Bookworm: I Just Finished... Room (11/12/15)

Room by Emma Donoghue

Holy crap! This book was good. I was going through a period where I was reading a lot of books I liked, but none that I loved. This book changed that for me. Room is a novel told from the point of view of 5 year old Jack. Jack’s entire life has been spent in an 11x11 room where his Ma has been held prisoner for seven years. Jack’s incessant questioning felt pestering at times, but it only helped add to the suspense of the book. I don’t want to give much away as far as plot goes, but Room made me laugh, and, at moments, made my heart ache. It brought up so many talking points in regards to child development, the parent/child bond, etc. To me, a book feels completely satisfying to me when it’s difficult to put down, sparks an emotional reaction, and leaves me thinking for hours, and even days, after reading. This one nailed it.

Mama Blacksheep: Halloween Series 2015: Trick-or-Treating

So this was my plan…

We invited our nieces to come trick or treating with us. I thought it would be super cool to have some fun Halloween crafts to keep the kids busy until trick-or-treat time. I did some research (I love my research) and found the cute, easy ideas above.

Did we do any of them? Nope.

It was a Saturday, and the weather was relatively mild, so the kids wanted to play outside. When we did go inside to feed them, the kids were far more interested in playing in the boys’ playroom than eating pasta and painting. While I would have chosen the latter, I thought it was cool that the kids didn’t need any planned activities. They were perfectly fine spending time together and coming up with their own fun. This is certainly not going to change my love of a plan-- I know if I would have had no activities on deck, they would have been complaining of boredom-- but it did teach me something. Sometimes it’s refreshing to go off the script and let events unfold organically. Sure, I could have stopped the kids from playing, and I’m sure they would have loved painting toilet paper roll Frankensteins, but I didn’t need to. It never hurts to have a game plan, but sometimes trying to hard to adhere to the agenda can hinder the magical moments that happen if you just let it be…

And, of course, trick-or-treating with cousins and neighbors was a blast!

Bookworm: I Just Finished... Girl, Stolen and The Infinite Sea (11/4/15)

Girl, Stolen by April Henry- Girl, Stolen is a young adult novel about a girl named Cheyenne, who is accidentally kidnapped when her stepmother’s vehicle is stolen from a drugstore parking lot. Her captor, another teenager named Griffin, did not realize she had been laying down in the backseat when he lifted the car. To complicate matters further, Cheyenne is suffering from pneumonia (she was at the drugstore to pick up her antibiotic), and she is also blind. This book wasn’t on my must read list, but I was looking on my classroom bookshelf for something to read, and I remembered that several of my students had read this title and loved it. I can understand why they did. It’s an easy read with lots of suspense. Even though I could tell it was meant for teenagers, it was interesting reading a story from the point of view of a character who is blind. I would recommend this book for teens and also for adults who like a quick, entertaining read.

The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey- Even though I loved The 5th Wave, I was stalling on this book. I think I was starting to feel worn out with the dystopian genre, but I started reading and read 150 pages in the first day. I don’t want to talk too much about plot and spoil the first book in the series for those who still want to read it, but, much like Catching Fire, The Infinite Sea is an awesome sequel.