Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Fool For Books blog hop


For my portion of this blog hop, I will be giving away a copy of:

The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook, edited by Kate White
Published: March 24, 2015
Publisher: Quirk Books
Pages: 176
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adults/Mystery Lovers

Read my review

Goodreads Summary:
Hard-boiled breakfasts, thrilling entrees, cozy desserts, and more--this illustrated cookbook features more than 100 recipes from legendary mystery authors. Whether you're planning a sinister dinner party or whipping up some comfort food perfect for a day of writing, you'll find plenty to savor in this cunning collection. Full-color photography is featured throughout, along with mischievous sidebars revealing the links between food and foul play. Contributors include Lee Child, Mary Higgins Clark, Harlan Coben, Nelson DeMille, Gillian Flynn, Sue Grafton, Charlaine Harris, James Patterson, Louise Penny, Scott Turow, and many more.

Terms and conditions:
Must be 13 or older to enter and have a U.S. mailing address
One winner will be selected
Use the Rafflecopter widget to enter


Also check out my other current giveaway: Won Ton + Won Ton and Chopstick by Lee Wardlaw 


Monday, March 30, 2015

It's Monday! What are you reading? 3-30-15

Originally hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers also host a kidlit version of It's Monday! What are You Reading?

My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.

Last week ended on a high note. I was so thankful to be able to attend and present at the Michigan Reading Association conference in Grand Rapids. For a reflection of my experience, you can read my post on my teaching blog.

I have to be completely honest. I am currently in a reading rut and I don't know why. I have abandoned so many books in the past two weeks I can't even count them on one hand. I am being an extremely fickle reader later. At the moment, I don't even have an "I'm currently reading" book. I am, however, listening to an audiobook that I'm really enjoying, which is:

Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick
Wow! I'm not very far into this but I'm already hooked. McCormick does it again. I think she is going to be a go-to author for me from now on. I will definitely be booktalking this one to students. The premise of the story is that a young American soldier (only 18) encounters a rocket-propelled grenade and wakes up in the hospital with a traumatic brain injury. Because of his head trauma, he can't remember everything that happened, but the image of a young Iraqi boy being shot continues to haunt him even though he can't put the pieces together as to if/how he was involved in the boy's death.


I finished reading with my ears: 

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson 
Not an easy read but a beautiful one. So glad I stuck with it. 


Favorite picture books from last week: 


Tricky Vic: The Impossibly True Story of the Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower  by Greg Pizzoli
I need to write a longer review of this book soon because it is SO. GOOD. But know this: Tricky Vic is not a picture book for little kids. This is an upper-elementary, middle school, and high school title.

Look! by  Jeff Mack
The entire book only uses two words, but what a story it tells. A gorilla tries to get the attention of a little boy who is hypnotized by his TV and suddenly must think of something else to occupy his time when the TV breaks due to the gorilla's clumsy attempt to engage the boy. A great pairing with Look! would be Lane Smith's It's a Book.  


Last week I reviewed:

John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall by Julie Danneberg, illustrated by Jamie Hogan

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall by Julie Danneberg, illustrated by Jamie Hogan

This is a small story in the life of John Muir, environmentalist, creator of the Sierra Club, and the man who was responsible for influencing Theodore Roosevelt to establish the National Park system. One day, Muir, who lived part of the year in a cabin in Yosemite Valley, climbed the trail up to Yosemite Falls and almost fell of the ledge when he got caught under the rushing water of the falls.

Though John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall tells of a very small moment in the environmentalist's life, it is a compelling story and wonderful piece of writing to share with students. There are lots of golden lines to notice and note such as:

He is so close to the waterfall that the mist brushes his face, the noise pounds in his chest, and the night feels alive with the energy of the twisting, misting, roaring water.

I'm looking forward to booktalking this book with my 8th graders as it is a great picture book to share with older readers either as a mentor text or just a book to sit down and enjoy on their own.



John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall by Julie Danneberg, illustrated by Jamie Hogan
Published: March 10, 2015
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Pages: 32
Genre/Format: Picture Book Biography
Audience: Middle Grade
Disclosure: Finished copy provided by publisher

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.  

Monday, March 23, 2015

It's Monday! What are you reading? 3-23-15

Originally hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers also host a kidlit version of It's Monday! What are You Reading?

