Taking An Art Break

          Slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community is a pleasure every week.  Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Beth and Anna! 
            Twyla Tharp: "Art is the only way to run away without leaving home."

          My One Little Word this year is paint. While I originally thought I would take the time to do something every day, I soon realized it was a crazy goal. I just don't have time, and mostly prefer to spend "extra" time with words-reading or writing.  But I've done so much these past weeks with books, and I have enjoyed all the reading, too, but thought it was time to do a little painting again. I really hope I can do more than every once in a while. It is so relaxing to sit and look and try to emulate something. Ask Michelle Hazeltine at One Grateful Teacher about coloring. She's been doing some wonderful work in different designs, and there has been more than one article published recently about the value of coloring/art in both children's and adult's lives. Give it a try! Here's my latest.  

FYI: I'm into week two reading Digital Reading: What's Essential in Grades 3-8 by Franki Sibberson and William L Bass II with some of you who also are slicers.  Click here to read more about #cyberPD or click here to join the Google+ discussion group! It's a pleasure every summer to participate in this knowledgeable group.  We are hosted by Laura Komos, Michelle Nero, and Cathy Mere.

Monday Reading - Great Week

           On Mondays, we are lucky to link up to share books we've read that are for children and teens with Jen at TeachMentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders. Others link to share adult books with Sheila at Book Journeys who started the meme a long time ago. You'll discover so many great books.  Come visit, and tweet at #IMWAYR. Thanks to Jen, Kellee, and Ricki for hosting!

           It's a long post today, so much fun reading this week!

         These first two books are from my MustReadIn2015 list. Hurrah!

 Reading books in the Raven cycle by Maggie Stiefvater feels sometimes like that old "Whack-A-Mole" game. Just when you feel that you can relax because something is solved, or at least all right at that moment, another, sometimes more alarming, thing pops up. In this book, the plot indeed thickens, and the characters show more of themselves in all their goodness and only a bit of evil. It's hard to choose a favorite character. I don't know if you have one, but I find even those who appear who are dead have authenticity. If that isn't enough to pique your interest, you'll need to read the first two books, then suspend all belief in this one, because magic and frightening things from the mind are apparent in every character. Those Raven Boys keep at it with a lot of help from my favorite girl character, Blue, and more than a little help from Mr. Grey. Adam stars in this story, and we see the real goodness come into play from both Ronin and Gansey. It was a pleasure to read Blue Lily, Lily Blue, and I now anticipate number four, due next February. More moles peeked out at the end of Blue Lily, Lily Blue. 

Celebrating Endings

              Celebrating Each Saturday with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build.  Finally time today to celebrate this past busy week.                   Tweet at #CelebrateLu

             Celebrating one part of endings: I wasn't able to post yesterday because I was having my book sale! While there weren't many customers, I did manage to sell and/or give away about half the books. Next step, donating the rest. My house is rather back to normal, with three extra shelves added in from school, I was able to still keep many. I imagine I will keep looking for others to give away, but for now I'm tired and want to celebrate and read, not just keep messing with books. I also celebrate that I've purged many school papers, kept some to look at a little more closely, but not too many. Time to 'do' instead of "clean out".  

            Celebrating blogger friends: In her very busy days, Carol Wilcox at Carol's Corner took the time to come to the book sale and take away several boxes of books to share with her colleagues. She lives quite close to me, and I am lucky to have connected with her. 

            Celebrating family and the imagination of children: My daughter, Sarah, & Ingrid came over to help with the sale. Because customers were on the light side, we had a wonderful visit. A family came riding by and one of them happened to be a classmate of Ingrid's. She came to stay and play. They had a great time in my back yard, came to tell us they were pretending it was the forest and there were all sorts of adventures happening! 

Poetry Friday - Gifting

      Poetry Friday is hosted today by Katie at her blog, The Logonauts.

Click to enlarge for easier reading. 

          Summertime Poetry Friday is such a pleasure because I have the opportunity of sharing poems written by PF friends, and for me especially. Thanks to Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference, some of us participate in a summer poem swap. Tabatha pairs us up--secretly--and surprises arrive periodically in the mail. As I wrote, pure pleasure.

Non-Fiction Picture Books-Terrific Always

        Time to share on Wednesdays with Alyson Beecher's Non-Fiction Picture Book Challenge at her blog, Kidlit Frenzy.  There are so many great titles to find and read. Here are a few books with stories and illustrations that I hope you will find and enjoy. 

        Thanks Alyson!   Tweet - #NFPB15

    Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat - Emily Jenkins & Sophie Blackall take us on a fine journey seeing the background of this "blackberry fool". With wonderful afterwords from both the author and the illustrator, one learns just how much research occurs in a seemingly simple story. Each part that shows the dessert created and then served shows history, including whipping cream with a created twig whisk, how cooling it happened before electric refrigeration, and the way people dressed and lived. Beautiful, not simple at all!