Stray Affections Charlene Ann Baumbich Multnomah/Random House 303 pgs., Reader’s Guide, recipes
Summary Cassandra Higgins loves animals. She grew up rescuing them whenever she saw they needed help. She especially loved her dog Toby. Now Cassandra lives in a small town, in a small house, with four boys, a husband, and a living room full of animal collectibles. After what happened with Toby she doesn’t trust herself around real animals anymore. So, each year, she satisfies her heart’s longing by attending a convention and finding a material animal for her shelf. She’ll never forgive herself, or her mother Betty, for what happened twenty-four years ago.
My Thoughts I really enjoyed this book. I felt as if I as able to get inside Cassandra’s head and find out why she felt the way she did. I also understood Betty. Sometimes, as a single mom, you have to make tough choices and you can’t always make the right ones. But they usually feel right when you make them.
I thought Baumbich introduced too many characters though. The addition of Cassandra’s friend Margret, Marget’s husband Leo, and Margret’s family felt like I was trying to keep too many people straight. Also, Ken, Cassandra’s husband, was a little too good to be true. When Margret told him things about Cassandra’s past that he didn’t know, he just accepted them and moved on. He didn’t really talk to her about being open and honest with him. That said, I still liked the way he took care of her.
The plot was a little predictable, you could figure out how things were going to come around long before the story wrapped itself up. But, it moved at a nice clip and I kept turning the pages. I actually read the entire book in one sitting.
Stray Affections was an easy, relaxing read that made me pause and think. I liked how Baumbich showed her love for God without making me feel condemned or damned. The book showed a promise without making all the characters immediately repent and turn from their ways. The broken relationships didn’t heal overnight but there were quite a few “feel good” moments. And I absolutely loved the twist with the snowglobe. That was unexpected and brought tears to my eyes. About The Author Charlene Ann Baumbich is a popular author and speaker and an award-winning journalist. In addition to her Dearest Dorothy series of novels, she has written seven nonfiction books of humor and inspiration. A bungee-jumping, once motorcycle-owning grandma and unabashed dog lover, Charlene lives with her husband and rescued dog Kornflake in Glen Ellyn , Illinois . She loves telling stories, laughing whenever possible, and considers herself a Wild Child of God. Check out Charlene’s website – Don’t Miss Your Life. Charlene will be at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, IL on Tuesday, September 29, 2009.
Giveaway
I’m giving away one copy of this book courtesy of Ashley and Random House. Just mention in the comments that you’d like to read this and leave your email address. The giveaway will run until Thursday, September 17, 2009 midnight. US and Canada entrants only, please.
Happy Friday! So I thought I was going to be able to post everyday in September but that is not going to happen. So I will stop making promises and just post as often as I can!
Anyway, it’s Friday! I went to a literacy workshop with some of our teachers this past week and it was so affirming. We talked about practices that keep students engaged in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in all classrooms not just language arts and not as something additional but as a part of teaching. I also enjoyed meeting teachers from our other two middle schools. Some of the books that were talked about this week will make up my Five.
All summaries are from Amazon unless otherwise noted.
1. The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller – the Gifted and Talented Coordinator told me I needed to read this. I ordered it for my personal library and will tackle it this month. Here’s a starred review – Miller, a sixth-grade language arts and social studies teacher and blogger, has enabled students of many different backgrounds to enjoy reading and to be good at it; her students regularly score high on the Texas standardized tests. Her approach is simple yet provocative: affirm the reader in every student, allow students to choose their own books, carve out extra reading time, model authentic reading behaviors, discard timeworn reading assignments such as book reports and comprehension worksheets, and develop a classroom library filled with high-interest books. Her students regularly read more than 40 books in a school year and leave her classroom with an appreciation and love of books and reading. Miller provides many tips for teachers and parents and includes a useful list of ultimate reading suggestions picked by her students. This outstanding contribution to the literature is highly recommended for teachers, parents, and others serving young students.
