29. Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy - Cassandra Clare & Sandra Rees Brennan

Tales from Shadowhunter Academy #1

Listened to on my iPhone via Audible

Audio read by Devon Bostick

(1:40)

2015 Simon & Schuster

78 pgs.

Genre/Audience: YA Dystopia

Finished 4/25/2015

Goodreads rating: 4.19

My rating:    4

Setting: Sometime in the future at Shadowhunter Academy

My comments:  This short(ish) story about Simon was a blast.  I've only read the first two Shadowhunters books and this takes place after many of the sequels, but it was totally enjoyable all the same.  It was actually really, really funny and I had no trouble following it, especially knowing many of the characters, even if I didn't know some of the changes in their relationships that took place in the books I haven't read.  Yes, it's very Harry Potterish, but as a Harry Potter fan I welcome reminders and extensions of that "lovely" world!

Goodreads book summary: After living as a Mundane and a Vampire, Simon never thought he would become a Shadowhunter, but today he begins his training at Shadowhunter Academy.

28. Boundary Waters - William Kent Krueger

Cork O'Connor #2

Listened on my iPhone through Audible

Audio read by David Chandler

(10:52)

book - 1999, audio - 2010

416 pgs.

Adult murder mystery

Finished 4/24/2014

Goodreads rating: 4.06

My rating:   4.5

Setting: contemporary Minnesota; late fall

My comments:  4.5 Interesting personalities and a semi-complicated plot with a bit of a surprise here and there made this book a great read (or listen-to).  I greatly enjoy the protagonist and I loved the way that the reader got to look at what was going on in three different places throughout the story. So.....excellent plot, characterization, and setting!

Goodreads book summary:  The Quetico-Superior Wilderness: more than two million acres of forest, white-water rapids, and uncharted islands on the Canadian/American border. Somewhere in the heart of this unforgiving territory, a young woman named Shiloh -- a country-western singer at the height of her fame -- has disappeared. Her father arrives in Aurora, Minnesota, to hire Cork O'Connor to find his daughter, and Cork joins a search party that includes an ex-con, two FBI agents, and a ten-year-old boy. Others are on her trail as well -- men hired not just to find her, but to kill her.
A           s the expedition ventures deeper into the wilderness, strangers descend on Aurora, threatening to spill blood on the town's snowy streets. Meanwhile, out on the Boundary Waters, winter falls hard. Cork's team of searchers loses contact with civilization, and like the brutal winds of a Minnesota blizzard, death -- violent and sudden -- stalks them.

$14 to 14 Charities

Facebook post on March 26, 2015

I cannot believe it's been 14 years since I lost my husband and Brian and Laura lost their dad. The anniversary of the day he died is a tough day for us, but it is definitely a time to remember him - to celebrate his life, his energy, and his legacy. I wanted to do something a little different and special to honor him today, so I sat down and wrote 14 checks for $14 each to 14 different charities that he would've approved of, in his memory. If anyone would like to join me and donate $14 to the charity of their choice in his memory, I would be truly grateful. I'd love it if you'd let me know so that I can create some sort of memorial. 14 years ago I promised him he would not be forgotten. He hasn't been. And he won't be. (And thanks so much for reading this to the end.)

Here's where I gave:

Northeast Harbor Library - website
Camp Beech Cliff - website
UCC - Northeast Harbor, ME - website
Friends of Acadia - website
Ronald McDonald House - Bangor - website
Ronald McDonald House - Tucson - website
Pima County Public Library - website (asked them to put it towards a good mystery...)
Hermitage No Kill Cat Shelter - Tucson - website
Ben's Bells - Tucson - website
Heifer Project International (donated through Ella's GS Troop #10552) - Heifer website
JDRF - Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation - website
Project Linus - website
Soles4Soles - website
Donors Choose.org - website (this donation went to a 3-5 art classroom in Fort Smith, AR for quality scissors - Steve and I visited here on one of the hottest days in his life - 108 degrees - it was unforgettable)

That's 14!