My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.

Wow! Did I ever have a productive week of reading/reviewing (I must be procrastinating about something).

Last week I reviewed:
 
Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan
Note by Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson by Tricia Tunstall


Naptime with Theo and Beau by Jessica Shyba
Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall

 
Magic Trash: A Story of Tyree Guyton and His Art by J.H. Shapiro, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook, edited by Kate White


I finished reading with my ears:

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
I enjoyed this book but my heart didn't fall for it as much as most other people.


Favorite picture books from last week: 


Home by Carson Ellis
Simply beautiful. A must-read for anyone who loves children's literature. An instant classic.
 
The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm by LeVar Burton and Susan Schaefer Bernardo, illstrated by Courtenay Fletcher 
LeVar Burton, the longtime host of the popular kids series Reading Rainbow, tackles the difficulty of talking with kids about tragic events in The Rhino Who Swallowed the Storm. When tragedies happen in life, Burton believes that the way to help children through them is through story. This is Burton's first foray into authoring a children's book and in a way, you can tell. It does comes off a tad heavy-handed, but at the same time, it also feels like it's coming from a heartfelt and genuine place. Perhaps I would have given this book a harsher review had I not heard him read and talk about this story at ALA Midwinter in January, but knowing where his heart was in writing this book, I internalized that as I read it.  


Currently reading:

Me Being Me is Exactly as Insane as You Being You: A Novel in Lists by Todd  Hasak-Lowy
I got the ARC of this YA novel at ALA Midwinter. It's really thick, coming in at a whopping 642 pages, but since it's a novel in lists, many pages don't take up that much text-space. There's quite a bit of white space on the pages, so it's comparable reading an Ellen Hopkins novel in verse. 

At this point the analogy I can make to a novel in lists is like when restaurants create dishes and call it "_______ deconstructed." That's what this novel in lists feels like right now. A novel deconstructed. Time will tell if it becomes too gimmicky or if there's some actual substance here. At this point the jury's still out.


Currently and still reading with my ears: 

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson 
Mosquitoland by David Arnold


Current giveaway:

Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March by Lynda Blackmon Lowery


Sunday, March 22, 2015

Magic Trash: A Story of Tyree Guyton and His Art by J.H. Shapiro, illustrated by Vanessa Newton

In the heart of a decrepit neighborhood in Detroit, Tyree Guyton started what is now know as the Heidelberg Project out of frustration for the riff raff that had moved into his neighborhood. Painting a crack house with bright-colored polka dots kept the criminals at bay and started an art movement that would divide residents of the city and of Heidelberg Street. Some people saw it as trash, others art. Twenty-five years later, the Heidelberg Project is still going strong, and is its own visitor's destination in a city that rarely gets visitors.

Using collage art and rhythmical prose, J.H. Shapiro and Vanessa Newton have captured the spirit and the soul of the Heidelberg Project in this book's scant pages.

The Heidelberg Project has been riddled with arson as of late so getting the message out about the importance of what this art installation means to the community is of utmost importance 

For more information on the Heidelberg Project, visit heidelberg.org


Magic Trash: A Story of Tyree Guyton and His Art by J.H Shapiro, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Published: July 1, 2011
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Pages: 32
Genre: Biography Picture Book
Audience: Primary/Middle Grade
Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.  

Saturday, March 21, 2015

The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook, edited by Kate White

When Quirk Books offered me the chance to read and review The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook, I was intrigued. I've always admired the slightly off-kilter books they put out, such as Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs and Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix. 

I wondered just how exactly they were going to sell mystery writers as a logical choice for compiling a cookbook. But then, in the introduction, they won me over. The introductory paragraphs talk about "Lamb to the Slaughter," the brilliant short story by Roald Dahl where a woman kills her husband by bashing his head in with a frozen leg of lamb and then serving it to the policemen who come to investigate his murder. Now that they have my attention, it was time to bring the point home, which editor Kate White does beautifully:


But food isn't just used as a weapon. It defines character. As the nineteenth-century French lawyer and gastronomic essayist Jean Brillat-Savarin stated, "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are." That's especially true for the iconic sleuths in mystery series. We can't think of Miss Marple without her scones and tea (over the course of 12 novels and 20 short stories, she reportedly drank 143 cups of tea_, Kinsey Millhone without her peanut butter and pickle sandwich, Jack reacher without his pots of coffee, Alex "Coop" Cooper without her Dewars on the rocks, or Nero Wolfe without the outrages dishes his personal cook, Fritz, makes for him -- such as squabs marinated in cream and creole fritters with cheese sauce.

