SOLSC 9/31: The Human Antenna!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Lisa, Melanie, and Lanny

for hosting this meeting place each day in March

and for nurturing our writing lives.

We've joined the ranks of folks who no longer have cable service on our TV.  Somehow, it seems a backward move, but we have discovered that the vast majority of our TV watching is on our PBS station.  So yesterday morning, my husband was on a ladder, fiddling with the antenna, trying to find that sweet spot for the best reception when I interrupted his morning efforts, "Stop, don't move."  

One of the things I don't indulge in post retirement is morning TV.  It makes me grumpy for the day, especially now.  But I wanted my husband to stay right where he was (acting as the perfect antenna) for a morning segment that had me nodding my head in agreement and murmuring "amen" under my breath. 

Here are some of my takeaways from the CBS This Morning segment with Derek Jeter and Tim Green, authors of the new middle grade book, Baseball Genius:   

• It's a story about perseverance.  It's a story about kindness and loyalty and friendship. 
• The important thing for us is to entertain kids.  We do that with short chapters and lots of action.  In this book we take them into the world of the New York Yankees and Major League Baseball.
• When kids read, they get smarter.  They get a little kinder.  They put themselves in someone else's shoes.  
• In each of my books (Tim Green), I put a strong girl character, not just for the girl readers, but for the boy readers too.

Tim Green's books were popular with my sixth graders.  This is his 35th book and the first time he's teamed with Derek Jeter.  If you want to watch the segment or share it with students, here's the link on YouTube:  

And yes, when the seven minute segment ended, I gave my husband permission to step down off the ladder and resume his fiddling around with the antenna in search of the perfect, sweet spot of reception.