Grandmother's Flower Garden - Week 7 Update

Three weeks since my last posting....including 10 days vacation on the east coast.  I took my hexies with me, but since I can only sew them together with my glasses off, this eliminated some of my quality work time.  I can baste them with my glasses on, so I got to do quite a few of them.  A lot of whip stitching happened on the plane - and because the quarters in the economy seats are so confined, I stabbed myself in the cheek!  Here's what I have completed so far:

I also started a pillow for Ella.  I've got the flower done, still have to turn it into a pillow.  That added another 37 hexies to baste and sew together...

I spread out on Laura's kitchen table (it was so wonderful to be there...)

The count, at the end of 7 weeks:

Completed flowers:  38

Completed kits (flowers ready to be sewn together): 12

Diamonds completed: 10

B/W Edge Rows of 10 completed:  2

Hexies for other projects: 40

Hexies waiting: 343

Total hexies:  1442

Total single edges sewn:  1965

Letterboxing Experience #1 - Two Fails and a HIT!

During Spring Break in Pennsylvania, Ella and I had one full day together, just the two of us.  Since she's almost finished Brownies and she's not yet earned the Letterboxing Badge, we decided to try it out.  I'd learned about Letterboxing a few years ago, but had never done anything but research it.  So she found a stamp she liked at Michaels (a pawprint) and gave herself the trail name "Puppy Power."

First, I used the Letterboxing site and found a short hike, close to Mt. Holly Springs, called Girl . Scouts Rule.  The day was ultra-gorgeous and perfect.  The hike was a lot longer than expected, but the trail was excellent, totally flat, and shaded the entire way.  However, there was no letterbox.  None.  We hunted hard.  Bummer. It was a disappointing walk back to the car, but we had some great conversations and cool rest stops.

Second, we headed up to King's Gap to find  "Gloria's Pepsi."  Once again we followed all the directions, and once again came up empty.  Double Bummer.

Undaunted, we set out to find "Beautiful Spring," which is at a rest stop on 81 North.  Eureka!  We found it!

I didn't have my own stamp yet, so Puppy Power was the only one who got to stamp inside the log.  Needless to say, we were both more-than elated!

MOVIE - While We're Young

Rating/Time

Wide/Limited release

Viewed date at

RT Critic: Audience:

Cag: 6/Awesome 5/Loved it 4/Liked it a lot 3/Liked it 2/It was okay 1/Didn’t like it

Directed by

Studio

Based on the book by

Actors

My comments:

RT Summary:

27. Twisted Innocence - Terri Blackstock

Audio read by Nan Gurley

6 Unabridged cds (&;28)

2015 Zondervan/Brilliance Audio

320 pgs.

Adult Mystery - Faith Based, I think you'd call it....

Finished 4/14/15

Goodreadsrating: 4.32

My rating: 2/It was okay

PBS trade

Setting; contemporary Panama City, FL

My comments: Three sisters - and three brothers (though one is deceased) - still trying to put away the drug lord that has paralyzed the family.  Cops, investigators, and lawyers, all rally around youngest sibling Holly as she tries to distance herself from her 4-week old daughter's father; Kathy as she tries to get her fiance a pardon from prison; and Juliet who is recovering from a bad marriage.  Then, all of a sudden, God is introduced, then slowly but surely the story includes talk of God and faith and gets a bit preachy - at least for me.  I actually don't think this was Ms. Blackstock's intention, but it became too overwhelming for me.  I believe there are a book or two that preceded this one, but I understood what was going on very well.  Some of the storyline just was a little unbelievable, but..... 

Goodreads book summary:  When Holly s secrets backfire, is the mess too big to unravel?
          Holly Cramer has worked hard to keep the identity of her daughter s father a secret, shamed and embarrassed by the one-night stand. But when the police knock on her door searching for Creed Kershaw, she realizes his identity isn t as hidden as she thought. The fact that Creed is a person of interest in a recent drug-related murder only increases her humiliatioWhen Holly s secrets backfire, is the mess too big to unravel?
          Holly Cramer has worked hard to keep the identity of her daughter s father a secret, shamed and embarrassed by the one-night stand. But when the police knock on her door searching for Creed Kershaw, she realizes his identity isn t as hidden as she thought. The fact that Creed is a person of interest in a recent drug-related murder only increases her humiliation.
          When Holly s and Creed s paths cross, Holly is unsure whether to be terrified of him or trust him. His tenderness with their daughter makes her want to believe his story that he had nothing to do with the murder. Then she discovers that Creed has a connection to Leonard Miller who killed both her sister s fiance and her brother-in-law, and kidnapped her nephews and things only become more complicated.
          Will Creed lead them to the man who has plagued her family, or become another of his victims?"
When Holly s and Creed s paths cross, Holly is unsure whether to be terrified of him or trust him. His tenderness with their daughter makes her want to believe his story that he had nothing to do with the murder. Then she discovers that Creed has a connection to Leonard Miller who killed both her sister s fiance and her brother-in-law, and kidnapped her nephews and things only become more complicated.
          Will Creed lead them to the man who has plagued her family, or become another of his victims?"

