Things I Would Be Doing if I Weren't Moving

• Writing a review for Gone With the Wind. I have so many thoughts to share about this book! I hope they haven't all escaped my brain by the time I have time to write.
• Going to a family reunion...it's done and past. We desperately wanted to squeeze it in, but something had to go. Very, very sad.
• Reading. I think I've read 20 pages in the last five days. The good news is I've been blazing my way through audio books. Thank heavens for those. I think they've saved my sanity.
• Getting to know my neighbors...that will come with time, but hopefully they'll forgive me for just waving and not stopping to chat.
• Working on videos for the family film festival...more on that later.
• Going on a date with Mike; between the dissertation and the move, I'm worried this might not ever happen again.

The good news is, we are in our new house, have probably unpacked about half of it (it's the second half that will be hard though), and are loving all the extra space we now have. Stay tuned!

In Which I Meet One of My Very Favorite Authors

It was the summer of 2006, and I had just finished a busy and stressful spring term at BYU. (A little redundant since I didn't have a semester that wasn't busy and stressful...it's in my personality to make all productivity stressful.) I was looking for some blissful rest and relaxation.

One day I was talking to my dear friend, Rachel (who also happens to be Mike's cousin), and she couldn't stop raving about her new favorite book, The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. The thought suddenly occurred to me, Hey, in my life before school, I used to like to read! And so I decided to pick it up. (And Rachel generously loaned me her copy, which I found out later was the ultimate bestowal of trust since she keeps her books in mint condition. She later got that copy signed and told me that she would never loan it out ever again.)

Reading The Goose Girl was the best experience I had had with books in a long time. I read it out loud to Mike, and I can remember literally squealing in anticipation when we got to the climax. (Mike, in case you were wondering, did NOT squeal...but he did laugh at me.)

And that is how I fell in love with Shannon Hale.

Now, six years later and having read practically everything written by her, you can imagine my excitement when I saw that she would be at The King's English with her brand-new book, Palace of Stone, the sequel to Princess Academy. I persuaded my good friend, Holli, to come with me, and it was, to wax a bit cheesy, everything I could have hoped for.

I have never heard Shannon Hale speak before, but I am an avid reader of her blog (and of course, her books), and so I was hoping she'd be as entertaining and personable in real life, and she was. Her editor spoke with her for part of the time, and they complemented each other very well. (And as a side note, as I listened to Shannon talk about writing, I didn't feel the desire to become a writer, but as I listened to Victoria, the editor, speak, I thought that maybe, in another life, I would have liked to do some editing.)

After they finished speaking (or rather, were told to stop speaking...I think they and the audience could have kept going for hours), Shannon signed copies of her books. Even standing in line was fun because I had a friend to talk to and new books to browse through. So yes, all in all, a very fun night out.

And in case you want a little more, these were some of my first impressions of Shannon Hale in real life: She is funny and witty with great comedic timing; she is mindful of her audience; she knows how to put a person at ease;  I would love to have her as a friend; she doesn't brush aside questions that she's probably had hundreds of times (i.e., questions about publishing and her writing process); she tries to make a personal connection with each person she meets (much to the frustration of The King's English employees who tried in vain to move along the signing line); her love of writing and telling stories is obvious and real; she is kind and sincere (I especially noticed the extra-special attention she paid to the 8-14-year-old crowd. They'll remember that forever.); she is humble and seems genuinely grateful for every one of her readers.

And as photographic proof of my star-struck evening:

A little blurry, but perfect just the same. 

(Now just imagine a King's English employee glaring at me from the side at this uncalled for holdup to the line.)

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Aaron and I are just breaking the surface of chapter books: there are so many I want to read to him that I find the task of selecting "the perfect book" to be a little daunting. Up to this point, I've tried to pick ones with plenty of pictures scattered throughout, short enough that it won't take us years to finish, and with a plot-line that will intrigue a four-year-old. Charlotte's Web fit these requirements perfectly.

The story begins when Wilbur (a pig) is born the runt of the litter. He is about to be "done away with," but is rescued by the farmer's daughter, Fern. She raises him as a pet, and he is eventually moved to Uncle Homer's farm where he is visited regularly by Fern and enjoys sleeping on his warm manure pile and eating his tasty slops. Wilbur could almost be content except that he yearns for a friend. And that is when he meets Charlotte, a common grey spider, who befriends him and ultimately saves his life.

Some think that Charlotte's Web, while much-loved by adults, holds very little appeal for the modern child. And while I maybe read just a smidgen faster through some of the descriptions of lazy summer days and perfect dewy mornings, overall I didn't have to do much to hold Aaron's, and even two-year-old Maxwell's, interest.

I know some little girls who fall in love with the story because they idolize Fern, but I was gambling on Aaron's obsession with spiders to carry us through. And it worked. The parts where Charlotte is wrapping up a tasty insect for dinner or repairing her web using her spinnerets or guarding her masterpiece, the egg sac, were the parts where Aaron's attention was riveted. (One day, when we were well into the book, Aaron told me that Charlotte could catch daddy-long-legs in her web. "Daddy-long-legs? Surely not!" So to settle our dispute, I had to find the page and read back through the list of thirteen things to be trapped and eaten by Charlotte. Daddy-long-legs were on the list.)

