Kidlit
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Posts posted by Kidlit
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2 hours ago, Pawz4me said:
I think I rhyme it with silk, but I probably say it more like ^this.^ LOL
Two-syllable Alabamian here, though I hear it as rhyming with silk.
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I just listened to (& loved) Beth Moore's new memoir, All My Knotted Up Life. As a southerner, I particularly appreciate her Arkansan accent.
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1 hour ago, Grace Hopper said:
Does she read it herself? I was about to order the book but if she is the audiobook reader, I’d prefer that!
Yes!!! This made it extra good to me.
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Just finished and LOVED Beth Moore's memoir in audio, All My Knotted Up Life. The biggest thing I have in common with Beth is being raised in the church (though not Southern Baptist or anyhing close for me) and being Southern. Those two things made it extremely enjoyable. I also LOVED her honesty about things she's only hinted at before. It was a 5 star listen for me.
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I did. I went back and and taught one year in a smallish private Christian school where all my children went after homeschooling. Then I returned for two years to ps to finish getting vested in state retirement. Then I went back and taught a semester again in the same private school until I was hired as a children's public librarian.
I taught a different subject every year, by choice. I'm certified to teach 7-12 English and history and 4-8 math, and I'm also a certified library media specialist. The first year back was sort of whiplash inducing in that I REALLY had a hard time with grades and so many things institutional school requires. I got used to it. PS was hard--I was in a hard school, and I learned so much. In some ways it was my favorite teaching experience. I finished my teaching career back in high school, where I started. Ultimately, I decided to leave because it is just SO MUCH WORK. I worked so many off-contract hours, even as I changed grades and subjects to try to find an easier fit. While some might argue that if I'd stayed in one subject/grade, I'd eventually eliminate all the late nights and early mornings, I don't think that would ever happen for me. I am the type of person who always tries to improve things, for one. Besides that, education is in a constant state of flux and requires new ________ to be learned by the teachers almost yearly, on top of the actual work of teaching.
I'm glad to be out. -
My favorite audiobook is The Book Thief. So good! A more recent audio that I thought was so well done us Kingsolver's latest novel, Demon Copperhead. (This one definitely requires a content warning if there are little ears around.)
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Our traditional Valentine's supper is pancakes with chocolate syrup (heart shaped pancakes if I can manage it) and other breakfast foods. I don't consider this romantic, but the kids don't complain.
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I tend to like terra cotta best because they prevent me from overwatering. They do absorb the moisture from the soil, but for me, that's generally a good thing because it forces me to pay attention and water my plants when they actually need it.
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I feel like there is a training process for audiobooks. During our homeschool years, our kids listened to them a lot, and I got used to them. I currently get through at least as many audiobooks as I do print books, and I love the fact that I can listen as I get ready, do chores, and drive. I am not above using the rewind function, though. 🤣
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1 hour ago, Melissa in Australia said:
I love 40s 50s fashion. It is what I am wearing most of the time. So much more flattering than modern fashion. I sew it myself. So no help on where to buy. I will post some links to some things later in the day when I have access to a computer.
I'm sorry--I meant that I'm in my 40s (but headed to my 50s) 😜. However, I am also not opposed to vintage styles.
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3 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:
What's your general body shape and vibe?
Sorry--I got busy and couldn't respond. I am a pear shape (do we still call it that?) and lean toward classic pieces and don't go in for many trends. I am of a romantic/artistic bent, so any deviation from classic would be in that direction.
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My sincere condolences
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I recently changed jobs, and I need to buy some new clothes. I know what sorts of things to wear (teacher to public librarian here, so not much difference), but I need help in looking put together, accessorized, and un-frumpy. Please share your favorite bloggers or IGers for 40s/50s fashion help. I know Pinterest is the obvious choice here, but I stink at it.
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1 hour ago, Dmmetler said:
I put mine in last year, and it gets used quite a bit. I have some kids who stop by almost daily. I live across from an elementary school/neighborhood park and am at a middle school bus stop, so while I don't put just kid's books in, I do filter for appropriateness. I go to the friends of the library book sale racks about once a week, and to a big used bookstore when we go to Atlanta. I usually spend about .25-.50/book. I end up weeding out about half of the books that aren't mine that show up-i have one neighbor, love her, that drops off really nice books that are totally inappropriate for elementary kids, so the friends of the library gets them. I get a lot of imagination library books, which is awesome.