MOVIE - Home

Rating/Time

Wide/Limited release

Viewed date at

RT Critic: Audience:

Cag: 6/Awesome 5/Loved it 4/Liked it a lot 3/Liked it 2/It was okay 1/Didn’t like it

Directed by

Studio

Based on the book by

Actors

My comments:

RT Summary:

POETRY PICTURE BOOK - In Aunt Giraffe's Green Garden by Jack Prelutsky

Illustrated by Petra Matthers

2007, Greenwillow Books

64 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.50

My rating: 3

Endpapers: rusty red

Title Page: double page, with the title (etc) on the LEFT page - nice to model that anything goes

Illustrations: borders around each page, pages numbered

Here's a poem I'd model  to show that even silly poems need to make sense:

The Poodles Ate Oodles of Noodles

The poodles ate oodles of noodles,

the setters ate lettuce on rye.

A small Pekingese

at nothing but peas,

and a greyhound ran off with the pie.

Here's one that plays with colors:

In Amarillo, Texas

In Amarillo, Texas,

upon a yellow chair,

complete with yellow pillow,

sat little Willa Ware.

She at a yellow apple,

she ate a yellow pear,

while wearing yellow flowers

atop her yellow hair.

And of course I must include one that features Maine - and uses the wonderful word galoshes: (and gives kids the ridiculous notion that you can wander the beach and find a LOBSTER!!!! ...oh my, Mr. Prelutsky....)

There's a Lady in Galoshes

There's a lady in galoshes,

and her name is Jolly Jane.

How she loves to look for lobsters

on the rocky coast of Maine.

She can find them by the dozen

in the sun and wind and rain.

She's the queen of lobster ladies,

and her name is Jolly Jane.

T

My comments:  I love Prelutsky, but this isn't one of my favorites.  The illustrations are cool, but the poems are pretty young - too young, in most cases, for me to use with fourth graders.

Goodreads:  In this companion to The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders, a gardening giraffe, a contented bluebird, and poodles eating oodles of noodles are featured in a collection of 28 poems from the award-winning team of Prelutsky and Mathers. Full color.

Grandmother's Flower Garden - Week 4 Update

I can't wait to get home each evening to work on this!  My design wall (on the living room wall, so lovely!) has been a blast to use, so that I can pin up each flower or diamond as I complete them.  One finger and one thumb are seriously pricked, and I love it!

The count, at the end of four weeks:

Completed flowers:   29
Completed kits (flowers ready to be sewn together):  16
Diamonds completed:  5
Hexies waiting   267

Total hexies:  1167
Total single-edges sewn:  1256

26. Hundred-Dollar Baby by Robert B. Parker

Spencer #34

Audio read by Joe Mantagna

5 unabridged cds

2006 Putnam Adult

291 pgs.

Adult Mystery

Finished 3/29/2015

Goodreads rating: 3.79

My rating:   4 - Loved it

PBS - will now trade it back in

Setting: contemporary Boston with a couple of forays to NYC

My comments:  It makes me so sad to know that Robert B. Parker is gone.  I feel like I know Spencer, that he's a personal friend.  I've read almost every one of the books in this series at least once.  Spencer's tongue-in-cheek humor, morality, friendships, intelligence, honor, and "his" Boston are all tremendously endearing to me. Then this story, which he wrote nearing the end of his life, about his re-acquaintance with April Kyle and the efforts he went through to "save" her once again. There's a very thin line between goodness and badness - and Parker has always made me realize that there can be a lot of goodness in the bad guys and badness in the good ones. These mysteries, for me, aren't just figuring out whodunnit.  They probe deeper, and leave me thinking for a good long while.

