Book review - Birdie's Billions

 

Title: Birdie's Billions

Author: Edith Cohn

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: Millionaires for a Month by Stacy McAnulty

                     Skateboard Sibby by Clare O'Connor

Rating:

 

a good one for group discussion

Summary (provided by publisher): For as long as eleven-year-old Birdie can remember, it's always been just her and her mom, which means there's not a lot of extra money to spend on things like new clothes and batons from the fancy gymnastics store. Still, they always find a way to make ends meet. Then Birdie makes one silly mistake that has a big consequence: Mom loses her job. Now things are more dire than ever, and Birdie knows it's up to her to fix it.
When Birdie discovers a huge stash of cash in an abandoned house, she just knows it must be the answer to their problems. But the people who left that money behind aren't willing to give it up so easily. Does “finders, keepers” count when it's half a million dollars?

My opinion: The strength in this book is definitely the moral dilemma. Cohn presents us with a believable scenario. Bridie is old enough to recognize both the precarious nature of her financial situation and the likely suspicious nature of the money she finds. She is a realistic character, likeable but not perfect. She justifies a lot of bad decisions, keeping secrets and alienating those closest to her. She lies and manipulates. Since her ultimate goal is selfless she remains likeable. She also faces consequences for all of her bad decisions. The messaging is clear enough to allow for a solid discussion with a group of young readers.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Listen with me

 

The Swallows' Flight by Hilary McKay

I've read several of McKay's books before, so I'm interested to see how she handles multiple characters in the era of World War II.

Non-fiction book review - Bugs for Breakfast

 

Bugs for Breakfast by Mary Boone

If you have any interest at all in the idea of eating insects, this book is an excellent resource. Boone lays out the environmental impact and nutritional content, as we would expect. But we also have chapters on  cultural and sociological influences. We explore the history of eating insects and why it is taboo in some cultures. There's even a hole section on vegans and insects. While the approach is fairly scholarly, it is quite readable.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - Strangeville School is Totally Normal

 

Title: Strangeville School is Totally Normal

Author: Darcy Miller

Genre: humor

Similar books: Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

                     The Kids of Cattywampus Street by Lisa Jahn-Clough

Rating:

 

not for me but I can see the appeal

Summary (provided by publisher): Harvey Hill just wants other kids to think he’s normal. So he’s happy to start fresh as the newest kid at Strangeville Middle School. Except Strangeville is anything but normal. Something sinister swims in the drinking fountain, the cafeteria could swallow you whole, and a giant rat named Cuddles is on the loose. And don't even get the vice principal started on the third-floor supply closet. In fact, don't even think about it. What supply closet?
At least Harvey has his guide and sort-of new friend Stella Cho to show him the ropes. School newspaper reporter, first chair flugelhorn, and hiding a secret of her own, Stella shows Harvey that maybe "normal" is overrated. But when Stella goes missing while trying to solve the secret of the supply closet (oh that supply closet!), Harvey must embrace what makes him unique to save his new friend and his new school.

My opinion: "Strangeville" is certainly an accurate name for this book. We are presented with a wide variety of events, mostly unexplained. We simply accept them as the reality of this world. There is some heavy handed hinting at secrets that got annoying as the book progressed but a kid will likely ignore that. You can see the influence of Wayside School on this book though Miller has included a stronger central plot driving all of the weirdness. While I found it perhaps a bit too strange I can certainly imagine that a young audience will enjoy it.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 1

 I thought long and hard about how to end this countdown right. I wanted to share a project that I really enjoyed and that really captures Christmas. I decided on a puppet. For my subject I went with one of the magi. I've been toying with the idea of a full puppet version of the Christmas story, so this is my first attempt at a puppet for that. I used the same design as I used for my Dobby puppet. No process photos here, since I sort of just cut and glue on the fly for these puppets. It will probably need a little refinement in future but I think he looks surprisingly regal.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 2

 I normally don't shop for toddler clothes but this shirt caught my eye at a thrift store. The image is weird enough that I felt the urge to craft with it. 

 

T-shirts make excellent tote bags but since this one was toddler sized it didn't work to simply cut off the sleeves and collar. Since I was doing so much extra designing anyway, I lined it with more knit fabric to keep it from over-stretching. Not pictured here: the strap. I have a clip on strap I use for such bags that I'll swap onto this one as needed.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 3

 I have two clay projects to share with you today. 

The first is an ornament I made for my niece. Like me, she is of the opinion that adding a bow or holly to anything makes it Christmas themed so I made her this tater tot ornament. There will be a hole legend to go along with it but that is taking more time than I have right now. Stay tuned on that.

While I was making the ornament, I also made this little pendant for myself. This seems to be Marfalfa's dinosaur Christmas.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 4

 I was messing around with watercolor paint and managed to put together a decent night sky. Once the paint dried, I thought it might make some nice bookmarks. I added some trees with permanent marker and stars and sayings with white paint pen.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 5

 When I found this ornament at the dollar store, I knew it had crafty potential. Especially when I realized that the deer was attached to the wreath with a simple wire twist.

I set the deer aside for a future project, leaving me with a wreath of copper glitter antlers. The antler shapes begged for a nature theme but I wanted to be something offbeat. And since I've been a bit fascinated with opossums lately (there's definitely an opossum sock puppet in my future) it was the perfect fit. I made one larger mama opossum and five babies out of pompoms and pipecleaners with some glass beads for the mama's eyes. To make the wreath a bit more festive I added some tinsel pompoms.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 6

 On a trip to Bronner's Christmas Village, I spotted these weird Christmas rubber chickens.