Even though I am absolutely terrified of spiders in real life, in the safe confines of a book, I loved Charlotte...although I did better when I thought of her more in her mentor-role and less in her spider-role. She was kind and honest, and even though she loved Wilbur, she treated him in a very no-nonsense, unbiased kind of way. As I read to the boys, I enjoyed giving the characters different voices (I only do this in the comfort of my own home with my own non-judgmental children!!), and Charlotte's lines were my favorite to read aloud.

Besides Charlotte, Aaron was also interested in Avery (Fern's brother) and Templeton (the selfish, disgusting rat). There's a picture at the end of the book where Templeton is huge and obese because he has been gorging himself so regularly. Aaron loves that picture and insisted we show it to Mike when he got home.

One of the things that maybe escaped Aaron's notice but that I especially loved was the way death is explored in a very safe, but realistic, way. It's an interesting paradox that Charlotte spends the whole book trying to save Wilbur's life, but in the end, she herself grows old. So now, even though Wilbur's life is spared, his best friend dies, leaving him alone (at least for a time). It made me realize that wearing out our own lives in the service of others can bring a lot of joy and fulfillment. When we came to Charlotte's last words, my voice cracked; I couldn't help it. But Aaron was unmoved. He understood that she died, but I think he couldn't wrap his brain around the full ramifications of what that meant for Wilbur...or maybe he was just better at remembering that spiders can only live for a short time.

I was reading this book to the boys one afternoon while they finished eating lunch, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a spider dash out from under the refrigerator. In an instant, all thoughts of my love for Charlotte vanished and I grabbed the nearest object to smash her distant cousin with. But just as quickly, he turned and fled back to his dark home, and I haven't seen him since (even though I made Mike move out the fridge and look for him). Perhaps he, too, was just enjoying the story of Charlotte and merely came out to thank me. What he didn't realize is that while I might be able to fall in love with a spider in a book, I can never ever do it in real life.

Four Facts for Friday (3)

A random fact about yesterday: My younger brother got married! Okay, I guess that's not so random; it was well planned in advance. But, yes, it's a fact that he got married. And his bride, Meagan, was beautiful. She is amazing, and we love her so much. As for something a little more random, at the reception, Max spilled purple punch all over his pants and white shirt. (And this, after I told Mike I didn't think the purple punch was a good idea.)

Sealed in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple

A random fact about today: The boys and I went to our little music class this morning. (This weekly co-op has been so much fun for us! Every mom takes a turn teaching. We sing lots of old favorites, occasionally teach some new songs and add in lots of dancing and actions.)

EDIT: Slightly more exciting than music class, my brother and his wife had a baby boy tonight! His name is Charlie, and I cannot wait to hold him.

A random fact about tomorrow: In an effort to not move junk to our new place in a couple weeks, we're having a yard sale where we will attempt to pass off all said junk onto other people and make a little money in the process.

A random fact about my house: Between my family coming into town, the wedding, the yard sale, the impending move, and three small boys, my home has seen better days. I'm off to clean!

KidPages: Bradley Boy Likes Books

Up to this point, Bradley has been, shall we say, rather indifferent to books in general. I know other moms who swear their babies are totally engaged in the pictures at just four months of age, but that has not been the case with Bradley, who is now 10.5 months old.

That's not to say he hasn't had a relationship with books. In order to placate me, he will occasionally look at a couple of pages and beat his palm on the pictures. And he loves to get a good mouthful of cardboard pages or hear the rustle of crinkling paper.

But as far as sitting down and basking in the reading experience? Um, not so much.

And then, all of a sudden on a normal, average day last week, a switch flipped.

And it all started with this book:

Baby Bear Sees Blue by Ashley Wolff

It is not for lack of trying that Bradley has not appreciated books. On a daily basis, I put him on my lap while I read to Aaron and Max, but he usually squirms off within the minute. But the cover of Baby Bear Sees Blue captured his attention...and he laughed.

I opened to the first page, which showed Baby Bear and his mama...and he laughed again.

As a disclaimer, I have to say that if you know anything about Bradley, it is that it doesn't take much to get him to laugh...life's a big joke to him. But this was unusual even for him. He seemed genuinely delighted by the pictures. And as we progressed through the story, I could see why.

The illustrations are vivid and bold with the focus being primarily on the bear and his mother and the backgrounds being washed out and less detailed.

I didn't know it when I put it on hold at the library, but it is a book about colors. As Baby Bear and his mother go about their day, he asks questions, like, "Who is singing to me, Mama?" and the mother answers, "Those are the jays." And then on the next page, we see the jays and the text says, "Baby Bear sees blue."

The thing I love about this book as opposed to other books with a similar focus is that the colors are explored in a subtle way. When Baby Bear sees red, the accompanying illustration is not overwhelmed by red objects. Instead, there are just a few red strawberries that Baby Bear is eyeing greedily.

