I just love old muscle cars - the way they have those big, beastly engines in front of you, and the way they just roar. I used to pretend my ‘77 Delta 88 was a muscle car, because, she had one of those big engines. Ha! I’m a dork. I did love that car, though. I miss her - her name was ‘Bertha’. She was a lot of fun. And she had enough back seat for the kids to practically do acrobatics while we were going down the road! They, of course, were safely strapped in their car seats and boosters, though. Too bad, kids.

Real muscle cars are so awesome, though. I didn’t truly appreciate them when I was a youngster, now, though, I have a true appreciation for the fine machines that they are. It’s funny, I think my parents always thought that my love for trucks that I had as a kid would eventually fade. The exact opposite has actually happened - it has grown and blossomed to include awesome machines of all kinds. I even love construction trucks now! That would be thanks to my boys and their early childhood obsession with them. They have, of course, outgrown it. Mom still goes nuts when a backhoe goes rolling by! Ha! The boys respond to my excitement over said backhoe with a monotonous, “Yeah, great, Mom.” They created a monster and don’t even truly appreciate this newest branch of my love for machines! Little hoodlums!

I would love to own one of those older beefy cars, though. Oh my gosh, that would be so much fun! John Schneider recently sold ‘The General Lee’ - how much fun would that be to drive around town?

I imagine, though, that owning one of those old beauties would come with a lot of need for repairs. It was definitely a handful sometimes, taking care of ‘Bertha’, and she wasn’t exactly a ‘fine machine’, you know? In my heart, she was, but, if I owned a Charger or something, it might need even more specialized care. I did find a very helpful book, for any budding muscle car enthusiasts that may be out there. The book is called Project Charger by Larry Lyles, and the reviews that accompany it on Amazon are nothing short of glowing. So I imagine this book would be extremely helpful in caring for a car like that.

Another thing I’m sure I would wind up doing is buying one Dodge Charger accessory after another. Oh boy, they have some nice ones, though! I’m serious - just look and you’ll see what I mean! The thing that most intrigued me was the port holes, but, I am not sure if that is only on the newer models. They sure do look cool, though.

I’m glad that there is a book for everything under the sun, because, that is part of my whole argument that every child can learn to love to read. You just have to find a book on a topic that they love! And if I can find a super-helpful book on Dodge Chargers, you can find a book that your child will enjoy, too!

I’m so excited about this book that I just picked up at the store. I wasn’t even intending to buy myself anything, but, a cup of coffee. I was taking my son and his friends to buy snacks and goodies for a party they are throwing tomorrow night. My daughter went along with us, and she and I went off wandering while we waited for the boys to pick out their stuff. We wound up at the books section, and that is when I saw it….

It’s called Speak and it’s by Laurie Halse Anderson. The librarian at my children’s last school (in Texas) had told me about this book at the end of our last year there. I’ve been meaning to pick it up ever since, and just haven’t done it.

There it was tonight, though, begging me to bring it home. It was calling to me… Really! Books do that, you know! I’ve got a bit of a tummy ache, so I think I’ll just go curl up in bed with my new book and relax.

The book covers a heavy topic, and it might be very depressing, but, I am very interested to read it after the glowing review from the librarian. I’ve been meaning to email her to say hello, anyway - now I definitely will have to, so that I can let her know I’ve finally read this book!

I’ll let you know my thoughts on it when I’ve finished reading it.

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!

My darling son, Shawn, brought me an early Christmas present the other day. How cool is that? My husband had taken the kids up to the school for the Santa Shop. If you are not familiar with this concept, a fund raiser retailer comes in to the school and sets up a shop full of inexpensive and varied items, so that the kids can easily shop for their loved ones. The shopping gets done all in one place, and the gifts are easy for a child’s budget to accommodate. It’s a really neat program.

Another thing happened to be going on that night at school, as well. The library was giving away books. Did someone say giving away books? I am so there! Well, I wasn’t - but, my boy was looking out for me! He brought me home a great book to read, and a very important one, at that! He brought me “The Long Black Schooner” by Emma Gelders Sterne. It is the story that prompted the movie, “Amistad”. I haven’t seen the movie, but, I am so excited to read the book. I think it will be a much more enriching experience to read the story first. That is how it usually is for me. The subtitle is “The Voyage of the Amistad” and the book was also later renamed to “The Slave Ship”. So the book kind of has three titles. Isn’t that weird?

Here’s a picture of my copy:

The round thing coming off the top of it is my booklight. I love that thing! My dad bought it for me last summer and it is the nicest one I’ve ever had - it rocks!

There is one about Shawn bringing me a book that is heartwrenching - if you’re a bookworm, that is. Do you know why the library was giving away their books? They were giving them away because they are…..eeks…..”discards“. Yes, discards. Isn’t that the saddest thing you’ve ever heard anyone say in reference to books? It’s even stamped inside the front of the book:

Ugh. So sad. Shawn said they were going to throw away whatever books they had left over. I’m hoping and praying his information is wrong - surely it must be, right? We have a brand new thrift store in town that would probably love them! I’ll have to ask the librarians about that, I’m sure the child was wrong.

