Year End Recap And My Favorite Books of 2015

All of our Christmas celebrations our now over and the year is quickly coming to a close. And of course, that causes reflection of the past year, a reliving of the special moments that made 2015 great. Like the really cool center piece I made for the Falmin' Hot Breakfast.

Or spending the afternoon with the kids in the After School Program in the town where I grew up which was sadly the last time as the program is now shut down.

Hanging out at author fairs and laughing it up on air.

Camping with my family.

 

Having fun at the fair.

Running the Shelby Farm Market and attending Cook Book Club with Emily.

Day trips with the family.

 

Road trippin' with my girl and hangin' with my story sister.

Christmas performances, homemade gifts, cookies, and balloon fun.

 

So many good memories and so many great books as well. And without further ado, here are my favorite reads of 2015 in no particular order.
  

And my all time favorite, number one, brilliant, most incredible, the author was a genious book of the year? Drum roll if you please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me in the New Year 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 sequels, Return To Fern Valley,  and Cooking In Fern Valley, along with my very first picture book, Quack and Daisy! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

A Surprise At The Library

At the beginning of last week, it was warm and spring-like and my crocus were in bloom. But before I really had a chance to enjoy them, that last sprinkle of snow from old man winter's big duffle bag of weather descended upon us. Unfortunately, my crocus did not survive, but I still see remnants of what will undoubtable be beautiful daffodils once the snow melts.

And speaking of beautiful, when Emily and I made a trip to the library, I found they had acquired some new books. Of course that in and of itself is a wonderfully exciting event, but imagine how my level of excitement jumped dramatically when I found two of the books were by some of my on-line author friends.

The first book I eagerly devoured was Peanut Butter and Jellyfish by the ever popular Jarrett Krosoczka. It is a delicious tale of friendship and forgiveness. Peanut Butter and Jellyfish are great friends who work hard to ignore the unkind comments that Crabby spews at them each day. Despite his bullying, the two go to Crabby's rescue when he is trapped in a lobster trap. Working together they manage to rescue him, find out the reason behind his taunting, and in the end, make a new friend out of a one time enemy.

The second book I read has been garnering lots of praise and recognition, especially since it recently won the Caldecott Medal. It is The Adventures of Beekle The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat. Beautifully illustrated and written, Beekle is the story of an imaginary friend waiting to be imagined. His wait is long and disappointing, so he sets off on a journey to the real world to find his friend. The real world seems strange to him and after much searching, he still doesn't find his friend. Just when it seems that all hope is lost, he hears someone calling to him. His friend has finally found him and they find they are just right for each other.

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, and the soon to be released Cooking In Fern Valley (fall 2015)! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.