing for Booklist. Yes, I’ll be getting sneak peeks at new picture books! But what I’m really, REALLY excited about is that Booklist is going to be cleaning my bathrooms!
Huh, you say? Well, stick with me here….a while back I banned myself from all other kinds of writing except middle grade fiction so I could actually have time to write middle grade fiction. And then I publicly declared it–well, in front of Husband, anyway. So when this Booklist opportunity came up, he–in a chivalrous efforts to protect my writing time from myself–pointed out that writing reviews really wasn’t my Writing Goal. I said: yes, but!–how about if I take the money from the reviews to hire a house cleaner? In the amount of time I spent each week scouring toilet bowls (we have way too many. And way too many boys with bad aim. And somehow, I always get stuck doing them. <–I could do another whole post on THAT), I could instead be writing reviews. No Writing Goal time lost!
Isn’t this a brilliant plan? Especially because right now, my bathrooms rival any I saw and used in China. Ew.
(photo from Flickr creative commons–admiller)
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