One sad thing about being in TN-I'm getting a lot of books with stamps or markings that indicate they used to be in classroom libraries, and I'm guessing they're ones teachers have been told to pull. Most recently, it was a bunch of civil rights movement books like "One Crazy Summer" and "The Watsons go to Birmingham"
Oh, my. Both of those are SUCH good, memorable books. I just quoted One Crazy Summer to a friend a few weeks ago.
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1 hour ago, Dmmetler said:
That's something that LFL really does point out-that you can't just put the box out and assume it will take care of itself unless you want old textbooks and Watchtower magazines. You can't count on books coming back.
I really enjoy it. Both because it's a lasting memorial to my mom,but also because gifts are my love language, and seeing books vanish and not come back feels good. It's well worth the few dollars a week it costs, and since that money is helping to support the public library, it feels good to do that, too.
Can you tell me more about this? I love this--both the memorial part and supporting the public library part. I am 99% ignorant about how LFLs work.
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1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:
Around here anything reasonable would be fine. That ranges from suit and tie, khakis and button down with or w/o tie, to dressy jeans and a button down or nice polo in warmer weather.
Same for where I live. Funerals often have attendants who are in the middle of their workday, so no one looks askance at any type of clothing at all. (Well, I suppose something wildly out of place--like a bathing suit or a sequined formal dress--would be looked at, but hopefully what I'm saying makes sense.)
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40 minutes ago, popmom said:
Well, if you ever change your mind, I, personally, would welcome you here. 🙂 It’s not for everyone, but most who move here from out of state grow to love it here. Except for August. Nobody loves it here in August lol
Ha! I was thinking the same thing. I've lived here about 44 of my nearly 49 years, and I'm pretty fond of it. I meet people almost weekly who've moved from other states, and they're almost always very pleased with their moves.
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I woke up this morning with a sore throat and have done nothing today except nap and read. I did accomplish my goal of finishing The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian. It was recommended to me by a couple of my coworkers with a comparison of it and Where the Crawdads Sing, only The Girls in the Stilt House is better. I'm inclined to agree. This novel is very YA-lit like in that the main characters are YA and it is not a terribly complicated plot, though it is heavy. I enjoyed it a lot.
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I have vague memories of crying so much K-2. I THINK I crawled under a table in K; I have a faint memory of this (related to crying). I think what I actually remember more from this phase is extreme anxiety and the feeling of uncontrolled weeping. 😭.
Second grade was a turning point for me. I had a grandmotherly teacher and I had matured somewhat emotionally, I suppose. I remember her writing our lunch menu on the board in cursive, which I couldn't read yet. I remember distinctly knowing it said pizza but being amused by the fact that it looked like pigga.
Third grade I remember included a field trip. I was chosen to help transport our sack lunches from the bus to the picnic area. I dropped a lunch bag and stepped on it. There was a banana inside, which I also stepped on. My memory includes sliding down on the banana, but I don't know if I actually did or if my imagination turned it into a comedy routine. 🤣
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Cream cheese and a bit of jelly (not really potable unless you buy the litttle containers, and also not savory)
Flavored cream cheese
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I was not aware of homeschooling as a kid, though in retrospect I wonder if a neighbor I had around age 9/10 was homeschooled. My sister and I attended our church's tiny private school, so we wouldn't have attended school with her if she had gone to the local public school. The mother of the neighbor girl read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe aloud to us, which kicked off a lifelong love of Narnia for me. She also had a record album of the old group Second Chapter of Acts that was based on Narnia that we'd listen to. (This is all based on memory but now seems very homeschooler-ish. I don't know--it was the '80s! 🤣).
My first encounters with homeschoolers that made an impression on me was when I worked at the public library as a teenager and young adult when I was in college. I loved talking to those kids, so it definitely affected me positively then.
Now it feels like a mixed bag to me. Our family has done pretty much every kind of schooling--homeschool, public, and private, and I have taught in all of those environments. Sometimes when I encounter homeschoolers, I detect an air of superiority that I find off-putting. Not everyone can homeschool, and not everyone should. I've also discovered with my own children that some kids are just happier in school. In some ways I might've been an ideal homeschooled kid myself, especially as a little kid. I had lots of anxiety around school and it really did me no good that I can tell to suffer through it. However, high school was almost an entirely positive experience for me, and my life was enriched by my teachers and friends during my teenage years. What actually made me want to homeschool my own kids was teaching, which is another story entirely. -
On 2/1/2023 at 11:04 AM, Lady Florida. said:
I meant to jump in last month but never got around to it.
I read 7 books so far this year although 2 were holdovers from December that I finished in January.
