A Rough Start But ...

It was another rough start to the week. Emily had to stay home early in the week because she was attacked by some kind of bug that both her father and I caught. Lots of prayer, juice, and homemade chicken noodle soup helped us through the week.

But despite the rough start to the week, I did start a new chapter book called Surviving The Applewhites. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to finish the book yet, so the review will have to wait until next week. So far I am enjoying what I have read. It is actually the second book, but I don't always hold myself to reading books in order.

Since I don't have a fresh review, I thought it would be nice to mention another chapter book, that I really enjoyed previously, called The Year Money Grew on Trees. It is a superbly written story of a determined boy. Goaded into an agreement by his conniving neighbor, Mrs. Nelson, and trying to evade the summer job of doom lined up by his father, Jackson Jones works diligently to live up to the bargain of restoring a neglected apple orchard. Jackson enlists the help of his siblings and his cousins and spends a summer learning as he goes. Will he manage to grow a crop of apples worthy of selling? Will he be able to sell the apples once they are grown? Will he fulfill the bargain made with Mrs. Nelson and in return become the true heir of the orchard. The answers to these questions and many more await you in this wonderful book written by Aaron Hawkins.

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, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Meeting Friends at the Library__ Sort Of

I try to make a trip to the library every week or two in order to choose books for my reviews. And some of the best trips, are the ones where I meet friends at the library. I don't really meet my fellow authors and social media friends, but every time I see their names on the spines of the books I am glancing at, I feel like I have.

This week I found a book, I had yet to read, by my friend Dandi Daley Mackall. What made this find even more exciting was the news she recently shared. You see, not only is Dandi a fantastic children's author, she is also the author of, My Boyfrien'ds Dogs, a young adult  book which is being made into a Hallmark Movie. Currently, she is getting ready to fly to Canada to watch the filming. I am so excited for her, I can hardly express it with mere words. So while she is off learning the intricacies of  turning a book into a movie, I will be sharing with you her book, A Girl Named Dan.

And the amazement doesn't stop there because A Girl Named Dan is the true story of how Dandi won an essay contest entitled, Why I Want To Be A Batboy. Unfortunately, the Kansas City A's wouldn't let her be a batboy, because she was a girl. Despite this first taste of rejection at such a young age, Dandi has gone on to become an award winning author of over 400 books for children and adults. I'd say that is pretty amazing and the stuff dreams are made of.

I am so glad that I met Dandi at the 2012 Kentucky Book Fair. Not only is she a tremendously kind and interesting person, but she is an author worth emulating. I only hope I turn out to be half the author she is. So if you haven't read A Girl Named Dan, I suggest you do. Either that, or one of her many other fabulous books.

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, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.


Winter Surprises

Lately, many of my posts have included comments about how cold, and long, and did I mention how cold, this winter has been. And with more snow forecast for this past weekend, I decided to sneak a few winter surprises in for my daughter before the snow actually let loose.

On Friday I scheduled a hair appointments for both Emily and I with our favorite hairdresser. We had to travel to the next town because she recently opened her own shop, but we were willing to do so, because she is simply the best. I just had my hair trimmed, but Emily has been bugging me for months to get her long hair cut short. I wasn't certain that I would like her hair short without bangs, which is what she requested, but I was wrong. It was so adorable it just made me want to hug her even more then normal.

Before

After

The next day, the surprise I had in store for Emily was taking her to Wal-Mart to spend her birthday gift card. This actually wasn't much of a surprise as it was a treat, since she had been begging me to drive her there for over a week. Her mission __ to buy herself the movie Cloud 9. We watched it later that evening when we got home, and I was surprised to find it quite enjoyable for a pre teen/teen film. In the movie, the main character, Kayla Morgan, is a spoiled, rich, daddy's girl  who get's kicked off the snowboarding team after accidentally destroying some private property belonging to some of her father's tenants. Forced to work in the doggie-daycare in order to make amends, Kayla learns that she isn't the winner she always thought she was because the coach had been rigging the games to keep her father happy.  Determined to show everyone that nothing is impossible and that she can work hard to achieve a goal, she enlists the aide of the former champion snowboarder, Will Cloud, to teach her the move that destroyed his career and confidence __ the cloud 9.

The movie is full of great messages about facing out fears, determination, hard work, and believing in one's self.  And you just might find it an excellent surprise yourself.

The last surprise I had that day for Emily was a trip to the mall to get her ear's pierced. I told her several years ago that she had to be nine in order to get her ears pierced. It was my opinion that by the age of nine she would be mature enough to be responsible and diligent about cleaning her ears and taking care of her earrings. The look on her face when I told her why we were at the mall was priceless.

But the surprises didn't end there, since I still had a book to read for this blog. The book I chose was one I have had for a few weeks, but just hadn't gotten around to reading yet. And, I was delightfully surprised to find it a great read. What book did I read, you ask? It was Ant and Honey Bee - A Pair Of Friends In Winter by Megan McDonald. Ant and Honey Bee are getting ready for the long winter, but ant just isn't quite ready to go to sleep yet. Shee does all the one person activities that she can think of, but finally decides to see if Bee is up to one last visit. Bee doesn't answer her phone, so Ant braves the weather and heads to her house. Once there, she  finds a strange sign on the door that says "eep  ot" which she thinks is French or Spanish for come on in. When Ant enters, she finds Bee a bit on the grumpy side. Ant suggests Bee is just hungry, so the two make an extraordinary sandwich and them settle down for a long winter nap together. You really need to check out this book for yourself, if for no other reason then to see what all goes into the unique sandwich.

 

 

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, and my soon to be released sequel, Return To Fern Valley, coming summer of 2014! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.