Children's Literature Is For More Than Just Reading

LOVE bookshelves...

2011-03-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

I love bookshelves and dream of built in beauties someday. Found a fun video, "Organizing Bookshelves" by by Sean Ohlenkamp and Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp. The credits made me laugh!

Helpful Blog for Teachers for Using Literature

2011-03-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

Just found this blog, Classroom Bookshelf, that I feel is a wonderful site for teachers who want to use literature for "more than just reading." This is the description from this blog site: Every Monday we "post an entry on a recently published book for children or young adults. Each entry includes three sections: Book Review, Teaching Invitations, and Further Explorations. Our goal is to identify books that can be used in K-8 classrooms in a variety of ways."
Since spending time with classroom teachers within the last 6 months in our Teacher Picture Book Club, we have been finding that teachers are continually looking for quality books that relate to their content area teaching. They are looking to expand their lists of appropriate and helpful books related to themes that fit into their curricula. This site is a good place to find these lists and recommendations for quality literature. I highly recommend it.

Graphic Novel

2011-01-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

I have just learned about this book, Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty by Greg Neri. Here is the book trailer.

Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty from Greg Neri on Vimeo.

I'm thinking about using this book with my cohort group that is comprised of all urban teachers, as the focus seems to fit with some of the issues we've discussed and lamented about. I've shared this idea with the group and we'll see what they think. It has gotten high reviews. I'm curious as to how the teachers will view this book. It's on the top of my list to read.

Return to The Blue Rose Girls Blog

2010-12-07T12:55:00.000-08:00

Spent some time today perusing children's literature blogs. So hard to find the time lately, but reading them gives me a shot in the arm and excites me so! Found again the Blue Rose Girls blog (bluerosegirls.blogspot.com), written by "Children's literature professionals who talk about books" including Grace Lin and Alvina Ling and others. I first learned of this blog when I was diligently following Grace Lin's blog (A Solitary Grace) and found a link to the Blue Rose Girls. I love Grace's books and her blog was so personal too. I began reading it when her husband Robert was living out his last days of cancer and she had various artists create Snowflakes for fundraising. I would have loved to buy one, but they were way beyond my budget, unfortunately.

I haven't followed her blog lately, but used to love reading about her work as a children's author and illustrator and loved reading her blog entries to trips to China. Her current blog is Grace Notes. Glad I was reunited again with Grace Lin (and other Blue Rose Girls) at their blog today.

Beginning Teacher Picture Book Club!

2010-10-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

Today Kathy Henn-Reinke and I begin research by implementing a Teacher Book Club focusing on picture books. It will be a short term club (October to March) where a small group of interested teachers spend a few hours each month talking about children's picture books. We plan to learn more about teachers' ideas about picture books and determine ways of implementing teacher book clubs related to children's literature as a form of professional development. Tonight I plan to provide some background on the visual elements of picture books and design, using my favorite visual book, The House Cat, by Helen Cooper.

Jane Addams Children's Book Award - 2010

2010-05-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

On April 2th, 2010, the 2010 Jane Addams Children's Book Award was announced. This award is "an anual award that honors children's books of literary and artistic merit that invite children to think deeply about peace, social justice, world community and gender and race equality." (Taken from the JACABA annual announcement and celebration flyer.)

See this year's winners at the 2010 awards page. I will be checking out these books and past winners to catch up on this important, empowering genre of literature for children.

National Keep a Poem in Your Pocket Day

2010-04-29T07:31:00.000-07:00

Today is National Keep a Poem in Your Pocket Day, a part of National Poetry month. It was started in 2002 in New York City and has gone national.

To celebrate, I am sharing a favorite poem by a favorite children's author, Jean Little, from her book, Hey World, Here I Am! published in 1986.

Afternoon in March

By Jean Little

I run,

Not to anywhere,

Not away from anybody.

I run just to run,

To make my heart wham,

My eyes blur,

My side pain sharply.

I slow down at last,

Gulping the sweet air,

Almost crying...

I'm crazy.

But there was nobody ahead of me

Down that whole, long, waiting stretch of

sun-bare sidewalk!

Oh, it was like a bird flying,

Like a song,

Like a shout!

I was freedom.

I have loved this book for years and have often used the poems from this little gem with my elementary-aged students and preservice teachers in the past as a means for encouraging personal reading response.

