I See Myself on the Porch!

Here's an idea for promoting Mississippi Writers in Residence!

Picture Faulkner's spread in Oxford:
a writer in the attic, horse barn, cook house, parlor, back pasture, etc.

I see myself assigned the porch
where I can do double duty as booktalker and greeter!

I See Myself on the Porch!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/i-see-myself-on-porch.html

Have a Warm Southern Christmas!

From the Moran's Home to Yours!

Have a Warm Southern Christmas!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/have-warm-southern-christmas.html

I Found this Funny!

I Found this Funny!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/i-found-this-funny.html

Christmas Movie Extravaganza

Yes, I love me some It's a Wonderful Life, but my favorite Christmas movie of all times is A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sims as Scrooge. Shelf Life had this lovely You Tube and I just had to borrow it for the Extravaganza from My Friend Amy.

Why does this 1951 movie appeal to me more than say the one with modern actors such as George C. Scott or Albert Finney? One thing, the dialog remains true to Charles Dickens' written work. Slang starts to creep into the later films to feed new audiences Dickens' meanings. I like the fact that the movie is in black and white - an old story needs an old look. There are more shadows in the bNw that places a viewer on instant alert. Too much lighting for the cameras takes away from the ghosts. They become comical in nature. Although, Bill Murray's Scrooged spooked me a little. I also like the fact that Mr. Sim's acting ability is above par. One can tell he was an accomplished stage actor before accepting this role. This is a long clip, but look at him jumping into bed and throwing the curtains to hide from the experience he just had. Priceless!

Trivia note: Shelf Life reported that yesterday was the anniversary of Dickens' writing of A Christmas Carol in 1843.

Christmas Movie Extravaganza

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/christmas-movie-extravaganza.html

Random Acts Meme

I had fun going over this list with hubby. Together we had more than half BOLD experiences! Thank you, Matthew, at A Guy’s Moleskine Notebook. There are a lot of international chances I look forward to doing sometime later in life. The things I have done are in bold.

1. Started my own blog (Dec 2005)
2. Slept under the stars (More than 20X)
3. Played in a band (I have sung backup)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower (My favorite is the Leonid)
6. Given more than I can afford to charity (Hubby says – Oh Yeah!)
7. Been to Disneyland/world (Summer 2008)
8. Climbed a mountain (Again…)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo (A hymn in Como Methodist)
11. Bungee jumped (Florida 1992)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightening at sea (Cruise/Also saw water spouts)
14. Taught myself an art from scratch (cross stitching)
15. Adopted a child (Oops! Crystal calls me her white Momma!)
16. Had food poisoning (Bad chicken from Wendy’s Winter 2006)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (Mulled around the bottom)
18. Grown my own vegetables (Tomatoes are so easy!)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight (Again…)
22. Hitchhiked (I’ve taken rides w/ people I know)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (Nashville Petting Zoo)
26. Gone skinny dipping (Florida – Bahamas- Saint Thomas – Mediterranean)
27. Run a Marathon (I’ve done two half-marathons and one 15-miler)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (We did the cheaper vaporetto over to the fish market)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (Gulf of Mexico 1996)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors (Been to Ireland but not Scotland)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language (Pig Latin)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person (Summer 2004)
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David (Summer 2004)
41. Sung karaoke (Like a Virgin…)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (I also tip Taco Bell employees)
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (Saw my first shooting star in St. Thomas)
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted (I was asked to pose nude, but felt too uncomfortable. I did have a friend who rendered me in pencil for an art class which when turned upside-down looked like his wife.)
48. Gone deep sea fishing (Alaskan Flounder)
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (I love snorkeling!)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (Saw American Graffiti!)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Bought Girl Scout cookies)
62. Gone whale watching (Beautiful on our Tug Cruise in British Columbia)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving (Not yet…)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (When I was in college and I was so embarrassed!)
68. Flown in a helicopter (I prefer planes)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (stuffed Teddy)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car (Winter 2008)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper (Weekly!)
85. Read the entire Bible (Begot the begotten…)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (fish)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (I thought I had to do this to become an adult!)
90. Sat on a jury (drugs)
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone (No, I don’t own one!)
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant

Total 54!

