Reading slump - seeking suggestions

Hey everyone. *waves*

So since my life has drastically slowed down from all kinds of Student Council, Battle of the Classes, and the New York State Reading Association Conference fun, I have been cleaning, grading, and getting back on top of my game and still manage to get 7 hours of sleep. I forgot what sleep was. It's so nice. *sighs* Sleep.

OK.

I'm in a bit of a reading slump. I haven't read anything that I am like "OMG I LOVE IT!" since Tiger's Quest. Silence didn't really rock my world. I know, blasphemy. Don't worry - I am still very much Team Patch. I think I have just been super tired and haven't been able to fully commit to my closet love of books.

Anyway - any bombshell suggestions for me?

Maybe I am tired of paranormal. *ponders a second* Nahhhh. Never.

Also, I am looking to borrow two books. I have the sequels to these books. I need to review them for The Charlotte Award. I am not a big fan of reading a sequel without the first one. But I have had heard good things about both of the series.

Lisa Desrochers - Personal Demons
and
Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edhill's Legacies: A Shadow Grail Novel

If anyone has the e-book that would be great, or a pdf, or the actual book and want to send it my way, that would be great. Thanks!

I need your vote!!!

I signed my school up for a chance to win 25,000 dollars for our tech department. I made it to the voting part, except there is like 150 other people going for this. YIKES! Good note, we have to be in the top 15 of voting. I am at 119. Yeah, so I need some help! Your help. Please go to this website and vote. You can text, sign into facebook, or create a Pepsi account. Your vote will help us out.
Also you can vote daily!!!

Please go and vote and help out my students!!!! They will get their own netbooks!!! Come on vote!!! Yep, click that button!!!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom RIggs

A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography,Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows

At the NYSRA conference I was at, I said that I wanted more YA with pictures. I am not saying every page has to have a graphic, but a like twenty for a book of 200 pages. My friend Karen, who is on the Charlotte Award Council, got this book. I began reading it and you know what? It has pictures! Talk about getting what you wished for.

The pictures in the book, make the book. Creepy. Some people say real, some say not so much, I say - gave me better visuals in my head... some of them are downright creepy.

The word creepy leads me to my next paragraph. I really thought I had a Stephen King - make you freak out - book on my hands. The first five chapters are really creepy, there is a murder, and the details of the murder for Jacob are scary. Then no one believes him. They think he is crazy, poor kid.

This island has a lot of secrets and the story is well-developed, but once Jacob gets to meet the peculiar children, take away the peculiar aspect and it become a regular story. A good regular story, but the element of me being afraid at night when I put it down, was lost. I think I am looking for a really good scary book. Maybe my dream walker book will turn into one.

Where I'm From

George Ella Lyon wrote an awesome poem:

Where I'm From

I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening,
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush
the Dutch elm
whose long-gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.

I'm from fudge and eyeglasses,
          from Imogene and Alafair.
I'm from the know-it-alls
          and the pass-it-ons,
from Perk up! and Pipe down!
I'm from He restoreth my soul
          with a cottonball lamb
          and ten verses I can say myself.

I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
          to the auger,
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.

Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments--
snapped before I budded --
leaf-fall from the family tree.

At NYSRA I sat in on a memoir writing workshop. The presenter presented this poem, presented the one she had wrote in her format, and then asked us to do the same. This is my first draft.

Where I'm From,

I'm from cow poop smells and sounds of a prison, 

I'm from a forest of tress, a rickety, old cabin built in the 40's 

with a fresh water spring 

from a mountain side.

I'm from homes with swings, kickball games, tree forts

and ghost in the grass

I'm from a neighborhood of all boys who rebuilt engines, snowmobiled, and hunted, 

played hard; embraced me and beat up anyone who came to near. 

I'm from a father who still call me princess, 

a mother who I resemble more and more, 

and a brother who still tells me to look both ways when I cross the road. 

I'm from a place where I sprained ankles, pirouetted, leaped, spent my Saturday mornings

and preformed for faced blacked out by stage lights.

I'm from a place so far away it only exists in pages

and in the minds of Clare, Miller, Houck, and Lindsay. 