Goodreads book summary:  A client from a decades-old case reaches out to Boston PI Spenser-but can he rescue troubled April Kyle once more? 
          Longtime Spenser fans will remember that once upon a time, though not so long ago, there was a girl named April Kyle-a beautiful teenage runaway who turned to prostitution to escape her terrible family life. The book was 1982's Ceremony, and, thanks to Spenser, April escaped Boston's "Combat Zone" for the relative safety of a high-class New York City bordello. April resurfaced in Taming a Sea-Horse, again in dire need of Spenser's rescue-this time from the clutches of a controlling lover. But April Kyle's return inHundred-Dollar Baby is nothing short of shocking.
          When a mature, beautiful, and composed April strides into Spenser's office, the Boston PI barely hesitates before recognizing his once and future client. Now a well-established madam herself, April oversees an upscale call-girl operation in Boston's Back Bay. Still looking for Spenser's approval, it takes her a moment before she can ask him, again, for his assistance. Her business is a success; what's more, it's an all-female enterprise. Now that some men are trying to take it away from her, she needs Spenser.
          April claims to be in the dark about who it is that's trying to shake her down, but with a bit of legwork and a bit more muscle, Spenser and Hawk find ties to organized crime and local kingpin Tony Marcus, as well as a scheme to franchise the operation across the country. As Spenser again plays the gallant knight, it becomes clear that April's not as innocent as she seems. In fact, she may be her own worst enemy. 

25. Booked to Die - John Dunning

Cliff Janeway #1

Audio read by George Guidall

Unabridged (11:03)

1992 Scribner

394 pgs.

Adult Murder Mystery

Finished 3/29/2015

Goodreads rating:

My rating:  (5) Awesome

Audible download

Setting: Late 1980s Denver, CO

My comments:  :As I first began reading this, even though I knew it was a "bibliomystery" (love that word!), the fact that it was a contemporary mystery from over 20 years ago put me off a bit, I'm not sure why.  However, it didn't take long for me to become entirely engrossed.  There's mystery; and submystery; and the fun of building up a new bookselling enterprise; and insight into the book-buying buisiness; and lots of intricate, interesting, well-fleshed-out characters in a fascinating setting (Denver).  I couldn't put it down (read/listened to the entire thing over a 24-hour period) and now I want more.  As fast-paced as it was, I don't think Mr. Dunning missed a trick.  Excellent storytelling, plotting, characterization.  Loved it.

Goodreads book summary:  Denver homicide detective Cliff Janeway may not always play by the book, but he is an avid collector of rare and first editions. After a local bookscout is killed on his turf, Janeway would like nothing better than to rearrange the suspect's spine. But the suspect, local lowlife Jackie Newton, is a master at eluding the law, and Janeway's wrathful brand of off-duty justice costs him his badge. 
          Turning to his lifelong passion, Janeway opens a small bookshop -- all the while searching for evidence to put Newton away. But when prized volumes in a highly sought-after collection begin to appear, so do dead bodies. Now, Janeway's life is about to start a precarious new chapter as he attempts to find out who's dealing death along with vintage Chandlers and Twains.

24. Flight 12: A Kristin Cunningham Thriller - Allan Leverone

#1 of 12 (all on Kindle) of FLIGHT 12, all related and to become one book (apparently)ight

May 2014, Rock Bottom Books

79 pgs.

Adult Mystery

Finished 3/28/2015

Goodreads rating: 4.28

My rating:  2 - it was okay

Acquired through Kindle

Setting:  contemporary Boston

1st sentence/s:"The stairs were creaky, and that was a problem."

My comments:  I didn't find Kristin a particularly believable character, but I have not read any of the previous stories where I might have gotten a little more feeling for her.  I can't picture her Houdini-like escape from a deserted train car, even after reading twice. The FBI sure is sloppy in this - in more ways than one.  Those are my thoughts after reading this short story.  It sets up the premise for the next eleven, and you sure wonder what's going on in that plane .... and it was an OKAY read, which doesn't mean it's horrible....

