Top Ten Tuesday – Books for Babies

Picture Book Review, Sondy's Selections, Top Ten Tuesday 4

It’s Top Ten Tuesday!

For a long time, the idea has been simmering that I should post my favorite books in different categories. I think it started when Betsy Bird of the Fuse #8 blog had her readers vote on their 10 favorite picture books, and later our 10 favorite books for middle readers.

The idea was still simmering until a couple weeks ago, when I met with a team of child care specialists as part of my new job working for the Fairfax County Office for Children, Provider Services. I wanted to be able to contribute to the team some of my experience as a children’s librarian, so they suggested that I put together lists of books for different age ranges of children, so they could give these lists to new child care providers.

Needless to say, it was a fun assignment! I made lists of my ten top choices for recommendations for children at several different age levels, with plenty of overlap. (The best books for children will be good for a wide variety of ages, so these are not hard and fast.)

So now I had several top ten lists, and I thought I’d better share them. I’ve got a new page on my main website, called Sondy’s Selections. I thought it would be even more fun if I could get other people to contribute their own top ten lists for the various categories. Since the choices are very personal, it would be nice to hear about other great books that you have enjoyed.

I’ll provide a link to Amazon for the books I haven’t reviewed yet, so you can get more information. (And if you order the book through my link, I get a small percentage.) If I’ve reviewed the book, the title link will take you to my review (which also has an Amazon link).

So, this week I’m starting with books for babies — ages 0 to 2. (Next week will be ages 2-3.) Please post in the comments your own top ten list! Or any good books for this age group that I’ve missed. Or better yet, a link to your own Top Ten Tuesday blog entry.

Here’s my first list of Sondy’s Selections:

Ages 0-2

Blue Hat, Green Hat, by Sandra Boynton
The ultimate toddler book, this board book presents colors and items of clothing – and a turkey who always gets it wrong. Oops!

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, by Mem Fox, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
This sweet-as-can-be picture book celebrates the love of all babies everywhere – especially your very own baby.

Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill
A classic lift-the-flap book has Spot’s mother looking for him, but finding many other animals.

Dear Zoo, by Rod Campbell
Another lift-the-flap book has the zoo sending a child bigger and bigger pets until they finally send just the right one.

Freight Train, by Donald Crews
Simple irresistible text shows different colored train cars traveling by.

Good Night Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd
The classic bedtime book to soothe toddlers to sleep.

More, More, More, Said the Baby, by Vera B. Williams
The opposite of soothing, this book has a built in tickle game.

Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino, illustrated by Steven Kellogg
This book uses rhymes to help a child guess which mama animal is coming next.

Peek-a Who? by Nina Laden
A simple rhyming board book with holes to peek through and guess who’s hiding on the next page – ending up with a mirror to see Baby.

Cat the Cat Who Is That? by Mo Willems
Cat the Cat meets an assortment of new friends until she meets one that defies naming.

Enjoy!

Review of The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis

Adventure, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary 0

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis

by Barbara O’Connor

Frances Foster Books (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), New York, 2009. 150 pages.

Popeye is bored. It’s summer, and it’s been raining for over a week. Popeye lives with his grandmother Velma and his Uncle Dooley. Uncle Dooley’s the one whose bad aim with a BB gun resulted in Popeye’s one eye always squinted shut and his nickname of Popeye.

But then, just when Popeye is convinced his life is horribly boring and will never change, the rain stops, and Popeye finds a big surprise when he goes around the curve in the road. There’s a motor home stuck in the mud.

“The lopsided motor home sparkled like tinfoil in the sun. Glittery gold lightning bolts zigzagged along its sides. On the front, under the enormous windshield, was a painting of a coyote, howling up at a round yellow moon.

“Bumper stickers and decals were stuck every which way all over it. Above the door. Along the roof.

“American flags and smiley faces and peace symbols bordered the curtain-covered windows.

“Just looking at that big silver motor home was pure entertainment.”

But things get even better when Popeye discovered that a whole passel of scruffy-looking kids live in the motor home. And the biggest one, Elvis, is about his age.

Thus begins a memorable summer for Popeye. They go wandering along the creek and find a small adventure: perfect little boats made from Yoo-Hoo cartons with cryptic messages inside.

