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Showing posts from July, 2013

Accio Chompsticks!

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Tomorrow marks the official start of our week long silly celebration. It's the second annual #Chompsticks! Since my family was chomping at the bit to get started, we had our first photo shoot today. It was Harry Potter's birthday, so we pulled out all the stops for our geeky fun. We started by setting up our Potter goodness, complete with chocolate frogs and the Lego game. It's not easy trying to eat chocolate frogs with lightsaber chopsticks, especially while wearing a Gryffindor robe. Mmmmm..... Hogwarty goodness... Younger kept snapping photos of me. This was the silliest shot.   Accio Treats! Thursday's theme will be Star Wars... check back tomorrow for another dose of Chompsticks fun.

On A Beam Of Light - Nonfiction picture book review

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When you teach elementary students who are fascinated by scientists and thinkers from the past, the publication of a picture book about Einstein is a source of joy. When the book is this lovely and inspiring, it becomes something I just have to blog about.  On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne (Goodreads Author) Hardcover, 56 pages Published April 23rd 2013 by Chronicle Books ISBN 0811872351 (ISBN13: 9780811872355) Source: I purchased this for my classroom library based on the recommendations of some twitter friends! Goodreads Summary: A boy rides a bicycle down a dusty road. But in his mind, he envisions himself traveling at a speed beyond imagining, on a beam of light. This brilliant mind will one day offer up some of the most revolutionary ideas ever conceived. From a boy endlessly fascinated by the wonders around him, Albert Einstein ultimately grows into a man of genius recognized the world over for profoundly illuminating our understan

A Little Slice of Fun

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I'm taking a brief break from my Ireland recap to try to convince some more friends to join in on a silly summer tradition. Can it count as a "tradition" if this is just the second annual event? I'm going with "yes"... Last year several nerdy book club pals on Twitter started chatting about keeping our books clean while we eat messy snacks. Someone shared a photo of herself eating hot Cheetos with chopsticks! Well, we couldn't just leave it at that, right? So we threw down the gauntlet - a twitter celebrations of "Chompsticks" and reading. (You can get more details on how the " Genesis of Chompsticks" at Eat the Book . David is also the creator of the cool image above!)  Last year, since I used light saber chopsticks, I made it my mission to wear a different Star Wars tee shirt in each photo. I roped my silly children into the fun as well. I do own enough Star Wars shirts to make this happen, and I even had some shirts tha

It's Monday - July 29th

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Umm... it's the end of JULY? Can someone please tell me when that happened? No matter, it's still time to share some lovely reading from the week. I was beginning to fall behind on my Goodreads goal, which made it the perfect week for checking out some new picture books! Don't miss the other posts - visit Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers . Picture Books: I'll be reviewing Beam of Light on Wednesday and plan to do The Boy Who Loved Math next week. I enjoyed receiving a poem a day from Jane Yolen in July - and all she asked was that we read one of her books. So I grabbed Grumbles from the Forest from the library this week. Sea Monster and the Bossy Fish was adorable! But what else would I expect from Kate Messner? I spotted Uncle Bigfoot at the library - and grabbed it because it was written and illustrated by George O'Connor. Short and sweet, a cute picture book that will appeal to younger kids who like cryptids. Good Night, Gorilla -

Marvelous Middle Grade - Zero Tolerance

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This week I'm spotlighting a title that I haven't seen pop up on anyone else's feeds... It's a realistic fiction story, and something about the main character resonated with me. Zero Tolerance by Claudia Mills Hardcover, 240 pages Published June 18th 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) ISBN 0374333122 (ISBN13: 9780374333126) Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review, in exchange for my honest thoughts. Goodreads Summary : Seventh-grader Sierra Shepard has always been the perfect student, so when she sees that she accidentally brought her mother's lunch bag to school, including a paring knife, she immediately turns in the knife at the school office. Much to her surprise, her beloved principal places her in in-school suspension and sets a hearing for her expulsion, citing the school's ironclad no weapons policy. While there, Sierra spends time with Luke, a boy who's known as a troublemaker, and discovers that

A blustery day at Trim Castle

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This was it. The very first castle on our whirlwind Ireland tour. Would it live up to my grandiose expectations? With my archaeological fascination, I'd planned a two week tour that centered around old piles of rocks. Yesterday, I'd shivered in gusty winds while wandering the neolithic sites of Newgrange and Knowth , reveling in the weight of years settling down around me. Yet my real first love (sorry, sweetie)  has always been the middle ages. With so many castles on our "to do" list, this would be my first real taste of the days to come. Trim Castle was billed as being a must see stop on our tour. Many scenes from Braveheart were filmed here, so it can be a "very busy site and visitors may experience a delay during the summer months. Access cannot be guaranteed. Please arrive early to avoid disappointment." ( http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/midlandseastcoast/TrimCastle/ ) You don't have to tell ME something like that twice! In s

