In Which I Get Deep and Serious About Why I Write Funny Books for Kids
My post is up over on the Nerdy Book Club. Click over to read why I write and what I watched over Thanksgiving Break.
The Week that Was: Friday Five
I finished up work this week. The library is inventoried and tallied and organized and all in Perfect Order . . . just in time for summer school to start on Monday. In inventorying (yes, I declare that a word) the library, I discovered two–TWO!–hidden ACTIVE network ports in electrical panels under the floor. This makes me inordinately happy because… Read more →
“Mahna-mahna,” or Why Historical Fiction for Kids Is Hard
We went to see The Muppets this past weekend. I loved it. So many fond memories of childhood. Fozzy*. The chickens. Seeing the babies. Beeker. But my kids…well, they enjoyed it, but I don’t think they “got” it. Sad to say, but they’ve never seen a Muppet movie or show (I know, we’re going to remedy that). So while they… Read more →
Favorite Reads of 2009
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… Read more →
What’s Your Secret Site?
Husband and I were talking about this with friends this weekend. Do you have a a place online that you frequent regularly–but that would surprise everyone to know about? (And no, I’m not talking about THOSE kind of websites. I’m a children’s librarian, for heaven’s sake! Please don’t spoil my innocence.) My website confession was this one: the Wisconsin Almanac. I… Read more →
Nonfiction Monday
So, when I get super busy (i.e. during the school week) I tend to read nonfiction. It’s perfect for my drained mind and snippets of time. Not that nonfiction is light reading. But I do read it differently than fiction. I begin with a quick flip through the illustrations and their captions. Then a scan of chapter titles and headings. Then I settle… Read more →
Every Reader Tells a Story
I first read this phrase as a blog post over on the Book Whisperer’s blog. She talked about how everybody has a story about how they came to reading. (Or even, as I thought at the time, a story about how or why they didn’t come to reading. These stories, I suspect, may be even more interesting.) But anyway, the… Read more →
Stand By Me
You would think that after 14 years of working in schools I would know that I’m not actually going to get anything done in the library on my teacher work days. Yes, it’s Labor Day, and I’m heading into work to finish up a few things for my classes tomorrow. Anyway, one of my favorite things of the first week… Read more →
In Which I Return From the East
(Although I flew west to get there. But whatever.) I’m back from China! We have literally thousands of photos and tons of what we think are amusing anecdotes, but I’ll keep it simple here: Top 10 Memories Climbing the Great Wall at Mutianyu. This was special for many reasons, one of which was that it was one of the only… Read more →
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