I have to say that I am so excited about these books! Ok, I know I get excited about a lot of books, but, come on! This is Laura Ingalls Wilder we’re talking about! I bought the first two in this series for my daughter and I can’t wait to dive into them myself!

Here’s the first one:

It is subtitled, “On Wisdom and Virtue”, and in it Laura talks about living a life of integrity and helping others and keeping a positive attitude. Truth be told, some of her old ideas might actually rub me the wrong way. I’m not sure yet, as I haven’t read it. I’m willing to bet, though, that the core of her message I will not only agree with, but, I’ll be happy to be having my daughter read it. And should I discover something that is just an old ideal that I do not subscribe to, it will be a good jumping off point for a discussion with my daughter about some of those old ideals.

Here is the second volume:

It is subtitled, “On Life as a Pioneer Woman”. Oh - this one should really be good! It will be full of great lessons for my daughter, I’m sure, about the value of hard work. I really can’t wait to read this one! (I need my teenage boys to read this one! Ha!)

I’m so glad to have two of my kids who completely fell in love with the Little House books. I don’t know that I can actually interest my son in these books, but, he really got a lot out of the main books. They both would love to visit Laura’s house! That would be such a neat trip!

I meant to tell you about another book by Kathleen Krull in that last post about The Giants of Science Series. I have so much fun researching and learning about children’s book authors. I love ‘bookies’ period (writers and bookworms), but, children’s authors just get me all fired up! I have been adding them to my sidebar here, and I think I will start some Squidoo lenses on some of my favorites!

Back to the topic at hand, though - we have a book by a children’s author about a children’s author! Can you get any sweeter than that? The book is called The Boy on Fairfield Street - How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss.

Here’s a quote from her site about the book:

Truly only about his youth, the narrative ends at age 22, when Seuss goes to New York City to launch his career. Four following pages provide a synopsis of his life and a timeline up to his death in 1991. Bordered, full-page oil-on-gessoed-paper illustrations evoke pertinent scenes, while spot art of Seuss drawings dot the opposite pages. Some of these original images are absolutely haunting; the magic of his name will make this a huge hit, but it’s the lively writing that puts the hat on the cat.

Bold is mine, because, I just love that part!
Here’s a pic of the book:

I also had meant to link to her website in that other post, and I forgot, so if you’d like to go read some more about her, click here: Kathleen Krull. When I was there reading, I discovered a cool and funny similarity between her and I. She was fired from a job at the library when she was fifteen. She was reading too much while on the job! Ha! When we lived in Texas, I would often work for the Richardson Independent School District annual book fair. It was a very big fair - people would literally come from all over the country to shop! It was a lot of work, but, so much fun! And as hard as I tried not to, I would catch myself reading instead of working! I would always joke that they could fire me, but, as it was a PTA function, that was just not gonna happen! I don’t think I could ever work in a library!

Ok, it’s a small festival - it’s just me and a few books and a movie, but, it is a festival, nonetheless! I just found myself in the middle of Alice Hoffman-land, sort of unexpectedly. It just sort of happened! And I am quite enjoying it!

It started when I remembered that I hadn’t yet read my copy of Here on Earth…

It was really good, and I was disappointed when I finished it - because it was over!
Then I decided that I would watch Practical Magic…

…again! I’ve only watched it like a hundred million times! But I LOVE THIS MOVIE! When it first came out on video, and I rented it, I did the funniest thing! I had never done this before. I immediately rewound it and started it over! I literally sat through two back-to-back showings of it! As a grown-up! (Ok, I use that term loosely.)
However, at the viewing recently, I fell asleep before the ending.

Moving on, though, I recently purchased The Probable Future:

…so I decided to start reading it. I am really enjoying it so far, as well. But I’m not getting very far, because, I keep falling asleep.

I have since watched Practical Magic again two more times, from the beginning - falling asleep before the ending - two more times.

Why do I keep starting it over from the beginning? Well, because, it is just more enjoyable that way! Except for the falling asleep part, that is.

I think I have just been working too hard and going to bed too late, lately. I am enjoying my Alice Hoffman Festival, though. And I guess doing it this way is just making it last longer, so it can’t be all that bad, right?
Have you read Alice Hoffman lately?

Some of you know me well enough to know that I love blogging. It is my new passion - I just completely love it!

Well, just this morning, I’ve discovered that Judy Blume is blogging - she has her very own blog on which she, herself, is talking to us, sharing with us, and interacting with us!

Is that cool, ya’ll, or what? She is one of my favorite authors from elementary school! I am totally so excited about this! I mean, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing was so much a part of my elementary-school life! A friend and I pretended we were the characters in the book and the books that followed it. We did this for years - we even would tease each other in high school about it! I know he ‘was’ Fudge, but, I can’t remember who I ‘was’. And as my friend became a very accomplished and very handsome young man in our high school years, I took great joy in calling him “Fudge”! (Not to mention, it gave me reason to talk to this now-very-good-looking young man!) I guess I must’ve been Sheila, the neighbor, and star of her own book,
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great. Oh - I just loved that book, too!

