I can't WAIT!

I didn't know this, but apparently there is a movie version in production of one of my FAVORITE picture books - Where the Wild Things Are By Maurice Sendak. The movie is not scheduled to come out until October of 2008 (a whole YEAR away) but there seem to be a few pictures floating out there of the movie.

thanks to MTV Movies Blog for the info and picture.

Nineteen Minutes By Jodi Picoult

Not a kidlit book, but one that I know many teenagers and adults have been reading. I just finished it and WOW. It got me thinking about so many things, and since I have 3 children who will be going to high school someday, it really got me thinking, and scared!

This is the story of what happened in nineteen minutes at Sterling High School. When a boy, who had been bullied all his school days starts a rampage in the school and leaves 10 dead. The story is told in flashbacks and first person accounts of a Judge, her daughter, the boy, his mother and a cop involved in the case. It is a chilling tale, especially for parents because it asks the question, how do you as a parent know if you are doing a good job and how do you know if the actions your children take are because of what you did or did not do. I think that teens reading the book will identify with many of the emotions that are spilled out in the book by Josie (the daughter) and Peter (the boy).

I have never read anything by Jodi Picoult, but I really enjoyed how the story unfolded and how you got different perspectives throughout the book.

I think that because I have children, and I think everyday if I am doing things "right", I was really moved by this book, if not also terrorized by the thought that in an instant things can change, even in the "safe hallways" of my kids school.

Exciting week- nothing to do with Kid Lit at all!

It has been a big summer week here. 1st my boys from New Jersey came out with a new album (Lost Highway) and were on the Today show on Tuesday - now I just have to wait until they tour this winter!

My hometown boys, the Boston Red Sox were in my adopted hometown of Atlanta this week. We had tickets, but the only one that got to go was my oldest son (see next item for why we couldn't make it) and although the boys from beantown gave one to the Braves on Monday, they got them on Tuesday and Wednesday - WTG SOX! And by the way, we are still in 1st place, can't get too excited yet, it is only June, but hey, being in first right now is a nice place to be.

And the best thing to happen this week has been my youngest son. He is 6 and playing on the all star baseball team for our park. His team is now 10-0! They won their first tournament on Saturday (trophy and everything) and we are now playing in the district tournament. Of course since they keep winning, they keep playing, which is wreaking havoc on our home life, since we have to be at the ballpark every night, but it has been a lot of FUN (although we will all be happy this weekend when it will all be OVER for the season!) Here is the link to their picture on our parks website - pretty exciting stuff for a 6 year old!

Nancy Drew

Lazy summer days are perfect for a movie. My daughter and I (and a friend and her daughter) went to see the new Nancy Drew movie over the weekend. Now, if you are looking for a story right from one of her books, look else where, but for a fun "girlie" mystery, this is your movie. My daughter (age 9) and her friend (age 7) both really enjoyed the movie. It was funny in parts, a little suspenseful and it was just fun to see what Nancy was wearing (could she single handily get PLAID back in style???)

What I am hoping, is that when I get back to school, there will be girls waiting to check out their first Nancy Drew book. At my old school, we had an ancient set of Nancy Drew books. They were popular when the 3rd or 4th grade teachers assigned a mystery book report. I am hoping that the movie starts a whole new generation on Nancy.

She's at it again

Laura Mallory, the mother in Gwinnett County, GA (where I happen to live) is still out to get poor Harry Potter. She started the fight about 2 years ago (!!) She started by requesting that the books be taken out of her child's Gwinnett County school library. The media committee of that particular school denied the request. She brought it to the Gwinnett County school board, they denied the request. She brought it to the State of Georgia school board - gee, THEY denied her request. She then went to the State of Georgia Supreme Court, funny thing, they denied her request. So now, she has an opinion article in the local Atlanta paper, the Atlanta Journal Constitution on her quest to rid our children of Harry Potter. The opinion article is full of bible verses and talk of how Harry Potter books are full of pagan rituals and will drive the children who read them into the practice of witchcraft, Wiccan and the Occult. I guess I should also stop my children from reading anything about the Muslims, Buddhist, Judaism and anything other than christian religions because they might want to try that out too (OH but wait, maybe they shouldn't read anything my husband writes, because, well, he is Jewish you know..)