2. In The Middle by Nancie Atwell – our 8th grade ELA teacher mentioned this as one of the books that changed him. From Heineman – When first published in 1987, this seminal work was widely hailed for its honest examination of how teachers teach, how students learn, and the gap that lies in between. In depicting her own classroom struggles, Nancie Atwell shook our orthodox assumptions about skill-and-drill-based curriculums and became a pioneer of responsive teaching. Now, in the long awaited second edition, Atwell reflects on the next ten years of her experience, rethinks and clarifies old methods, and demonstrates new, more effective approaches.
3. Why Don’t Students Like School by Daniel Willingham – This was mentioned a few times and is said to go beyond brain research theory and into how to put it into place in the classroom. Kids are naturally curious, but when it comes to school it seems like their minds are turned off. Why is it that they can remember the smallest details from their favorite television program, yet miss the most obvious questions on their history test? Cognitive scientist Dan Willingham has focused his acclaimed research on the biological and cognitive basis of learning and has a deep understanding of the daily challenges faced by classroom teachers. This book will help teachers improve their practice by explaining how they and their students think and learn?revealing the importance of story, emotion, memory, context, and routine in building knowledge and creating lasting learning experiences.
4. The Number Devil by Hans Enzensberger – mentioned in the Subjects Matter book we were studying and sounded like it would be an interesting read. Young Robert’s dreams have taken a decided turn for the weird. Instead of falling down holes and such, he’s visiting a bizarre magical land of number tricks with the number devil as his host. Starting at one and adding zero and all the rest of the numbers, Robert and the number devil use giant furry calculators, piles of coconuts, and endlessly scrolling paper to introduce basic concepts of numeracy, from interesting number sequences to exponents to matrices. Author Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s dry humor and sense of wonder will keep you and your kids entranced while you learn (shhh!) mathematical principles. Who could resist the little red guy who calls prime numbers “prima donnas,” irrational numbers “unreasonable,” and roots “rutabagas”? Not that the number devil is without his devilish qualities. He loses his temper when Robert looks for the easy way out of a number puzzle or dismisses math as boring and useless. “What do you expect?” he asks. “I’m the number devil, not Santa Claus.”
5. The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease – each day before lunch they read a short story to us. We loved it. I want to work this back into library time or convince teachers to do this in class. This will be one that I buy for my personal library also. Jim also lists the Read Aloud of the Week. I think I’ll start there.
Waiting on Wednesday is brought to you courtesy of Jill at Breaking The Spine. Check out Jill’s blog to find out what she’s waiting on.
Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse by Kaleb Nation
Back in May I wrote a post about all the BEA Galleys I wanted. This was one – solely because the writer’s name was Kaleb Nation. Turns out that is NOT a made up name (I think)! Mr. Nation’s publicist happens to be on my twitter feed @psamuelson01. He was hyping up this book and I begged to read it. Mr. Samuelson did me one better – so without further ado -
The Bran Hambric pre-order Prize Extravaganza!!
Any person who pre-orders Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse, and sends their e-receipt or scanned receipt to sbpublicity@sourcebooks.com will be entered into a drawing to win one of the following prizes:
– Personalized copy of The Farfield Curse (give your copy to a friend!)
-Personalized early reader copy of Book 2
-Personalized Bran Hambric poster
-Half Moon Necklace
-Signed CD of soundtrack
-$25 gift certificate to local bookstore
-Kaleb Nation event at local bookstore (fall 2010)
One entry per book ordered (so as many entries as books ordered). Receipts must be dated prior to pub date – September 9, 2009 and bear the subject heading “Bran Hambric Pre-Order Competition.” Winners to be announced September 30, 2009!
Check out the site for Bran Hambric and sign up to read the first five chapters!!
Well, that’s what I’m waiting on! What are you waiting on?
Blogging It’s September! I’m going to try and blog everyday this month. I’m not very good at scheduling posts in advance and really have a hard time with memes. I’ll work both those things out as this month continues. I have several blog tours coming up and books that I’ve requested that from publishers plus some reviews from past months. I should be able to do this. I’ve not felt up to blogging these past two months and I’m having a hard time getting back into the swing of things. We shall see!
Living Your Five Kay Cassidy, and her author pals have come up with Living Your Five. “Living Your Five is all about knowing what matters most to you and making a difference in your world in ways large and small.” The authors ask that you examine what’s important to you and come up with five ways to live those important values everyday. They are going to transparently “live” their five through the group blog with posts every other day.
