What are you currently reading?
Escape Room by Maren Stoffels - Four teens keeping secrets attempt to survive a killer escape room.
What did you recently finish reading?
Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsal- When a girl turns up dead in the forest, Linden gets caught up in finding out what happened to her and how her death connects to town legend, a years old missing persons case, and her own family's magical abilities.
What do you think you'll read next?
Gaslit by Megan Davidhizar
When it comes to understanding the science behind basically everything, it's hard to go wrong with the Science Comics series. While each volume takes a different approach information is always central. I'm especially fond of this one. For one thing, it doesn't try too hard to create a narrative. The science of computers is intimidating and trying to force it into a story would be too much. Instead we have a dynamic narrator who is simply focused on teaching us the science. Each concept is carefully relayed with plenty of real life examples to reinforce concepts. While the information remains dense it's more digestible in this format.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
I've been trying to use up some of my yarn stash so I collected three balls of cotton yarn to make this knot bag. I used dice to determine a random stripe pattern. The overall effect is almost tropical. It reminds me a little of rainbow sherbet.
The last stand at the Christmas Market is the Manger Scene. It's my reminder to myself to keep my focus not on the material but the eternal at Christmas.
For our last regular stall in the Christmas Market I made a bakery stand. Christmas Day is better with fresh baked breads, cakes, pies, and pastries. I also made a little Christmas pudding out of air-dry clay.
Today's addition to the Christmas Market is one of my personal favorites: the puppet show. I make no secret of my fondness for puppets and would probably hang out at this booth if it were in a real market. To go along with the booth I, of course, made a sock puppet. This one is a toad wearing a Christmas sweater.
For our special Sunday addition to the Christmas market this week we're adding storytime. One of my favorite parts of Christmas Eve when I was a kid was sitting down in my pjs and listening to my parents read Christmas stories. So I made this little booth and added a cardboard easy chair for the reader to sit in.
I don't know about where you live, but it's been pretty cold and snowy around here, so our Christmas Market needs a hot cocoa stand. You need a hot drink if you're going to walk around outdoors shopping. Rather than make something new to decorate this stand, I added the little marshmallow family I made for a previous countdown.
Today we're adding poinsettias to the Christmas Market. While that seems very specific to fill an entire stand, they have enough appeal that I feel like it works. To decorate this stand I made some simple flowers from red tissue paper that I inserted into holes in the cardboard.
Just one week left until Christmas! This feels like a good time to add the gift wrapping station to the Christmas Market. And I found this little miniature tape dispenser that fits neatly inside the tube.
Today we're adding a butcher stand to the Christmas Market. While it's not something I've personally encountered, it feels like the sort of thing that you might see in a cozy marketplace. And as luck would have it, I recently got this little chicken (maybe a turkey?) in a fidget collection. It fits right in.
Today we're adding what one might argue is one of the more important stands at the Christmas Market: the toy shop. On the stand I've drawn some standards like dolls and blocks and boats. To go with it I made a peg doll. For my character I chose Aaron from The Little Drummer Boy, my favorite special from childhood.
Today we're adding another tasty stand to our Christmas Market: Christmas cookies. I've added some cinnamon and spice scent to this one. And aside from the stand, I also made decorated cookies this weekend. Last year I made Christmas chickens. This year I made rabbits. By adding coconut I feel like they sort of resemble angoras.
Since today is Sunday I've added a gold stand to the market. This one is for donations. And it didn't seem in the spirit of the thing to make something silly or throw-away to go along with it. Instead, I'm using this tube to collect some cash for donating to one of my favorite charities.
Today's addition to our Christmas Market is an extra appealing one: the candy stand. When I'm wandering little shops I love to look at everything on offer at a candy shop, especially at Christmas time. To go with our stand I've repurposed a Oui yogurt jar as a candy jar. I think I'll be making some of these for stockings this year.
For the Christmas Market stand today I'm adding wreaths. I love fresh greenery in December. We don't usually put up wreaths and I haven't had a chance yet to go out and cut the swags for our front door, but I did make a little felt penguin carrying a wreath as a stand-in.
Today's addition to the Christmas Market is a candle stand. Whether for gifts or seasonal decor, candles seem to be a common element in holiday shopping. To go along with the stand I found this cute cartoon picture of a candle that I colored and hung in my room.