Random Acts Meme

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/random-acts-meme.html

In Praise of Pecans (copy)

“He said we had Valdeemers.” My husband came inside the house to tell me. “The tree stump guy called them Val-Deem-Ers.”

What the man meant to say—or possibly said but was somehow lost in a tobacco juiced translation—was Van Deman, a variety of pecan. Whatever the case, he is right. On the northern border of our property, we have five of these cultivars amongst over 20 pecan trees. A favorite in our household because of the large size and taste, we concentrate our picking efforts biannually on these trees when blessed with a crop.

Pecans have become a staple in our diet since our move to Mississippi. When a recipe calls for nuts we use pecans; although, biscotti can only be made with almonds. Instead of a bag of chips for a snack, we now open a zip-locked bag of pecans. For a sweet low-carbohydrate break, we sauté some pecans in a little butter and drizzle over a tortilla adding splenda and cinnamon for taste. We eat salads with pecans, place pecans in our pancake batter, and top fish or chicken with the crunchy delight. The Moran family runs on pecans.

It is with mouth savoring delight I write about June Jackson’s new book In Praise of Pecans: Recipes & Recollections. Mrs. Jackson was feeling a little homesick for her state of Georgia in 2006. In her Maryland home she hosted a fall luncheon for the ladies, and in each dish she included pecans. One attendee, Colleen Nunn, told her husband Sam and the next day June got a call. The then-Senator Sam Nunn asked her, “Do you think you could write a book that would promote pecan use around the world?”

In Praise of Pecans definitely has an international flavor. The recipes include Thai Chicken, Pecan & Mango Salad, Butternut Squash Risotto, Jalapeno Cranberry Compote, and Pan Sautéed Sole a la Beurre Pecane. Closer to home, she includes Marilyn Monroe Brownies, Lula Mae’s Brown Sugar Pecan Pie, and Grits Good Enough for Mardi Gras.

The best recipe in the book is her mother’s Perfect Pecan Pralines. Her mother was a mere 12-year-old in 1928 when she cut out the recipe from a newspaper. A recipe that had Mrs. Stuckey, second generation to the gas and candy chain, call out, “June, this is the best candy I’ve ever eaten in my entire life! How can I get more?”

Now that I have your mouth watering, it is a good time to resolve to eat more low-in-sodium, high-in-fiber pecans in the coming year.

In Praise of Pecans (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/in-praise-of-pecans-copy.html

Threshing Pecans

I finished reading In Praise of Pecans by June Jackson tonight, and I wanted to share a piece of art mentioned in the Afterword. Jackson writes, "Known for representing daily life as she saw it firsthand, [Clementine] Hunter painted scenes of picking cotton, washing clothes, getting married and getting buried. Fortunately for us, she painted a charming picture entitled Threshing Pecans (above on tin cover), portraying an earlier, preindustrial method of coaxing the nuts from the trees to the ground--adults would use long poles to shake the pecans while children climbed up into the trees to help in the process."

I love the little girl hanging upside down in the first tree, and I have to question Ms. Hunter's leaf and pecan full trees. Pecan trees are harvested in the fall/winter after the leaves leave. Sorry about the quality of the photo. I was unable to locate the artwork as a lone piece. One may purchase this pecan filled tin from the Cane River Pecan Company of Louisiana.

Threshing Pecans

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/threshing-pecans.html

Robert Sabuda (copy)

My Christmas dreams have been crushed. My beloved better-half ordered the electronic book Kindle too late to be placed under the tree. I will be opening my present 11 to 13 weeks later just in time for my February birthday.

Who knew it was going to sell out? Well, I had a feeling way back in August. Remember that little book talk where I asked Santa to bring me a shiny new Kindle. Everyone I know who owns one loves it. Amazon should have known it would be a big seller. Too bad the man of my dreams paid little attention to my subtle hints such as asking him to proof the article and reading it aloud when we got the newspaper. Sigh.

Are you thinking I am easy to please? One little electronic book and my Christmas dream is met? Giving a book is the equivalent to watching someone tear into a box of socks or underwear. There isn’t much excitement after the initial rip, but within the pages is the real gift.

