Top Ten Tuesday: Books for Beginning Readers

Picture Book Review, Sondy's Selections, Top Ten Tuesday 0

Happy Top Ten Tuesday! Today I’m going to list ten books I recommend for children just learning to read on their own. I had to stretch a little with this list, since I didn’t want to include two books by the same author, and the truth is that with my sons, I went heavy on books by the same authors. Lots of books by the authors mentioned here, not just one. So I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Which books have I forgotten?

The titles I’ve reviewed will link to the review, and the others will link to Amazon. Next week, I doubt I will get a list posted, because my divorce case is scheduled to go to court Monday and Tuesday. But the week after that, I’ll post my top ten list of beginning chapter books. Be thinking of your favorites!

Sondy’s Selections, Books for Beginning Readers

Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems
Gerald the elephant and his friend Piggie are all ready to play outside when it begins to pour down rain. How can anyone be happy playing when it’s raining?

George and Martha, by James Marshall
There never were such good friends as the hippos George and Martha. The stories in this book are short and easy to read, but all pack a punch.

Little Bear, by Elsa Homelund Minarik, illustrated by Maurice Sendak
Little Bear’s adventures with Mother, Father, his friends, and his grandparents all reflect a child’s life.

Bink and Gollie, by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile
This delightful new book tells about a pair of friends who are very different, but know how to compromise.

Bread and Jam for Frances, by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban
Frances doesn’t want to eat a squishy soft-boiled egg. She wants only bread and jam. When Mother decides to indulge Frances’ whims, she begins to see the appeal of variety.

Days with Frog and Toad, by Arnold Lobel
This classic set of stories about two good friends shows Frog and Toad flying a kite, telling ghost stories, cleaning house, and even being alone. These simple stories will bring a smile.

Danny and the Dinosaur, by Syd Hoff
This book takes an imaginative look at what might happen if a dinosaur came to play. (He wouldn’t be very good at hide-and-seek.)

The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss
When the Cat in the Hat comes to play, nothing is ever boring, not even reading a book with a limited, easy-to-read vocabulary.

Are You My Mother?, by P. D. Eastman
The classic tale of a baby bird looking for his mother, but finding a Snort.

Nate the Great, by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, illustrated by Marc Simont
This is the first of a series of easy-to-read mysteries featuring Nate, the pancake-loving boy detective.

Review of The Numbers Behind Numb3rs

Mathematical, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

The Numbers Behind Numb3rs

Solving Crime with Mathematics

by Kevin Devlin and Gary Lorden

Plume (Penguin), 2007. 243 pages.
Starred Review

Okay, I admit that I’m a math geek. All I have to do to prove it is tell you about my prime factorization sweater.

So, it’s a no-brainer that I love the TV show Numb3rs. This book is written by Keith Devlin, “NPR’s ‘Math Guy,'” a consulting professor at Stanford, and Gary Lorden, “the Math Consultant on Numb3rs,” a math professor at Caltech (the school after which the fictional Calsci is modelled). They take the episodes of the first season of Numb3rs, explain the math concepts behind them, and talk about actual criminal cases where these concepts were used.

I think they do a great job of making the concepts understandable without getting bogged down with equations. I shouldn’t be surprised, since on the show Charlie always uses metaphors to explain what they can do with numbers.

A few of the things they talk about — with examples from actual cases — are DNA profiling, finding meaningful patterns in masses of information, using Bayesian Inference to detect the future, and making and breaking codes.

I don’t think I need to say much more about it. If you find this stuff fascinating, you know who you are! All I have to do is tell you this cool book exists.

If, on the other hand, this sounds mind-numbing and not the least bit cool to you, then no amount of my talking is likely to convince you, and I admit that you probably will not like the book.

But if you want to be dazzled by the power of numbers and get a handle on some of the powerful concepts that can be used to fight crime, you will thoroughly enjoy this book, as I did.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/nonfiction/numbers_behind_numb3rs.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.

