Open a Book

(Thanks to Jill for allowing me to use this picture of Téa)
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them!
How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
-Arnold Lobel

Don't Forget to Tell Me What You Think in the Poll ---->

The Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle is actually three short novels published together into one. All three are about the Irish-Catholic Rabitte family and take place in Barrytown, a working-class suburb in Dublin. All three of the stories were made into movies, the most well-known being The Commitments.

Various members of the family are the subjects in each story. I come from a very small family, so reading about a very large family and all the craziness was a lot of fun. Plus, these stories have the typical Irish wit prevelent in all of Doyle's novels. It is laugh-out-loud funn.

The Magician's Boy by Susan Cooper is only a few years old now. It was recommended to me by a children's bookstore owner and what fun it is!

The magician's boy wants to be a magician so badly, but the magician doesn't think he is ready yet. While the boy assists the magician at one of his shows, he gets pulled into the Land of Story in order to find the missing St. George puppet. Along the way, the boy meets many "old school" fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters like Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and The Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. They help the boy find St. George. Does he become a magician? You'll have to read it to find out!

Open a Book

I love to read, and have since I can remember. Between the books I read for pleasure, for book club, and for work/school, I have probably read thousands of them, and of course have an opinion about each one. Some I don't remember and some I didn't like, but since I enjoy reading so much (when I have time) I do like most of what I read and thought this is a great forum to share my favorites. Since I couldn't find a day of the week that goes along with "book", actually it's not that I couldn't find one, there just isn't one, this may or may not be a weekly post. Anyhoo, if your looking for something to read, try one of these.

(Thanks to Jill for sending me this picture of Téa)

Books to the ceiling,

Books to the sky,

My pile of books is a mile high.

How I love them!

How I need them!

I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.

-Arnold Lobel

Life of Pi by Yann Martel was amazing. I have to admit that I was the dummy who thought it was a true story (because it's written like one and story teller states that it is), but that's just because it was so good and I guess I wanted it to be true.

A boy named Pi is the lone survivor when the ship he and his family are on sinks. Unfortunately, he is not alone in the lifeboat. The zoo animals that the ship was transporting also managed to survive and end up on the boat with Pi. The interaction between the boy and the animals is intense and, at times, heart-wrenching.

I was exhausted at the end of this one, but it was well worth it!

I have few favorite books because there are so many of them that I love, but Lily's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes is one of my favorites. In the last few years, the language used in children's books has changed from formal and boring, to modern and conversational. These books are not always great for grammar examples, but they are so much fun to read.

Lily is a sassy, school-aged mouse who loves her teacher, but one day she comes to school so excited about some goodies she received from her grandma, including a purple, plastic, purse (who wouldn't love that?). These things distract Lily and the teacher finally confiscates the items until the end of the day. Lily is livid and her favorite teacher quickly becomes her least favorite teacher. The story continues as Lily learns her lesson, and all is right in Lily's world again. Cute, cute, cute!

So You Think You Can Dance pt. 2

I have been chomping at the bit waiting for SYTYCD to finish the auditions and choose the final 20 dancers. The auditions haven't been nearly as bad as American Idol. I am glad that it wasn't most important to show the worst possible dancers, EVER, to make for "good" TV. Yes, they had their moments when some complete idiot got on stage and performed some awful number, but it was much less than Idol when most of the audition shows are about the bad singers. However, SYTYCD audition shows were geared towards the tear jerkers. Holy cow, I think I cried during every audition show. There was some young dancer who had a sob story in just about every audition episode. Many of them danced for a loved one who had passed. Some had overcome injury to dance again. Some where just so excited to be there that they cried, and I cried with them. OK, so now auditions are over and we get to see some dancing!

Tonight they picked their top 20 and as of today. Twitch the breaker and Chelsea the salsao dancer are my early favorites. Who are your favorites.

Who do you like?