Book of the Week

"We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become."

- Ursula K. LeGuin

Summer Read Part 2:

During my teens I acquired a love of the books by L.M.Montgomery. One favorite which I happily reread every year or so, especially during the summer, is "The Blue Castle". After spending her entire twenty-nine years of life under the thumb of her domineering mother and in fear of her snotty clan, Valancy Stirling learns that she is dying. Determined to start living somewhat in the way she lives in her daydreams-her "blue castle"- she keeps her illness a secret and begins to live life as fully as she can. Naturally, her respectable relatives are horrified when she starts sliding down the bannister, reading novels and speaking her mind. But no one, least of all Valancy, is more surprised when love comes her way at last.

Bed Books Part 3:

Yolen is a prolific and talented children's writer. One collection of her work that's garnering a lot of praise and attention lately is her dinosaur books. My boys adore our copy of her book "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?" Part of the fun of this book is seeing the dinosaur in our own world, dragging their feet at bedtime, much like the small children we all know and love. The sight of a sulky stegosaurus or an ankylosaurus demanding a piggyback ride is great. The text is terrific too, written in great couplets. For example;

How does a dinosaur say goodnight when Papa comes in to turn off the night?

Does a dinosaur slam his tail and pout? Does he throw his teddy bear all about?"

Happy Reading all!