NaFADOYBIMSCOM

General, NaNoWriMo 0

I already explained why I couldn’t really participate in NaNoWriMo this year. My son pointed out an acronym invented by John Green that does tell what I’m trying to do: NaFADOYBIMSCOM, which stands for National Finish A Draft Of Your Book, I Mean, Seriously, Come On Month.

To help feel like I’m accomplishing something, I am keeping track of the words I write on my book and on my blogs. My stats as of yesterday, the 12th day of NaFADOYBIMSCOM, are 15,293 words. I have gotten through the revision part of working on my book and am now trying to rewrite the ending. So far, I’m having a lot of trouble deciding about how some details should go. I took out the happy ending, and basically want the main characters to escape together but for the bad guy to seem to win — but the two find each other and you know they’re going to win out in the end. But I’m trying to decide how to make that work. Maybe I should go back to my happy ending, but let the bad guy escape, so you know he’s going to cause trouble in the future…. Anyway, I’m working on it and do hope to at least finish a draft this month.

I’m staying busy, giving my attorney different papers to get ready for divorce court in a week. But I got some great news to cheer me up: I’m going to be reinstated as a librarian!

Basically, one of the county’s librarians retired, and I am on the top of the re-employment list. So I don’t have to interview. They will just transfer me to a different department, but keep my pay exactly the same — just like they did when I had to leave the library.

I am very, very happy about this. Although my temp job was fairly interesting and had great hours and wonderful co-workers, it was mainly about keeping bureaucracy running smoothly. And while that’s all very well and good, and somebody needs to do it, I would rather it was not me.

I do think it’s ridiculous that a Management Analyst I is the same pay grade as a Librarian I. In fact, since the job just got re-classed, now it’s one pay grade higher. This is ridiculous. As Youth Services Manager, I supervised two people, planned the library programs, managed the youth services collection, and provided reference services. All those things are far more responsibility than I had as a Management Analyst. What’s more, being a Librarian requires a Master’s degree, but being a Management Analyst does not.

However, we love the Librarian job so much, we’ll do it and be happy to do it, even though the pay is not what it should be. Same with the awful hours. (I’ll be working at least two nights a week until 9:00.)

The position I’m stepping into is not a Youth Services Manager, but just an Information Services Librarian. I also think it’s a mistake that Youth Services Manager for a Community Library is not a higher pay grade, but actually it will be nice to have a little bit less responsibility for awhile. I won’t have to do children’s programs, but I will get to serve customers of all ages at the Information desk.

Today I volunteered at my old library for a couple hours, and I was reminded again how much I love it. Library customers are mostly very very nice (and I didn’t get even one of the other kind today). I got to help some kids find books to read, showed a mom how our data bases worked so she could help her son do a science project on chewing gum, helped a man figure out how to translate from English to Farsi on the internet, and several other interesting things.

I have come to believe in Libraries. They do people good. With teaching, you are helping people who don’t necessarily want to be taught (at least the general ed classes). But at the library, you get to help people teach themselves, and they want the information. I am very proud to be a librarian.

So that started with NaFADOYBIMSCOM, and worked around to Libraries. It’s a big month for me — The divorce finally going to court. The 5-year anniversary of my husband telling me he wanted a divorce. Getting to spend Thanksgiving with my extended family for the first time in 20 years. Going back to the Library. And — maybe — finally finishing my book!

Apologies

General 0

You’ve probably figured out there’s no Top Ten Tuesday post today. The fact is, it looks like my divorce case is going to have to go to court, and the court date is now less than two weeks away.

So — pretty much every night, I’m needing to get together some paperwork and documents and facts for my lawyer.

I’m still reading, and just finished Robin McKinley’s new book, Pegasus, which is fabulous. So I hope to get some reviews posted before long. Don’t forget about me! And here’s hoping that next week, I’ll have a Top Ten Tuesday post for you. (But definitely not the week after that.)

The fact is, no matter how much you’ve accepted that a divorce needs to happen, it’s still a hard thing to go through, and it does involve an awful lot of paperwork — and time.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books for Ages 4-5

Picture Book Review, Top Ten Tuesday 4

Happy Top Ten Tuesday! Today I’m going to list ten books I love for approximately ages 4-5. (I’m putting overlap in the ages for these lists to be able to include more!)

