Rae: July Read

Hai Konnichiwa from the land of the Rising Sun. Mim and I have been discussing a suitable topic for our non-fiction assignment for July. I am posting this a bit early this month since we are on our way to Hiroshima very early tomorrow morn.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to find a non-fiction book that relates in some way to your present locale. You may choose any type of book within non-fiction i.e. biography, children's, straight history, business, arts, etc. Just make sure that whatever book you choose is non-fiction and relates in some way to an event, location, or person in your city or state.

Have some fun with this assignment. Your options are quite wide open. Abby, in Florida, could choose to read about the making of Epcot Center, the space program, Seminole Indians, or a famous person from Florida. Liz could choose to read about the Alamo, the arts in Texas, or anything else that has to do with the great state of Texas. Lulu could find a bio on a church history character, read about the Pony Express, or the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Lynness could make her selection patriotic with her locale. You get the idea. I hope.

You may make this as dry and boring or as entertaining as you wish. Your topic does not need to be historical, either. It can easily be a contemporary issue as long as it relates in some way to the place where you live. I have tried to narrow down the topic but give you lots of leeway as to subject matter. Have fun and include kidlets if you so desire.

We are so enjoying the lovely land of Japan. We are already halfway through our month (it has gone by FAST) and are looking forward to the things we have yet to see. The people are so gracious and kind. We have been doing a lot of reading about Japan and can see both the good and the bad within the society. We are so glad that we came.

Yesterday, Blake took us to a Japanese mall to get heavy rain gear (a typhoon is off the coast of Okinawa...). We saw two places that appeared at first to be childrens' stores. But they weren't. Everything in them....coats, sweaters, underwear, diapers, frilly dresses, hats, shoes, strollers, jewelry and personal flotation devices...were for DOGS! Many of the Japanese choose not to have children and so they lavish their affection and yen on little dogs. We saw some in strollers where infants should have been. It was a bit creepy! Just had to share.

Happy local reading!

Poems for Fun

Liz & I brainstormed together to come up with a poem to accompany a blanket I made for a friend's new baby. I wanted the poem to say something about being homemade, possibly about flaws, as well as say something about how it's not pink but that's okay (she's having a girl). Here are some of the partial lines we came up with. I think it'd be fun if anyone interested wants to finish them or create their own.

Made with thought it's not store bought
Believe me, there's no match

Made with thought it's not store bought
You'll never find it's equal
?? ??? ??? ??? ??? ?? ??? ???
Believe me, there's no sequel.

Made with thought it's not store bought
You'll never find it's equal.
It will keep your baby warm
although they'll be no sequel.

And here's a complete one we almost picked talking about the colors:
You may think that pink's the thing
For your new girl to wear.
But blue and yellow are nice and mellow
and make a lovely pair.

Here're the two stanzas I used for her card:
Made with thought it's not store bought
But sewn with love and care.
Come rain or shine your babe won't whine
If wrapped and not left bare.

Some may think she should wear pink
and blue is for a fellow.
Yet I believe that there's reprieve
when blue is paired with yellow.

Lynness: Re: Babe

    I had never heard of Babe until my sister read it in elementary school and I thought it sounded like a stupid premise for a book.  But it really is a very endearing book- I read the whole thing and enjoyed it, and Isaiah seems captivated so far.  I didn't pick it because of its literary merits or overwhelming fondness, however- it was just because it was downstairs already and not in the kids' room where Ruth was sleeping.  But I think it's going to turn out very well!  I have never read the Wind in the Willows.  Every time I try I get bored stiff.  How do some of these books get to be classics?
    As far as a reluctant reader, I'm not sure how old Heidi is, but still being interested in having books is good.  You might try to get her interested in making her own books and reading them with her.

Abby: Babe, Stuart Little, and Read-Alouds

Lynness, what do you think of Babe so far? It's often mentioned as a good read-aloud. We just finished Stuart Little and I didn't really care for it. It's kind of strange. I won't go into details unless someone else asks for them. The girls enjoyed it though. (That's what counts right? Ultimately anyway. But I still think it'd be great if I get to enjoy it too.)

We're reading I Houdini: The Amazing Story of an Escape-Artist Hamster by Lynne Reid Banks (who wrote The Indian in the Cupboard). Autumn seems to be enjoying it. Heidi kind of fades in and out of interest and I don't think I care for it much myself. It's very "stream-of-consciousness" since it's from the hamster's point of view. And although the hamster is supposed to be very smart, he tends to ramble. And that is mentioned at the beginning of the book so it's not just my opinion. :) I suppose that's quite an achievement for an author to make it work for an entire book -- but for me -- I start to feel like I'm going to go crazy. I find myself thinking, "Get to the point already!"