Considering how intertwined food and murder are in fiction, Mystery Writers of America (MWA) decided that it would be crime not to celebrate this idea, and thus we've created a cookbook especially for mystery fans.

The recipes in this book range from indulgent (Ellie Hatcher's Rum Soaked Nutella French Toast), to traditional (Beef Stroganoff), to practical -- and perhaps a tad mocking -- (Lee Child's Coffee, Pot of One). It is packaged in a beautiful hardbound edition with thick, unglossed pages and photographs peppered throughout. This would be a wonderful gift for any mystery lover in your life. Even if they don't like to cook, they'll still get a kick out of seeing their favorite writers and characters mentioned in these recipes.


The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook, edited by Kate White
Expected Publication: March 24, 2015
Publisher: Quirk Books
Pages: 176
Genre: Cookery
Audience: Adults/Mystery Lovers
Disclosure: Finished copy provided by publisher

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.  

Friday, March 20, 2015

Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” - Albert Einstein



A crayon lives his life labeled red but he colors everything blue. He is told to "try again" when he colors strawberries incorrectly, asked to put on a scarf to "warm up" when he can't combine with yellow to make orange. Others say he's being lazy, not applying himself, and that he'll catch on if given more time.

The truth of the matter is, red was mislabeled. He can't color a strawberry properly because that's not who he is. But he can color blue jeans, the ocean, and the sky!

The entire time I was reading Red I couldn't get the above Albert Einstein quote out of my head. We put so many kids in boxes, forcing them to be something they're not, when all this time we've been asking them to be the color red when they're really blue on the inside.

This picture book is one of the best journal prompts I have come across in the long time. In addition to the Albert Einstein quote, after reading Red to my 8th graders, I'm going to ask them to respond to this question: Have you ever been labeled red in your life when you were really blue?

In addition to the really powerful message Red drives home to readers, what is also endearing about this book is the whimsical, amusing touches Michael Hall adds to the illustrations. For example, the parent and grandparent crayons in the story are shorter rather than taller, presumably because for the life of a crayon, if you're older you've been used more and so you're shorter than a brand new, out-of-the-box crayon.

Red is a book that can spark discussions in classrooms of all ages, not just primary grades. I can picture really deep discussions happening in high school classrooms since that is a time fraught with labels.



Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall
Published: February 3, 2015
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Pages: 40
Genre/Format: Picture Book
Audience: Primary/Middle Grade/Young Adult
Disclosure: Library Copy

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.  

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Throwback Thursday Review - Note by Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson by Tricia Tunstall

I recently came across this review I had written before I had a blog. I honestly forgot that I had read and written about this book. But someone recently liked the review on Goodreads and so I clicked on the link and suddenly it all came back to me. And I started to cry.
Untitled
2 pictures, 30 years apart

You see, just this past October, I purchased a brand new shiny black baby grand piano. I've always wanted one since I was a little girl. I played piano for 13 years. Until I was a sophomore in college when I mistakenly thought I wanted music to be my major. But a semester and a half of too much competitiveness in the music program and not enough joy, in addition to a professor who broke my spirit, and I pretty much stopped playing the piano regularly after that. 

But last year a lot of things started coming back from my past, reminding me of the joy I once felt when I played the piano brought me to a moment of clarity when I realized that I want to start playing again, but this time only for myself. I don't care if I master a difficult piece of classical music to the perfection of a concert pianist. Just to be able to glide my fingers across the keyboard again, somewhat competently, is satisfaction enough for me. And so I present to you, my review I wrote in 2008 that still holds true today of Note By Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson by Patricia Tunstall.


*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This book brought back so many wonderful memories of my 13 years of piano lessons. There were so many passages that moved me to tears because I remember having an intimate relationship with the pieces Tunstall described herself and her students playing.