I’ve read all the Fives put out by these ladies as I’ve reflected on my Five. I still haven’t put mine into words yet but I know they will have something to do with intentional living, decreased consumption, teaching or mentoring others, and positive communication. I will post them as soon as they are finalized.
Mock Newbery I’m going to be doing this with a few teachers from my school. I’ve read more books off the St. Joseph Public Library’s Mock Newbery list and am starting to get into this. It will be fun debating the merits of books with the teachers. My monthly list will be slightly different than St. Joe’s because our focus will be more geared towards our jobs. I’ll be posting our first reading list soon.
Today, August 28, is Sean Beaudoin’s birthday! Happy Birthday Sean!
My Thoughts I totally loved this book. I read it the day I received the ARC from Little, Brown on Facebook. Fade to Blue is not only the title, it tells the story of two characters in the book, Kenny Fade and Sophie Blue. The chapter titles were pretty cool because they go from 0 and count up, then there’s a comic, and then it counts down to 0 again. All 3 stories are related. We follow Sophie as she tries to figure out what happened to her dad and why is that psycho ice cream truck always following her! If you like smart, funny reads loaded with pop culture, music references, and sarcasm this is your book. It also has virtual reality and comix!
About the Author 58% of the letters in Sean Beaudoin’s name are vowels.
In ASCII binary code, his name is 01010011 01100101 01100001 01101110 00100000 01000010 01100101 01100001 01110101 01100100 01101111 01101001 01101110
Backwards, it’s Naes Nioduaeb. In Pig Latin, it’s Eansay Eaudoinbay.
Sean Beaudoin has used his B.A. in photography as a springboard into the following jobs: construction laborer, circus roustabout, busboy, used book buyer, hotel desk clerk, camp counselor, statue repairman (really), seller of jazz vinyl, and a nine-day stint as The World’s Worst Telemarketer. He now resides mostly in Seattle, but also sometimes San Francisco, with his wife and daughter.
I also tend to list my history and traits in the third person, as if someone else were writing it for me. I love hot sauce and almonds and Turkish coffee. I hate the phrase “it is what it is.” When people say that, I tend to respond, in a much deeper voice than I really have, “NO, IT ISN’T.” I like vinyl and French movies and books about unhappy people from the Fifties. I’m not particularly crazy about police procedurals, ketchup, rap-metal, Julia Roberts, cell phones, or Sudoku.
Interview with Sean Beaudoin Was the Ice Cream Truck in Fade to Blue inspired by your friend’s Pie Truck?
That’s a funny question, but no. The ice cream truck was in the manuscript a good two years before Pie Truck reared its head on the rough and tumble streets of Alameda, CA. But Pie Truck is such an excellent, endearing, and tasty idea, that it may have to make an appearance in a future book.
I loved your advice to “Neither of These is Miles Davis“, you understood her dilemma so well. Describe a situation where your personal space has been invaded. How did you “handle” it?
Hmmm. I was on a flight about two weeks ago where a family of six took up the entire row in front of me. They were, I will say, not a family of rigorous dieters. For some reason, the children, who were all in their teens, took turns sitting on Mom’s lap. It seemed odd to me, since they appeared to be of the age where most teens wouldn’t want to be caught dead anywhere near Mom in public, so I actually found it sort of sweet. Except for the fact that with both of them in one chair, and Mom having her seat back and tray table all the way reclined, they were pretty much sprawled right up in my business. Most odd, though, was when Dad decided to take his turn on Mom’s lap. I am not making this up. Suddenly, there was six-hundred pounds of married bliss and suspect spatial awareness more or less announcing itself six inches from my face. At first I thought it was a joke, but they stayed that way a very long time, watching the in-flight movie. Mom rubbed Dad’s back, while Dad stroked his beard, curled on her lap like a terrier. It was exceedingly weird. The way I handled it was to say nothing, marvel at their lack of self-consciousness, and bide my time for an opportunity to relate their behavior in an only marginally amusing interview response.
