Monthly Archives: January 2013

Rocket Writes a Story

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Author: Tad Hill
Publisher:  Schwartz & Wade
Pages:  40
Genre:  Children’s picture book
Source:  Random House Open House


Goodreads:  This irresistible sequel to the New York Times bestselling How Rocket Learned to Read is “a perfect choice to inspire new readers and writers,” according to a starred review from Kirkus Reviews.

Rocket loves books and he wants to make his own, but he can’t think of a story. Encouraged by the little yellow bird to look closely at the world around him for inspiration, Rocket sets out on a journey. Along the way he discovers small details that he has never noticed before, a timid baby owl who becomes his friend, and an idea for a story. This book is sure to appeal to kids, parents, teachers, and librarians.



Ope’s Opinion:  I love reading to my granddaughter.  Seeing her be a little sponge is so much fun!  This book kept her attention.  She enjoyed the characters in the book.

                              I did not realize there was a previous book – How Rocket Learned to Read.  I will have to go search that out for her.


Rating:  Four Chairs – I like this book so much I know several Kids I will share it with.


It’s Monday, What are reading?

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A meme hosted by Sheila at BookJourney.
Finished this past week:
The Best of Us by Sarah Pekkanen

Three Good Things by Ellen McClarety

Currently reading:  I put The Promise of Stardust on my currently reading last time. Then I was fortunate to be given a couple of Nook books that were going to expire.  I couldn’t pass them up, so now I am putting The Promise of Stardust back on my currently reading.













Next on the TBR pile:  While in NYC my daughter Kristin of Kritters Ramblings 
bought me Nate Berkus’ book, The Things That Matter.

What are you reading?  What is next?




The Off the Shelf Challenge 2013

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 The Off the Shelf Challenge 2013
My Goodreads bookshelves say I own 117 books and I want to read 172!  I would like to read some of those that were there before I even started blogging!!  This year I would like to make a little room on the shelf for the new books that come in.  I think my husband would like it if another book shelf were not added to the house.  I am starting out small, I am going to see if I can do five this year.

If you would like more information on this challenge, check out Bookish Ardour.

Wife 22

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Author:  Melanie Gideon                                                  
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Pages:  400
Genre:  Chick Lit
Source:  BEA

Goodreads:   For fans of Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and Allison Pearson’s I Don’t Know How She Does It comes an irresistible novel of a woman losing herself . . . and finding herself again . . . in the middle of her life.

Maybe it was those extra five pounds I’d gained. Maybe it was because I was about to turn the same age my mother was when I lost her. Maybe it was because after almost twenty years of marriage my husband and I seemed to be running out of things to say to each other.

But when the anonymous online study called “Marriage in the 21st Century” showed up in my inbox, I had no idea how profoundly it would change my life. It wasn’t long before I was assigned both a pseudonym (Wife 22) and a caseworker (Researcher 101). 

And, just like that, I found myself answering questions.

7. Sometimes I tell him he’s snoring when he’s not snoring so he’ll sleep in the guest room and I can have the bed all to myself.
61. Chet Baker on the tape player. He was cutting peppers for the salad. I looked at those hands and thought, I am going to have this man’s children.
67. To not want what you don’t have. What you can’t have. What youshouldn’t have.
32. That if we weren’t careful, it was possible to forget one another.


 Before the study, my life was an endless blur of school lunches and doctor’s appointments, family dinners, budgets, and trying to discern the fastest-moving line at the grocery store. I was Alice Buckle: spouse of William and mother to Zoe and Peter, drama teacher and Facebook chatter, downloader of memories and Googler of solutions.

But these days, I’m also Wife 22. And somehow, my anonymous correspondence with Researcher 101 has taken an unexpectedly personal turn. Soon, I’ll have to make a decision—one that will affect my family, my marriage, my whole life. But at the moment, I’m too busy answering questions. 

As it turns out, confession can be a very powerful aphrodisiac.

Ope’s Opinion:  The format of using Facebook, email and texting moved the story along.  It was a fun, easy read.  I enjoyed watching the characters develop.  They seemed like a real family.  Everyone going in different directions, having different things going on.
                             I liked that this reminded me to appreciate my husband.  It also reminded me that even when things aren’t perfect, they are still good and love is still there.
                              A nice fun read.


Rating:  Three Chairs – I like the book enough to suggest it to a friend or two.

                                    FTC – Disclosure of Material Connection: 

      I received one copy of this book free of charge from BEA. 
            I was not required to write a positive review
                 in exchange for receipt of the book;
         rather the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
                                                       

Waiting on Wednesday

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“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at  Breaking the Spine, 
that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. 


My Pick is:

Sticks and Stones by Emily Bazelon
Publisher:  Random House
Pub date:  February 19, 2013


Amazon:
 Being a teenager has never been easy, but in recent years, with the rise of the Internet and social media, it has become exponentially more challenging. Bullying, once thought of as the province of queen bees and goons, has taken on new, complex, and insidious forms, as parents and educators know all too well.

No writer is better poised to explore this territory than Emily Bazelon, who has established herself as a leading voice on the social and legal aspects of teenage drama. In Sticks and Stones, she brings readers on a deeply researched, clear-eyed journey into the ever-shifting landscape of teenage meanness and its sometimes devastating consequences. The result is an indispensable book that takes us from school cafeterias to courtrooms to the offices of Facebook, the website where so much teenage life, good and bad, now unfolds.

Along the way, Bazelon defines what bullying is and, just as important, what it is not. She explores when intervention is essential and when kids should be given the freedom to fend for themselves. She also dispels persistent myths: that girls bully more than boys, that online and in-person bullying are entirely distinct, that bullying is a common cause of suicide, and that harsh criminal penalties are an effective deterrent. Above all, she believes that to deal with the problem, we must first understand it.

Blending keen journalistic and narrative skills, Bazelon explores different facets of bullying through the stories of three young people who found themselves caught in the thick of it. Thirteen-year-old Monique endured months of harassment and exclusion before her mother finally pulled her out of school. Jacob was threatened and physically attacked over his sexuality in eighth grade—and then sued to protect himself and change the culture of his school. Flannery was one of six teens who faced criminal charges after a fellow student’s suicide was blamed on bullying and made international headlines. With grace and authority, Bazelon chronicles how these kids’ predicaments escalated, to no one’s benefit, into community-wide wars. Cutting through the noise, misinformation, and sensationalism, she takes us into schools that have succeeded in reducing bullying and examines their successful strategies. The result is a groundbreaking book that will help parents, educators, and teens themselves better understand what kids are going through today and what can be done to help them through it.