When I was a kid a major part of the Christmas season was my church's Sunday School program where each class would sing a song or do a little skit or something. At the end of the program everyone got a candy cane and each kid was given a paper lunch sack with some fruit (usually an apple or two and an orange) and a handful of peanuts in the shell. I looked forward to that treat for weeks, so for me fruit is an important aspect of holiday celebration. With that in mind, today I'm adding a fruit stand to the Christmas Market. For an extra, I made some fruit themed bookmarks that I will probably put into books that I gift.
Today's stall in the Christmas Market is an ornament stand. I decided to decorate this stand with some glass beads.
You'll notice all of our market stalls so far have been green or red. The Sunday and Christmas Eve stalls are gold. Not only are they a different color, these stalls are also not selling anything. These are activities, putting emphasis on experiences and doing positive things in the world instead of just consumption. So today's stall is a caroling booth. You'll see little music stands all ready for any singers to come along.
Today we're adding a skate rental stand to our Christmas market. It seems like ice skating is something you might do on a weekend while doing some Christmas shopping. Making something skating themed seemed really complicated but I found this little Care Bear Cousin figurine that we've had for as long as I can remember.
Today's addition to the Christmas market is a jewelry stand, a mainstay of craft fairs and markets. I really struggled with an addition to this stand. I have plenty of ideas for jewelry but one of the goals with this year's countdown was to reduce clutter. I already have a fair amount of jewelry and a job where I can't wear it. It would be wasteful to make something I'm never going to wear. Instead, I went through my existing jewelry and found some earrings that I don't wear. I bent the posts into loops so they can be repurposed as pendants or maybe charms for a charm bracelet.
Today in the Christmas market we have a stand selling nuts. Whether it's roasted chestnuts (which I've never actually seen - are they good?) or candied cinnamon nuts there's something festive about them and they feel like they belong in our little market. I suppose I could have made a batch of candied nuts but we have a collection of walnut shells floating around so I thought I'd made a decoration out of one. I decided to use some little scraps of yarn to make this mini knitting basket.
Today's addition to the Christmas market is a snow globe stand. Making a little snow globe to put inside the tube was an appealing but ultimately impractical idea. So I settled for adding a couple of glittery snow globe stickers that I found in my stash.
Today's market stall is the music stand. I had considered making a little drum or something to go with this one but when I got out my peg dolls I spotted Emmet Otter and I knew he was perfect. I suspect he's looking for a guitar.
I'm doing something a little different for my crafty countdown this year. Between work demands and the desire to reduce clutter and waste, 24 distinct crafts seemed a bit much. So I've decided to go a little simpler and do variations on the same thing for each day. I'm making a little Christmas market. Each stall is made from half a cardboard tube with details drawn on. I'll probably be adding some extra little surprises along the way.
Today's stall is knitwear. If you've been to a holiday craft sale you've seen a couple of booths selling hats and mittens and things. There's nothing quite so cozy as a hand knit stocking cap. For extra fun I've made a little ball of some of my rabbit fur yarn that tucks inside.
In addition to my rabbits I have 18 (currently) chickens. The most recent set I purchased were six Wyandottes. Since I had some experience with chickens already I figured I knew what to expect from these ladies, all of whom I named after hobbits.
They let me know pretty early on that I shouldn't underestimate them.
When I attempted to move them between pens, one got out and managed to lodge herself in a cement block.
Let's be real - politics aren't a huge selling point for young readers. Most of us don't have a great deal of interest in modern politics, much less historical. And candidates who lost aren't especially compelling reading. For the average person this is going to be a brief curiosity. While the text is quite readable the interest level is low so it's best absorbed in short bursts - read a single profile and put it down for a while. If you have a particular interest in the political system and how it has changed this makes for a solid resource as we explore shifts in political parties and the particulars of how our voting system has shifted.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
What are you currently reading?
Dark Room Etiquette by Robin Roe - A privileged teen is kidnapped by a man who causes him to question the world as he knows it.
What did you recently finish reading?
Defeated by Martin Gitlin - Gitlin walks us through the candidates who lost each presidential election since our country's founding.
What do you think you'll read next?