How did you come up with your book rating system? What book have you rated that you’re glad you didn’t write? (Don’t need to give title, just a quick synopsis would be awesome)
I used to be extremely opinionated and even judgmental about what I thought good literature was. It was easy for me to toss around opinions and slam works I thought were inferior, derivative, cynically manipulative, or dishonest. Then I tried to write a book. Turns out, books are hard to write. My entire evaluation system changed drastically. It’s very hard for me to be negative about almost any book now, because I can instantly relate to the struggle the author went through to get it on the page no matter what I feel about its merits personally. I also think with the internet it’s far too tempting, and common, for people to be anonymously flippant, even cruel, about appraising someone else’s work without realizing what went into it. At this point, if you’ve actually finished a novel, no matter what it’s about, I’m more or less on your side.
That said, with almost 150,000 books published last year, there is a vast and mathematically unavoidable disparity in quality. Yeah, let’s be honest, there’s a lot of crap out there. So, my rating system is set up to kind of make a joke about the idea of standing in judgment, as well as being vulnerable to others’ judgment, while still allowing me to talk about other books in a consistent and honest way. If someone finds that they share my taste or aesthetics, that’s great, and they can decide if they want to read what I’ve reviewed or not. But, to answer your question even more obliquely, I’d have to say overall, about 70% of the time, I am impressed by other author’s creativity, discipline, and talent.
Statue repairman, what?
I know, it was such a funky job. Essentially, I worked in a statuary that cast cement and marble garden and house sculpture, as well as bird feeders and faux-Rodin’s and mini-Davids and such. Since it was sort of a shady operation, the statues would frequently come out of the molds missing snouts, fingers, arrows, wings, talons, and unseemly cherubic attributes. My job was to “repair” them, by re-attaching the lost appendages, or sort of cosmetically enhancing the flaws with a watery mixture of Quick-crete and paint. My job was also to dip them into this huge tub of noxious chemicals wearing shoulder-length rubber gloves (but no mask) so they looked aged when they came out. I figure I lost about 30 IQ points doing that. It was like breathing in huge gusts of deck stripper all day long. I frequently drove home in a weird, nauseated haze, humming along to static on the radio. But, it paid $10 an hour, and back then, that was really good money.
Sean has a new book coming out in Fall 2010 , You Killed Wesley Payne. From Sean:
You Killed Wesley Payne is Grease meets The Maltese Falcon. It’s what would result if the DNA of The Road Warrior and Beverly Hills 90210 were spliced together and then grafted to Samuel L. Jackson’s coccyx. It’s cops and cliques. It’s love and vice. It’s a band called Pinker Casket who rocks so hard they may actually all be dead. And it’s a pulp-noir murder mystery in which hard-boiled seventeen year old Dalton Rev must solve the mystery of “The Body” before it solves him.
Back in May I posted about the BEA Galleys that I wanted. Since then, I’ve received/absconded/begged and/or borrowed my way into all but three of them. Here are the books I’m still waiting (and whining) for:
Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey – I’ve read all the Alfred Kropp books. I’ve loved all the Alfred Kropp books. I want to spread my love around.
Wish You Were Dead by Todd Strasser – I’ve read How I Changed My Life, Girl Gives Birth To Own Prom Date (and saw movie), Boot Camp, and The Wave. I’ve loved them all. I want to spread my love around.
I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President by Josh Lieb – I’ve not read or seen anything by Mr Lieb. But this Variety article was entertaining and this Penguin blurb is funny. I loved reading them. I want to spread my love around
So, if you have those books, maybe we can make a deal.
Waiting on Wednesday is brought to you by Jill of Breaking the Spine. Head on over to find some additions to your TBR pile!
Everything Sucks : Losing My Mind and Finding Myself in a High School Quest For Cool Hannah Friedman HCI Teens 221 pgs.
Format The book is divided into five parts: Part 1 – age 7 to beginning High School, Part 2 – Freshman Year, Part 3 – Sophomore and Junior Year, Part 4 – Junior Year, Part 5 – Senior Year. In each part Friedman focuses on both home and school with more emphasis on school as the year progresses.
