A gift for my mother

My quest to complete Christmas gifts continues. I've been working on this little nativity set off and on for a few months. I'd like to add a few more pieces, but this is what I have completed so far.

Joseph is a little tippy, but we'll just say he's kind of bowled over by what has happend.

And the cow's head is overly large but it had to be to keep her upright.

 

Book Review - Nest

Title: Nest
Author: Esther Ehrlich
Genre: Historical fiction
Similar books: Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
                     Revolution by Deborah Wiles
Rating:

A lovely weep-fest

Summary: For Naomi, nicknamed Chirp, life follows a familiar pattern - school, dancing with her mother and sister Rachel, awkward conversation with her psychologist father, and avoiding Joey and his mean brothers across the street. At least, it used to. Lately, though, her mother has been unwell and her sister has grown more distant. Even Joey seems different after Naomi's mother is first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and then institutionalized with a sever bout of depression.
My Opinion: In the beginning, Chirp is incredibly innocent, almost annoyingly naive. But, as the plot progresses, she must grow up alarmingly quickly. We see her belief in goodness and beauty, her love of birds and nature, shaken and twisted by the blows she is dealt. Without getting into any spoilers, I will say that the later chapters will take you through and emotional wringer. And while the book is set in the 1970's and there are a lot of dated references, the plot itself has a sort of universality that keeps it from becoming too distancing. Even those who are not fans of historical fiction will connect with the book.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley. 

Books on Screen

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller shine in this adaptation of Stephen Chbosky's novel. Logan takes us through Charlie's journey from awkward self-contained kid to fully defined adolescent. And Ezra really captures Patrick's irrepressible nature. This is one of those books that people tend to love wholeheartedly and if you're anything like me, that makes watching a movie adaptation a little bit frightening. If that describe you, give this movie a chance. It really does the book justice.

Guest review - Fractured and Shattered

In July, Elizabeth Murphy shared her review of Slated. She joins us again today to review the sequels, Fractured and Shattered.

Title: Fractured and Shattered
Author: Teri Terry
Genre: youth fiction
Similar books: The Program by Suzanne Young
                     Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Rating:

Kyla, with a happy ending

Summary: In Fractured, Kyla recovers some of her memories. She is not sure what is what and continues her quest to find out who she is. Also, her friend Ben had removed his wrist device and she has no idea if he even survived. Kyla joins the terrorists and helps them prepare to go after the Lorders who control who gets slated.
In Shattered, the plot becomes very iffy. Kyla isn't sure who she is or who to trust -- she is being used by some of the terrorists and her psych doctor seems to be a part of the Lorder system. She continues to try and find out who her parents were. She seems to be protected by the system. Her dreams continue and bring back memories of her past.
Your opinion: These books continued to hold my interest. Kyla had all kinds of close call adventures, but all was resolved in the end -- almost too neatly. I had a little trouble with why she seemed to be so attached to Ben. I hadn't thought it was that serious a relationship in book 1. There were some very surprising developments regarding Kyla's "real" mother. I did love some of the technology presented, such as the "environmentally friendly high speed train" and the coded footsteps to the right train.

Book review - Words and Their Meanings

Title: Words and Their Meanings
Author: Kate Bassett
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Being Henry David by Cal Armistead
                     The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen by Susan Nielsen
Rating: 

Heart-breaking and lovely

Summary: It's been one year since Anna's beloved Uncle Joe died. In one year her family has completely fallen apart. Her parents think it's time for her to move on but Anna doesn't know how. Secrets and guilt weigh her down. Matters worsen when she discovers a note Joe wrote before he died - a note that indicates that the uncle she idolized may not have been such a good person.
My Opinion: What a heart-breaking look at grief and secrets. You've got this family that has completely fallen apart. They are giving up things that they love. Anna is so weighed down with guilt that she is barely living. The events immediately following the one year anniversary force them to confront their secrets and emotions. All of this pain and fear and loss is wrapped up in levels of beauty. Beautiful actions and beautifully written prose. It's a book that you could read several times as continually pick up new gems in the writing. Read it for plot. Read it for beauty.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Playing with marbles

A year ago I bought a bag of marbles for a craft. After using a couple, the rest of the bag has just sat on a shelf ever since. So, when I got out my clay the other day I thought I'd experiment with the marbles. I'm pretty pleased with the result.

Marble snails

Acorn pendants

 

My summer faces

As part of our summer reading program this year the head of our youth department, Keli, decided to set the kids a challenge. We wanted them to read a total of 1500 books over the course of the program (a small improvement on last year's 1400ish). As they reached various milestones along the way we wore assorted costumes as a reward. Here's what my summer looked like costume-wise.

Red Day - 100 books

Sports/College Day - 250 books

Cape Day - 500 books

Hat Day - 750 books

Clash Day - 1000 books

Crazy Hair Day - 1250 books

And the biggie:

Mad Scientist Day - 1500 books