Monday, September 17, 2012

It's Monday! Here's What I'm Reading.

Hooray for Monday!  Here's what I'm up to today:

 Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson
 
A disaster which has fascinated us for 100 years continues to do so. In fact, I set my alarm to wake myself up extra early this morning so that I could finish it! While we tend to think of this as well-known event, younger readers may not have had much exposure. This book geared for readers 8 - 13 years old was particularly well done.  Hopkinson uses eye-witness accounts, photographs, maps, letters, telegraph transmissions and quotes from survivors to tell the tale from the point-of-view of the passengers making this a particularly gripping account.

I lamented to a co-worker that whenever I read stories about real-life disasters, I'm always on the edge of my seat hoping that *this time* it will end differently.  This has never been more true than when I read this genuinely affecting version of the tale. 



I got the pleasure of running my Library's Toddler Time this morning and shared a few of my favorites for a Monday morning. 



My fast approaching lunch break means I get to start Fenway Fever by John H. Ritter (in honor of my annual Birthday trip to Fenway next weekend).  I'll let you know what I think...of the book and my trip to Fenway  ;)


Now tell me, what are YOU reading? 



Thursday, September 13, 2012

Remembering Roald



The first book I remember my mother reading to me was "James and the Giant Peach".  It's not that she hadn't read me scores of other titles, its just that this was the first one that mattered to me. Ever a fan of dark and subversive, I thought the poems about Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker were wonderful.  I felt a sort of interesting mix of pride and shock as the story went on.  I truly felt as if that book had been written exclusively for me and I was proud that Roald Dahl felt I was grown-up enough to "get the joke".   I was shocked that my mother read this (and then many others) without batting an eye at what seemed too delicious for a child's ear. 

I had always liked books but after a few Roald Dahl titles, I LOVED books and began gobbling them up as fast as I could.  I have since read and re-read them many time. I have read them to my own children and shared them with library patrons.  Each time I open one of my beloved childhood favorites, I get the same rush of excitement as I did so many years ago for I know that what lies inside is going to fill me wonder and pride and shock all over again.  Thank you Mr. Dahl for understanding that children are just little people and are just as deserving of stories which shock and delight as are adults. 
Today we celebrate a masterful story teller and here is my tribute.