Last week I learned that I was not the first one to think of the Top Ten Tuesday meme, so after my list of Sondy’s Selections for ages 4-5, I’ll include a list for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and the Bookish — books that make me cry.

The titles I’ve reviewed will link to the review, and the others will link to Amazon. Next week’s list will be books for beginning readers. Be thinking of your favorites!

Sondy’s Selections, Ages 4-5

Timothy and the Strong Pajamas, by Viviane Schwarz
Timothy Smallbeast’s favorite pajamas wear out, but his mother mends them into Super Strong Pajamas. After a day helping others with his Super Strength, his new friends come to his aid when he needs them.

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, by Eugene Trivizias, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Three sweet little wolves are up against a pig who “isn’t called big and bad for nothing.” When blowing down their houses doesn’t work, the pig starts in with a sledgehammer. This hilarious twist on the traditional tale will have everyone laughing.

A Visitor for Bear, by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
Bear does NOT allow visitors. But a persistent mouse quickly has readers wondering where he will pop up next. Despite Bear’s best efforts, the mouse shows Bear that some things are better with friends.

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig
In this Caldecott Medal-winning book, Sylvester the donkey finds a magic pebble and rashly wishes to be a rock when attacked by a lion. But how can a rock reach the pebble to wish himself back?

Officer Buckle and Gloria, by Peggy Rathman
Officer Buckle is sure that his safety demonstrations are a hit with kids. He doesn’t realize that his dog Gloria is acting out all the accidents behind his back.

Millie Waits for the Mail, by Alexander Steffensmeier
Everyone who sees this book will enjoy the silly situations as Millie the cow waits for the mail – so she can scare the mail carrier out of his wits.

Clever Cat, by Peter Collington
A cat learns that being too clever can backfire. Maybe not a great message, but very funny.

The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds
Here’s a beautiful little book about making your mark and not judging yourself by other people’s standards. Kids who read this will never dare to say they’re “not good at art.”

The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter
The classic tale of a naughty rabbit outwitting Mr. MacGregor is still as pleasing as ever.

Horton Hatches the Egg, by Dr. Seuss
A faithful elephant tends a nest because he meant what he said, and he said what he meant.

And now, a special bonus list in honor of the Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and the Bookish:

This week their list topic is Books That Make You Cry.

Now, when I was a teen, a book had to make me cry to be counted one of my favorites. But it was hard to remember which ones those were. I think I cried a lot more easily then!

Anyway, here’s the list I came up with of my favorite books that made me cry:

1. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
2. Emily’s Quest, by L. M. Montgomery
3. Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell
4. Light From Heaven, by Christmas Carol Kauffman
5. Heidi, by Johanna Spyri
6. Mister God, This Is Anna, by Finn
7. Little Britches, by Ralph Moody
8. A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken
9. Jacob Have I Loved, by Katherine Paterson
10. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, by Gary Schmidt

Now, please add to the fun and share your favorites (in either category) in the comments!

NaNoWriMo 2010

NaNoWriMo 0

Today begins NaNoWriMo 2010 — National Novel Writing Month.

I’m actually not going to participate this year, but I did think it would be a good month to set a goal for my writing. I will record how many words I write on my novel and my blogs, but I didn’t want to focus on a new novel this year. The fact is, I am getting very very close to having my work-in-progress ready to send out to agents and/or editors. Now, the rewriting process is not one that causes a high word count, so I will probably not come close to 50,000 words.

However, here is my goal for the month of November:

Finish revising and rewriting my middle grade fantasy novel, The Mystical Mantle and have it ready to send out.

It would also be nice to get more than 36,000 words written this month on my book and my blogs and set a new monthly record. However, it might be difficult to do that, since my divorce case is this month, and if our lawyers can’t reach an agreement, I’ll need to spend most of my free time for a couple weeks compiling the papers for the court case. I’m also hoping to maybe visit my family in California over Thanksgiving.

