You're Beautiful

This past week I didn't do all that much except host a garage sale on Friday. The garage sale went fairly well, but it did cause me to rearrange my schedule a bit and I ended up doing the weekly marketing on Saturday. While not all that interesting, what happened while I was at Kroger's was a extra special spot in an ordinary week.

As I was leaving the store, a mom and her son who appeared to be about four or five, came out of the rest room. The boy walked a bit faster then his mother, so he ended up walking beside me. I asked him how he was and he looked at me and replied, "You're beautiful." I thanked him and he proceeded to tell a check out girl she was beautiful.

 
I really needed a haircut, and I wasn't feeling particularly beautiful at the time, so this really made my day. That small boy just walking along and spreading joy as he went. I try to compliment people I meet wherever I go on their hair, clothes, smile, friendliness, etc... People hear negative things all the time, so I figure it would be nice if they hear pleasantries once in a while. I guess that little boy did too.

And there is the link between my week and the books I read; they are both beautiful. Two beautifully written books by Doug Snelson, who I recently met at the Hudson Children's Book Festival. Doug was one of the authors I shared a radio interview with, and when he saw that I was a book blogger, he asked if he could send me copies of his latest literary offerings. I happily agreed and I wasn't disappointed when they arrived.

The first book, The Fable of the Snake Named Slim, has won both the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award and the Mom's Choice Award, and is the story of a snake that is different then the others. He was a slow wobbler while all the other snakes were fast wigglers. Because of his differences, the other snakes often exclude him from their fun and games. That is until__ there was a terrible earth shake that caused boulders to fall on all the snakes but Slim. Slim's unusual wobbling allows him to rescue the other snakes who soon realize that differences might not be such a bad thing after all.

The first book was a great book with a wonderful message and two awards, but the second book, Who's Got the Face, was actually my favorite. It's a simple story about a dog named Face told in rhyme. It shares with the reader all the things that happen in Face's day like racing through the house, catching raindrops, and playing hide-and-seek. It is uncomplicated but not boring in the least. I also loved the preface where a very large list of dogs who Doug's Family has known are shared.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, the sequel, Return To Fern Valley, the soon to be released Cooking In Fern Valley (fall 2015) and my very first picture book, Quack and Daisy! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.