Can Popeye and Elvis find out who is making the boats before the motor home gets out of the mud and Elvis’ family has to move on? Can Popeye overcome his qualms and go exploring further down the creek despite his grandmother’s directives? Should Popeye overcome his qualms? And if Velma finds out, how can he divert her wrath?

I’ve recently discovered that short chapter books with large print are perfect for reading at Northern Virginia traffic lights, and that’s how I read this one, until I got close to the end and couldn’t stop.

A lot of the charm of this book is the well-done characterization. We feel truly transported to the world of a lonely kid with nothing to do in the summertime. Each character is distinctive, from Velma, who recites the kings and queens of England in order each morning to keep from cracking up, to Elvis with his constant attempts to be tougher than his little brothers and sisters.

Velma also learns a vocabulary word each day and shares them with Popeye. He finds many reasons to use the new words in the course of their small adventure.

The small adventure in this book is one that Popeye will remember all his life, and one the reader will feel privileged to share.

I recently had an interview for a Librarian position as Youth Services Manager at a Regional Library. I blew the question on reader’s advisory, which is what I’m best at! They asked what book I would recommend to a 4th grade boy who loves sports and has read all the Matt Christopher books, and my mind went completely blank. This book is not about sports, but I think it would be a fantastic choice for a boy who likes action, and he doesn’t have to be an advanced reader, though more advanced readers will enjoy the book, too.

For anybody who’s been bored and would like to have a Small Adventure.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/popeye_and_elvis.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox 0

I’m going to post my first In My Mailbox blog entry. This blog meme is hosted by The Story Siren.

Now, I don’t get a lot of review copies in the mail, but I do check out an awful lot of books from the library. Now, mind you, I don’t always get them read as fast as I want to — So many books, so little time — You know the story. I thought this would be a fun way to mention the books I’m excited about reading — and hope that some day I’ll be able to follow up and give you a review.

First, last weekend at the Horn Book at Simmons Colloquium, I got three books signed by their authors!

A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner, When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, and First Light, by Rebecca Stead. I’ve already read and loved the first two of those, but now want to read Rebecca Stead’s first book, First Light.

Next, I really did get some books in my mailbox the past week or so. Enchanted Ivy came from author Sarah Beth Durst, because I loved her earlier book, and the same with Penny Dreadful, by Laurel Snyder. It’s so exciting to get books in the mail that I’m quite sure I will like!

The other book came in an Amazon order because it’s a new Sherwood Smith book I don’t have, Coronets and Steel. I want to try to read it before October 15th, because I have a feeling I will want to nominate it for a Cybils Award, and I’m not sure it has already been nominated.

Finally, there are Library books I’ve checked out in the last week or so — or some of them.

Now, I ALWAYS overdo it on checking out library books. Plenty of these I will not get to before they are due, and if they have holds, now that I’m not working for the library with that mighty “override” power (that I try not to use, honest!), I will have to turn them back in, unread. However, I pictured the books that I checked out recently that I really really want to read.

The books are:
Zombies vs. Unicorns, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier. This book contains stories written by many outstanding authors, including Diana Peterfreund, who wrote Rampant and Ascendant. She told me about this collection a year ago at the Kidlitosphere conference, and I’ve been eager to read it ever since. Go Team Unicorn!

Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld. This is the sequel to Leviathan, so I’m very eager to read it. A little disappointed the library doesn’t have the audiobook form yet, though.

What Happened on Fox Street,, The Boneshaker, Reckless, Keeper, and The Search for WondLa are all books I’ve heard good things about on kidlit blogs.

Two adult books in the pile are Baking Cakes in Kigali, which has a really cool title, and The Franchise Affair. I am on a Josephine Tey kick lately, after having listened to her classic The Daughter of Time and two of her other books. She wrote mystery novels during the Golden Age of detective fiction, a contemporary of Agatha Christie. I haven’t yet posted my reviews of her books, but I am definitely hooked.

Obviously, I will NOT get even close to reading all these books in a week. Will posting what books I check out each week help me to control myself and limit myself to the number of books I can actually read? I doubt it very much, but there is something satisfying about telling people about all these great books I can read if I can just find the time!