And the funny thing is, I was just thinking about my friend, “Fudge”, yesterday! I might have to look him up and see what he is up to!
You can find Mrs. Blume’s blog at: Judy’s Blog And just in case you forget where to find her, I’ll add her to my blogroll here on this site!

And actually, I just noticed that she has comments turned off, so that is kind of disappointing, but, I imagine it would be a full-time, and then some, job, to monitor them. I hope that she will find a way to be able to turn them on, so that we really can interact with her. That would be the coolest!

Now if we could just get Beverly Cleary blogging, my ‘elementary school years’ heart would just be bursting at the seams!

I grew up watching Little House on the Prairie and I just loved it! Every week when it would come on, it was like I was there with Laura, and it was so amazing - it was such a different time. A couple of years ago, my son started reading the books and became totally hooked on them! And now, my daughter is doing the same thing!

And Sammie is always begging me to take her to see Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri. That is the house that Laura and Almonzo and Rose lived in and where Laura wrote all of the books. There is a museum there now, and almost all of Laura and Almonzo’s possessions are there and you can go through and really get a feel for what it was like to live in their time. It would be so cool to show my kids the 19th Century furniture! There is a cypress stump table made by Almonzo. There is a lapdesk that Almonzo made for Laura, in which she had hidden the $100 for the down payment for the Rocky Ridge farm. There also is a clock that Almonzo had given to the family for Christmas, 1886 - that he wound every night before he went to bed.

The more I tell you about it, the more excited I am getting about it! I would so love to take the kids one day, and I sure hope we get to!

GO READ A BOOK!

Now here is a guy who fully supports the self-publishing movement! His name is John Kremer and he has several self-published books of his own. He is the author of this book:

And he is also the author of John Kremer’s Self-Publishing Hall of Fame, showcasing stories of hundreds of successful self-publishers.

But, the cool thing that he is doing now that I want to tell you about is a seminar. It is an awesome teleseminar package that contains a ton of information to help you along in your quest to become a New York Times bestselling author! The package is called How to Create a New York Times Bestseller.

Included are the audio files from two separate teleseminars Mr. Kremer gave on the topic; another audio about outselling the NYT market without breaking the bank; almost 800 independent bookstores’ data files, including the names of the buyers and event coordinators, and all of the contact information; and two helpful ebook downloads, valued at $30.00 each.

If you have a book in the works, or even one dancing around in your grey matter, this would be the perfect person to start listening to. He has loads of information to share, to help fellow authors!

GO READ A BOOK!

Every now and then, I enjoy reading horror novels. It’s kind of like that traffic accident that you just can’t stop looking at! I’ll be reading along, completely engrossed, and then reality slaps me in the face, and I ‘realize’ what I’m reading, and I get scared half out of my wits! Crazy, I tell you, it’s just crazy! My husband has a few good Stephen King novels on his bookshelves that I keep thinking, ‘Maybe I should read one of those…’ - but, I know better. With my luck, I’ll be reading it on the day he comes home late for work, or worse, is working out of town! And I’ll freak out, running around locking the doors and closing the window blinds! I just love those books, though, really - I just hate what they do to me! Speaking of Stephen King, though - we were on a drive with the family last weekend through some beautiful Alabama country roads, and we saw a pet cemetery! A real pet cemetery! I looked over at Mark, smirking, and said, “Ooooh, Ma-ark! Pet Cemetery!!” And we both laughed!

GO READ A BOOK!

Last week, schools across the country celebrated Read Across America, the nation’s largest reading celebration, and this year was the tenth anniversary of the event.
And since March 2 was The Cat in the Hat’s 50th birthday, the focus all week was on Dr. Seuss.

I know my kids had a blast at their school! Each day of the week focused on a different Dr. Seuss book, and had corresponding funny/interesting attire:

Monday was Oh, The Places You Go, and the children were asked to wear a t-shirt from a place they have been.

Tuesday was Green Eggs and Ham, and the children were asked to wear green.

Wednesday was One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and the children were asked to wear a red shirt and blue pants/jeans.

Thursday was The Foot Book, and the children were asked to wear their silly socks.

Friday was Cat in the Hat and the children were asked to wear their favorite hat to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday!

They were selling the stovepipe hats at school for only $5, and each of my kids bought one. They tried to buy one for my nephew in Texas, but, there weren’t enough left.

It was funny, because, on the same day that my daughter bought her hat, here in Alabama, my nephew was visited by The Cat in the Hat at his school, in Texas! It was a great way for my 3 year old nephew to connect his scholastic experience with my 10 year old daughter’s experience! I thought that was really cool, since they are so far apart in age!

The National Education Agency website says that this is actually a year-round event, and that you can get involved in a number of ways. They list some of the ways right here: Ten Ways to Celebrate the Tenth Anniversary.

Once you’re done reading there…

GO READ A BOOK!

I’ve just run across a wonderful and uplifting blog! It’s all about getting and staying healthy and helping one another to do so along the way. I love it! It’s called, Eat 4 Today

The author of the blog, back in January, spoke about a very interesting novelist named Christina Jones. She sounds like a spunky and tough and really cool chic! And - she loves cats! I just love cats!

You can read all about Ms. Jones right here: Meet Christina Jones, author and inspiration

GO READ A BOOK!