Would you like to give a book to a young child but are afraid of the underwear factor? There is nothing like the look on a child’s face when they open a pop-up book for the first time. I remember mine well; although, I am at a loss for the author and title. It was a collection of nursery rhymes where the reader turned a wheel to watch the “mice run up the clock” and the “four and twenty blackbirds” flew from a pie.

There is a new star in the pop-up business. Robert Sabuda is a rare artist who has taken an ancient art and improved on the technique. A Pratt Institute graduate, Sabuda entered the book business as a children’s illustrator for other authors. In 1994, he talked his publisher into a small series of pop-ups involving a little white mouse exploring The Mummy’s Tomb and The Knight’s Castle.

Today he is credited with illustrating over 50 children’s books of which 40 are pop-ups. For the holiday season he offers Winter’s Tale, The Night before Christmas, The 12 Days of Christmas, The Christmas Alphabet, A Kwanzaa Celebration, Winter, and Christmas.

Other standout books include The Ark which depicts Moses' outstretched palms awaiting the returning dove with olive branch, The Movable Mother Goose with mini pop-up books within the cover, and Sharks and Other Sea Monsters where Jaws lurks as the cautious young reader turns the page.

Purchase one of these and watch your little ones pop-up with joy.

Note: The first photo is Robert Sabuda holding his Wizard of Oz book. Second photo is from the book America the Beautiful. The third photo is from the book Christmas.

Robert Sabuda (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/robert-sabuda-copy.html

Twisted 12 Days of Christmas

For more information about Janet Evanovich, Plum Spooky and the Stephanie Plum Behind-The-Numbers Series, visit: here and here.

Twisted 12 Days of Christmas

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/twisted-12-days-of-christmas.html

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! (copy)

When I was in sixth grade, we studied medieval times with vigor unlike any other subject. I remember we filled notebooks with drawings of castles, coat of arms, lords, ladies, and knights in armor. We pretended we were ladies in distress while the boys jousted on the playground. We sat mesmerized as our teacher explained the devices of war and torture.

It was a particularly fun time. Margaret Hamilton, my teacher not the Wicked Witch of the West although, it was sometimes questionable, took an extra day to teach us medieval manners disguised as chivalry after the “devices of war” day, but I believe she enjoyed the fun, too.

A librarian first then author, playwright, and professional storyteller, Laura Amy Schlitz, faced a group of excited middle school kids at the Park School in Baltimore. She explains, “They were studying the Middle Ages and were going at it hammer and tongs. I wanted them to have something to perform, but no one wanted a small part. So I decided to write monologues instead of one long play, so that for three minutes at least, every child could be a star.”

The opportunity Schlitz seized is now the 2008, Newbery Medal winner, Good Master! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village. The children’s book illustrated by Robert Byrd contains 19 monologues and two plays for two actors. That is a total of 23 parts. If a teacher has a class of 25, and the bashful students help with costumes and scenery, everyone can take part.

The story revolves around a fictional medieval manor in 1255 England. The characters are the ages of the students performing and have names such as Hugo the lord’s nephew, Taggot the blacksmith’s daughter, Mogg the villein’s daughter, Thomas the doctor’s son, Nelly the sniggler, and Giles the beggar.

The story progresses as one monologue leads into the next. Some are light-hearted with sing-song quality such as Otho the miller’s son recites,

Father is the miller

As his father was of old,

And I shall be the miller,

When my father’s flesh is cold.

Jack the half-wit sings,

Lack-a-wit

Numskull

Mooncalf

Fool.

That’s what they call me.

That’s what they yell in the village when I walk through.

Other stories are brooding and cold such as Will the plowboy who works two fields and must secretly hunt in the night to feed his family a rabbit. His story is told to the audience without verse.

This is the perfect book for those teachers who want to extend the gallantry of medieval times.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/good-masters-sweet-ladies-copy.html

Ah, Twas the Day before Christmas Break!

Today, I read The Night before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
and illustrated by Will Moses to the NWCC daycare kids!
Will is the grandson of Grandma Moses!
The kids were talkative and expressive.
What a joy and I feel like I am on cloud nine!
Thank you Miss Penny for this opportunity!