Agent Cupcake by Mel Hilario
Author: ND Stevenson
Genre: adventure
Age range: middle grade
Summary (provided by publisher): Viola and Wilmur have been waiting for their parents for fifteen boring years in the colorless town of Caveat. Their lives are a drudge of salt, trash, pirate stories, and what-ifs . . . until one very stormy night, when Captain Cadence Chase breaks down their door. They cut a deal with the captain: Chase can take their most prized possession, a mysterious book, but only if she takes them, too. After all, if their parents aren’t coming, Viola and Wilmur might as well have a grand adventure to find them.
Setting sail into the treacherous and beautiful world beyond Caveat, the two inseparable friends must uncover the facts behind legend—and the key to saving all of Dickerson’s Sea from obliteration—before the truth tears them apart.
What I liked: Stevenson's signature wry humor comes across nicely in this all text novel. We have a complex world with rules that we don't always understand but the intricacies are slowly laid out in a way that feels natural to the plot. The emotions are understated but realistic and the humor never gets in the way of the heart of the story.
What I didn't like: It's a bit slow to start. While the characters become more complex and complete as the book progresses, they are fairly basic in the early chapters. It feels like it takes a bit too long for the novel to find it's footing, like it doesn't initially take itself seriously enough.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
I somehow missed, in selecting this book, that it was a modern retelling of A Little Princess, a fact that will make the whole thing make a lot more sense while you're reading. In the modern landscape, the scenario is a pretty big stretch. While Myracle handles the material well it remains a rather unbelievable premise. And the resolution is a bit too neat and tidy. There is some solid reflection on the ways we treat people and how mistreatment can be a reflection of one's own biases and negative self-image. Characters are strong. If you like a bit of magical thinking and endless optimism, this is a solid read.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
Title: We're Not Safe Here
Author: Rin Chupeco
Genre: horror
Age Range: teen
Similar book: What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould
Summary (provided by publisher): Wispy Falls is safe. The town motto is even "You'll be safe here!" But you aren't safe in the woods that surround the town. In the woods there are monsters. People go missing in the woods. And sometimes the monsters don't stay in the woods…maybe you aren't that safe in Wispy Falls.
A seventeen-year-old vlogger known as Storymancer is determined to get to the bottom of what's wrong in his town. A few years ago, his little brother went missing in the woods and no one, not even his parents, seemed to care enough to try and find him.
But for the first time, an actual body has been found in the woods, and Storymancer is using the opportunity to uncover the rotten core at the heart of Wispy Falls. To investigate the monsters that lurk in the shadows, and the people in town who might just want the monsters there after all.
What I liked: Chupeco has found a careful balance between horror and humor, leaning into the absurdity of a horror scenario but allowing the creepy atmosphere to keep the reader on edge. The novel masters jump scares in a way reminiscent of a horror movie. The air of the book is akin to a Jordan Peele movie.
What I didn't like: While the mixed format approach allows this book to stand out from the crowd it doesn't allow for a deep connection with the characters. They never feel like real people so we care less about what happens to them. While the concept held a lot of promise it feels like it is never truly realized.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
What are you currently reading?
Shiny Happy People by Clay McLeod Chapman - When a new party drug seems to be changing the people around her, a girl pairs up with a new kid at school to find out the truth about what is going on.
What did you recently finish reading?
Dracula's Brunch Club by Brian Gonsar - When a new vampire tries to destroy the peace he's made with the human population of Transylvania and, even worse, all of the jelly goes missing, Dracula must hunt high and low for a solution to all of his woes and hopefully make the best jelly donuts ever.
What do you think you'll read next?
Orphanland by Lauren Fischer
I have previously mentioned my rabbits here and there, usually in the context of the fur I have collected for making yarn. But since I added a fourth rabbit to my crew this summer I thought now would be a good time to introduce them.
First we have the angoras. Opsy and Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Third Junior are three year old English/French angoras. While they are littermates they are distinctly different personalities. Opsy loves to be held and to explore. Princess is a bit more hesitant but loves a good piece of fruit and to play outside.
We always grow pumpkins in our garden and if you know much about pumpkins you know they have a tendency to spread. And to climb everything. That's how this happened:
And here's my version:
