Poor neglected blog...

It has been over a month since I've blogged, but I have been reading. The start of school slowed me down quite a bit, but finished several books. I read the remaining Children's Choice nominees for this year, both the Intermediate and Primary levels. I read The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes, The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies, and How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor. All fairly enjoyable, but I think The Lemonade War was the best one of the three.

The Road to Paris is about a brother and sister, mainly the sister, who are in the foster care system. Our heroine Paris finally seems to be in a place where she might learn to grow. But there is a chance that her birth mother will come back into her life and A poignant story, the book deals sensitively with what could be a very difficult topic for some children. I have a feeling that some teachers/librarians will critique it as not having enough grit or depth, but every once in a while it's nice to see a more even take on the dramas that might face our students.

Another "realistic" take on suburban life, The Lemonade War pits brother and sister against each other in the race to earn the most money from their lemonade stands. Interweaving financial concepts with sibling relationships, this book entertains while providing ample opportunity to educate.

The predictability of How to Steal a Dog is probably its biggest drawback. Once again dealing with drama and difficulty in the lives of a younger kids, the book progresses as you would expect with the peaks and valleys of a story and redemption at the end. Not at all a bad story, just predictable.

I also finally gave in and started the Twilight series. I've had it on my iPod since January, but I kept holding off because I knew I would get totally sucked in. I did. I read all four books in about two weeks. I did get a little sick of the helpless victim thing, but overall, they're my kind of book. I now have to watch the movie and compare it.

I do have to read the newest 39 Clues quickly and get it back into my library, as there is a wait list starting for it. But I'm also going to indulge a bit. I'm an avid digital scrapbooker and occasionally enjoy reverting back to my paper scrapping days. A fellow colleague and scrapbooker gave me "Paper, Scissors, Death" to read. It's a "Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-n-Craft Mystery". It's started off decently, we'll see where it goes.

In case anyone cares, Valerie Hobbs read the post about Sheep. I was totally stoked to have an author read my blog post and comment on it. That's going to go on my bulletin board next to my pictures of Jon Scieszka, Mo Willems, and me!

I promise to not be such a stranger...course...it always seems like I'm saying that. =)