My Thoughts In this Young Adult memoir we get a glimpse into Hannah Friedman’s life starting in Part One where we meet Amelia – her mom’s pet monkey. We continue with Hannah giving us the goods on various mean girls, failed road trips, and being deferred at her first choice college.
Friedman’s writing is frank and spares no one’s feelings, not even her own. She talks about her battles with keeping up with the “Jones” even though she didn’t have the money or the background as well as her struggles with her weight.
“Carbs are for the weak. Coffee has become it’s own food group. Curiously enough though, nobody ever dares discuss dieting difficulties, only success stories; you are skinny and pretty or you’re a fat failure, and there’s nothing in between.” (104 – 105)
Hannah tells all. It’s not pretty but it sounds pretty accurate. Fortunately, it’s not the whole story, this is just a small part of Hannah. The writing flows smoothly with the exception of Part 4 when Hannah attends school in the city for a semester. The timing was difficult for me to follow and I found myself re-reading to help the pieces fall into place. It was also questionable whether the graphic details of Hannah’s love life contributed anything additional to the writing. Overall, the book was entertaining and could be useful in a high school English and/or journalism class. The immediacy of the memoir could serve as a valuable lesson on writing what you know. I will be picking up part two as soon as it’s released!
About the Author Hannah Friedman (Peekskill, NY) is a recent Yale University graduate. She is the daughter of gold-record singer/songwriter Dean Friedman. An article titled, “When Your Friends Become the Enemy” about her experiences applying to an Ivy League University was published in Newsweek in 2004. Ms. Friedman is the winner of the Yale 2007 Playwright’s Festival, as well as the New York Television Festival’s 2008 “Flying Solo” Pilot Contest. Her pilot about transitioning from college student to author will debut at the Festival in September 2008.
Format This biography of Diego Rivera is written as a series of poems with 14 full-sized illustrations interspersed. 3 of the illustrations are actually reproductions of Diego’s work. Almost every poem includes a small illustration that acts as a summary. The penultimate poem, Still Lifes, features Deigo’s ode to Frida Kahlo, titled The Watermelons. The poems are short and appear as visual poetry not so much the language or rhythm from the words. Immediately following the poetry is The True Life of Diego Rivera and it’s written in expository text. The book also includes a glossary, a chronology and notes.
Summary We meet Diego at the age of 1 1/2 when a tragedy forces his parents to send him away. He returns home at 4 and draws on everything. He enters an artist’s school and wins a scholarship to travel to Spain. At 19 Diego enters a self-induced battle over whether to pursue art paid for by patrons or paint what his heart desired. We follow Diego through many loves and losses including his relationship with the esteemed Frida Kahlo.
Thoughts “He told me to be whatever I want to be.” (13) The first person narration pulls you into the story while Diaz’s illustrations keep you there. Bernier-Grand’s poems give you succinct slices into Diego’s life and what influenced his art. Although she only touches briefly on Diego’s love life, it might be enough to move this book towards the mature 7th or 8th grader. The expository text coupled with the chronology provide a clearer, more complete picture of Diego Rivera but I think an additional biography would be needed for students who want to focus on this artist for a report. Carmen T. Bernier-Grand website has some teacher activities for her books including Diego: Bigger Than Life.
Summary TV producer Whitney Benson is tired of her older sisters’ attempts to fix her up with every single male they meet. Shannon and Regan cross the line when they arrange for her to go skydiving with the simple excuse that more guys like to float in the air than women.
Whitney meets two eligible bachelors, Jack and Ben, who constantly battle for her affection. Which one will she choose? Both men make Whitney realize, even a heart shattered by her husband’s death, can once again be made whole.
But did she have to fall off a cliff to learn that?
About the Author As the youngest in the family growing up on a farm outside of Findlay, Ohio, Diane often acted out characters from her own stories in the backyard. In high school she was the student sitting in class with a novel hidden in front of her propped up textbook. Her passion for reading novels had to be put on hold during her college years at Ohio State University with working part-time on campus and being a full-time student. Before embarking on her writing career, she was a school teacher and play director.