Review of The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein

Fiction Review, Literary, Starred Review 0

The Art of Racing in the Rain

by Garth Stein

Harper, 2008. 321 pages.
Starred Review

I fully meant to read this book when it first came out, and I’m sure I had it checked out, but somehow it never made it to the top of the pile. So when the Fairfax County Public Library chose it for the 2010 All Fairfax Reads book, I decided it was high time to read it, and to make sure it was on the top of the pile, since with plenty of holds, I wouldn’t be able to renew it. I ended up reading it in two nights, and just loved it. I wish I’d read it sooner.

A friend of mine said she didn’t want to read it because she heard the dog dies in the end. That’s true, but you know that’s what he wants from the very first few pages, so it didn’t make me sad.

Here’s how Enzo, the dog telling the story, puts it, right at the beginning:

“I’m old. And while I’m very capable of getting older, that’s not the way I want to go out…. I don’t want to be kept alive. Because I know what’s next. I’ve seen it on TV. A documentary I saw about Mongolia, of all places. It was the best thing I’ve ever seen on television, other than the 1993 Grand Prix of Europe, of course, the greatest automobile race of all time in which Ayrton Senna proved himself to be a genius in the rain. After the 1993 Grand Prix, the best thing I’ve ever seen on TV is a documentary that explained everything to me, made it all clear, told the whole truth: when a dog is finished living his lifetimes as a dog, his next incarnation will be as a man.

“I’ve always felt almost human. I’ve always known that there’s something about me that’s different than other dogs. Sure, I’m stuffed into a dog’s body, but that’s just the shell. It’s what’s inside that’s important. The soul. And my soul is very human.

“I am ready to become a man now, though I realize I will lose all that I have been. All of my memories, all of my experiences. I would like to take them with me into my next life — there is so much I have gone through with the Swift family — but I have little say in the matter. What can I do but force myself to remember?”

Enzo then tells us the story of his life with the Swift family. Denny Swift, a race car driver, particularly good at racing in the rain, picked Enzo out from a pile of puppies at a farm.

Enzo was Denny’s companion. They studied racing videos together. Enzo was there when Denny fell in love, got married, and had a daughter. Then he was there when Denny’s wife got sick. He saw all that Denny went through, and wished he could tell what he’d seen and make things right.

The story is beautifully told and so touching. Enzo loves these people and does all he can to help them through an extremely difficult time.

The unusual perspective of the dog narrator never seems like a gimmick. Instead, it’s all the more poignant because Enzo sees injustice, but suffers from the lack of a tongue made for speaking and opposable thumbs.

I got to hear Garth Stein speak at the Fall for the Book Festival at George Mason University on September 19th. He was a very entertaining speaker, and fun to look at, too!

When he talked about how he got the idea for this book, he revealed that he actually saw a video where it explained that in Mongolia, there is a belief that dogs are on their way to reincarnating as humans. He also told about how much trouble he had getting the book published. His agent said that he couldn’t possibly sell a book narrated by a dog, so he fired his agent. But then he couldn’t find anyone who thought differently — until he met an author who had written a book narrated by a crow! That author’s agent loved the book!

And I have to admit, if you just say it’s a book narrated by a dog, it sounds like a gimmick. But this is pulled off beautifully. Garth Stein treated Enzo as a human soul with limitations — He could only speak with gestures, and he couldn’t manipulate things with his paws. But he had a great heart and saw Denny going through the fire but emerging victorious.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/art_of_racing_in_the_rain.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Top Ten Tuesday

Sondy's Selections, Top Ten Tuesday 2

I decided I want to start a Kidlitosphere meme. Even if I don’t get anyone else to do it, this will be a fun thing to do for myself.

At my new job in the Office for Children, Provider Services, I was asked to use my Children’s Librarian experience and put together some suggested book lists for my team of Child Care Specialists — they work with Home Day Care Providers to give them tips and ideas about caring for children.

Well, needless to say, I loved that assignment. I made several “Sondy’s Selections” lists of ten books that I would choose for several different age groups. I’m proud of the lists — they have a nice mix of old classic titles and brand new books.