This woman has an agenda and wants everyone to follow it. She is the kind of parent that makes my skin crawl. They have a set of values (which is good) for their family, but they want the whole world (or at least their whole world) to adopt the values too, and that is just not good.

I could go on and on about this subject and this woman, she really makes my blood boil. But for now, I am just glad that the Gwinnett County school board (who is now my employer), the State of Georgia School board and the State of Georgia supreme court is doing it's job by blocking the removal of Harry from the shelves. I can't imagine working in a library where I cannot guide a child to Harry and see their faces after they have stayed up late for a week to finish the first book and hurry back to me to get the second one.

Girls & Web Games

from Amy Bowllan's blog on SLJ I saw the link to this article from the NY Times on girls and doll websites. As I write this now, my 9 year old daughter is at the computer next to mine logging onto the Webkinz website to play with her webkinz - which is actually a stuffed dog that she got in her Easter basket. On the dogs tag was a number that she plugged into the Webkinz site and now she can play with the stuffed dog but also play with her dog on the website. These seem to be the new trend in her age group, and I say that not because of the article in the NY Times, but because whenever I have tried to find the Webkinz stuffed animal, many a store is sold out. Kind of like the beanie babies of a generation ago.

Now, as a school media specialist dealing with girls (and boys too, my 6 year old has a webkinz also) I wonder how these new computer games/toys can be incorporated into learning. I know for my daughter, it is just fun. But I also know, she has to read the website, and some of the games that she plays on the site have some math and reasoning skills involved. I wouldn't classify the website as "educational" but it is not all bad either. I think as I start planning my lessons for next year I might consider some of these games that the NY Times has mentioned (and that my daughter plays) and see where I might incorporate them into learning.

Eat Your Veggies

Some how my summer is going by rather quickly. We are already into it by about a week and a half and I feel like I will never get everything done that I wanted to do this summer - ah, but I am getting a rather nice tan while I watch my kids at the pool, so I guess I can't complain too much.

I am in the middle of the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I have seen quite a few bloggers reading this lately and all are loving it. So far, the book is making me think. I really could do with more of the stories about her family and less about the political/socio-economic ramblings of WHY we all need to think about where our food comes from, but I guess she needed to include that in the book to get across WHY her family chose to do this food experiment. The premise of the non-fiction book, is the author and her family move from Tuscon, AZ back to their roots on a farm in rural Virginia and decide to live for a year eating only foods that they grow/raise themselves OR buy foods that are locally grown/raised. She includes essays in the book from her 19 year old daughter and from her husband. She also includes recipes and sample menus of how they managed to only eat foods that were in season.

Last year my 6 year old started a garden in our yard with my Dad. My son had been fascinated with my Dad's large vegetable garden and he wanted to start his own. Last year we ate tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers from the garden and my son couldn't have been prouder when he came in form his garden with armfuls of vegetables. This year my Dad could not come down to help, so I helped him get it ready and helped him plant. He choose the plants and we have quite an eclectic mix - tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, watermelon, pumpkins and some herbs (that was my contribution!) I don't think that living in my suburban neighborhood I will ever live like Ms. Kingsolver, but I feel that the book did open my eyes to HOW we get our food and what we can do in small ways to help out our environment, say by planting our little garden.

I just wish that we would get some RAIN here. We are in a pretty bad drought (lots of water restrictions) and although we do water the garden everyday, I think things would grow a little better if we had some good soaking rains!

8 things

I've been tagged by Midwestern Lodestar for my first Meme as a blogger - woohoo!

MEME RULES:

Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I am going to be in my first dance recital in 20 year next Saturday - YIKES!

2. I am scared as SH*& to be on the stage at the age of 37!

3. But my daughter thinks it is really cool that we are dancing in the same recital - and it is!

4. my youngest son is playing all-star baseball right now, and while he loves it, is it really too much to be an all-star at the age of 6??

5. My oldest son is going to middle school (grade 6) in August and I am scared silly.

6. I am also slightly depressed that I am old enough to have a son going to middle school!

7. I hate to admit it, but one of the things I love about my job is having my summers off

8. But if my kids keep whining, I might not feel that way come August 6th (my first day back to school).

I am now suppose to tag people, but SO many of my kidlit blogger "friends" have already been tagged, so lets just say, if you are reading this and haven't been tagged consider yourself tagged!