As I was reading this book, all that overcame me was how much I missed playing the piano and also how I would've loved to have a teacher like Tunstall. I had a wonderful relationship with my piano teacher and I would never want to give up my time with her, but as I was reading about Tunstall's teaching methods, part of me feels like I might've been able learn how to play by ear if she had been my teacher and maybe I would've been able to understand the workings and theory of music a little better. My understanding of music theory is extremely dismal and it was never something I could master - even when I was a music student in college (which lasted a whole semester and a half).

The reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because this book is definitely not for everyone. If you never had a desire to play the piano or any sort of instrument when you were younger, this book probably won't change your mind. It is written more for classical music and piano-lovers.

I also wouldn't recommend this book to people who don't have any sort of understanding of how music works. The terminology Tunstall uses in this book can only be followed and understood by people who have some sort of musical background.

Having said that, I really feel like this book might be the catalyst that gets me to sit down at the piano again. The following passages from the book were so memorable to me, that they made me ache for those ebony and ivory keys again.

On pp. 77 & 78:

My hands were not yet big enough for Rachmaninoff, but for Madame Dmitrieff, Rachmaninoff was a matter of heart. "Play deep!" she admonished as I worked my way through the splayed chords of the C-sharp Minor Prelude. "Imagine the piano keys are a foot deep... go deep down, all the way down!" And when I came to the middle section, with its fierce chromatic melody and turbulent arpeggios: "More feeling! More feeling! More feeling! You are playing gloom, okay, but you must play despair, you must play anguish!"... I tried my twelve-year-old best to play anguish and despair. Mostly I was trying to get the notes right, but I can remember that as I played, the phrase "the Russian soul" came into my mind, and I thought I understood it.

When I was in high school, I too, attempted to master Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-Sharp Minor. It was one of the most dark and anguishing pieces I've ever played - but an emotional, passionate person such as myself needed that sort of release when I sat down at the piano. I eventually did master this piece and went on to perform it at competition to a second place finish. I have never been naturally gifted at the piano. My hands are small (my wedding ring is a size 4. Most people can't even fit it on their pinky!) and I don't have especially long fingers. So attempting a Rachmaninoff piece with huge chords, some bigger than an octave, was quite the undertaking, which I was extremely proud of myself when I actually did master this piece. Reading this passage about the author's own experience playing this piece, and having a Russian teacher no less, really brought back all those memories of when I learned to master this piece. Today if I sit down to the piano I can play the first section quite well, but once I get to the agitato section, I completely lose all my ease and facility at the piano.

Another passage that really spoke to me was when she talks about classical vs. pop music with students who study the piano on pp. 81-82:

Undeniably, pop music can be seductive. But I have never seen its appeal turn a child against classical music. I think of Haley, the teenager who succumbed to the spell of the Schubert Impromptu. Haley had come to me initially at the age of fourteen, having left a teacher who had rigorously schooled her in piano classics for a number of years. "I hear you let kids play fun stuff sometimes," she said to me at our first lesson. I let her play some fun stuff: Broadway show-stoppers, hip-hop riffs, contemporary pop. She played all this music with gusto; she was clearly having fun. And after about a year she come to a lesson with her old collection of piano classics sandwiched between "All That Jazz" and "Accidentally in Love." We started the Chopin Waltz in A Minor, the one with the bleak and lovely melody in the left hand, and after a few more weeks I did not see "All that Jazz" again. Broadway may be alluring; Chopin is, in the end, irresistible.

Chopin is indeed irresistible. He was and continues to this day to be the classical composer I am most smitten with. Probably because he composed exclusively for the piano and that's where his heart and soul was devoted - much like myself when I was younger. I'll never forget the first time I heard Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu when I was ten years old. There will never be a piece that stirs my emotions more than that one. I never learned how to play that piece and I think a goal I have before I die is to be able to master that piece.

On p. 86 when describing a student working on a Shostakovitch piano concerto:

The music does not come easily to her, and she struggles with many passages, but she doesn't tire of it. For her it is not a piece to master so much as a place to dwell.

While mastery was always my goal in practicing a piece of music, this passage really does ring true for my own experience of playing the piano. I was dwelling there. I had a designated piece to play for whatever mood I was in at the time. If I was angry or frustrated, I broke out the Rachmaninoff prelude; if I was in a nostalgic, dream-like mood, Chopin was my composer of choice. Excited and content: Mozart or Beethoven.

