Cats, Cats, Cats

I can't believe October is already here and Christmas is just around the corner. And while I have loved managing the Farmers' Market here in my home town, I am ready to take a break. Our last market was loads of fun and my Avon vendor led children in a dance party while our local dj spun us some great tunes!

But, now that market is over I can focus on traveling to book festivals, participating in local craft fairs with my story sister and fellow author, Deborah Boerema, and getting ready for the coming holidays.
 

And speaking of market being over, that also leaves me more time to read books. So this week, in honor of my three crazy cats, I read three cat books. The first book was titled, Holly, and is illustrated and written by Ruth Brown. It is the story of a stray kitten adopted near Christmas time.  and while it is several years old and not readily available online, it is definitely worth seeing if your library has a copy. I liked this book because it reminded me of our first cat Max who was also a stray dumped in our neighborhood.
 

 
The next book I read was Hero Cat by Eileen Spinelli, and author I have read before. It is the story of another stray cat, a momma with kittens. One day while she is out getting something to eat, a fire breaks out endangering her five kittens. Despite the spoke and heat, she manages to rescue them all much to the amazement of one of the firefighters who takes them all to a rescue center. Like the first story, this one is also based on a real cat.

And last, but not least, I read Calico's Curious Kittens which follows the adventures of some curious and sometimes naughty kittens who gallivant  until nap-time. As they explore their world, they make a large new friend along the way and have a few mishaps until momma cat shows up to take them home.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by and join the Literacy Musing Monday Link Up where you will find other great blogs, or my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

Summer Reading and Super Heroes

This year the summer reading program has the hero theme which can encompass anything from comic book super heroes to every day people in our lives. This past week, Emily, her friend Savannah, and I attended one of the special events, hosted by our public library. The guest speaker was cartoonist Jeff Nicholas, a talented local Ohio cartoonist.

He showed the children how to draw a cartoon Dalmatian and asked them what kind of hero dogs they could name. The answers were varied and included seeing-eye dogs, rescue dogs, guard dogs, and police dogs. It was an interesting presentation reminding us that heroes do indeed come in every shape and size including animals.

Emily loves to draw and always practices whatever character Jeff has shown. She even included her version of the Dalmatian putting out a fire in the Father's Day card she made for her dad.

I was therefore compelled to include a book about a super hero of a different kind in this week's book review. What did I select? Why Noodle Man of course. Noodle Man is an extremely funny fictional story of Al Dente and the Dente family. The Dente family business is going down the tubes because everyone in town is ordering pizza to be delivered. Al creates a fresh pasta machine in hopes that it will save his family business, but instead, he ends up foiling a robbery attempt, rescuing two children from a burning building, and saving a damsel in distress. This book is a deliciously humorous tale that also introduces children to many different types and shapes of pasta.

The second book I read wasn't a traditionally heroic type of tale, but it did have a friend who went out of h is way to give his bestie a most extraordinary birthday. It was Toot and Puddle - A Present for Toot by the authoress and illustrator Holly Hobbie. And yes, she is the very same person who is the creator of the famous character bearing her name.

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.