I asked Diane about her transition from teaching to writing, how teaching informs her writing and which she enjoys more:
Diane Carver on Teaching and Writing
My teaching career started at the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Orphans Home in Xenia, Ohio. Back then, there was a surplus of English and History teachers. I wasn’t able to get a job teaching English and Speech (received a dual major) so I settled for a job teaching business courses. I’m glad now I did because that’s where I met my husband, Tom. With his broad math background, the only job he could get was at the orphans’ home. I did leave after a year to teach junior high English in Wabash, Indiana, and Tom left to teach math in Virginia. Three years later we married and started a family. I decided to stay home full-time to raise our six children. However, teaching remained part of my life while volunteering as a teacher for Sunday school classes and vacation bible school. I also taught a preschool in own home using some Montessori methods and wrote a book about this experience.
There wasn’t any problem for me in making the transition from teaching to writing. I think my teaching background gave me important skills when I turned to writing as a profession. As a teacher, you do research when instructing students on a new topic. In writing, I found myself researchinglocations for my settings and occupations for the characters. I bought a used book from Amazon on broadcasting for my Whitney in Charge book. The main character Whitney was a TV news producer. That’s a great benefit in being a writer – you get to live through your character’s occupation. By the way, Mallory in my upcoming January release, Marrying Mallory, is the only teacher I have for a main character. I love writing about different occupations.
Teaching gave me an edge when a teacher at a private school asked me to speak to his eighth graders about my Christmas book. He choseThe Christmas of 1957, my “creative nonfiction book” for the class to read during the holiday season. He used my book until he moved away, so I was invited back for a few years. Each December I taught the students about the writing process and answered their many questions. When our county library system sponsored an author day, I was chosen as one of the local authors to speak at their workshop. It was a plus for me to be a former teacher, and I enjoyed speaking in front of this large group of readers and aspiring writers. I spoke about using beats wisely in your writing.
Do I miss teaching in a classroom? Even though it was an important time in my life and sometimes I miss the interaction with students, I definitely enjoy writing more. I might not be in a classroom now, but I’ve been amazed at how many aspiring writers ask me questions about writing and publishing. I’m still a teacher in a way.I take time to answer each one’s questions,and I might read their first chapters. I understand how hard it is when you want to become a writer and want to get your books published. I had so many wonderful published authors help me in the beginning when I started on this writing journey. I think it’s important to reciprocate whenever possible.
Is anyone else a former teacher? Or any occupations I can use in my writing?
Summary Tasha and Trae, the hood’s favorite couple, are still together following the events of Thug Matrimony. Even with their relocation to sunny Los Angeles, the drama of New York cannot be escaped. From running a nightclub to dealing with models, shady lawyers, big money, new kinds of temptations, seductions, and drugs-not to mention new love interests-can this infamous couple weather all the storms and keep it together?
Thoughts I couldn’t finish this one. I felt that the characters were too “ghetto-ized”. The excessive language and violence were also turn-offs. Knowing that Trae came from a history of thugs and when he immediately ran-off from Tasha, even though she was due any day, filled me with despair. Note that this is the fourth book about Tasha and Trae and you may be served better by reading the first three.
About the Author Wahida Clark was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey. She began writing fiction while incarcerated at a woman’s federal camp in Lexington, Kentucky. Her first novel, Thugs and the Women Who Love Them, and the sequel, Every Thug Needs a Lady, appeared on the Essence bestsellers list. Since her release, Wahida has achieved much success with her follow-up of Thug Matrimony. Her most recent work, Payback With Ya Life, made its way onto the prestigious New York Times bestseller’s list.
Wahida continues to amplify the urban landscape from her home and office in East Orange, New Jersey.
Stray Affections
Charlene Ann Baumbich is a popular author and speaker and an award-winning journalist. In addition to her Dearest Dorothy series of novels, she has written seven nonfiction books of humor and inspiration. A bungee-jumping, once motorcycle-owning grandma and unabashed dog lover, Charlene lives with her husband and rescued dog Kornflake in Glen Ellyn , Illinois . She loves telling stories, laughing whenever possible, and considers herself a Wild Child of God. Check out Charlene’s website – Don’t Miss Your Life. Charlene will be at Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, IL on Tuesday, September 29, 2009.
thebrainlair