Note from Dawn: This insightful essay from Hannah Salwen is excerpted with permission from The Power of Half by Kevin Salwen and Hannah Salwen. In the book detailing their family project, Kevin’s longer chapters are followed by “Hannah’s Take,” shorter pieces from Hannah’s point of view, including a suggested activity for the reader. Remember that Hannah was age [...]
Yesterday I reviewed a delightful cookbook with a long name, Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. My review offered some photos of our family’s experience making one of the delicious pasta recipes in the book (that’s J adding the baked tomatoes to the [...]
When I learned that Beth Hoffman’s Saving CeeCee Honeycutt had been selected for the first Sam’s Club Book Club, I was so excited! I had read an early copy of the novel, and knew that this warm southern story deserved a big spotlight – this connection with Sam’s Club would help do that. I emailed [...]
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Penguin USA (March 19, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-0142414736
I’m pleased to welcome my friend Denise as a guest blogger today! Denise left the corporate world to return to school for an advanced degree, and is now working in the alternative program at a local high school. She is the mother [...]
Swimsuit (audio) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Publisher: Hachette Audio; Unabridged edition (June 29, 2009)
6 CDs (approx. 7 hours running time)
ISBN-13: 978-1600245916
My neighbor Sherry is back with another audiobook review. I think this might be a good candidate for a treadmill audio for me – lots of action (OK, gruesome murders) to keep me moving, [...]
Day 11 of NaNoWriMo: If I want to WIN the challenge by completing a 50,000 word novel (ha!) by midnight on November 30, I have to write an average of 1667 words a day. That means I should have …. 18,337 words written by the end of the day today – yikes! As of this [...]
Welcome to Banned Books Week! The American Library Association is celebrating the freedom to read, September 26 – October 3, 2009. Read all about Banned Books Week at the ALA website.
I’ve invited David Levithan, author of Boy Meets Boy, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Love is the Higher Law to write a guest post [...]
Tom DeWolf (photo credit Deborah Howe)
2009 will surely be remembered as a year chock-full of “teachable moments” about race in the United States. Our nation’s first black president nominated the first Hispanic woman to the Supreme Court. Charges of racism in connection with both a Philadelphia swim club’s banning of a minority day care [...]
This review is a guest post written by my neighbor, Sherry, who often listens to audiobooks on a two-hour commute she makes several times a month. She found Law of Connection “mildly interesting” but she wasn’t “overly enthused.” It was a good audio to multi-task with while driving. I really appreciate how she put her [...]
This Young Adult pick is reviewed by our eldest daughter, LW13. Airhead was one of the newly-released paperbacks I brought home from BEA in May. When LW13 picked it up and asked, “Can I read this!?!” I answered: “Sure! If you review it”. The motivation worked! She has selected several other books from my TBR [...]
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