I decided I should definitely share the lists on my website. Then I got to thinking that it would be fun to find out what books other people will choose.

So, here’s my plan: Beginning next Tuesday, I’m going to post a blog entry where I list my top ten choices of books in a certain category. For anyone who wants to participate, you can post a link to your blog in the comments for that entry. I’m going to warn you of what category will happen next, so you can think about it ahead of time. At first, the categories will be based on age levels, but after I finish these lists for younger children that I’ve already written, I think I can come up with some fun, more off-the-wall categories. (And suggestions are welcome!)

So, next Tuesday, on October 12, 2010, I will post an entry of Sondy’s Selections for children from birth to two years old. This will be a list of the Top Ten books I would pick if I were starting a child care business with babies from zero to two years old. This will be a personal list, with my own preferences — that’s why I’d enjoy seeing lists from other people.

See you on Top Ten Tuesday for Baby Books!

Review of Suspect, by Kristin Wolden Nitz

Contemporary, Mystery, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Suspect

by Kristin Wolden Nitz

Peachtree, Atlanta, 2010. 199 pages.
Starred Review

Okay, I’ll say right up front that I’m biased about this book. Kristin Wolden Nitz is my friend. She’s a fellow member of the Sisters of Royaumont. We met at a children’s writers’ retreat at an abbey outside Paris back in 1999, started an e-mail critique group, and were reunited at another retreat at the same abbey, Abbaye de Royaumont in 2005, with time together in Paris before and after. Kristin is an inspiration to me as a writer. She’s persistent and versatile.

I’ve given Kristin some critiques on some of her books before they were published, but not this one. Getting to pick up a copy of the Uncorrected Proof at ALA Annual Conference was the first I got to read it. I was very impressed and enjoyed it thoroughly.

When her Grandma Kay needs some help for the summer at the family bed-and-breakfast, 17-year-old Jen agrees to help out. Her dad warns her, though, that Grandma Kay has gotten a crazy idea into her head that Jen’s mother is dead.

Jen’s mother left fourteen years ago. She’s written to Jen over the years and sent her presents, but she’s never been back. Now it’s been a few years since Jen heard from her. Still, why would Grandma Kay now think she’s dead? Has she been watching too many murder mysteries?

Grandma Kay does have a thing for mysteries. Every year she hosts a mystery weekend at the bed-and-breakfast for a competitive group of would-be sleuths. This year, Jen has an uncomfortable feeling that Grandma Kay is modeling the mystery after Jen’s mother’s disappearance. And Jen gets to play the role of the victim.

What’s more, if Jen’s mother was killed, who killed her? Was it one of the people Jen has known and loved all her life, one of the people assembled for the murder mystery weekend?

On top of everything else, Jen’s boyfriend just broke up with her, and she’s finding herself feeling strange things when she’s around Mark, her “uncousin” — like family, a friend since childhood, but not actually related to her.

It all adds up to an excellent “cozy” mystery. You’ve got believable romance, an intriguing and well-plotted mystery, and characters you like and enjoy.

There aren’t so many mysteries out there with teenage characters. This one takes a capable teenage girl and casts her in the middle of an intensely personal mystery she’d rather not be part of. Will she be the detective, or the victim?

This book will keep you turning the pages and leave you with a satisfied smile at the end.

Source: An Uncorrected Proof picked up at ALA.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/suspect.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Fairfax County Public Library Budget Cuts

Library Links 0

Well, I just got back from Fairfax County’s budget forum, and I’m so discouraged I want to cry. I will try expressing some of my thoughts here, instead.

Now, I did get a chance to speak up for libraries — to say that the cuts they made in the last two years to the library system were totally unacceptable, bad for Fairfax County, and should be restored. But I felt like people just thought I was biased because I’d been RIF’d from the library. (For those who are lucky enough not to have experience with the acronym RIF, it stands for “Reduction in Force.” Back in June, I was cut from my position as a Youth Services Manager in a community library and placed in another county agency at the same paygrade as a Management Analyst I.)