Goodreads book summary:  In FLIGHT 12, A KRISTIN CUNNINGHAM THRILLER, FBI Special Agent Kristin Cunningham is still recovering from injuries suffered preventing the assassination of U.S. President Robert Cartwright. Assigned to a desk, Kristin is thrilled to learn she's been recruited for an undercover sting designed to break up a brutal Russian Mafia human sex trafficking ring. 
          Kristin's job is simple: play a frightened teen kidnap victim in an attempt to identify and apprehend the high-level members of the human trafficking ring. 
          Almost immediately, the FBI sting begins to unravel, and Kristin Cunningham finds herself unarmed and bound, taken prisoner by a desperate, highly volatile man. Now Kristin must focus on staying alive, matching wits with a cunning criminal with nothing to lose. 

PICTURE BOOK - Let the Celebrations Begin! by Margaret Wild

A Story of  Hope for the Liberation
illustrated by Julie Vivas
for Older Kids
1991, 2013 Candlewick Press

HC $16.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.10

My rating: 5 stars!

1^st line/s:  "We are planning a party, a very special party, the women and I.  My name is Miriam, and this is where I live.  Hut 18, bed 22."

My comments:  Not based on a true story, but that possibility becomes more real after reading the quote from Antique Toys and Their Background: "A small collection of stuffed toys has been preserved which were made by Polish women in Belsen for the first children's party held after the liberation." This is a powerful book. Words and illustrations couldn't work more beautifully together. It doesn't TELL a story of the Holocaust, it SHOWS it. Brilliantly, with a quiet serenity that makes it over-the-top-special. Not for little ones.

Goodreads:  Miriam lives in hut 18, bed 22. She has little to eat and nothing to play with, but she can remember what it was like before, when she had her own food, her own bed, and her very own toys. As World War II nears an end, everyone says the soldiers are coming, so Miriam joins the women in planning a celebration. Every night, while the guards sleep, they busy themselves crafting toys out of scraps of their clothing to surprise the younger children. Based on a reference to a small collection of stuffed toys made by women in Belsen for the first party held after the liberation of the camp, this new edition of Let the Celebrations Begin!, originally published in 1996, is an affecting story 
of human survival.

PICTURE BOOK - Earmuffs for Everyone by Meghan McCarthy

How Chester Greenwood Became Known as the Inventor of Earmuffs
illustrated by the author

2015, Paula Wiseman, Simon & Schuster

HC $17.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.59

My rating: 4

Illustrations:  a bit cartoonish, but they work okay.

1^st line/s:  "The word "muff" has been around since the Middle Ages.  Starting in the 1700s, people wore muffs on their hands to keep them warm."

My comments:  Excellent resource to teach kids about researching completely before writing informational/non-fiction.  Chester Greenwood is known - and celebrated - as the INVENTOR OF THE EARMUFF.  But his is not, not at all.  In these 40 pages we learn a little about Chester Greenwood and his life, about the history of earmuffs, about how history became "changed," about inventions and getting a patent for them, and then, by reading the excellent 2-page afterword ("A Note about This Book"), how much research went into correctly chronicling this history.  Includes extensive bibliography and acknowledgements.

Goodreads:  As a young boy, Chester Greenwood went from having cold ears to becoming a great inventor in this nonfiction picture book from the acclaimed author-illustrator of Pop! and Daredevil.
          When your ears are cold, you can wear earmuffs, but that wasn't true for Chester Greenwood back in 1873. Earmuffs didn't exist yet! But during yet another long and cold Maine winter, Chester decided to do something about his freezing ears, and he designed the first pair of ear protectors (a.k.a. earmuffs) out of wire, beaver fur, and cloth. He received a patent for his design by the time he was nineteen, and within a decade the Chester Greenwood & Company factory was producing and shipping "Champion Ear Protectors" worldwide!
          But that was just the beginning of Chester's career as a successful businessman and prolific inventor. In this fun and fact-filled picture book you can find out all about his other clever creations. The Smithsonian has declared Chester Greenwood one of America's most outstanding inventors. And if you';re ever in Maine on December 21, be sure to don a pair of earmuffs and celebrate Chester Greenwood day!