It's Monday - July 22nd

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Time for the weekly reading roundup! Thanks to Jenn at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers for hosting this each week. It was a pretty solid reading week - with a few new treasures discovered. I highly recommend Doll Bones . It was definitely a creepy ghost story, but I also loved the friendship. The fact that the leading trio was two girls and one boy was a nice change, too. Graphic Novels: Astronaut Academy - my students and sons love this series. I enjoy it, but it feels a bit choppy to make it to my favorites list. There were some GREAT geeky references, though. If you follow me on Instagram - I posted a photo of one of my favorite allusions. Terra Tempo- Ice Age: I can see the audience for this time traveling "Faction" style book - but it didn't really rock my world. The adventure and information didn't blend well for me. Newbery - I'm back on track to get these DONE! It's Like This, Cat won't be hitting my she

Review of Sidekicked

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After you read my review, please be sure to jump back to my stop on the official Blog Tour . John David Anderson gives us a humorous look at his Top Ten Innocent Bystanders, and I am hosting a giveaway for a signed hardback copy of the book! Link below.  Sidekicked by John David Anderson (Goodreads Author) Hardcover, 384 pages Published June 25th 2013 by Walden Pond Press ISBN 0062133144 (ISBN13: 9780062133144) Goodreads Summary: With not nearly enough power comes way too much responsibility. Andrew Bean might be a part of H.E.R.O., a secret organization for the training of superhero sidekicks, but that doesn’t mean that life is all leaping tall buildings in single bounds. First, there’s Drew’s power: Possessed of super senses – his hearing, sight, taste, touch, and smell are the most powerful on the planet – he’s literally the most sensitive kid in school. There’s his superhero mentor, a former legend who now spends more time straddling barstools than he does fighting c

Sidekicked Blog Tour - Top Ten Bystanders by John David Anderson

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While I'm thrilled that you are here at MY Blog Tour stop - don't miss out on all the other fun posts! Check out the full list at Walden Pond Press , or scroll down to the bottom for direct links to the other stops. We're ALL giving away a signed hardback copy of this super powered novel! Also check out the giveaway on Facebook , where you could win a book AND an ereader of your choice. Unless I win it, in which case you're just out of luck.  It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of superheroes. You'll find me in line for all the latest movies, and I'm doing my darnedest to keep up with several of the current superhero comics. I'll give Sidekicked a full review in a day or two here on the blog, but let me assure you that this is a book your upper middle grade readers are going to LOVE. Today I'm excited to host a guest post by the author, John David Anderson, which is filled with the same kind of tongue-in-cheek humor that made me enjoy Si

Summer THIRSTday

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It's been several weeks, but the boys wanted to jump back into the book blogging memes with me. So today we share our summer smoothies (with grapes, blueberries, yogurt and a bit of ice cream for good measure) and good books! As always, thanks to David at Eat The Book for getting this one going.  Me - I finished Doll Bones last night and I'm about to dive into the second section of Mariposas to discuss with Kathy. Older is enjoying some of the Witch & Wizard series. Younger is reading Incorrigible Children on his app, but wanted to share this fun picture book and his fiddlesticks creation.

Library of Dreams - Slice of Life

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It's no secret that I just came back from the trip of a lifetime. Is it normal that there is some degree of disappointment - of letdown - after the fact?  My trip was as close to perfect as it is possible to have. My husband was a great sport, even on the days when he was just done with ruins, Irish food, and getting up early to eat a breakfast he didn't actually want.  To fight off the post-vacation blues, I'll probably spend the next few Slice of Life posts reflecting on particular experiences. I did a lot of journaling while I was there, though I need to finish up the last few days, and took a slew of photos (all up on Flickr). My last Slice was about the trip to the Passage Tombs at Newgrange and Knowth. Today's inspiration was my visit to Trinity College in Dublin toward the end of the trip.... A Whiplash Kind of Day The Book of Kells - it's kind of a big deal. At least, it's a big deal if you are me. So visiting the Trinity College Library in Dubl

It's Monday - July 15th

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I'm baaaack! It's been about a month since I posted, due to vacations and general craziness. I apologize for the length of this post, since I'm going to update you on the books I read during that time - but I'll keep any commentary brief since I may write separate posts about the specific books later. I didn't pack ANY hard copies of books on my Ireland vacation, so I was thankful to have a decent number of ebooks loaded. Science Fiction:  I won a copy of Escape from the Pipe Men several months ago, and just now got to read it. I'll devote some upcoming Sci Friday space to talking about this one. I loved the Thrawn Trilogy - mostly because it was a joy to revisit Han, Leia, Luke et. al. I also loved meeting Mara for the first time, and can't wait to read more about her. Crewel I've had on my docket for ages - I snapped it up when it was on sale months ago. I just recently got an ARC of the second book, so I bumped it up my list. Fascin