Actually, I’m luckier than the people who did not get RIF’d — I have much, much better hours than people who still work for the library. They have to work until 9:00 pm two nights every week, and they have to work every other Saturday, and some every other Sunday. They have trouble scheduling vacations because staffing is so low, and they feel guilty if they’re too sick to work. What’s more, my new job is much, much less challenging, does not require a Master’s degree (I have two), and doesn’t supervise anyone or have to set up a program schedule or have to serve the public or have to make decisions about weeding the collection. In other words, it’s something of a vacation from stress. (And I hope to get back soon — I hear that before long a Librarian I will retire.)

But I feel terrible about the library cuts because it is so terribly bad for the people of Fairfax County.

The worst part is that the people who are hurt most by the cuts are exactly the people who don’t have much of a political voice — the unemployed, children from families without internet access, the homeless, college students, home schooled families, parents of young children, immigrants who need to learn English, people who want to interact with the government but don’t have computers, and so many more. These people, the ones hurt worst, are exactly the sort of people who don’t tend to speak up in the political process. So that was why I felt the need to go to the budget forum and say my piece, since I do have a voice.

It’s frustrating. The county says that two of its top three priorities are Education and Human Services. Yet libraries serve both of those areas in a very cost-effective way, yet they are put in the category of “culture” and are therefore low priority. That’s nonsense! Libraries are all about education, and for EVERYONE, not just the children who use the public school system.

Though it also supports the public school system by giving students the resources to get their homework done and supporting their reading skills during the summer.

What’s more, libraries are one of the only places where you can get help without having to apply for it. This is help that preserves your dignity. Computers to apply for jobs. Help to apply for jobs. Research materials for classes. Consumer information. Programs that build early literacy and future success for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Not to mention free books!

Libraries are the one resource that really really helps the poor — but also helps the rich! Of course, the downside to that is that some rich people think that since it would be no hardship for them to go without the library, it’s also no hardship for anyone else. How wrong they are!

I wonder about our homeless regulars at my former library — what are they doing now that the library is open so much fewer hours. In the library, they could retain their dignity and use the computers and books like any other customer.

And every single day, even at a smallish branch, we got people using the internet to look for jobs and people asking for books to learn English. Not to mention the regular flow of children needing help with finding materials for a school assignment. I understand that the parents of babies are already asking why the library is not doing programs for them every week, but instead once a month, if that.

It’s because of BUDGET CUTS, folks!

When you’ve cut the number of librarians down to barely enough to keep the library open, you just can’t do as many programs. No more on Saturdays, which was great for working parents. For my former library, it’s down to the bare minimum.

What really added insult to injury was the news a couple weeks ago that the Board of Supervisors had carryover money — more money than had been anticipated — and they decided to put $24.9 million into a “rainy day fund against future budget shortfalls.”

What’s insulting about that was that this amount is EIGHT TIMES the amount they cut from the library system last year, $2.67 million. So it makes it look like all our sacrifices — the rotten hours, closing the doors on customers who need us — didn’t actually make any difference. In fact, that was a TINY, miniscule amount in terms of the overall budget — less than a tenth of one percent. But in the last two years, they have cut more than 30% from the library’s budget, and that has devastated the library system.

So, the one bright spot in the meeting tonight was when the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors was saying that the cuts they’ve already made are sustainable and long-term — but she specifically mentioned the cuts in library hours as an exception to that.

But otherwise, though I got to say my piece, I felt that those there simply don’t realize how vital libraries are to the poorer people of Fairfax County. That with a miniscule investment of money in terms of the big picture, we can restore the library funding and make a huge difference, for the better, in so many people’s lives.

Support education and human services in Fairfax County — Restore Library Funding!!!

“Cutting libraries in a recession is like cutting hospitals in a plague.” — Eleanor Crumblehulme

So you know it’s not just me, here are a few links about the value of libraries:

1) Libraries help the economy:
Many links on the economic value of public libraries:
http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/06/the-value-of-public-libraries/

2) Libraries support education:
The Importance of Summer Reading: Public Library Summer Reading Programs and Learning
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/summer/brief01.pdf

3) Libraries keep the gap between the information “haves” and “have nots” from getting too much wider:
Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/learning/Pages/us-libraries-report-opportunity-for-all.aspx

4) The important role of libraries in a democracy:
http://thoughtsofawannabelibrarian.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/public-libraries-and-democracy/

http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/08/22/5203/

http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla66/papers/101-122e.htm

I could go on, but I should probably stop. If any of my readers is a Fairfax County resident, please send an e-mail to your member of the Board of Supervisors: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/government/board/

Also be sure to comment on the budget forum page: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budgetinput/

Support Education and Human Services! Restore Library Funding!

