Pleasures from the Page

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Slice of Life: Mock Newbery Results

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

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

Oh, how I love Tuesday afternoons! It's the day when I meet with other avid readers for Books, Brownies, & Beyond, our after school book club. Today, with the help of Carrie Bowman, we evaluated the five titles we read as part of the YCTNN (You Choose the Next Newbery) at KCLS (King County Library System).

The KCLS titles we read (in alphabetical order):

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley

Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan

Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai

The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Voting Results for KCLS titles:
1st Place: The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

2nd Place: A tie between Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan and
The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

3rd Place: Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai

Three additional titles I added to our Mock Newbery reading list:

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelly Pearsall

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

Voting results for all eight titles read by Books Brownies & Beyond:

1st Place: The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

2nd Place: Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan and

3rd Place: Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper
(Very close race - Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai was just one vote less
and The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin was just two votes less)

If you've been involved in a Mock Newbery this year, I'd love to hear your results.

Currently, we are anticipating the announcement of the Newbery winner and other awards on Monday, January 11th at the ALA (American Library Association) Youth Media Awards. I'll be part of the pajama party since it begins at 8 am in Boston (5 am on the west coast). I love listening to the live webcast. If you'd like to join me, here's the link. I won't be posting any pajama pics on Twitter, but I will be watching and listening!

We'll watch the webcast on Tuesday afternoon at book club. Fingers crossed that some of our titles will win Newbery, Newbery Honor, or another book award!

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Celebrate This Week

Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.
When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.

A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

Inspired by Carrie's list of simple things, I choose a few simple moments to share:

Family dinner at Cactus followed by "family sit-in" on possible new couch!
Sara's long day of couch shopping with her dad earlier in the month
is rewarded with the stamp of approval by all family members.

Couch is ordered!

Watching movies together and playing games and telling stories!
I convinced Blake and Stefi to join me for "Places in the Heart,"
a personal favorite they had never seen.

Saying goodbye to 2015 at Slater Park (so happy to see the sun)!

Bumping into former students and parents of former students at the grocery store:
Mia, who works at QFC,
Julia, a junior, selling baked goods for a high school club,
Kacey, a junior at Western (majoring in early childhood & elem. ed),
and seeing parents of three former students,
(nothing beats teaching and living in a small town).

Still enjoying Christmas decorations
(undecorating can proceed at a more leisurely pace in retirement).

Still pondering my OLW, lots of possibilities for 2016,
TBA soon, maybe for Tuesday's Slice of Life.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Slice of Life: A Stretch Reflection!

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

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

Here's the visual I made last year with a
little help from fellow blogger, Michelle.

Moving On (an acrostic composed in January for my 2015 OLW)

Steps,
Tiny steps, with time to
Refresh, to celebrate
Each day's small effort as I seek
To gently grow,
Comfortable as a cat, content and
Happy to move forward slowly.

I'm totally amazed at how quickly a year passes. It's a fifth Tuesday, and one of the days I devote to reflecting on my one little word for the year. I'm reluctant to write, feeling that I somehow didn't measure up to my wishes for this to be a year of stretching. However, a few glances back at some posts remind me that I did indeed do a bit of stretching this past year.

I filled in for six weeks in our school library (a delightful stretch).
I was lucky to witness a long-wished-for remodel of our kitchen
And I stretched as I decluttered many items while packing up.
I continued to log many steps throughout our very mild winter,
a delightful spring, and a drier than usual summer.
I must admit the arrival of a very wet fall and winter
has resulted in fewer steps.
I've made progress with my boxes from teaching,
(thanks to daughter's help)!
I can't say that I'm done, but I continue to
celebrate any small effort in the right direction.
I've read many of the possibilities
for this year's Newbery award.
Our after school book club has stretched
to include many more students.
A new opportunity arrived at the end of September
when I was asked to accept a new calling
to serve the women of our congregation.
This calling is a "big stretch" for me,
and I'm grateful for the support of family and friends
as I stretch my circle of caring,
as I learn to gently grow, and
to be content and happy
with any forward progress, however small.

Now, I'm thinking about next year's OLW, maybe by next week it will find me!

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Celebrate This Week

Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.
When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.

A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

Sharing this week's celebrations in pics!

Book club members Disha and Katie attend fellow
member Elsa's Nutcracker performance.

Imi enjoys books all by herself!

Imi (the sheep) with her two angel sisters,
Lenna and Kilee, at the nativity rehearsal.

The girls model Santa's Christmas Eve gift -
never too old for new PJs.

Beecher's Mac & Cheese - a must at Pike Place Market!

Stefi and Sara stay cozy by the fire while the guys make pizza!

The guys prep for Pizza Night!

Max asked me about Blake two weeks ago
and was so excited to see him at church today.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Slice of Life: Christmas Storytime!

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

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

Books ready for sharing!

Storytime!

It's something I'd wanted to do for several years: invite some young friends over for stories and cookies. I finally squeezed it into the schedule last year. And now, it's a new tradition! Take the shortest day of the year, pull out a few favorite Christmas books, bake some cookies, and add four lovely ladies (with memories from last year's party when we had a scavenger hunt for some treats). We started with stories, stopped for hot chocolate, cookies, and warm homemade bread (contributed by Mallory,) and improvised with a lively game of "Find the Baby Jesus,"
(it's okay, he's wooden)!