Ah, Twas the Day before Christmas Break!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/ah-twas-day-before-christmas-break.html

My Eyes are Dewey

It is with heavy heart I write you.

Fellow blogger Dewey at The Hidden Side of a Leaf has died. Leaving us with no hint to her physical troubles, her husband said she was in a lot of pain in the last hours. I am glad she is now in a place where there is no pain.

This is the third blogger on my bloglist who has died.

How do we know the condition of the person on the other end of our internet connection? Blogging is a God send for those who are ill or immobile. We make friends without judging which is how life should be, but we all have prejudices. Did Dewey have cancer? Was she suffering from MS? Was she in a car accident? Her energy blogging put most of us weekly writers to shame. Did blogging add days to her life or shorten them. I like to think it added days as she added thoughts to my reading with her Weekly Geeks program.

I leave you with her namesake: Birth, life, and death -- each took place on the hidden side of a leaf. ~ Toni Morrison

My Eyes are Dewey

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-eyes-are-dewey.html

Thanks Cassandra!

Thank yew Style Expert!

I am so honored!

How does this work?

Every new Superior Scribbler will name 5 other Super Scribblers. If you are so honored, link to the author and the name of the blog that gave you the award. Then you display the graphic above and link to this post, which explains the award. Finally you must visit this post and tell your name to Mr. Linky list. Then they will have a record of all the people who are super scribblers!

I hate to do this, you know, point out people that write way better than I, but here it goes! (1) Sage at Musings (2) SFP at Pages Turned (3) Jenclair at A Garden Carried in the Pocket (4) Bookfool at Bookfoolery and Babble (5) Eva at A Striped Airchair.

Thanks Cassandra!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/thanks-cassandra.html

The Wall (copy)

This week I read an excellent juvenile picture-book. Most teachers and parents of middle grade students can tell you this is not possible. A picture book is for toddlers through eight-year-olds because the format is oversized with illustrations and usually minimum words. They are meant to be read-aloud to an audience or one-on-one such as father and son, and the vocabulary is easy.

Children who grow up with this format remember these books with fond memories. When asked to move to the next level in reading your child may balk. Chapter books can look boring in comparison to a picture book. This is why the “Frog and Toad” series is so popular. Author Arnold Lobel fills his chapter books with illustrations that help the new reader gather clues from the pictures.

What if your child returns over-and-over to picture books even though he can read chapter books? This might be an indication that he is bored with his chapter books, or a little uncomfortable in his reading. It is time to head to the library or bookstore for some more chapter books and juvenile level picture-books.

There is such a thing as a harder picture book. Peter Sis, author and illustrator, has a collection of biographies that demand the reader expand her vocabulary. The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin and Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei are two I wrote about in 2005.

Sis now challenges young readers with his autobiography The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain. This picture book contains words like Soviets, Czechoslovakia, militia, indoctrination, defecting, nuclear, Vietnam, realism, revolution, etc. all appearing in the margins.

If a teacher or parent wants to read it as a picture book alone, each page contains one sentence about the author. For instance, the story begins, “As long as he could remember, he had loved to draw.” Next page continues, “At first he drew shapes.” Within the margins of the first page are definitions that frame a self—cartoon—portrait of Sis. The words are Iron Curtain, Cold War, and Communism. Not baby definitions either, “Cold War – The geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle that emerged between capitalism and communism from 1945-1991.”

This inside look into the Cold War is a Caldecott (2008) Honor book and a Robert F. Sibert (2008) Information Medal winner. It is perfect for that reluctant—to move up to the next level—reader. Many will delight as they learn The Beatles became a huge crack in Sis’s The Wall.

The Wall (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/wall-copy.html

Monday Morning Cartoons!

Monday Morning Cartoons!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/12/monday-morning-cartoons.html

Bookworm Award and Meme

Two fabulous women have graciously awarded me the Bookworm Award and Meme. Much thanks to Wisteria at Bookworm's Dinner and Lynne at Lynne's Little Corner of the World.
I am so honored!

