March, In Like A Lion Out Like A Lamb

As the saying goes, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Or so I hope. I can vouch for the in like a lion part. One day here in Ohio we're enjoying almost sixty degree weather and the next day we're tolerating snow. It's slowly melting away, but not nearly fast enough for my liking. On the bright side, however, it's no longer dark at five o'clock!

So while we wait for March to warm up some here at the Stewart house, we continue home schooling, we recover from colds and coughs, and we try on dresses at Kohl's. Well, Emily tries on dresses, and I take pictures of the amazing event as we Stewart girls aren't known for dress wearing.

And, of course, I read wonderful picture books. This week I read two books. I read Accident by Andrea Tsurumi and Little Penguin Gets The Hiccups by Tadgh Bentley.

Accident is a colorful book about____ you guessed it, accidents. Lola Armadillo spills a drink on the living room chair and in a panic decides she must run away to the library and live there until she is grown up because they have books and bathrooms. Along the way she runs into many others having not so great days of there own. In the end, she realizes that accidents happen to everyone and it is just bet to fess up. The illustrations are quite detailed and you'll want to take extra time looking at each scene a you read this adorable story.

And I don't know about you, but I enjoy every part of a book from the end papers to the author and illustrator's biographies. In the case of both of these books, the author and the illustrator were one in the same, but I was surprised to find out that the author/illustrator of Little Penguin Gets the Hiccups, Tadgh, is actually from my neck of the woods. He currently lives in the Hocking Hills Area of Ohio, a place I have visited and enjoyed many times.

And Little Penguin with his hiccups he can't get rid of made me laugh. Emily often gets hiccups and we use the same cure Little Penguins friend uses. I don't want to give too much away, so I'll let you read and find out just what that cure is yourself.

I enjoyed another surprise when I looked through my stack of library books. I had also picked up a second book by Tadgh Bentley which I will share with you next week.

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 Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as 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 if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Ada Lovelace and Penguins

When you read this, Emily and I will either be getting ready for our Library's 17th Annual Chocolate Lovers Bake Off or we will have learned the outcome. I promise to let you know next week if we won or not, and I will share one of our recipes, so be sure to drop by again!

Meanwhile, during the past week it was business as usual. We did our school work, I worked on the seemingly never ending array of dishes and laundry, and we had a visitor. This week's visitor was the feathered kind instead of the furry kind. I do love my backyard wildlife. So glad the hubby puts out suet, and we have multiple feeders!

And speaking of homework, Emily finished reading a most fabulous book called The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency. She read it  out loud to me, so I can promise you I am not exaggerating when I say fabulous. From the end papers to the final notes, this book is truly a work of art. Author Jordan Stratford has taken real life individuals like Mary Shelley, Lady Ada Lovelace, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and Charles Dickens just to name a few and has created a work of fiction that will leave you wanting more. He pairs lady Ada and Mary Shelley as unlikely friends that form a detective agency and their first case leads them on an amazing journey to catch a thief. I find this to be a perfect book for mystery loving children in sixth to eighth grade.

Having also read Ada Lovelace - First Computer Programmer put out by PowerKids Press, I appreciated this fictional masterpiece even more. Lady Ada's real life wasn't nearly as exciting or as pleasant as the fictional one Mr. Stratford created and she unfortunately passed away at the age of 36.

And I read finally, I wrapped up this week up with a picture book entitled Little Penguins in honor of the snow that was finally deep enough for Emily to go sledding. This book by Cynthia Rylant is sure to be a pleaser for the pre-k to first grade crowd. The words are sparse allowing the illustrator to do his part in telling the story.

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 Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as 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. 

Time to Come Home

This past week while Bobby was in Japan, Emily and I  kept busy to keep our mind off of it. We made a snow woman. We went to cookbook club. And I canned some apple pie filling from the apples a friend gave me. I even sanded the top of an old cedar chest my mother-in-law gave me in preparation of giving it a new coat of urethane. All in all, a good week.

 

 

And half way across the world, Bobby was working, eating out with co-workers, and took a tour of Tokyo.

 

With all of this busyness, I still had time to read a book for review. The book I chose was How High Is The Sky by Anna Milbourne. It is the story of a curious little penguin who is always asking questions. HIs biggest question is how high is the sky. As he attempts to find out, he gets farther and farther away from home and his Mama. He decides to go back home and he also decides that the sky just doesn't end. This made me think of how far away Bobby is and how I can't wait until it is time for him to come home!

There is supposed to be a poster at the end of the book that shows his journey, but my library copy had been removed. This book was really enjoyable and I would recommend it for children five to eight.

 

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.

Blog Hops, Books, and Friends.

This past week was pretty busy as I was getting ready to host a garage sale with my sister. I didn't realize just how much junk, I mean how many sales items I had, until I started hauling things to the garage. The good news is that we sold over two thirds of what we put out.

Of course I still left myself plenty of time to read a few books, and I even found a new blog hop to join called Make My Saturday Sweet. It is hosted by a lovely American mom who has been living and raising her children in South Africa. So if you have a minute, stop by, read her blog post, and check out her great blog hop buddies!

And don't forget this week's selection of books. As I have written about before, it's always fun to find books by friends at the library, and this week was no exception. My very talented friend Salina Yoon, author and illustrator of the penguin books, delighted me with Penguin on Vacation.

Everyone needs a vacation from time to time and Penguin decides to take his at the beach. He has adventures and fun, but best of all, he discovers that where you spend your time isn't nearly as important as who you spend it with.

I also read The Curious Garden by another very talented author/illustrator friend of mine, Peter Brown. This whimsical book will delight children with it's beautiful art work and make them itch to plant a garden all their own as they follow Liam's adventures. It is also a testament to the fact that you don't have to be perfect at what you do. You just have to love what you do and keep working at it. And if you do, before long your joy will spread much like Liam's curious garden spread all over town.

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.