So — it’s not a good month for getting a lot of writing done, but on the other hand, nothing would boost my spirits more than finally finishing my book. (And I think it’s already much better than anything I’ve sent out before — maybe it’s finally my turn to get published…)

Even if I don’t meet my goal of finishing, I hope to be mighty close, and that will make me happy.

Write on!

Review of The Cardturner, by Louis Sachar

Contemporary, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Cardturner

by Louis Sachar

Delacorte Press, New York, 2010. 336 pages.
Starred Review

Ever since he was small, Alton’s parents have drilled it into him that his great-uncle Lester is his favorite uncle. Uncle Lester is rich, very rich, and Alton’s parents want to be remembered should anything ever happen to him, God forbid. He’s only actually met Uncle Lester one time, when Alton was six, at his uncle’s sixty-fifth birthday party. When Alton’s a junior in high school, his uncle takes a turn for the worse, and his parents start thinking what they could do with his money.

One person they’re worried about is Sophie Castaneda.

“I’d heard about the Castaneda family all my life, ‘the crazy Castanedas,’ but I never quite got my uncle’s relationship to them. It was complicated, to say the least.

“From what I understood, Sophie Castaneda was the daughter of Uncle Lester’s ex-wife’s crazy sister.

“When Uncle Lester was in his twenties, he had been married for less than a year. His wife had a sister who went insane. The sister had a daughter named Sophie King, who later changed her name to Sophie Finnick, and then became Sophie Castaneda when she got married.

“See what I mean?

“According to my mother, all the Castanedas were bonkers. I met Toni Castaneda, Sophie’s daughter, at my uncle’s sixty-fifth birthday. Toni was about six years old, and I remember I was glad to find someone my own age to play with. Toni ran up to me. She covered her ears with her hands, her elbows sticking out, and shouted, ‘Shut up! Leave me alone!’ and then she ran away.

“She didn’t do that just to me. I watched her tell other people to shut up and leave her alone too. I thought she was funny, but when I tried playing that game, I got in trouble for saying shut up.”

On one of Uncle Lester’s turns for the worse, he goes blind. Alton’s Dad figures he’ll have to stop playing cards, but then his mom hears that Uncle Lester is playing cards four days a week with Toni Castaneda. They aren’t sure how he can do that when he’s blind. Then they get some insight into it:

“It was the second-to-last day of school. I didn’t have any summer plans, just a vague notion about getting a job. I had just driven Leslie to her friend Marissa’s house, and when I got home I heard my mother say, ‘Alton would love to spend time with his favorite uncle!'”

Uncle Lester wants Alton to drive him to his bridge club and be his cardturner. He will tell Alton what card to play, and Alton will play it. Toni had the job before, but then, before playing a card, she asked, “Are you sure?” thus revealing to the other players that Uncle Lester had more cards he could play. He fired Toni and wants someone who knows nothing about bridge. Alton qualifies.

It turns out that Uncle Lester — Trapp is what everyone calls him at his bridge club — is a fantastic bridge player. Alton tells him the cards in his hand at the beginning of each game, and Trapp has no trouble remembering them all and all the cards played during the game. Other people ask him for advice after the day’s play, and he can still remember the cards that were dealt.

You might think a book about playing bridge would be boring, but this is anything but. When the plot requires some detail about the game, the author inserts a whale symbol (because of all the whaling details in Moby Dick) and then a summary box, so if you choose you can skip the details and cut to the summary.

Yes, this is a book about playing bridge — Trapp would like one more shot at the national championship — but it’s also about Alton learning about his uncle and his uncle’s surprising life. And then there’s Toni Castaneda, who is Trapp’s protege as a bridge player. She doesn’t seem crazy to Alton. Too bad his best friend seems interested in her.

I especially enjoy the last third of the book. I can’t give away what happens, but it’s perfect, and what follows brings everything together.

I grew up playing Rook, which is like a very simple form of bridge, so I could follow the play pretty well. The book did make me want to learn bridge! Like other Louis Sachar books, this book strongly appealed to the mathematical side of my brain. You can think of the bridge play as a series of puzzles, which were fun to read about. It was all in the context of a very human story, adding up to a great book.