ReadWriteThink is a website created by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Reading Association (IRA) that contains lesson plans developed by teachers to help other teachers, as well as many other professional resources related to literacy. They have a link for celebrating National Keep A Poem In Your Pocket Day with students that includes lessons related to this event and poetry in general for teaching children in grades 1-12.

Poets.org also has a link on it's website to help celebrate this poetic day.

W. Nikola-Lisa Visits My Students!

2010-02-26T09:59:00.000-08:00

W.Nikola-Lisa - Author and Storyteller

I want to thank W. Nikola-Lisa, author of over 20 children's books, for coming to speak to my group of teachers this past week. He not only "spoke" to us about his own books and his writing and creative process, but he highly entertained us as he read many children's books - his own and those of others that he likes to share with children.

Rave reviews from all who attended. I must agree - he was very entertaining, had us laughing and singing and chanting along with him and was the perfect "shot in the arm" for my students who are elementary teachers. They appreciated his love of picture books and the fun way in which he shared them and highlighted many ways to use them that would be engaging to children. One teacher told him, "I don't know you, but I know you now through your books."

Here are a few pictures that highlight his dynamic personality! Donning a baseball cap and a rubber pig nose, he is reading The Book of Pigericks: Pig Limericks - written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. Not only did he resemble a pig, he also incorporated pig snorts to punctuate the reading of the limericks written about pigs. He had us all in stitches. Here Nikola shows us the galley page for his first book, 1, 2, 3 Thanksgiving! and illustrated by Robin Kramer and explains the process of how picture books are produced.

Nikola has many personas he takes on when reading books to children (and in this case, to us, teachers). Here are a few he pulled from his traveling suitcase:

One of my favorite books by Nikola:

To learn more about W. Nikola-Lisa and his books, visit his website: http://www.nikolabooks.com/

and read his blog, "Storytelling Tips for Teachers: An Occasional Blog" at: http://www.nikolabooks.blogspot.com/

Stitches by David Small

2009-11-04T09:49:00.000-08:00

Jules Feiffer has this to say about the book and it relays my feelings exactly. I couldn't have said it any better, so why not leave it up to the experts:

"Like the boy in this autobiographical novel my first reading of Stitches left me speechless. And in awe. David Small presents us with a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem. Spare in words, painful in pictures, Small, in a style of dry menace, draws us a boy's life that you wouldn't want to live but you can't put down. From its first line four pages in, "Mama had her little cough", we know that we are in the hands of a master."

Here is a trailer for the book - haunting and appropos. Takes me right back into this "movie" that David Small has created as a memoir of his life.

The graphic novels I have read and experienced have all been dark and gloomy and focus on trauma and social ills. Is this typical for graphic novels? Even the ones published for younger readers/viewers seem to have this feel to them.

The last one I read, Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies, takes the serious and ominous subject of cancer and relays the process of his mother dying of the horrible disease.

This book was cathartic for me and I cried throughout. The mother in the book looked just like my bald-headed, feeble 60 year old mother who experienced so many of the exact same things. I was awed that Fies could portray my own mother's experience and my family's through the visuals he used.

My next reading project will be to read more graphic novels for young people so as to determine if there are any/many that are more uplifting and "fun." I see such potential for developing visual skills from these texts but wouldn't necessarily want to expose young children to only the dark messages that many of them portray.

Reading...Two Year Old Style

2009-10-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

Found this old picture of my son when he was two, reading in the rocker in his room. Couldn't resist posting it here. He still loves books - mostly nonfiction.

Oldie but Goodie

2009-09-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

What the Dormouse Said: Lessons for Grown-ups from Children's Books - Collected by Amy Gash, Illustrations by Pierre Le-Tan and Forward by Judith Viorst. 1999, Algonquin Books.

A really fun book that I have come back to for many years and that I have flagged with numerous sticky notes highlighting quotes from children's books that are wonderful messages about life.

Some of my favorites include:

There's nothing as cozy as a piece of candy and a book. - from Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic by Betty MacDonald (1949).

"What is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?" - from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Trees are very nice. They fill up the sky. - from A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry (1956).

Front yards are boring. Backyards tell stories. - from the poem, Backyards from the book Popcorn by James Stevenson (1998).

Some of these vignettes would be good to use with student writers as prompts. I could take each of these I've listed and write an essay. They really spur my creative juices.