Like I wrote, this is an award and meme. For the meme one must pick up the closest book near them and turn to page 56. Once there, skip to sentence five and write it down; plus, a few more sentences as they occur in order to tempt other readers. Pretty easy-peasy!

I am currently reading a nonfiction book for juvenile readers. The title is Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! written by Laura Amy Schlitz and illustrated by Robert Byrd. Page 56, sentence five reads as follows:

My mother –
what would she say
if she knew
I wasted time in the
woods with a Jew?

The book is a unique study of Medieval Times using children to portray members of society such as Otho, the miller's son, and Lowdy, the varlet's child. On page 56 we encounter a play involving Jacob Ben Salomon, the moneylender's son, and Petronella, the merchant's daughter. This book won the prestigious Newbery Award in 2008.

Now I need to tag others for this award and meme. You needn't participate if you would rather not do this type of thing, but I thought you might have fun; plus, I like keeping up with your readings.. I am thinking…

Rick at Rick the Librarian, Sage at Musings, Nan at Letters from a Hill Farm, Mo at Inside Mo's Mind, and Vixen at Vixen's Daily Reads

Bookworm Award and Meme

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/11/bookworm-award-and-meme.html

The Good Good Pig (copy)

It was a crisp winter day when they brought Christopher Hogwood home. Weighting seven pounds, he was the runt of the litter and he was sick. “His breathing was wet and noisy. His eyes were runny, and so was his other end.” The couple was unsure he would live through the night.

Runts are dangerous to have in a litter. They make a noise unlike the other piglets—Nynh! Nynh! Nynh!—and if in the wild will attract predators. The mother may bite a runt and tear him in half to stop the cacophony, but sometimes they accidently choose the wrong sibling. Another method used to silence the noise is to stomp the runt, but again other healthy piglets might get in the way.

In this farrow Chris was the odd piglet out. His mother possessed ten teats but only eight were in working order. Chris was unlucky number nine. To protect this litter Chris would have to die, but the farmer thought him too cute to kill. He was rather good-looking as pigs go with “enormous ears and black and white spots, and a black patch over one eye like Spuds McKenzie, the bull terrier in the beer commercial.”

Instead they sequestered Chris and watched as he went from one disease to another, but still clung to life. “The wormer didn’t do a thing for him,” the farmer told the family who agreed to take the sick piggy. “He probably had a touch of every disease in the barn—he had worms, he had erysipelas, he had rhinopneumonitis—and yet he wouldn’t die.”

It was with great hope, Howard and Sy, laid Chris in his makeshift sty in the barn that night. He was safe. With Sy being a vegetarian and Howard Jewish, the pig was sure to live a long life unlike his farrow. A pig’s average life span is six months. Exactly, the length of time it takes for a pig to gain 250 lbs and become perfect eating material.

“That first night, we couldn’t picture him growing much bigger than the shoe box in which we carried his shivering, emaciated form,” said Sy.

To everyone’s delight, Chris stood on wobbly hooves the next morning, and again the next day until he reached the staggering weight of 750 pounds. This is the story of The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary life of Christopher Hogwood by Sy Montgomery which proves to be a massive good read.

The Good Good Pig (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/11/good-good-pig-copy.html

This is the Feast (copy)

For centuries humans have celebrated the harvesting of crops. America, being a rather newcomer to history, uniquely celebrates harvest on the fourth Thursday of November thanks to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Historians are unsure the exact date the first feast took place, but it is believed to be between September 21, and November 11, 1621. Before President Roosevelt’s proclamation, Thanksgiving was celebrated whenever presidents deemed an appropriate time.

The first feasts were not known by the term Thanksgiving, either. To the pilgrims, Thanksgiving was a religious celebration spent in church to thank God for victory on the battle field or rain after a drought. The original feast in 1621 celebrated the pilgrims’ first harvest in the new world, but the next year they did not celebrate. In 1623 they met again to pray for rain after a month long drought, and when the event occurred during the prayers it was truly a Thanksgiving.