I'm from a past with a mistake, 

who was a liar, 

and broke my heart but taught me I deserve better. 

I'm from a man who wasn't my childhood prince,

but turned out to be a white Knight 

with a sense of humor, a kind heart, and desire to see the world. 

I'm from a long list of four-legged friends who greeted me every day.

I'm from clothes spilling out from closets and drawers on to the floor,

where papers are shuffled and piled one upon the other, 

where house can wait , because I have better things to do. 

I'm from two o'clock dance parties, Sunday Fundays, policies of friendships, and inside jokes. 

I'm from a dream of opening a Bead and Breakfast, 

being a published author, 

of being a mother, 

of being fulfilled.

It's a great writing activity.  If you write one, I would love the link or an email of it! You find out so much about a character (person) this way.

The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco

When Patricia's Great-Gramma Anna came to America as a child, the only things she brought along from Russia were her dress and the babushka she liked to throw up into the air when she was dancing. Soon enough, though, Anna outgrew the dress and her mother decided to incorporate it and the babushka into a quilt. "It will be like having a family in backhome Russia dance around us at night," she said. And so it was. Together with her Uncle Vladimir's shirt, Aunt Havalah's nightdress, and an apron of Aunt Natasha's, Anna's mother made a quilt that would be passed down through their family for almost a century. From one generation to the next, the quilt was used as a Sabbath tablecloth, a wedding canopy, and a blanket to welcome each new child into the world.

The Keeping Quilt, Patricia Polacco's signature piece, was first published in 1988 and won the Sydney Taylor Book Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries. This edition has been expanded to include Patricia's two children, who have also been able to share in the family tradition by using the quilt for birthdays and for play. Now a new generation of readers will come to cherish this heartwarming story of one family's special symbol of enduring love and faith.wn family, and the quilt that remains a symbol of their enduring love and faith.

I had the wonderful privilege of listening to this inspiring woman speak at the New York State Reading Association. Her topic was heroes in her life. She spoke of her grandmother and how she made sure that Patricia new her family history. She talked about the idiosyncrasies that the people we love have and what they mean to us after they have gone. When she talked about her grandmother's death there was not one dry eye in the house. 

She spoke of a teacher who realized that Patricia could not read. She talked about her had someone come in and help her. She talked about how when she saw the teacher 30 years later, how she thanked him.  

The book is a memoir. It would be great for modeling in the classroom and a great lesson about the importance of remembering your family. 

At this point, I want to take a minute to say thank you to a few people in my life.

My parents and brother - I am not me, without each of you 

Dr. Mosher - because when I told him I was going to be a writer, he said, "Go for it." 

Kristi for showing me so much more than dance 

Love Only Once by Johanna Lindsey - mini review

The Malorys

A family of dashing rogues and rakehell adventurers -- and ladies of uncommon beauty and incomparable spirit -- their amorous exploits are spoken of in envious whispers from Regency London to America′s shores.

Love Only Once

The exquisite niece of Lord Edward and Lady Charlotte Malory, Regina Ashton is abducted by Nicholas Eden -- an arrogant seducer hardened by a painful secret from his past.

Reggie has vowed to marry the golden-haired rogue who has besmirched her good name--and who arouses her womanly desires to an unendurable level. But her beauty only stirs Nicholas′s passion--giving rise to dangerous misunderstandings. . .and a love that can live only once in a lifetime.

I am a huge Lindsay fan. In fact the Malory family series is one of my favorite. I find myself always giggling at the antics this family does. I am slowly re-reading the series. The first one is the introduction of Regina Ashton, the niece of the Malory brothers (handsome and charming all four of them). Regina is special to me. She is the perfect definition of an imp (in a good way) and takes her family seriously and loves fiercely.

Introduce Nicholas Eden. Rake. Handsome. With a secret. He compromises Reggie's reputation and though he desires her more than anyone, marriage is something he is not willing to consider, for personal reasons, but he doesn't count on the weight of the Malory family. He is forced down the isle and somewhere in there they fall in love - I know shocking in a romance novel - but can't seem to get on the same page. Nicholas is so worried Reggie will judge him. Reggie is sure he will never want her again because of her uncles.

It's a great read

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