Best Books for Children?

2009-07-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

Just read this post by Jennifer, blog owner of Mixed Race America and reposted as an entry for the online blog I am an ardent reader of, Anti-Racist Parent: For Parents Committed to Raising Children with an Anti-Racist Outlook. In this post she questions the list of "Best Kids' Books Ever" as espoused by Nicholas Kristof as written in the New York Times.

She questions the things I have pondered for a long time about "well-meaning" adults recommending THE books that all children should read, yet they often are mostly (if not all) non diverse in nature. These same well meaning adults give high praise to "classics" that are written from a White perspective, and most often, a male perspective.

When I was in graduate school and finding the topic for my PhD, my first passion was to investigate the notion of diverse children not being able to find books written and illustrated that included representations of themselves nor included life situations and experiences that reflected their own. This was fascinating to me, as well as appalling. As a child, I always had books that matched my White middle class self and read about characters who lived similar lives to my own. It's sad that it took me until grad school to learn that other children didn't have this same luxury. Although I didn't end up choosing this to be my life-long main children's literature research interest it still is a issue that is near and dear to my heart, especially as I look for books for my own children that reflect their Asian heritage - a heritage that is not my own, but theirs.

Jennifer's has written an interesting post in response to Kristof's op ed column - well stated, in my opinion. Wish I could have said it as well.

Great Website for a Great Purpose

2009-07-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

I just found a great website that allows anyone to trade paperback books of all kinds (and even hardcovers, textbooks, children's board books, audiobooks, etc). It's called paperback swap. Click on the picture to learn more.

I just posted the requisite 10 books to earn 2 credits to begin swapping. I'll keep you posted on how well this works. What a great idea for sharing books and getting books for just the cost of shipping!

Be Boy Buzz by bell hooks

2009-06-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

Written by bell hooks and illustrated by Chris Raschka. Love the energy in this book. It is a good reflection on boys and all their moods and activity. Of course, Chris Raschka's typical lively illustrations add to the energy and portray the main character boy in lines done in chalk or crayon (hard to tell which) and solid brown watercolor forms of circles depicting heads and enlongated ovals that form arms and legs.
Few words, but words chosen carefully and in large text, mimicking the "largeness" of being a boy with many personalities and moods. "All Be Boy Buzz."

The day after I read this book to my 6 year old boy, he called me "Be Woman" out of the blue... I didn't know what he meant. Then he said, "Remember the book momma? Be Boy Buzz. You are Be Woman!" I love it! You never know how a book will influence a reader.

Secondhand World - Katherine Min

2009-06-22T13:31:00.001-07:00

Why woudn't I think this would be a hard book to get through? All I had to do was read the back cover and see words like "just spent 95 days in a pediatric burn unit" and "fire that killed her parents" and "Isa is bullied by American classmates." The cover was deceiving - I thought it would be a lighter read. Boy, was I wrong.

This is the latest book the Korean book club is reading and discussing tonight. I almost didn't finish because I really had a hard time getting into it and was finding it painful to read even. Case in point, on page forty, Isa's four year old brother dies getting run over by the delivery van delivering the dishwasher her mother coveted. I was devastated and couldn't read on for days. I did pick it up again on Saturday night, determined to get as far as I could before book club.

This book is about a lot of sadness and tragedy, hurt and pain that the main character, a teenaged girl, Isa (Myung Hee) endured in the short 17 years of her life. Tough to read - but once I got back into it, I was drawn in. Katherine Min has an engaging style of writing. The many very short chapters were encouraging - I'd get to the end of one and say to myself read just one more to see what happens, but then I kept going, repeating this pattern.

Min's writing was beautiful in places and I often stopped to reread the words to let them sink in. I was really struck by the words near the end of the book, "It's a secondhand world we are born into. What is novel to us is only because we are newborn and what we cannot see, that has come before--what our parents have seen and been and done--are the hand me downs we begin to wear as swaddling clothes, even as we ourselves are naked." (pp. 272). I want to think about this sentiment and place myself into it's depths.

This was a haunting book for me and one that will stay with me for a while. Not many of the books we have read for the Korean book club have had this effect on me. It was interesting to learn that School Library Journal put this book on it's 2006 Best Adult Books for High School Readers List.

Katherine Min's website is interesting and sheds some light into the book here.

