Summer Stories

Summer is a time of stories, stories of time spent swimming, of cookouts and birthday parties, eating watermelon, of vacations, and all the things that  make summer great.

Managing my town's local farmers' market and selling baked goods while Emily sells magnets is a big part of our summer story. This past weekend we had to move from our normal farmers' market location because of the local cruise-in car show. We didn't have to move far, just to the back end of the park, but we didn't have the normal cover of our pavilion. Thankfully, however, most of my vendors had canopies and there was a lovely breeze.
 

My summer story also consists of reading great kidlit, and my choices this week were smile worthy. The first book aptly titled, The Story I'll Tell, was a beautiful tale of adoption. My oldest niece is adopted, so this story hit particularly close to home. In this story, a mother imagines the stories she will tell her adopted child when he is old enough to ask where he came from. The creative ways she dreams she will tell him are like beautiful poetry; but in the end, she reveals that the truth is equally beautiful.

The second book I read, I'm My Own Dog, was a tale of pet ownership from the point of view of a dog. It was quite amusing and although I don't own dogs, it made me think about my three cats' points of view. I'm pretty sure they, like the dog in the story, believe that we humans are their pets and they work continually to train us.
 

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 Musings Monday Blog Hop 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 early grade Fern Valley chapter book series and my Quack and Daisy picture book series. And finally, you can find me on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days. 

A Family Trip and Books About Friends

This past weekend we took a mini vacation. After running the farm market all summer, it was nice to have a small break. Bobby, Emily, and I took my mom and sister along with us as we headed to Hocking Hills where we road on the Hocking Valley Railway. We saw some beautiful scenery along the way, but what made the ride special was sharing it with family.

 

The next day we headed to the farm__the Bob Evans Farm where we attended the 45th Annual Bob Evans Festival. We saw sorghum being pressed, we saw a lumberjack show, we saw the pig races, and so much more. The weather was perfect, the entertainment lively, and the company sublime. The broasted chicken wasn't bad either.

Although just a couple of days, it was quite a wonderful vacation. And upon arriving home, I found a couple more great surprises. The first was an invitation to next April's Southern Kentucky Book Festival which happens to be one of my favorite events. The next was an indie children's book that arrived in the mail. It was a book by Donna Abbott called Mazey's Dandelion - A Mississippi Puppy Tale.

It was the story of a dog named Mazey and her pet rabbit, Dandelion. In the book, Mazey is happy taking good care of her pet rabbit until a problem crops up. Mazey runs out of rabbit food. She despairs until a friendly neighbor helps her find a solution to feed Dandelion. This story would be great for four to six year olds and possibly a bit older depending on the child, and the bright and adorable illustrations will entertain children as well as the text. With Christmas just around the corner, this book might make a great stocking stuffer. 

I also read a book a bout friends called Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry. I liked this book because it reminded me of the above mentioned vacation with my family because as the book says, "Alone is no fun!" It is also the story about not letting others be bullied and sticking up for friends.

This book consists of simple sentences and simple illustrations, but is anything but boring.

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.

Pets of All Kinds

At our home we have lots of pets. We have three regular pets in the form of cats which includes Max who sometimes thinks he's a dog, Daisy who is an itty bitty kitty without a tail, and her daughter Fluffy who is scared of feet. And then we have all of Emily's Webkinz which probably  number close to two hundred. She has received them as gifts, has found them at garage sales, and has saved them from unmentionable doom at the thrift store. To her they are more then stuffed buddies, and I am regularly called upon to make beds for them.

 

 

 

 

This past weekend, I even found a large rectangle basket which I knew would make a perfect bed for one or two of them once I make a mattress and bedding. And if truth be told, I would much rather make bedding for oodles of pretend pets then have any hamsters, goldfish, parakeets, or such join the family.

By funny coincidence, two books out of my stack from the library had to do with pets. I'm beginning to believe that there really are books about everything related to my life. Anyway, the first book was called Someday When My Cat Can Talk. It is the story of a young girl who imagines that if her cat could talk he would tell her about his travels around the world. As an added bonus at the end of the book, there is a section that lists facts about the countries that the girl imagines her cat has visited. There are fun facts about England, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Greece, and Holland. This would be a good book for any young child, but it would be an especially nice addition to a homeschool curriculum where the child was studying countries around the world.

The second book I read was Hi Fly Guy by Ted Arnold. A boy name Buzz goes looking for a pet when he runs into fly. He takes him home and decides he will make a great pet. Other people in Buzz's life seem to think a fly for a pet is not a good idea, but Buzz believes his fly, who he has named Fly Guy, is a very smart fly and a wonderful pet. Adventure ensues as they attempt to prove this fact.

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. 

When A Pet Adopts You...

Last year my daughter was convinced that she wanted a puppy, and her dad was ready and willing to let her have one. But thanks to the foresight of my mother-in-law, we simply borrowed her new puppy for a week. It only took one turn at picking up the dog waste, which was fresh and warm, to change my daughter's mind about puppy ownership. Not particularly being a dog person myself, I secretly rejoiced. It's not that I don't like dogs, I just don't like the dog maintenance that would fall to "ME" no matter how much my husband and daughter proclaimed otherwise.

On the other hand, I have always been a cat person. The death of both of my cats after twenty long years, however, convinced me to take a break from pets of any kind. I enjoyed two years of pet free, odor free, hair free, litter free peace and quiet, that is until recently. That is until, we were adopted by Max. Max, the  year old, black and white, male cat that showed up in our yard one day and refused to leave. He sat at our back door and cried to be let in which of course encouraged my daughter to champion his cause vehemently. "Pleeease, can't we let him in?" she pleaded with the cuteness factor that only a seven year old possesses.

"Daddy would kill Mommy if I let that cat in the house," I said. Because you see, my husband has definitely never, ever, ever, been a cat person! But as I told him about the situation that night when he called from work, he began to melt. His attitude towards cats had not changed, but his daddy would do anything for his baby girl instinct had kicked in. That night on his way home from work he stopped at an all night grocery store to buy cat food in case the cat came back the next day.

Although both my husband and I looked for the cat all day, we did not see hide nor hair of him. Soon it was time for me to go pick my daughter up from school and on the ride home I told her of her father's decision. She was over come with a joy so great that it would not be dampened even when I cautioned that the cat might not come back or that  he may already have had a home. We quickly arrived and climbed out of the car, and who do you suppose ran to greet my daughter? That's right, the cat. Being familiar with the cats that roam the neighborhood, I was relatively sure this cat had been dumped, and so I told my daughter she was allowed to keep him. No sooner had I opened the door a crack and the cat my daughter would later dub Max ran into the house, looked around as if to say so this is my new home, and started purring happily.

Not even one week had gone by when all of us began to feel that Max was family, yes even my formerly anti-cat husband. Thinking about how easily Max had adopted us and we had adopted him made me think of two of my author friends who wrote books based on similar experiences of adopting pets.

The first is Buddy Finds a Home by Rachel Edmiston. This story of how Rachel's family found a very imperfect dog and how he made a perfect addition to their family is a good lesson in how love can cause us to overlook differences. My daughter truly enjoyed this book, especially when she realized it was a true story. I would recommend this book for children 6 to 8.

The second is a cute book called Grady the Gray Cat by Lori Moore. This adorable flip-it-over book offers two stories about Grady the gray cat. Side one tells the story of Grady's adoption, and side two offers the story of Grady's new toy firetruck. Told in rhyme, this book is an excellent choice for a read-aloud to young children. Lori did an excellent job of making me wonder what will happen to Grady next.

Signing off for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!