And finally, on pp. 128-130, Tunstall describes an experience teaching a rather determined, yet musically awkward student Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique. Her description of this teaching experience brought back my own memories of learning this sonata. It is, to this day, my favorite Beethoven sonata because all three movements, indeed, move me.

This book speaks to so many different people, but ultimately you have to be a lover of classical music to enjoy it. I don't think Tunstall is going to be converting anyone with this book. You have to come into it already loving it.



Note by Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson by Tricia Tunstall
Published: April 15, 2008
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 214
Genre: Nonfiction
Audience: Adults/Classical music lovers
Disclosure: Library Copy in 2008 (Now Purchased copy in 2015)

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.  

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Naptime with Theo and Beau by Jessica Shyba

Jessica Shyba is a popular blogger who one day, innocently enough, posted some pictures of her son and new puppy on her blog, Momma's Gone City.  But the pictures soon went viral and Theo and Beau became an Internet sensation.

Naptime with Theo and Beau is peppered with minimal, simple text perfectly tailored for children up to pre-school age, but it honestly doesn't matter what age you are; if these pictures don't melt your heart, then, frankly, you don't have one.

 I mean. My heart. Oh my heart cannot handle such sweetness right now. Gah! MUST HAVE ALL THE BABIES AND PUPPIES!

As if the sweetness of Theo and Beau napping cheek to cheek didn't already get me all teary, this part of the author's note surely left me in a puddle of tears:

On his third day home with us, Theo came up to the bedroom as I quietly rocked Beau to sleep for his afternoon nap. I was nervous that they'd distract each other, but instead, he crawled right on top of Beau and they both fell asleep immediately. Each day since, Theo meets us at naptime and then wait patiently for Beau to fall asleep.

I mean seriously.  Why doesn't everyone have a dog?

Speaking of which, while not nearly as cute as Theo and Beau napping, I feel the need to go take a nap with my dogs right now. I think Theo and Beau are sure turn the hearts of even the most reluctant nappers.


Naptime with Theo and Beau by Jessica Shyba
Published: February 3, 2015
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Pages: 40
Genre/Format: Picture Book
Audience: Primary
Disclosure: Library Copy

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.  

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan

We know him. We love him. Tiny Cooper is back.

Remember Will Grayson, Will Grayson? Yeah. That Tiny Cooper.

In Hold Me Closer, readers get to experience the musical of Cooper's life that he put on at his high school in Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

At first I thought that Hold Me Closer was going to be a bit of a farce -- not very serious and full of nothing but fluff. But I never should have doubted David Levithan. And the fact of the matter is, this is now my favorite Levithan novel to-date. It is a master class in musical theater. Fans of Tim Federle's Better Nate Than Ever are sure to love The Tiny Cooper Story. Levithan has really nailed the genre of the musical. There are upbeat parts, sad parts, hilarious parts and they follow the arc of a musical production perfectly. And even in parts that seem to be utter ridiculousness (e.g., a random visit from the ghost of Oscar Wilde) there are still moments of depth and poignancy.

The danger of falling in love is that you mistakenly believe the loved one is the only source of passion in your life. But there is passion everywhere. In music. In words. In the stories you see. Find your passion everywhere, and share it widely. Don't narrow it down to one thin line (150).
A few pages later, when he's trying to impress his new boyfriend, Will Grayson, in one of the stage directions, Tiny writes:

[The scene] is a perfect picture of what we musical devotees believe -- that the right song at the right time can stop all the clocks, wipe away all the cares, and gently make you see the world in a new way (164). 

This is how I feel about all music, not just the music contained in musical theater. When the right song at the right time comes on, don’t even talk to me because I have surrendered my body and mind to the pull of the music. Music has always been a life-changing force in my life. I think this is why I am so befuddled when my students want to listen to music while they are doing class work and they don’t consider it a distraction. To me, music is the most wonderful, soul-stirring distraction. I can’t listen to it without thinking about the emotions the song is bringing out of me. And so, as I was reading Hold Me Closer, I couldn't help but hope and get excited at the idea of someone taking this text and turning it into an actual musical production. I have no doubt it will happen. The question is just when it will happen. Hopefully sooner rather than later.


Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan
Published: March 17, 2015
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Pages: 200
Genre: I think Levithan just created his own new genre: the musical novel
Audience: Young Adult
Disclosure: Finished copy provided by publisher

If you buy this book or any book through Amazon, it is my hope that you also regularly patronize independent bookstores, which are important centerpieces of thriving communities. While I am an Amazon Affiliate, that by no means implies that I only buy my books through their website. Please make sure you are still helping small, independent bookstores thrive in your community. To locate an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.  

Monday, March 16, 2015

Lucky Leprechaun blog hop


For my portion of the blog hop, I will be giving away a copy of:

Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March by Lynda Blackmon Lowery
Additional Authors: Elspeth Leackock and Susan Buckley
Illustrator: PJ Loughran
Published: January 8, 2015
Publisher: Dial Books
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Nonfiction
Audience: Middle Grade/Young Adult
Disclosure: Finished copy provided by publisher

Goodreads summary:
As the youngest marcher in the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, Lynda Blackmon Lowery proved that young adults can be heroes. Jailed eleven times before her fifteenth birthday, Lowery fought alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. for the rights of African-Americans. In this memoir, she shows today's young readers what it means to fight nonviolently (even when the police are using violence, as in the Bloody Sunday protest) and how it felt to be part of changing American history.


Terms and conditions:
Must be 13 or older to enter and have a U.S. mailing address
One winner will be selected
Use the Rafflecopter widget to enter
 


It's Monday! What are you reading? 3-16-15

Originally hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers also host a kidlit version of It's Monday! What are You Reading?

My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.


Last week I finished reading:

Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles
Still processing this one. With its ten different narrators and different story threads, this is definitely a book that will appeal to people who love to re-read books. Even though I usually don't re-read books, this is one that I know I would greatly benefit from a more careful re-read.  


Reviews scheduled this week: 

Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan 
Naptime with Theo and Beau by Jessica Shyba


Currently reading:

Life from Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness by Sasha Martin


Currently (still) reading with my ears: 

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson 
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
As I mentioned last week, I keep getting distracted in the car and having to replay tracks multiple times so these two books have been slow going. I have finally come to a place in I'll Give You the Sun where I can say I am really enjoying it but for some reason I just can't listen to it in the car. It has to be while I'm making dinner or doing laundry or getting ready for work in the morning. Once I get in the car my mind immediately begins wandering and I've lost what the heck is going on.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Tapas in Ann Arbor: Aventura is my foodie happy place

I recently discovered while having dinner with my husband at a new Spanish tapas restaurant in Ann Arbor why I consider myself a foodie.

It was close to the end of our meal during our second visit to Aventura, and I was describing all of the nuanced and complementary flavors that were occurring in all of the dishes we ordered, when I said to my husband, "This is why I love food. Because when it's done artfully and with passion, it is a heightened sensory experience. And as a writer, English teacher, and lover of words, nothing gets me more excited than to describe all these flavors and textures."

Since Aventura's opening a little over a year ago, my husband and I have dined there four times and not one of those four times has been disappointing. In fact, quite the opposite. Each time my love for this restaurant grows and grows. We were elated over the opening of a Spanish tapas bar in Ann Arbor since the closing of our favorite tapas place in Royal Oak, which had the best sangria of any place on the entire planet. Even Aventura's sangria, while good (it's more spicy and herbaceous than fruity), can't hold a candle to the sangria of our former favorite tapas place, appropriately enough called Sangria.

But what Aventura's sangria lacks, they more than make up for it in their food. While our former favorite tapas place had good food, when stacked up against Aventrua, it isn't even a fair fight. They have managed to create dishes that sound unusual enough to question the sanity of the chef, but not so much that you're not curious enough to try it. A perfect example of this is their dessert called Tarta Basura, which is described thusly:

pretzel crust, caramel, chocolate ganache, shoestring potato chips, buttered popcorn ice cream


We ordered this dessert in addition to TWO others when my husband and I took a friend to Aventura a couple weekends ago. The other two desserts were good (the dipping sauces that accompany the
Aventura desserts
Tarta Basura, Brown Butter Cake, and Churros
churros are out of this world:  espresso chocolate sauce, crème anglaise, salted caramel) but the Tarta Basura with its variety of textures and its perfect balance of salty and sweet was the star of our self-created dessert flight.