Another misconception about Thanksgiving is the actual food eaten. Pilgrims did not dine on ham, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, cranberry sauce, or pumpkin pie. They feasted on an assortment of wild fowl, game, and seafood. The corn was a dry snack and the fruit (plums and grapes) were eaten raw without the trappings of sugar and flour. This entire trivia is gleaned from the History Channel’s website, history.com.

While reading this week’s book, This is the Feast by Diane Z. Shore and illustrated by Megan Lloyd, I was struck by its historical accuracy. The pilgrims are wearing clothes with color not the black-white drab depicted in my youth. They are sick in the Mayflower as they sail towards America, and they set to work building houses as soon as they come ashore.

This is the Feast is a brightly colored picture-book for children, ages three to eight. Although, it is too wordy for toddlers to sit still through, it is the perfect companion for parents to read or paraphrase annually for the holiday season. The words have a delightful singsong quality such as “This is Thanksgiving, a time to remember the friendships and freedoms we all share together.”

Illustrator Megan Lloyd uses her paintbrush to create mood. The pilgrims’ sickness and toil is depicted with somber colors, and daily life is illustrated with bright oranges and yellows typical of a fall celebration. The feast scenes are the best with tables full of oysters, clams, lobster, fish, and cheese. Can someone pass me a plate?

I hope all have a Happy Thanksgiving with plenty happy reading.

Please stop by any of these fine blogger participating in the Kidz Book Blog Tour! the 160acrewoods, A Mom Speaks, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Cafe of Dreams, Dolce Bellezza, Homeschool Buzz, KidzBookBuzz.com, Looking Glass Reviews, Maggie Reads, Maw Books Blog, Never Jam Today, Olive Tree, Our Big Earth, Quiverfull Family, Reading is My Superpower, SmallWorld Reads

This is the Feast (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/11/this-is-feast-copy.html

Twilight (copy)

The countdown begins! Twilight, one of the hottest teen books by Stephenie Meyer, will be debuting on the big screen November 21, all over the United States. The first movie trailer appeared just last night on television, and Edward is even more gorgeous than my reader’s eye imagined.

Twilight was published in 2005 with little fanfare. The book’s first-time author, Meyer, took only 6 months to conceive, write, and publish the story. She said the story first appeared as a meeting in her dreams. She dreamt a regular, plain-jane girl and a drop-dead gorgeous, vampire boy, were in deep conversation in the middle of a meadow. They were discussing how wrong they were for each other. She being human, and he particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, were creating friction in their budding relationship.

For most readers, I am a little late talking about Twilight. This book and the following books in the Twilight series, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn, have a hard time staying on any library or bookstore shelf. Her latest book Midnight Sun appeared on the internet weeks ago as an unscrupulous friend took advantage of a pre-published copy. It was immediately pulled, but Meyer claims that it is just one of many copies she has written. She has yet to decide Edwards’s fate.

I quickly picked Twilight up to read before the movie’s release. I want to have a clear reader’s vision, and not cloud my head with directorial meddling. I am particularly engrossed by the book’s setting. Meyer chose the real town of Forks, Washington, because it is the wettest area in America. This natural creepiness adds drama to the story. When the main character, Bella, walks into the woods I can hear the creepy music queuing up in the background.

Oh, but I have not told you the opening story yet! Isabella Swan is living with her father, the Chief of Police in Forks, now that her mother has a traveling boyfriend. It is Bella’s decision to live with her dad, and finish her school years in one area instead of on the road. On her first day she is assigned Edward Cullen as her biology lab partner, and she can see by his mean nature he is not happy with the arrangement. Oh, but he is easy on the eyes.

As you can guess, this is a romance in bloom. There is quite a bit of play and banter between the main characters, but it is the onrush of certain doom that propels readers to the end. This book will certainly warm your blood.

Twilight (copy)

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/11/twilight-copy.html

No Gaps in My Teeth Either!

There Are 0 Gaps in Your Knowledge

Where you have gaps in your knowledge: No Gaps! Where you don't have gaps in your knowledge: Philosophy, Religion, Economics, literature, History, Science, Art

Do You Have Gaps in Your Knowledge?

Thanks Erica! This was fun!

No Gaps in My Teeth Either!

http://maggiereads.blogspot.com/2008/11/no-gaps-in-my-teeth-either.html