Monday 24 December 2012

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Happy Holidays everyone! I wish you, your families joy this season. Even as I type this post from my phone I am next to the hubby whoa is driving us into Calgary for breakfast with a good friend. After that we spend the day visiting family and that is the absolute best part. Christmas for me. See you all soon when I return with all my #Cybils love. What a privilege it has been to be a part of that. It's my love of Children's literature family. As all of you are too. Here is to 2013.

CHEERS!

Monday 17 December 2012

Making a Difference

Hey all. I've been reading up a storm. Eyes still intact.

Since Friday I've been thinking and reading about the teachers and children of Newtown. All that potential we will never know. All that difference the teachers were making to the children in their lives. All that difference the children were making in to those around them. And who knows what more they might have accomplished, other lives they would have influenced, the potential they had. That is lost to us now. But what is not is what we can do when we step out into the world today and all the days from now on. Many of you already make a difference and for that I more appreciative than ever. From today on I want to make even more of  difference and be more aware of that difference I can make, especially in the lives of children.

Hugs and love to you all.

Monday 10 December 2012

MMGM with the #Cybils & #Readathon

Greetings fellow MMGM-ers. I swear December is a flying by, but in a good way. Lots of wonderful reading this last while. Before I get to the Monday MMGM #Cybils read, here is the winner of my mini-challenge from the #readathon as chosen using Random.Org :

Joli from Actin' Up With Books! Congrats Joli, I will be contacting you via email to find out what book you would like. Thanks to everyone who stopped by over the weekend and a HUGE other thanks to Liza @ The WhoRU Blog. Already looking forward to next year!





Speaking of a book, on with today's MMGM! One of the books I read this weekend was Buddy by M.H. Herlong.

Check out this trailer:




 From the publisher: 

 Tyrone "Li'l T" Roberts meets Buddy when his family's car accidentally hits the stray dog on their way to church. Buddy turns out to be the dog Li'l T's always wished for--until Hurricane Katrina comes to New Orleans and he must leave Buddy behind. After the storm, Li'l T and his father return home to find a community struggling to rebuild their lives--and Buddy gone. But Li'l T refuses to give up his quest to find his best friend. From the author of the BBYA Top Ten selection The Great Wide Sea comes a powerful story of hope, courage, and knowing when to let go.

From me:

This took me to a place I've never been and a world I've never experienced. I was drawn in immediately and wanted to know what happened and how the aftermath of Katrina would affect not only Buddy, but the family that took him in (under some protest from Mama I will say) and the boy that cared for him. And yes, found it mighty hard to not read the end to find out what happened to Buddy. I can only say this. The author drew it to the right and best conclusion and not one I saw coming, which I love. Along the way we see a boy trying to find himself and his way in a tough world, learning the meaning of sacrifice and doing the right thing even when it hurts. It's one I recommend highly and one I found myself writing the book talk for even as read. One of those books you can't wait to get out there and talk about. Funny, gritty, doesn't shy away from the rougher truths of living in a neighbourhood where kids can turn to drugs and crime just to survive, this is a book well worth the read (and read again).

More about the author:

Website
Blog

Want more MMGM marvelousness? Head over to Shannon Messenger's site and that is just what you will find.

Enjoy your Monday all!





Friday 7 December 2012

Holiday #Readathon and #Cybils

Greetings fellow readers! Looking forward to hanging with you all and reading, reading, reading. I'm a first round Cybils judge for middle grade realistic fiction so lately I've been....reading, reading and reading! So seemed to me that it would be fun to combine the two this weekend. If you've not heard of this read-a-thon or thinking it would be fun to join in (it would!) there is time to join. Click on the icon and it will take you to Liza's WhoRuBlog for details. Read one book, read ten, it is up to you.

My mini-challenge (updated):

Donate a book.   To the kid next door. Hospital. Library....anywhere you choose, just let me know. I will enter you to win one of the #cybils books I am reading. 

Here is the list of your choices (127 to chose from!)  (er,not reading them all this weekend, but am pushing myself to get at least ten more read by Sunday night). OR-if there is another book (adult, YA, MG Fantasy) That you've been hankering to read...let me know and I will get that for you!

Here's a pic of the first four for me to read:



Looking forward to reading with you all. Thanks to Liza...our #readathon Mom!




Wednesday 5 December 2012

Reading Rainbow Remixed....Books really do rock.

Thanks to Angela at The BookShelf Muse and Matthew MacNish, I started my morning watching this:




And all can say is THANKS for sharing you two. Love it. Alot.





Monday 3 December 2012

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday-Adventures of Beanboy

It was a whirlwind of a reading and writing month and now here we are in December? Whoa. The time      
it really does fly! Nice to be back in the land of blogging, I must say and I'm starting off with a MMGM  post to tell you all about THE ADVENTURES OF BEANBOY by Lisa Harkrader, one of the books I read for The Cybils.

From GoodReads:

Never underestimate the power of the bean. Tucker MacBean has been drawing comic books almost as long as he’s been reading them. When his favorite comic has a contest for kids, he hopes he has finally found a way to fix his family—all he has to do is create the winning superhero sidekick . . . Introducing “Beanboy”—the first comic book character to truly harness the power of the bean for good. He is strong, he is relentless, he can double in size overnight (if given enough water). 

Tucker's a good kid. A really good kid with a tough life. Dad keeps in touch with the odd email here and there after he walked out on the family. Mom has to work some long, always on call hours while going to school so Tucker is left to care for his little brother who has special needs. And you know, he does a pretty amazing job at doing what needs to be done. Doesn't mean he wants it to be that way. In fact he wants his Mom around more, his little brother needs her and so does he. So when an opportunity to realize his dream of becoming a world famous cartoonist and helping his mom out so she doesn't have to be working and going to school all the time you can bet he is all over that. But can he do it? Especially when he has the school nasty girl picking on him and turning up in his life in the most unexpected ways?  Not only is he on a quest to create the best superhero sidekick in order to win a contest, he's also on a quest to find the hero's heart within himself. The hero's heart that will allow him to stand up for himself and what he wants. This book is funny, well written and tells a story kids will love because they can relate to the main character-whether they've have or are experiencing the kind of life he has or, like him, are middle grade students just trying to be themselves amidst a cast of other middle graders just...trying to be themselves.

Happy MMGM all! Here's the link to take you back to Shannon's site and more MMGM posts.


#ReadtheNorth

Over the last while there has been a hashtag you may have seen about called Read the North. It's a campaign encouraging people to read C...