I had to buy two birthday party gifts today so I headed off to my favorite children’s book store. As soon as I walked in, I knew I would be walking out with more than my two gifts. Sometimes my will power can be pretty strong and I am able to leave only with what I have come for but not when Sally is there. And Sally was there today. Sally’s recommendations are always great and I know if we start talking about books, I will end up buying one (or more!).

Today Sally asked me if I had read Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu. When I answered in the negative, she said, “Oh, ok.” but what her voice really said was, “What!!?? You call yourself a literacy consultant, a lover of children’s literature and you haven’t read Breadcrumbs!!!”

Having only just begun and stumbled upon a passage like this,

People were always doing this sort of thing to Hazel. Nobody could accept the fact that she did not want to hear about gaseous balls and layers of atmosphere and refracted light and tiny building blocks of life. The truth of things was always much more mundane that what she could imagine, and she did not understand why people always wanted to replace the marvelous things in her head with this miserable heap of you’re-a-fifth grader-now facts.

I think I understand why Sally was so appalled.