The Savage - by David Almond

2009-06-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

The Savage by David Almond, illustrated by Dave McKean.

As I began this book, I was completely drawn in. I love the short length of it, but the depth that is within the short length. The graphic novel intermingled with novella format...very different.

I was intrigued as I read, not really catching on completely to the main character Blue's wild imagination and grief that was being portrayed.

The ending was heart wrenching as Blue heard his father's voice speaking to him..."Blue. Stay happy son. I 'm with you always." This still affects me as I write it as I respond as if it were my own father sending this message to me.

Reviews of this book talk about the stages of grief being portrayed so well by David Almond. Would young people find this book as moving as I have? Would love to write about the illustrations by Dave McKean, but I feel I don't have enough experience with graphic novels. They definitely fit the text and the title -- the eerie, unknown nature of grief is portrayed well.

Next up for me to read is another book illustrated by Dave McKean called, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Another "dark" and mysterious book but highly recommended for the illustrations.

Minji's Salon - Eun-hee Choung

2009-06-03T07:49:00.001-07:00

Recently read Minji's Salon with a group of graduate level students who are teachers. As part of the experience they read many books that have multicultural topics and issues and I included this one in the mix. The goal was to have them NOT think about how to use the books with their own students (a natural thing for teachers to do when they read children's books) but to read the book and make personal connections if possible. I'll be posting about some of the other books we read in future posts.

They loved this book and it spurred discussions about girls and hair and trying to emulate older girls and women, something that most of the women in the group were able to relate to and shared many fond (and not so fond) memories about.

In this highly visual picture book with little text and short sentences, Minji spends the day in her own personal beauty salon at home doing up her dog in a similar manner as her mother is receiving at the salon in the city at the same time. The teachers loved the illustrations and were especially tickled by the similarities that occurred in the the spreads opposite of one another where the left side of the spread showed Minji's mother at the salon and the right side Minji's salon at home.

Similar elements are reflected in this manner such as the page with Minji's mother in rollers and getting color painted on her hair on the left and Minji applying children's multicolored paint and pencil and crayon "rollers" to her dog's fur.

My adult students had a good laugh at the spread depicting Minji's mother ensconced in a large hair dryer like contraption and the right spread mimicking this same scene with the dog wearing a pair of Minji's underpants as the "hair dryer" on its head containing a similar color and pattern as that of the hair dryer at the real salon.

There were other books about hair, including Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron that were read and it really sparked discussion among the teachers about their own hair and both White and African American people's fascination with each other's hair and the frustrations with their own hair. It was a great discussion and these books really helped them make personal connections to their own hair. Of course, the discussion then included the children in their own urban classrooms, where African American students (especially girls) are strongly affected by the state of their hair.

I originally purchased the book for my daughter as it depicts a spunky Asian girl, just like my daughter. At just four, however, she wasn't as excited about it as my adult students were. Maybe as we continue to read it she'll be able to connect more. Just recently she wanted to try to put her own hair in a ponytail because she has a classmate who does her own and she wanted to experience it too. Sadly she gave up in frustration... I guess it's not time yet!

Mei Ling Hopgood - Author Reading

2009-06-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

Last week our Korean Connection book club went to see visiting author Mei Ling Hopgood - Lucky Girl is her book. I had found a review of her book in the paper and the book club decided to read it and go hear her speak. Here is a picture from the event: She is the Asian woman in the middle.

She was adopted as a young girl from China and the book chronicles her getting to know her Chinese birth family. The book club was interested in reading the book and meeting the author because we have read many books written by Korean adoptees who are upset by the lack of culture exposure or interest their American parents showed as they grew up. Mei Ling didn't feel this way and said many positive things about her adoptive parents.

I finished the book when we went to see her and she read some excerpts from it. She read the scene where she describes hearing that her birthfamily is interested in seeing her. When I read it for the first time, the velvet dress she was wearing and food she was preparing when she got the phone call was very vivid. I loved hearing her read it as well.

It was nice having a few minutes to talk to her and tell her about our group. She has two Korean brothers who were adopted as well and this connection was nice for our book club group.

Book Trailers

2009-04-03T13:49:00.001-07:00

Today while reading the new The Writer Magazine, I noticed a short article on book trailers. This was serendipitous because yesterday was the first time I have ever seen a video trailer for a book, much less a children's book. Yesterday's blog post includes the book trailer for The Book Thief.

