Saturday, August 20, 2011

The Ghost of the Un-finished Reviews

Let's face it.  Our lives are busy.  Many of us have families, we all have too much to read, plus the everyday business of life means that the best laid plans to blog, often do not come to fruition.  It is with a bit of a wry smile that I go through my old word documents and find snippets that didn't get finished and didn't get onto the blog. 

Here's a prime example of a bit that I wrote in November of 2010:


"Books like Moon Over Manifest are difficult to summarize since they are woven together so masterfully.  Set in Manifest Kansas, Abilene Tucker comes to town by herself on the train because her Daddy Gideon has a job working for the railroad in Iowa, and he has declared that it’s not fit living for a 12 year-old-girl.  Lots of folks who were in Manifest when Gideon was coming up still live there, and Abilene is to live with Shady…part-time preacher/ part-time saloon owner.  But old habits die hard, and instead of waiting for the train to pull into the station like the rest of the paying customers, she takes a leap because folks know that “it’s best to get a look at a place before it gets a look at you”. (p. 3)

Abilene sees some sights on her walk into town, but they don’t much resemble the vibrant and bustling town that her Daddy recently told her stories about..." 


I don't know what stopped me from finishing.  Perhaps it was a hungry daughter, or some curriculum tweaking.  Maybe I had to pick somebody up from a play-date or go grocery shopping. 

What are some titles that you ended up not blogging that came back to haunt you?

Monday, August 08, 2011

Just Wondering....

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So, I have a question that I 've been wondering about for the past while.  I've been thinking deeply about tween reads and what makes them great.  I've also been thinking about the idea of tween / middle grade as a category.  My question(s) to you are as follows...What is your favourite middle grade/tween read of the past 10 years (and why).  What is your favourite middle grade/tween read of ALL time (and why)?

Thanks in advance! I can't wait to see which reads stuck with you!