Read more

I hope to raise readers in part so that they can gain the same gifts from reading as I have. There are many, many messages and lessons I’ve learned not from people or from articles but from stories, from fictional accounts of an imaginary person’s life.

A few weeks ago, I was reading the novel, What Alice Forgot. An easy and engaging read with a really important message. A pretty good combination if you ask me.

In the book, Alice suffers amnesia after falling from her spin bike. She wakes up believing it to be ten years earlier than it is. Ten years ago she is happily married and pregnant with her first child. In the present, she is the overextended, stay at home mother of three overscheduled children who is struggling through an ugly divorce. As Alice begins to piece together the missing ten years, the reader comes to understand that it was Alice’s busyness that turned a happy life into the miserable one she now leads.

Alice’s sister tries to explain to her how little time she spends with Alice’s children- how she has grown apart from them.

The author writes,

“It’s just that you’re all so busy. The children have so many activities. They’ve all got swimming lessons. Olivia has ballet. Tom plays soccer and Madison plays hockey. And the birthday parties! They’re always going to someone’s birthday party. Their social lives are amazing. I remember when they were little, I always knew exactly the right thing to get them for their birthdays. They’d rip off the paper in a frenzy. Now I have to ring you, and you tell me exactly where to go and what to ask for. Or else you just buy it yourself and I give you the money.”

As Alice listens, she can’t believe what her life has become. And as I read, I was happy that a book was able to remind me to slow down. To unschedule. To say no. These are the messages that we can take from stories. If we slow down enough to listen.

 

Read more

I have written in the past about the value of reading the same books to different aged siblings. Lately though, I am languishing in the beauty of reading separately with the girls. Not only does this give me much  needed one on one time with each of them but we have made an important and seemingly obvious discovery.

Katherine likes different types of books than Caroline does. There. I said it. My girls have different opinions about books. The girls themselves are very different. Why it has taken me this long to realize that their reading preferences would also be different is a bit of a mystery but no time to dwell on that.

Because now, I have a whole new world of books to explore. For years I have focused on finding books that would appeal to Caroline’s very small window of reading preference. Books that take place in the current day (unless the book is written by Judy Blume or Beverly Clearly, thank goodness) and books that are based in reality. No historical fiction. No fantasy. No mystery and for goodness sake, no animals as characters. There are many, many wonderful books that fit these requirements but there are also so, so many that don’t. And now I get to read those books too.

So off I go to collect amazingly magical, old fashioned tales told from the perspective of creatures with four legs.

Read more

We have an independent book store in town that isn’t quite as quaint as the stock photo above. But it’s an independent bookstore and I believe strongly in frequenting such places. If there is any hope in keeping these stores afloat, those of us who spend way more money on books than we should, need to spend some (if not all) of those dollars at independent bookstores.

That being said, I get my feathers pretty ruffled by many of the decisions the store’s proprietors make. While I understand that they need to pay the bills, I don’t understand why they claim to be a book store and again and again invite “fauthors” (my term for celebrity authors- fake authors- ‘fauthors’) to book signings. The message that these events send feels all wrong to me.

Last week, the Kardashians were in town to sign ‘their’ book. Mind you, the following comes from a person who might happen to stumble upon Keeping up with the Kardashians every so often. A person who might happen to watch an episode or two if her television somehow finds the show all on it’s own. But I was appalled to learn that a crowd of 4,000 was predicted for the book signing. Seriously. A rainy day and perhaps some common sense resulted in the number of attendees being closer to 700.  Now, we watch the Kardashians for complete mind-free entertainment. That is television. Not reading. Yet a bookstore brought in 700 people for these ‘fauthors.’ Seriously.

And then, on Saturday a good friend of mine organized an international storytelling event at this same book store. The event was designed to be part pre-school fundraiser/part storytelling and crafts for the kids. The event was attended by a handful of people. And I don’t mean a magical hand that can hold 700 people. I mean a regular old handful. The same store that drew 700 people for the Kardashians drew a handful of people for an international storytelling event complete with books and crafts.

I have been thinking a lot lately about where we put our time and energy as a society. I am in the process of creating a fantastic program (if I do say so myself!) for my Books as Gifts class at our community school (click here for more information). And do you know how many people registered for it so far? Let’s just say, if you guessed 700, you would be wrong.

So I challenge myself and all of us to put our energy where it should go. We all complain about our lack of time but let’s choose to spend it in thoughtful places. And I don’t mean that you need to sign up for my class. That is not the point of this at all, really. It is a reminder that we embrace what we value and put our time and energy there.

I wonder if this means the next time I am tempted to catch up with the Kardashians that I should read a book? I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what it means…

Read more

Today a funeral procession of hundreds of cars passed our school to the see the scene above.

May Kelly know how deeply her death has touched this community, always tight knit, now closer.

May Kelly’s parents continue to rely on the love that surrounds them today.

May the family on whose property this tragedy occurred find the peace they will need.

May the au pair who drove the car know that the love that is pouring from us all is sent to her too.

And may we all smile in the sunshine that returned today for the first time since this happened. We have been blanketed by thick clouds and curtains of rain. Today, the sky shone a shocking blue as if welcoming Kelly with open arms. May she rest in it’s peace.

Read more

This evening,  Katherine asked me a question that she already knew the answer to. I responded but then teasingly said, “Why’d you ask, if you knew!?”

Katherine said she wasn’t sure but then Caroline chimed in…  

She said, “Well teachers ask questions they know the answers to all the time.”

Caroline thought nothing of this comment but I can’t help but wonder if this is a problem. Shouldn’t our classrooms be places of authentic learning? A community of learners where, at times, the teacher is acquiring knowledge beside the child? And shouldn’t there be times, many times, when there is no right answer to know? When the teacher can’t possibly know the answer to the question she is asking?

During a  week in which I positive that no one has all the answers, one thing I know is that these are all important questions to ask.

Read more

I usually try to avoid writing ‘non-literacy’ posts back to back but today it can’t be avoided. It can’t be avoided because this blog is not only a professional one but also a blog I use to track important things that happen in the lives of our family. It can’t be avoided because our community suffered a terrible loss yesterday. It can’t be avoided because I can’t think about anything else let along write about anything else.

Yesterday at 5:30pm a sweet 6 year old little girl from Caroline and Katherine’s elementary school was struck by a car and killed. Each bit of information we learned made the story worse and worse. Kelly was playing at a friend’s house. Her mother had come to pick her up and was watching when the friend’s au pair reversed the family car in the driveway. Kelly was playing with chalk behind the car. She was killed instantly.

We received a phone call at 10pm last night from our principal so we would have time to process the information before telling the girls this morning. I have felt cold and foggy since then. No matter what I do, I can’t get warm. No matter what I do, I can’t stop the terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Our community is now the one with ‘grief counselors on hand’. Those are campus’ on the news. Not ours. Only today it is ours.

Please hold this sweet little girl, her family and all the families in our community in your hands today.

Read more

From the Capital

to the White House

and everything in between…

 

Read more

Read more

Today I feel lucky to be featured as a guest blogger at Tender Times Doula. My friend Elaine  asked if I had an opinion on when to start reading to a baby. As you can guess, I certainly do.

Please click here to go to Elaine’s wonderful site and learn the answer to the question, “When do you start reading to a baby?”

Read more