I guess it is the latest trend and marketing tool in the publishing world for promoting new books. Many of them can be found on YouTube, MySpace and publisher's websites. Now I will be spending more time reviewing books in this manner!

I thought I'd add another book trailer I found on YouTube - a book I have not seen yet, but the trailer has me intrigued. A book about adoption and the young girl looks to be Asian with a Caucasian mom. Sounds like my story! I'll need to find this book to see if it is a quality book to share with my kids.

The Book Thief

2009-04-02T11:37:00.002-07:00

Stayed up way too late last night to finish the last 80 or so pages of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Been reading this book for the last month or so and although it took a good amount of time to truly get into it, the last 300 or so pages were riveting for me.

Reading others' reviews of the book were affirming to me. One blogger wrote that she sobbed during the last 30 pages of the book. This comment could have been written by me! That is exactly what I did - I sobbed. I don't remember ever sobbing while reading a book - but this book had me with tears streaming down my cheeks like mad and strange sad sounds emanating from my throat. I was afraid I'd wake the sleeping children.

You'd think that sobbing would mean that overall a reader would not have liked the book as much as I did. I mean, who wants to sob and feel the extreme pain and anguish that I did as I read this book? However, it was an important book to read, one that moved me deeply. The characters are easy to become attached to - not perfect people, but real people with all their foibles and bad personality traits. Hard not to love a real person. They all had to endure so much during the war in Germany - even the Germans. I kept taking moments away from reading and looking around my room at all that I had, appreciating the roof over my head, the safety I feel daily in my life, having a family intact and close by.

I think I will always be able to visualize the small village in which Liesel, the main character lived. Her home, the basement in which her family hid a Jewish man, the Mayor's wife's library...

There were also some wonderfully written words that made me stop and reread and appreciate the language. I love books like this, especially books that are written for young people. They deserve good writing like this.

Here is a video that alludes to the book and its themes and events. I do think it would make a good movie.

Bee Bim Bop

2009-03-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

In honor of my children who are digging this book today, I wanted to pay tribute to it. Bee Bim Bop by Linda Sue Park. This book is an ideal book for young children due to the rhythm and repetition as the young protagonist begs her mom to hurry as she helps her making bee bim bop, a well-loved Korean dish. My kids often begin chanting at will, "hurry momma hurry, time for bee bim bap." I appreciate the depiction of the intergenerational Korean family and as they gather at the table to say grace before eating. Included is a recipe for bee bim bop, but our family would rather go to the local Korean restaurant to experience it...

Here is a picture of Linda Sue Park and I at the International Reading Association Conference in San Antonio in 2005. I was very excited to meet her and have a chance to tell her how much I admired her books. I also told her about the Korean reading book club I started for parents who have adopted Korean children and how we have read and enjoyed all of her books. The group especially liked Project Mulberry. I would love to have her come talk to our book club and also to the children for a special event sometime.

Favorite Books?

2008-12-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

The CCBC (Children's Cooperative Book Center - at the University of Wisconsin Madison) listserv is asking members to share their favorites of 2008 during the month of December, as they do every year at this time. I truly feel at a disadvantage - many of the people of this listserv are librarians who have "free" access to new books and can read them as soon as they are out. Me on the other hand, get books often after they come into paperback or get books a year or more after they first come out. I'm ok with that. As a matter of fact, that is the way I like to read - I read by interest, not by reading what just is published (although, if it's highly touted, I may buy it in hardcover and rush out to purchase it).

For example, I just finished The Invention of Hugo Cabret - the 2008 Caldecott (but published in 2007 - so it is not of this year). I will write another post about this book - it was quite a surprise for me.

Hence, much of what I read is published past the current year - even long past the current year. This is fine by me. However, when it comes time to reflect on the year of books through the CCBC listserv, I feel a bit left out. But the good thing is, my running list of books I want to purchase and read when they come out in paperback now grows - as I see what other experts recommend as the best of the year.