Shards of Earth, Adrian Tchaikovsky - one of the ones from December. I don't often read sci-fi but when I do I like a good space opera. This fit the bill and I'll read the others in the series later this year when the mood strikes.
River of the Gods, Candace Millard - the other one from Dec. If you're friends with me on Goodreads it will look like it took me 4 months to read it but I actually started reading it in October then put it aside until December when I picked it up again.
Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus - read this for my book club. It was okay though a few things annoyed me. I love going out with friends and discussing books so it was worth reading.
Razor Girl, Carl Hiaasen - I love me some crazy Florida stuff! As a nearly lifelong Floridian I know that a lot of the over-the-top stuff in his books can and often has actually happened here. 😂
The Age of Doubt, Andrea Camilleri - #14 in the Inspector Montalbano series that I've been reading for many years.Two audio books -
Spare, Prince Harry - Yes I did. I had an Audible credit and couldn't decide what to use it on so I went with this. I believe him and I feel sorry for him.
A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare 1599, James Shapiro - One would probably only like this they're interested in Shakespeare or the Elizabethan period. What I found interesting is that many lines in his plays were actually digs at what was happening at the time. This is something Elizabethan audiences would "get" that we don't. Also, while I liked listening to this there were a number of dry sections. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed reading a print version as much.Currently reading -
The Border, Erika Fatland - She's a journalist from Norway. This book is about her journey along all the countries that border Russia, the 2nd longest border in the world (the longest is US/Canada). I'm learning a lot about countries I didn't know much about if anything at all. I've even learned of some countries I didn't know exist.
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolever - The only other book of hers I read is The Poisonwood Bible, which I really liked. This one is quite good but a difficult read (subject matter) in some parts. It's intense so I'm reading it a little at a time.
Orley Farm, Anthony Trollope - It's been a long time since I read a classic and was really in the mood for one. I love Trollope.I read that many years ago and really enjoyed it. Have you ever seen Field of Dreams? I did but it didn't affect my enjoyment of the book having seen the movie first. After reading that one I ended up following a rabbit trail about the 1919 World Series and read Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series (nonfiction).
This was definitely one of my most affecting books of 2022. Its also prompted me to finally pick up David Coppeefield. So good!
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I'm currently reading The Girls in the Stilt House in print and David Copperfield in audio. I hope to finish my print book soon and will check back in to share some thoughts.
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36 minutes ago, Storygirl said:
Yesterday, I finished the YA book All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir on audio. This book has been on my radar for awhile, and I kept bumping my hold on the Libby app but finally listened to it. And the timing was great, because after I finished it, I found out that at the end of January, it won this year's Prinz Prize for YA literature. It also won the Youth National Book Award and the Boston-Globe Horn Book Award, so it has been widely lauded.
The story has three narrators -- two high schoolers and one woman, who is the mother of one of the teens and honorary aunt of the other. On audio, each perspective had a separate narrator, which I enjoyed. Noor was orphaned in an earthquake in Pakistan as a young child and is the ward of her uncaring uncle, who brought her to America. She's been friends with Salahudin since she first arrived in the states, but the two recently had a falling out, when Noor confessed that she had feelings for Sal, and he rebuffed her. Salahudin's mother. Misbah, is the third narrator, and she tells her story from the time of her arranged marriage as a teen, in Pakistan, and how she and her husband came to own the motel, which she manages and where they live. Toward the beginning of the book, Misbah dies, and Salahudin is left alone to try to save the hotel, because his alcoholic father is no help.
That is just the set up of the story -- a lot happens from there on, including the continuing story of Misbah's past, which slowly connects to things happening in the present. The characters are complex and fully developed. There is a moment in the story when one of the characters makes a pivotal decision that at first I greatly disliked. "Oh, no! I can't believe the author went there; this may be ruined for me." However, the way that Tahir develops the story from that point actually turned the book from an average teen relationship book into a deeper exploration of the consequences of decision making and made the story richer in the end.
A bit of the story is set in Pakistan, and the characters have to deal with issues related to immigration and racism.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! As a children's librarian just getting immersed again in the world of books after teaching for several years, I appreciate you review. It sounds like a book deserving of the Printz!
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I need fashion help
in The Chat Board
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Finally getting back to this thread. I actually ordered one of these dresses back when they were on sale, but the proportions are all wrong for me and it is too tight across the shoulders and arms. It is gorgeous--I love linen--but it just won't work. Im going to try to sell it online because the cost to send it back to Lithuania is high.