Buy from Amazon.com

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

Review of You Can Be Happy No Matter What, by Richard Carlson

Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth 0

You Can Be Happy No Matter What

Five Principles for Keeping Life in Perspective

by Richard Carlson, PhD

New World Library, Novato, California, 1997. 141 pages.

You Can Be Happy No Matter What hit the spot for me. Some nice, practical advice on being happy.

Since my husband left me a few years ago, and I’m still going through a divorce, my life has not turned out the way I planned — not at all. But I’m bound and determined that I don’t want choices someone else made to ruin my happiness. Richard Carlson gives you some nice practical advice to help yourself be happier more of the time.

Here are some passages I liked:

“When you can recognize the feeling of happiness when it’s there, you will realize that this feeling is what you have been looking for all along. The feeling isn’t leading somewhere else — it’s the goal, not the means to a goal. If the bride-to-be understands that her happiness comes first from within, she can make the decision to marry or not to marry from a place of wisdom, not from a place of lack. If she is already happy, the marriage will also be happy. If the couple then decides to have children, the children will grow up in a happy environment without the pressure of being someone’s source of happiness. The same will be true throughout the life of any happy person. Happiness breeds a happy existence and a joyous way of looking at life….

“Happiness is right now. Your life is not a dress rehearsal for some later date — it is right here, right now. The invisible quality of happiness we have all been looking for is right here in a feeling.”

He reminds us that we don’t have to be led by our thoughts down unhappy paths:

“There’s nothing to fear from thought itself, once we understand that it’s just thought.

“Perhaps the greatest misinterpretation of this principle is to believe that the goal is to control what you think about. It isn’t. The goal is to understand thought for what it is: an ability you have that shapes your reality from the inside out. Nothing more, nothing less. What you think about is not ultimately going to determine the quality of your life, but rather the relationship you have to your own thinking — the way you manufacture your thoughts and respond to them. Do you hear your thinking as reality, or as thought?”

Another insightful comment was to lower our tolerance for stress, which I interpreted as meaning to be more aware of your feelings if you want to have positive feelings:

“Surprisingly, the solution to stress is to begin to lower our tolerance to stress. This is the opposite of what most of us have been taught, but it is the truth. Lowering our tolerance to stress is based on the simple principle that our level of internal stress will always be exactly equal to our current tolerance. This is why people who can handle lots of stress always have to do just that.

“People with extremely high levels of stress tolerance might end up with a stress-related heart attack before they begin to pay attention to what the stress is telling them. Others may end their marriage or find themselves in a recovery center for alcohol or drugs. People with lower tolerance might begin paying attention to their stress earlier, when their job first begins to seem overwhelming or when they find themselves snapping at their children. Still others, who can’t tolerate stress at all, sense that it’s time to slow down and regain perspective when they start merely having negative thoughts about their friends or family.

“The lower our tolerance is for stress, the better off we are psychologically. When our goal is to feel our stress as early as possible, we can “nip stress in the bud” earlier, and return more quickly to a positive feeling state. We have choices; in fact, we have a series of “choice points,” in any situation. The longer we wait to disregard the stressful thoughts, the more difficult it becomes to bring ourselves back to our natural state of mind. Eventually, with practice, any of us can get to the point where we are aware of our negative thoughts before they pull us off track.”

The basic format of the book covers five principles for being happy, and then talks about how to apply them. The chapters are short and simple, but there are definitely some dynamic principles here. The chapters made nice selections to read at the beginning of the day to remind me of things like this:

“To a happy person, the formula for happiness is quite simple: Regardless of what happened early this morning, last week, or last year — or what may happen later this evening, tomorrow, or three years from now — now is where happiness lies. Happy people understand that life is really nothing more than a series of present moments to experience. Mostly, they understand that right now, this very moment, is where life is truly lived.”

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/you_can_be_happy.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: Books for Ages 3-4

Picture Book Review, Sondy's Selections, Top Ten Tuesday 0

It’s Top Ten Tuesday! The day when I give a list of ten recommended books in a certain category. Today’s category is books for ages 3-4. It’s more fun if others join in! Please, join in the comments with your favorite books for this age group, or better yet a link to your blog post where you list your favorites. Even if you don’t have a list of ten, I’d love to hear from you! The more the merrier!