To date, from my not-perfect memory, we have read:
James and the Giant Peach (Roald Dahl)
The BFG (Roald Dahl)
The Cricket in Times Square (George Selden)
The Tale of Desperaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread (Kate DiCamillo)
A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
The Spiderwick Chronicles (all four, or five)

And we have tried but been unsuccessful with:
A Little Princess (the language is very old-style)
The Wind in the Willows (I'm not sure why this one flopped. But it did.)
Matilda (I guess the age just wasn't right, that was two years ago and I haven't tried since.)
Ramona (I was too annoyed to continue. I don't think I could do Junie B. Jones for the same reason. We shall see.)

Autumn enjoys reading from the Magic TreeHouse series aloud to me. I think she's read two completely on her own, but it's hard to know for sure. ;) She WAS able to retell the story to me, so even if she missed some words here and there, she still got the gist of the story. She also loves to read Blastoff!, a great series of non-fiction early readers aloud to Heidi.

Does anybody have any ideas on getting a kid excited about reading? Heidi isn't very interested in being read to lately. I read to them at bedtime each night from a chapter book. Sometimes she stays awake for the whole reading, but not always. And she doesn't really talk about the story later. She seems to be in a bit of a slump right now. I read other shorter children's books to her and she loses interest quickly. Even the bug books. And that's saying something because she loves bugs. But she still loves books. She loves to get them every week at the library and she knows where to find the ones she likes. She loves to look at them. She loves to stack them. She loves to collect them. But she doesn't seem very interested in hearing what's in them. It seems decidedly odd. And decidedly Heidi too. Any ideas???

Lynness: School's out

Well, today was the first official day of summer break.  It started out well: we read chapter one of this month's read: Babe, the Gallant Pig.  Isaiah enjoyed that and is looking forward to the next installment.  Then we had breakfast and did school (we're kind of trying out homeschool for the summer).  We got Nathan the 30th Anniversary Schoolhouse Rock DVD for his birthday (thanks for the idea, Abby) and Isaiah enjoys the grammar rock and we've also been doing a lot of Mad Libs lately, so our lesson was on verbs.  That went well, as did his reading to me (his pick for the day: chapter one of Junie B. Jones, First Grader at Last).  The main problem was that throughout the rest of the day he argued about wanting to go to the pool or have friends over or not wanting to go to Costco or having to do chores.  He seems to think that my duty is to provide him with an adventure every day- or at least a trip to the pool/park/fountains/museum/etc., and doesn't seem to realize that just because he's off, it doesn't mean I'm off. (Well, I am from seminary, for 3 months!)  If we were within walking distance to a park or to anybody's house I was comfortable letting him play at, it would be a little different.   My patience is already wearing thin.  This is why, as much as I love to teach, I don't think I will be homeschooling during the school year: I would go nuts if I had to be with my kids 24/7.  They need a break from me, and I need a break from them!  That sounds awful, I know, but I really don't enjoy playing with him most of the time, and, being that it was just he and I for 5 years, he expects me to be his playmate all the time!  (We're working on trying to make sure there's not 5 years between Ruth and the next one- I don't want to be doing tea parties or Barbies for years- but, as we have seen, we don't seem to be in charge of that).  Now Ruth is getting more fun for him to play with, but she's only one and not so much fun and she gets in his way and usually after about 5 minutes of playing without supervision she's crying and he always claims he doesn't know why. 
Anyway....I'm not really venting, I just know it's going to take some adjusting for Isaiah and I.  And he is soooo persistent.  I think the morning reading- just a few minutes with the two of us before Ruth wakes up- will be good for the both of us.  So we'll keep it up, even after this month's read is over.

Catching Up

So...I never did post anything about my May read for Newbery Award Winners -- or was that April? I've been thinking about all of you but a little out of it when it comes to reporting back on things!

Whichever month that was, I read The Wheel on the School and loved. Very cute. I think I'll read it out loud to Autumn soon. She would like it. I think Seth, Reed, and Isaiah would also enjoy it. I don't really know what to say about it specifically. But the basic idea behind it involved a teacher instilling a desire in the children to wonder about why there were no storks in there town. The teacher told them if they would wonder, amazing things would happen. I think there's so much truth to that and it was great to read thinking about teaching my girls wonder a little more and help them grow and learn from that.

For the cookbook month, we looked through Hungry Planet again and loved it, again. It's fun. And soon I'll post the recipe we've now made twice. It might even be time to make it again. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. (And of course, it doesn't hurt that Eric's the one who knows how to make it!)

