A lot of you know that I’m going to be teaching a Blogging 101 class at our homeschooling co-op this year. It’s a relatively small class—only eight 8th-11th graders. The class runs for 24 weeks in total (two semesters of 12 weeks), and we have one hour-long class per week. Not all of the kids will be blogging about books, but most topics can be generalized to any type of blogging. Since the class starts […]
Obviously, you should not be reading this right now if you haven’t EITHER read the book OR watched the movie (and don’t want to be spoiled). I already posted a review of the book with no spoilers, but I really wanted to talk about the ending and how the book and the movie handled Will’s issues due to his disability differently (which made me like the movie less than the book). Before I read the book, […]
As many of you know from my Sunday Posts, my 14-year-old son Jaden has been enchanted with all things Japanese lately. He went to a Japanese immersion camp, he’s taking a college-level Japanese class at our local community college, and he soaks in whatever Japanese culture he can: at first that was mostly in the form of watching Japanese music videos on YouTube, but now he’s expanded that to manga and anime. It started because […]
First off, I’m writing this to go along with It Starts at Midnight’s Shattering Stigmas event (which is also being featured on The Fox’s Hideaway, Novel Ink, Six Impossible Things and Of Wonderland). The event is helping to raise awareness of mental illness and attempting to help destroy the isolation and stigma that often goes along with mental health issues. If you haven’t checked out the event yet, you really need to do so … there are tons of […]
There’s been lots of talk lately about what’s “appropriate” for YA. Alice over at Arctic Books recently wrote a post asking How Do You Define YA? and it really got me thinking. You see, my thoughts on the topic are complicated. As a mom of a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old, I find my stance on this more conservative than I would have expected when I was younger. My kids are at the young end of the […]
So, Goodreads just rolled out some new changes, and I have to say that I’m liking them. The new look and feel seems easier to navigate somehow – easier to find the things I’m really looking for. I think, honestly, just has to do with the fact that they made the images bigger. It’s amazing to me how much of a different feel that gives the site. The biggest difference is that I now notice […]
I’ve been listening to audiobooks a lot lately. They’re great for long drives (or even short ones – I listen even if I’m only in the car for five minutes!) and doing random chores around the house. (Who knew folding laundry could be so exciting?) Between SYNC‘s free summer audiobook program, the library, and Audiobook Boom (a reviewing site for audiobooks), I’ve been listening more than ever before! Of course, listening to an audiobook isn’t […]
Even though I’m 42 years old, I’ve noticed a strange phenomena – I often dream that I’m still in high school or early college! One recurring dream that I’ve had pretty much for as long as I can remember is that I’m in a ginormous school and I can’t find my locker – I wander aimlessly down the halls, going up and down stairwells, searching for a locker I should be able to find, with no luck. After I […]
Those of you who’ve been around my blog for a while know that usually, when I feature a guest post from an author on my blog (usually along with a review), it’s the author’s Top Ten Addictions (click the link if you want to see them). I like that it’s a fun, lighthearted tie-in to my blog name and that it’s a quick read. (If I’m being honest, I don’t usually take the time to read […]
This is kind of a difficult topic to talk about because I honestly think my viewpoint might be contradictory to a lot of other bloggers out there – at least partially. And this might be one of those cases where I’m showing my age, making myself look old-fashioned. I’m aware that my views on sex are more conservative than a lot of other people’s and that affects my perspective on this topic. But I decided to […]