The titles I’ve reviewed will link to the review, and the others will link to Amazon. Next week’s list will be for ages 4-5. Be thinking of your favorites!

Sondy’s Selections, Ages 3-4

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin, Jr, and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert
Rollicking sounds and rhymes have the naughty little letters of the alphabet climbing up and falling down from the coconut tree. Irresistible rhythm!

Katie Loves the Kittens, by John Himmelman
Katie is a dog who loves the new little kittens but doesn’t know how to contain her enthusiasm for them. A great twist on welcoming new members of the family.

The Lion and the Mouse, by Jerry Pinkney
This 2010 Caldecott Medal-winning picture book wordlessly tells the famous fable with lush pictures full of details your child will want to examine over and over again.

Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey
This much-loved classic has ducklings Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack following their mother through Boston to get to the Public Garden, with help from kind policemen stopping traffic.

Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss, illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke
The animals of the farm want something to do and go to the public library. But only the hen can get the librarian to understand what she wants.

The Three Pigs, by David Wiesner
This Caldecott Medal-winning book plays with the rules of illustration to show the three pigs escaping the wolf by fleeing from their book, and then visiting other books to find resources to build a happy ending.

Millions of Cats, by Wanda Gag
This timeless classic tells of a very old woman and a very old man who want one little cat and find millions and billions and trillions of cats.

A Porcupine Named Fluffy, by Helen Lester, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger
Poorly named Fluffy is angry when others laugh at his name – until he meets a rhino whose name is even less appropriate.

Serious Farm, by Tim Egan
Farmer Fred is too serious. The animals on his farm try to make him laugh, and don’t succeed until something happens that’s very serious to them. This book will succeed right away at making the reader laugh, child or adult.

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming, illustrated by G. Brian Karas
A farmer goes to greater and greater lengths to keep bunnies out of his garden. Each time the bunnies get in, there’s a refrain ending with Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!

In My Mailbox #3

In My Mailbox 0

It’s time for In My Mailbox! I’m finding this a fun excuse to talk about the books I just checked out. Though I may eventually subside with embarrassment as people find out how many books I actually check out but don’t get read and how far behind I am on writing reviews! This having a full-time job cuts down on blogging time, I’m afraid!

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren.

This week, the first batch of books I checked out is here:

Picture books: Zero, and The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark
Nonfiction: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Children’s Fiction: The Kneebone Boy, by Ellen Potter
Teen Fiction: The Amaranth Enchantment, by Julie Berry
Adult Fiction: Miss Hargreaves, by Frank Baker

Since I only review picture books I’m super excited about, I ended up turning those two back in unreviewed.

The next batch of books checked out:

Here we have:
Picture Books: Zen Ghosts, by Jon Muth, and Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? by Audrey Vernick
Teen Fiction: A Wizard of Mars, by Diane Duane
Children’s Fiction: A Whole Nother Story, by Dr. Cuthbert Soup

Then on Saturday I went to the Zen of YA Literature Conference, where Catherine Gilbert Murdock was speaking. I purchased copies of Front and Center and Princess Ben, and got them signed.

Oh, I also checked out three audiobooks, and am listening to the first one: Carpe Diem.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, but ever since I came home from ALA with an overabundance of review copies, I have started trying to discipline myself to alternate my fiction reading between a library book and a book I own. So this week I finished the library book Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld, and then read the book I own, Enchanted Ivy, by Sarah Beth Durst. Both were excellent, and Enchanted Ivy especially so! Reviews will be coming — some day! I also finished the audiobook Flipped, by Wendelin Van Draanen. It was very good, but I didn’t want it to end where it did.

This week I got one review posted and one review written.

It doesn’t take a math major to figure out that I am just getting further behind! My current score is I now have 31 books I have read and would like to review, and 16 books that I have written a review for, which need to be posted.

But at least I’m having fun!