Another thing I love about this book is that along with colors it also explores the senses: touch ("Who tickled me?"), sight ("Who is waving to me?"), smell ("What smells so good?"), and sound ("Who is growling at me?"). Taste is never really mentioned, so maybe the connection with the other senses wasn't intentional, but it is a detail I like nonetheless.

I read through the book slowly, carefully...Bradley laughing at every page, the other boys completely engaged. I was almost afraid to move, and as I came to the final page, I looked at Bradley in disbelief. Had he really just sat through an entire story, and not a short board book at that?

At first I wondered if there was something specific about this particular story that captured Bradley's attention. But as the days have passed, he has been sitting and looking and listening to many books, so it seems he is finally joining the rest of us in our love of reading.

But regardless of what other books he likes in the future, Baby Bear Sees Blue will always be special to me because it was Bradley's springboard into the wonderful world of literature. 

LibraryPages: My Hometown Library

The public library: a weekly fixture of my childhood

The library of my childhood holds a special place in my heart. I grew up in a small town (pop. 1700) in northeastern Colorado, and the library was literally one of the only attractions in the whole town. It was built in 1931 and has served as a public library ever since.

My earliest memories are of going to Story Hour on Tuesdays. The library was closed on Tuesdays, which meant we could use the open space in the middle of  the room (there's a computer station there now, which was a monumental event in and of itself). During Story Hour, we learned nursery rhymes, songs, and read stories, and we even had a yearly program to show off our accomplishments.

The view from the entrance. 

See the bookcase with the short shelves facing out? That's the Young Adult section.

Also, note the computer station, where the four chairs are lined up.

My next memory is of going to preschool in the basement, where I had to descend a narrow set of squeaky stairs and navigate a frightening turn part way down. There were no books in the basement. It was just used for community meetings and, of course, preschool.

Then came years and years of the summer reading program. Now that I'm in a larger city, I can see that there were some benefits to living in a small town, and one of them was the summer reading program. Our prizes were phenomenally better than the prizes my boys received this summer and included Little Debbie brownies, juice boxes, cans of pop, full-size candy bars, bags of chips, bookmarks, balls, and other toys. You received a prize for every two hours of reading, so you could make bank and keep a stash of snacks that would last the entire summer. Plus, after 20 hours of reading, you earned a book, and there was a wide range of high-quality books to choose from. I usually earned 4-5 each summer.

As a teenager, I volunteered at the library where I learned the ropes of a card catalog (that was made up of actual index cards!), ISBN numbers, and the Dewey Decimal system.

Through this all, the library had exactly one librarian. Yes, that's right. One. Her name is Jan, and she is a dear family friend and still works there to this day. She ordered hundreds of books for my family through the inter-library loan system, and she often purchased books for the library she knew we were interested in. We never gave her a library card; we were such familiar faces, she just kept our cards on file. She would stamp the card in the book with the due date, and I loved to check out a book that hadn't been stamped in years. It made me feel like I was doing the book a service so it could stay on the shelves a little longer.

 Jan the Librarian

(I remember when she upgraded to that desk...another memorable event)

On one of our recent visits to Colorado, I excitedly told Aaron that I was going to show him the library I went to when I was a little girl.

To say he was a little bit dumbfounded would not be an exaggeration. I think he was looking for the rest of the library, not knowing that what he saw was the whole package. He was even more flabbergasted when I escorted him over to the children's section and encouraged him to pick a book. In the weeks since that visit, he will sometimes say to me, "Remember your teeny tiny library, Mom?"

The children's section

Yes, I remember. And even though it might be teeny tiny, I am so grateful I grew up with a library just a bike ride away. Not all small towns are so lucky.

With this post, I'm participating in Where in the World Are You Reading?, a monthly meme hosted by Kelly, Lisa, and Trish.

Four Facts for Friday (2)

A random fact about this week: On Wednesday Mike and I saw Wicked at Salt Lake City's Capitol Theater. We've seen it before, but our seats this time were markedly better (I only had to use the binoculars occasionally instead of almost the entire duration of the play). We went with our good friends, and it was just the kind of evening out I needed (lots of talking, Cheesecake Factory, music I love, etc.).

A random fact about my past: When I was a student at BYU, I played the carillon (i.e., the bell tower). And because people always ask, no, not the hourly "Come, Come Ye Saints" chime, but yes, the mid-day concerts.

A random fact about my daily habits: I am an avid journal writer. I write in it every day, no exceptions (up to this point). I felt like I had to qualify that statement because you never know what the future holds, but up to this point even childbirth and mastitis have not kept me from writing every single day in the last...wait for it...12 years. Maybe someday I'll write a post explaining why I am so adamant about writing in it so religiously. Because, believe me, I have firm opinions on the matter.

A random fact about summer: I've been suffering through the 100-degree heat with everyone else, but every time I'm tempted to complain, I remember what it's like to put on socks, boots, coats, and mittens for three boys plus myself AND how much I hate the early darkness in the evenings, and then I step outside and revel in my bare feet and the sunshine.