In addition to unusual food combinations, another superlative of Aventura is that I have felt bold enough to try dishes that include foods I normally despise because they handle food with such care and passion. The Brussels sprouts are charred just enough to bring out a lovely umami flavor without any of that mushy, sulfuric taste/texture combination so many of us are still traumatized from experiencing when our moms forced us to eat them as children. A weekly special during a recent visit included a roasted sweet potato dish with green onions, garlic, and feta cheese. Once again, I am not a fan of sweet potatoes, but I knew from my experience with their Brussels sprouts that if anyone could change my
Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes
Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes: two things I normally hate are stellar at Aventura
mind about my distaste for them, Aventura could. And sure enough, I was right. Now I'm slightly upset that I ordered this dish since it was a special and can't go back and order it again. I told our server that they need to put that dish on the regular menu.

Speaking of servers, let's talk about them, shall we? They are, quite simply, some of the best, most knowledgeable servers you will ever encounter in a restaurant. Clearly they are asked to sample the dishes as part of their training and education because their enticing descriptions of the food comes from a place of sincerity and enthusiasm. It feels more like I'm having a conversation with another food enthusiast rather than the typical restaurant experience where the only time you talk to your server is to tell them what you want and to inform them when you need more of something. Because of that feeling of amiability and collegiality, you also can feel comfortable enough to tell them when something in a dish isn't working. I remember the second time I visited Aventura, our waiter was so personable that I felt compelled to tell him that I enjoyed my chorizo, kale, bean, and potato soup, but I would have liked it better if the kale had been in smaller pieces running throughout, rather than just in two big chunks. He thanked me for telling him and said, "We appreciate this kind of feedback."

Our most recent visit to Aventura was last Friday to celebrate some really good news I had received that day: I had just been selected as the winner of the most outstanding grad student in the English studies program at my university. My husband and I go to dinner every Friday as it is our date night and we had planned to go to a different restaurant, but when I received this good news and my husband said we should celebrate, I came home from work and said, "Well since we're celebrating ME, then I want to go to Aventura." And so we did.
Celebrating at Aventura
Cheers!

Monday, March 9, 2015

It's Monday! What are you reading? 3-9-15

Originally hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts along with Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers also host a kidlit version of It's Monday! What are You Reading?

My Monday posts are generally just a highlight of what I've been reading during the week so if you'd like to see all that I've been reading, follow my Goodreads page.


Last week I reviewed:

Edmund Unravels by Andrew Kolb
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino, illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant


I finished reading: 

What Works? A Practical Guide for Teacher Research by Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater and Bonnie Sunstein
I thought I'd start with the least exciting first. Actually, this book is quite good, but for academic reasons, and since I'm in the research phase of my master's project, this book has been extremely helpful.


Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan
I have so many things to say and I don't know where to even start. I will have to come back and write a thorough review later, but just know this: David Levithan has written a master class in musical theater with this book. I can't wait to see who gets a hold of this and actually produces the musical.  Fans of Tim Federle's Better Nate Than Ever will find Hold Me Closer right up their alley. 


Picture books I loved last week:


Wolfie the Bunny by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Zacharia OHora 
Wolfie the Bunny is one of those books that, as you're reading it, you're thinking, "Oh, OK. This is cute..." And then the more you think about it after the fact, the more you realize just how darling it really is. Or maybe that's just me.  

Zig and the Magic Umbrella by Sylvie Kantorovitz
A magical, whimsical gem of a book


Currently reading:

Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles
I was so engrossed in Hold Me Closer last week than I kind of put this one on pause but I'm back at it.



Currently reading with my ears: 

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson 
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
I'm enjoying both of these audiobooks a great deal, but I think perhaps it was a mistake to try to listen to them at the same time. Both books have a male and female narrator and both of them also deal with the death of a major character's family member, so I'm kind of getting the storylines confused. In addition, for some reason I'm having a really hard time concentrating on I'll Give You the Sun in the car. I keep getting distracted and I've already had to rewind tracks 10-14 of disc 3 more times than I care to divulge for the simple fact that I can't keep my mind on the story. I've already downloaded the book to my phone to attempt to listen to it somewhere other than the car. Maybe the location of the listening is what is causing this problem with this particular book.