Now, if you know anything about me you know I'm a fan of all things weird. I'm also kind of cheap and couldn't bring myself to spend that much on a little rubber chicken. So I figured I'd make my own. While I couldn't find rubber chickens that small I did find this fabulous sunglasses chicken at the dollar store.

 

I considered painting it yellow or beige like a regular rubber chicken but decided green was more festive. I did make the feet and beak orange and added red accents with some glitter to make it more festive. And then, as a nod to the original, I added a wreath around it's neck.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 7

 It's been a busy week, so I just have a quick one for you today. It's my annual Christmas farm display. I didn't add much this year. The dad is loading a box of gifts into the back of his truck to take into town for a toy drive and some farm hands are wrangling an oversized pipe cleaner garland.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 8

 I finally got my Christmas cards made! Good thing I deliver them by hand. This year I went with variations on a single basic design, drawn with colored pencil. For my verse, I chose James 1:17.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 9

 We're in the single digits, friends! So I think it's time for what has become one of my favorite Christmas crafts: peg dolls. I've started picking a character from a Christmas movie or cartoon and representing them in peg doll form. This year I picked my favorite from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation: Aunt Bethany. I added Uncle Louis as well, mostly because I wanted to paint his toupee.

 

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 10

I bought these little tobogganers a while back with intentions of enhancing them but then never had the right ideas of what to do with them. Since I'm just doing weirdness at work, I figured anything goes. So I added some furry fleece, gem stones, pipe cleaners, and foam.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 11

 In my quest to decorate my cubicle with weirdness, I doodled this Christmas tree. It only seemed fitting to make him a reality.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 12

 I don't know about you but I love donuts. We've been making baked donuts for a couple of years now and they are a game changer. My current favorite is this recipe for chocolate peanut butter banana donuts. To make them Christmas themed, I swapped in mini M&Ms for the chocolate chips and topped the whole thing with Christmas sprinkles.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 13

 I bought a couple of dresses on clearance. They confused me, though, since they are winter themed but have little cap sleeves.

The solution? Cut off the tops and make them into a skirt. I decided I like them better layered into a single garment than kept separately, so I offset the waist line on the two skirts around an inch and folded over the top to create a casing for some elastic.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 14

 Have you ever seen these canvas bag kits? They typically come with 3 or 4 markers and a fairly easy to color. It's a great activity for kids (or childish adults 😁). I usually dip into my marker stash to add a little more color selection.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 15

 We're having a cubicle decorating competition at work, which is a perfect opportunity for me to use some of my weirder decorating ideas. Like my animal skeletons. Last year they were playing Santa. This year I made them some hats and scarves and they are building a snowman. 

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 16

 Here's another dollar store decoration that just needed a little updating. This elf light is cute but a little rough around the edges.

I replaced the white pompom with a green one, added some decorations to the had and body, and gave it a better scarf. The light actually didn't work so I also pried that out and added a battery operated tea light. The new light was a bit bigger than the old one, so the elf now has a little stand.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 17

 I don't know about you, but I'm glad of the current trend towards gnomes. I find their weird quirkiness charming. So of course, I had to make some gnomes for the holiday season. I decided on a gnome garland for my room. First I made five tassels out of different colored scrap yarns.

Add pompoms for noses and t-shirt cones for hats. Then it was a simple matter of gluing them to a string. I decided to add bells to make it extra festive.

 

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 18

 I had, among my craft supplies, one of those small Fingerlings monkeys in a bright shade of magenta. I decided she's much happier with candy cane stripes.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 19

 It's puppet time, friends! This is a fairly simple one. Start with a small stuffed animal.

Cut a slit in the bottom of the animal and remove some stuffing. In the case of this dinosaur I had enough room for a couple of fingers.

Next find a box that your animal will fit in with enough room to move around but not so big that there's a lot of extra space. You want a box with a lid or top flap. Cut or collapse the bottom of the box. Then wrap the box like a present, leaving the top able to open. Glue a tube of fabric, like the leg of a sock or part of a shirt sleeve, between the bottom of the box and the opening in your animal. Now you have a little toy that can pop out of a present.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 20

 Our local dollar store had these tree toppers among their offerings this year.

While it was a bit rough, something about the design spoke to me and I knew I could improve it. I started by removing the extra twine, keeping the loops around the star tips. The fabric was loose, so I glued it down as I went. It looked much better at that point but was still missing something. I wanted to add some sparkly black wire trim but it was out of stock when I was at the store. So instead I added a thin line of glue all the way around that I coated with black glitter.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 21

 I have several dozen of these wooden ornament blanks, so I'm always trying to think of ways to decorate them. These faux stained glass designs may be some of my favorites. I colored these entirely with colored pencils instead of my typical acrylic paints.

 

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 22

 I bought this reindeer a year ago, intending to give it as a gift. But after I got it home I kept looking at it, feeling like there was something wrong. It finally struck me - it has no ears. That immediately disqualified it as a gift, as far as I was concerned. I tucked it away, hoping I would come up with a use for it.

This year I came up with a plan. I felt very strongly that it needed ears to look right, so I took the back off of it and cut ear shapes. I lined the ears with some scrap knit fabric. Then I had a face that looked cute but it needed a purpose. Luckily I had some little plain tote bags hanging around that the face fit on perfectly.