Aesthetic Experience Picture Book

2008-12-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

Inventor McGregor by Kathleen T. Pelley and illustrated by Michael Chesworth. (2006 - Farrar Straus Giroux)

A fun picture book on the Best Children's Books of the Year 2007 list put out by Bank Street College of Education. It is categorized as humor, but I think it's much deeper than that. Hector McGregor lives with his cheery and eccentric family (including a hen named Hattie who travels on Hector's head) and is well known for his inventing and helping devise things to help the townsfolk out - from mending broken things to "concoct(ing) some thingamabob or thingamajig to make their world a little better or brighter." I personally appreciate the helping hands gizmo that gets strapped to the shoulders that he invented for Mrs. McIver who has triplets. With her 7 mechanical arms, she can now wipe noses, feed children and provide them with what they need without challenge.

Hector is very creative, and this creativity is fueled by his devotion to keeping the arts in his and his family's life as "in between his ideas simmering and sparking," he spends time with nature, taking in the sights and sounds, painting and playing his fiddle. Each night before the family goes to bed, Hector plays his fiddle and his family dances and makes merry.

All is well and good until one day he is approached by the President of the "Royal Society of Inventors" and encouraged to take a job in the city where he could invent all day in his own laboratory. After some hesitation, he takes the job. Sadly this means long treks into the city by train and long days of sitting alone dressed in his new white lab coat and badge in a sterile and silent lab. It also means getting home too late at night to spend time playing and dancing with his beloved family. He is unable to do any inventing...the creative well is dry. Looking out the window one day, he sees workers repainting the sign of the toy store across the street. In a flash of creativity he runs over and borrows the paint. He decorates the massive white walls of of his lab with huge pictures of his family engaged in fun activities. Doing this, he realizes where he really wants to be and dashes out to join his old daily life with his family at home.

Finally, back at home, his ideas and creativity again flows. New inventions pour out of him. He is happy to be where is most creative "just as long as he could sing and paint, and fiddle and fling, and love all that he had to love."

Love the idea of this book. It really speaks to the creative process. It's hard to be creative if you aren't in a place where you feel comfortable and open. I know this feeling myself.

The illustrations look to be watercolors. Whenever Hector is happy and feeling creative, the colors are bright and alive. From the bright red shock of wild hair on his head to bright colors of his natural surroundings, the mood portrays energy and happiness. When the story and Hector are unhappy, the colors are dull--such as when the president of the Royal Society of Inventors pays a visit - the sky pours down rain and the colors are drab blues and purples, signifying the upcoming doom. Hector's lab in the city is depicted on a double page spread that bleeds off the pages, done in neutral colors including Hector's white lab coat - again, showing the drab feelings he is experiencing.

Fun book!

Beginning the Musings

2008-12-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

Time to begin a blog devoted to what I read, typically a lot of children's and young adult literature. My writing partner and friend Kathy are waiting to hear if an "esteemed" publisher of books for teachers wants to publish our children's literature book - our second book together. While we wait, and continue to do some writing for it, I thought starting a blog to reflect on my reading would be a good diversion.

So what I am reading now? I just finished Twilight by Stephenie Meyer - the latest rage for mostly female teenagers (and many adults). A colleague who doesn't read a lot raved about it (her teenaged daughters cooerced her to read it) and convinced me to buy it, even though I had picked it up numerous times over the last year at bookstores and then put it down - turned off by the vampire theme - not something I thought I had an interest in. But I read all 544 pages of it in one weekend, not something I do too frequently anymore, what with a 3 year old and 5 year old in my life. Not the best writing in my opinion, but I was interested in it and even am highly motivated to see the movie that was released two weeks ago.

Adult book I just finished last night - The Sharper the Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn. One of my reading passions - reading about food and cooking. I loved the look into what it takes to be in culinary school. Not a dream of mine, but something that fascinates me.

Two books on the docket, waiting on my nightstand:

1. Jia: A Novel of North Korea by Hyejin Kim

This book is for the January book club meeting of my Korean Reading Book Club - a book club I started with other women who are adoptive parents of Korean children. We read a book each month on topics related to adoption, Korean adoption, international adoption, Korea, Korean history, memoirs of Koreans and adopted Koreans. We've been together for 5 years now and surprisingly have no shortage of books to choose from!

2. Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity by Beverly Daniel Tatum

This is a book that is also "due" in January as my class of teachers I teach on Wednesday evenings have decided to read this book that is said to be applicable to many of their teaching situations and classrooms.

I have a few other children's books lined up, ones that I will read that are not required. Sometimes having "required reading" can be a chore, even when they are books that I enjoy or that I am reading for a good purpose -- that is when I sneak in a few that are "fun books."