For June, I'll be reading Stuart Little to the girls. We've already started and I've been surprised to find that I didn't know the story as well as I thought I did. I don't think I ever actually read it growing up.

Beccy, I loved that poem you shared. What an amazing woman. And what a great take on life. That poem really sums it up. Do you know if she was related to Dr. Christian Asplund who teaches Music Theory at BYU?

Beccy: An Unfinished Woman

This has nothing to do with our May or June reads, but I want to share this poem with y’all. There are other excerpts of this author’s now-out-of-print books I would love to share if I can track them down--you would all appreciate them. Jaroldeen Edwards was a remarkable woman. She has had a marked influence on my life! She has been a member of my ward these past 4 years, and died on Friday morning (May 30). She was a mother of 12(!) children (grandma to 76 grandchildren), a gifted author (had published some 6 or 7 novels and essay collections), a fabulous teacher, a frequent Women’s Conference speaker, a gospel scholar. She was warm and funny, colorful and wise. We became close at about the same time Mom was diagnosed with cancer, and I found great comfort in our friendship. I took a writing (enrichment) class from her and learned much; more about the gospel and about life than about writing. I adored her.

One of her 8 daughters read this poem at her funeral, which was attended by President Eyring. A member of the First Presidency in our chapel! Wow. He was her late husband’s cousin and knew her well from when she and her husband served a mission in South Africa.

Another daughter who lives in Texas told how when Grandma (Jaroldeen) and Grandpa came to visit, sometimes they would have to leave very early in the morning before the grandchildren were awake. Jaroldeen would put on an extra coating of bright red lipstick, and kiss each one of the children on the forehead, so that when they awoke, they knew they were loved. :)

Here is the link to her obituary if you’re curious:

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/268483/


An Unfinished Woman

Here am I, Lord,
The dishes barely done and night long since fallen,
The children would not go to bed
And would not go and
Would not go -
And now they are gone.
Gone to places of their own with children of their own
Who will not go to bed and will not go . . .
And I have taught them what I could and
They have learned the things they would
And now they’ve gone their way alone to learn the rest
Most on their own.

And I remain, not half spent.
And I remain, not yet content,
So much to do, so much to learn,
So much to fell, so much to yearn.
My past mistakes make stepping-stones,
Not millstones great around my neck but
Stones to guide my searching feet -
And I must search; I’m incomplete.

I watch my years go tumbling by
And I must use them better, I
Have yet so much to learn and do
Before I can return to You.

The hour is late. The night comes on,
My celestial self I would become.
Ah! What wisdom thou gavest to mortal life--

I,
As sister, mother, daughter, wife -
In earthly roles have seen Thy face.
In my womanly life Thy heavenly place
Is taught through humble tasks and plain.
So, if royal robes I would obtain,
To wear as all Thy glories burst -
I’ll need to do the laundry first.

--Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards

Lulu: James and the Giant Peach

The boys and I have finished The BFG, after which we finished George's Marvelous Medicine, and now we are reading James and the Giant Peach. That will be our June read, and then, depending on how fast we finish it, we will probably start on Stuart Little. I am SO enjoying reading to them each night! Reed remembers dialogue really well, and both he and Jax like to imitate the voices I make for the characters.

The library here in Saint George is WONDERFUL!! I am so relieved, as I was really not impressed with the library in Cedar City. Their children's section is gorgeous. There's a recessed ceiling with a mural painting of book characters. Jaxon spent a long time looking at them. Reed got a new card and signed his name "Reeeed". :)

I am thrilled to discover that I have gotten to the point where I can read without interruption (from my little darlings) for quite a while before I'm needed/wanted again. As a result, I have experienced a revival in the number of books I can read in a short time. In high school, I read at least 12 a month, but usually 20. We usually went to the Savannah library (which rivals many others in my memory) once a week. Now, I can read two a week, almost three. I'm really happy about it, because I thought it would so much longer before I could. I feel more like myself, more peaceful, more imaginative, more fulfilled. I also find that I'm surprised to discover just how much books are really essential to me.

Some of my side-reads: I read Blessings by Anna Quindlen just a few days ago. Honestly, I didn't really care for it. In fact, if I think about it, I almost hated it. But I couldn't put it down. She uses memories to further the narrative, and at times it was confusing/boring. And there was some language that kind of spoiled a few moments. The story was sort of good, except that I was angry at how it ended. (Very realistically.) I'm now reading another Anne Perry book, and I think I might delve into that oft-mentioned crazy-talked-up book, Eclipse. I've heard mostly good things--but then one or two people I've talked to actually hated it--so I'm mildly interested to see what I think. Mildly. Another book might easily grab my interest.