Note: The opinions expressed here are entirely my own and do not in any way reflect the opinions of my employer.

Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards

Events 0

For quite awhile now, I’ve been looking forward to traveling to Boston this weekend. I am a dedicated subscriber to Horn Book Magazine, and have been for years. They announced that on October 2nd they’d be having a Colloquium — The Horn Book at Simmons — with the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards the night before.

After I had such a fabulous time at the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet, I knew I had to go to this. For one thing, Rebecca Stead, the winner of the Newbery Medal, author of the brilliant When You Reach Me, was also the winner of the BGHB Award for Fiction. She gave a wonderful speech at the Newbery Banquet, and I got to meet her a couple times and she was so nice. I wanted to hear her speak some more.

But what clinched it for me was that Megan Whalen Turner was going to be speaking. She is the author of what I have to call my favorite series — the books about Eugenides, The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, and this year’s A Conspiracy of Kings (which won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor for Fiction).

Another nice thing was that as long as I’m not working at the library, it’s easy to get weekends off. So I took today (Friday) off and my plan was to take the 11:50 flight to Boston, settle in to my hotel, and maybe even take a leisurely, lovely walk through Boston’s parks to the Horn Book-Boston Globe Awards from 5:30 to 7:30.

Well, yesterday the DC area had a ferocious rainstorm – heavy rain, with flooding. Unfortunately, that same storm decided to travel to Boston today, too. Our flight was delayed SIX HOURS. Ironically, if I had booked the 2:00 flight, I would have made it on time. But first, my flight was delayed due to weather in Boston. Then it was delayed much longer because of a mechanical problem with the air conditioning. Since that’s linked to the engine, they had to test the engine at full strength on the runway, which ended up taking hours. After that was finally resolved, they told us that the first officer wasn’t able to fly (He had to get home to a sick family member in Seattle.), and they had to find a substitute. When they found a sub, they boarded us on the plane – and then we learned that Boston wasn’t accepting flights!

In Boston I wish I wish that I had stopped at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant at the airport. But it was 7:00, and I was still toying with the idea of trying to get to the end of the awards. But by the time I took the shuttle to the subway, it was 7:30. The subway was very easy and not scary at all. (I had worried a little about taking the subway in a strange city downtown at night.) Then I walked only a couple blocks in the dark to the hotel, which also wasn’t scary because anyone out in that rain was in a hurry to get inside. My umbrella got blown inside out a couple times. I arrived at my hotel, quite soaked, at 8:00 pm. By that time, I was NOT going to set foot outside the hotel again. I even had pop-tarts from the vending machine for supper.

So, with all that waiting time, I did a lot of tweeting and reading tweets. My phone isn’t great for long messages, and I don’t like its e-mail interface, and I can’t write blog posts on it — but it’s great for tweeting. I also saw all that waiting time as a gift of reading time, so I got started rereading A Conspiracy of Kings, which I thoroughly enjoyed. (I brought it because I hope to get it signed.) That book is awesome! Like all of Megan Whalen Turner’s books, it’s even better when you read it again.

I admit, the first time I read it, I was a tiny bit disappointed — because she has set the bar so very high, and the surprise at the end wasn’t as big as the surprises in some of the earlier books. However, reading it a second time, knowing what to expect, I can really appreciate the brilliant way she develops Sophos’ character and how she gives the reader a sense of the huge choices he is facing.

In all of the books, we see that it’s not easy ruling a country. And Sophos, the heir of Sounis, must decide if he wants that kind of responsibility, and what he’s willing to do to get it. And there’s also the ever-present threat of the Medes.

Anyway, any day where I can spend several hours reading one of Megan Whalen Turner’s books is a good one! I only wish I could have landed in time to see her at the awards tonight — but the weather is supposed to be clear tomorrow, so I will not miss it!