Storytime! Read aloud with kiddos

I just finished up my monthly Queen Anne Books storytime at Twirl Cafe, a neighbor business-- a play cafe for kids and their grown-ups. (First Friday of every month at 10:30 am, if you're in the Seattle area!)

Today we started with Split! Splat! by Amy Gibson, illustrations by Steve Bjorkman. The kids (babies- 5 years) did a great job providing their own sound effects with the "rain shakers" I handed out (plastic Easter eggs partly filled with rice, taped together with packing tape). It was a fun book for the group, even if it is kind of jazzy/ silly and abstract. We talked about how rain doesn't stop our fun (a given for PNW kids), and whether anyone had ever squished through mud with bare feet. We all agreed that a bath is required after mud pies.

Then we followed up with the ever-popular Where Is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox with illustrations by Judy Horcek. The Seattle Children's Theater did this as a play not too long ago, and some in the audience knew it well. We started off with the kids identifying the animals on the cover (before I told them the title). Because one boy identified them as "baa baas," I asked everyone to help call out for the Green Sheep in sheep language every time I asked, "Where is the green sheep?" I cracked myself up with our sheep bleats-- and others seemed to enjoy our baa baas almost as much.

It was a good springtime selection. Rousing renditions of "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "The Alphabet Song" (by request) rounded out our storytime fun. 

At left, you can see all that's left of the batch of spicy sweet potato no-fry fries I made for dinner tonight. I'm still trying to figure them out, but even in this beta phase, they're pretty darn irresistible.

Here's how I did it (my almost-recipe):
Peel a sweet potato and cut it into fry-shaped pieces, just a bit bigger than McDonald's fries.
Toss with a dash of cayenne pepper, a dash of salt, and a few dashes of chili pepper.
Microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave for another 1-3 minutes, until the fries are floppy.
Add a splash of olive oil and toss.
Lay 'em out on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees until crispy-ish, scalding fingers to flip them over once during baking.
Serve with chipotle ketchup, and all will be forgiven.
(We had these with vegan black eyed pea BBQ sandwiches and a side of garlic broccoli.)

Another guest post at Random Acts of Reading

This time they asked, "Is the picture book dead?" Guess what we all said? :)

http://randomactsofreading.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/we-ask-a-book-blogger-is-the-picture-book-really-dead/#comments

Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt

This week, I wrote a book report for the other blog I feed, www.onebravethingaday.com. That's the blog for the book I'm working on-- the inspirational memoir of my co-author, Linda Lewis Keeney.
Since we started writing together, Linda and I have been reading and comparing notes on books that might be good comparisons to ours. I chose Making Toast because it deals concretely yet tenderly with the after-effects of grief. One Brave Thing a Day is a lot about moving healthily through grief-- the daily mourning that comes with having a severely disabled daughter who cannot communicate; the mourning of the deaths of Linda's mother, her creative partner, and her good friend's son; and anticipatory mourning, thinking ahead to the death of her medically-fragile daughter.
Want to read my recommendation for Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt? Getting there is as easy as clicking here. An excerpt from my  book report: "At times, reading [Making Toast] felt like attending the wake of someone I didn't know (but wished I had)." 

[grilled cheese]

Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the accumulated stress of a month of responses to announcements about the store's sale, but I couldn't resist last night: I cooked real grilled cheese sandwiches with butter and real, milky cheddar. And it was good.

WILD by Cheryl Strayed

How cool!  Random House's blog, Random Acts of Reading, featured my recommendation of the memoir Wild by Cheryl Strayed. What an honor to be one of the first voices out there to publicly praise this brave, fascinating book. 

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

After reading and leading a discussion on A Wild Sheep Chase by Murakami (my reading journal notes: "WEIRD, but wonderful"), I needed something light. In the first chapter of Mindy Kaling's hilarious book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) she offers a Q&A. This convinced me I'd picked the right read for my mood:

"I don't know. I have a lot of books already. I wanted to finish those Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books before the movies come out.

This book will take you two days to read. Did you even see the cover? It's mostly pink. If you're reading this book every night for months, something is not right. " -page 5

This book was fluffy, funny, entertaining, but surprisingly wholesome and refreshing. Kaling's voice is smart and friendly, and she actually has some wonderful advice for young people to be themselves, work hard, and love their parents. Brava!