I’m also sure, however, that the child was sweet - to think of me. And to bring me such a historically important book. When your child loves books enough to give you back books in return, then you know your book circle has come full circle. And that life is good.

Yes, I’m silly and sappy when I talk about books.

This is a really cool book about all about Christmas trees. My favorite part about the book is that the children can learn all about the different kinds of trees. That is very cool, when authors take a fun, fictional story and teach kids good stuff with it!

Now check this out - you and I can look inside the book - before we buy it! It’s a website that I just stumbled across today, called Lookybook.com. Actually, my friend, Drew, who blogs over at Read To Me, Dad, alerted me to it. I am so excited about it! Just click on the book and you can look through it, too!

Sammie has been having special Christmas reading time with her daddy every night. And they are reading a very special book. They are reading,

Chicken Soup for the Soul Christmas Treasury for Kids: A Story a Day from December 1st through Christmas for Kids and Their Families
We just love this book - we got it at one of the school book fairs several years ago and I think it is so precious that Sammie is calling Mark into her room to read it with her every night. The book is made up of 25 very special Christmas stories, sent in by people just like you and me. They tell stories of children at Christmas time fully realizing the true meaning of Christmas.

So you start reading on December 1st, and you have a story to read every night. It is a lovely tradition to have with your family. And while I am a little sad that I’m not reading the book with her every night, I am thoroughly pleased that she and her father are so close and are enjoying that together.

And of course, you know I had to photograph it and blog it! Ha! Here they are, aren’t they precious?

I will give one warning, though - I can’t remember which story it is, but, one of them will give great hints to little Santa-believers. I will have to look it up and tell you what I’m talking about. I just remember the first year that we got it, as I’m reading aloud to the kids (who mostly still believed) stumbling across a line that stopped me in my tracks and left me scrambling for a way to recover! Haha! It was awful! So just be careful!

The book, The Mailbox, by Audrey Shafer, sounds so good. I think I’m going to put it on my book queue with my new book club for the kids. It is about a little boy who lives in one foster home after another and just leads a really hard life. Then, at the age of nine, he is sent off to live with his old uncle. His uncle is quite the grump, but, he has some amazing stories to tell and a heart of gold. He is a good, stable person for the boy. Sadly, the uncle dies when the boy is still quite young. The boy is terrified and so sad, and so he doesn’t tell anyone that his uncle has died. And mysteriously, the body disappears and lots of cards start to show up in the mailbox. One of the big themes of this book is interconnectedness and I think the author uses the symbol of mailboxes to represent that.

Everyone seems to have a little bit of a different take on it, as with any book, really. But with every review that I read, I just want to read the book all that more!

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!

I got another new book in the mail! Yeehaw! I love books in the mail! This one is part of the Giants of Science series by Kathleen Krull, and it’s a biography of Isaac Newton. I can’t wait to dig into it with the kids! It tells about what he was really like, not just about his contributions to the world of science.

She has written several others in this series, one of which is Leonardo da Vinci. Did you know he was a scientist? I didn’t. Ms. Krull says that while painting was his livelihood, science was his passion. I will definitely have to get that one!

Also, upon visiting her website, I notice a fabulous book that I simply must get for Sammie and I to read - it’s called Lives of Extraordinary Women: Rulers, Rebels (and What the Neighbors Thought)! It tells about twenty of the most influential women in history, with some details you won’t find in typical history books - very cool!

I’m so excited! Do you remember the other day when I was telling you how I had too many books to read and not enough time to read them? Well - guess what! I had a long wait in a doctor’s office waiting room and I was actually happy about it! What a nutjob I am, eh? Who me? No way! I just knew that meant I could READ! It is so often hard for grownups - with lots of icky obligations to take DEAR time. You know Drop Everything And Read? So I love when I am forced - I don’t have to sit there reading and have guilt in the back of my head over things that I really ’should’ be getting done, you know?

Anyway, I had started The Giver back when school started, but, then my son had to take it back to school. It was his summer reading book and they were working on it in class. Then he finally brought it home, and I have been reading it little bits and pieces at a time - until yesterday! When I had two glorious hours sitting in the waiting room. I was in Heaven!

I really, really, really liked this book! Wikipedia calls it soft science fiction. Well, I guess ’soft science fiction’ is my thing, then, because, I love stories like this.

I came home from the doctor’s office all excited and said to my fourteen-year old, who was home sick, “Patrick! I finished the book and it was great - I really loved it! And I realized there is another book that follows it - isn’t that great???”

To which he moaned.

Too funny! He had been entirely nonplussed with the book when he had to read it in seventh grade. He was even more nonplussed with the book he had to read for eighth grade! And it is even more of the type of story that his seventh grade brother and I love! I can’t remember the name of that one. I had begun reading it, when he rudely and crudely snatched it back from me to turn into his teacher. She told them that if they gave her their books, she would give them extra credit. So back it went! Poor Mama Bookworm!
I will have to check out the used book store in the town square and see if I can find it! And I will, of course, have to look for the two follow-up books to The Giver. (I just read on Wikipedia this morning that there are actually two of them!)