Good Books 2012-1

For the new year, I want to keep better track of the books I read. More often than I would have guessed, I find myself looking for what I wrote about a particular book, and for months now I haven't been keeping a record.

So I'm going to try something new. Instead of writing a big list every month or two, I'll post every week or so and just mention the books I've read in that time. I'm hoping this will feel more manageable to me and I won't put it off so long.

GOOD BOOKS READ IN 2012, PART 1

On Being Sarah by Elizabeth Helfman, 1993, 173 pages, ages 10 and up.

This is a short, easily read book that has a great message. It's about Sarah, who has cerebral palsy and can't speak or walk. The book is written from Sarah's point of view and is very effective at showing her frustrations and feelings. It reminded me of Follow My Leader in the way it gives the reader a glimpse of what life is like for someone with a disability.


The Outcasts by John Flanagan, 2011, 434 pages, ages 12 and up.

I'm a fan of the Ranger's Apprentice series, and this is the first book of a spinoff series, "Brotherband Chronicles," by the same author. It's set in the same world and time period, but introduces a new group of characters: young Skandians (like the Vikings) who are in training and competition to become sea warriors. The main character, Hal, has an inventive turn of mind and a talent for leadership, and when he's grouped with the other misfits for training, he's determined that they won't just be the joke of the competition. I was hoping for the same quality of writing and excitement this author is known for, and I was not disappointed. The book ends with a wrenching cliffhanger -- also something this author is known for, but this is worse than his others! -- and I'll definitely look forward to reading the sequel.


Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, 1990, 184 pages, ages 12 and up.

I'd heard of this book -- it won the Newbery Medal -- but I'd never read it. I had no idea it was about huge issues like racism and acceptance, homelessness and families. Jeffrey Magee is a runaway who finds his way to Two Mills, where the whites and blacks live on opposite sides of town and don't mix. Jeffrey's mixture of naivete and fearlessness shakes things up. It's a book worth reading and thinking about, both the sad and the funny parts.


The End of Molasses Classes: Getting Our Kids Unstuck by Ron Clark, 2011, 323 pages, ages 16 and up.

Ron Clark is an innovative teacher who started his own school in Florida. This book is a list of strategies and ideas for improving education, each of them illustrated with stories from the author's experience. I can't say I agree with every one of his ideas, but there are certainly many helpful and exciting concepts here. The author deeply cares about students, and I like his viewpoint that every student is not just worth teaching, but is worth our best teaching.

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NaNoWriMo 2011

For some reason, we tend to plan family vacations in November, right in the middle of NaNoWriMo. This year I decided I wouldn't worry about trying to write in a notebook at the motel. That doesn't work very well for me. Instead, I figured out a higher word goal for the days I would be at home writing, and so far I'm on track with that, even though I feel behind because of vacation. I want a winner T-shirt this year!

30 poems and more

Despite a few nights of almost forgetting and frantically scrambling words together at 11:45 pm, I met my goal of writing a poem every day in April! The kids didn't write every day, but they wrote more poetry than they've done before. It was a fun challenge, although it's nice to not have the pressure now of coming up with something every day. The poems, good ones and bad ones, are at Word Finding.

Month of poetry

For April we're making NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) part of our homeschool. Instead of posting our poems every day on this blog, we started a new one to put them on, along with other writing projects from our family. I'm hoping to encourage my children to write more and share more. I'm committing to a poem every day in April myself; the kids may not keep to that schedule, but I'll be happy with whatever they do produce! If you want to check in on us during the month or afterwards, the new blog is Word Finding.

Zion National Park

Mike and I went on an early anniversary trip to St. George. We stayed at a bed and breakfast, went to the St. George Temple, went to see Bill Cosby at Tuacahn, did some walking, and hiked a little in Zion National Park. I wish I were a better photographer, because the photos we took just don't capture what it was like.

We went to Zion Canyon first, the south central part of the park where most people go.



This resident was obviously used to company. (We didn't feed him anything -- he brought his own snack.)



We also visited Kolob Canyons, a lesser-known area in the northwest corner of the park. The elevation is higher and there was snow, but the roads were clear. A nice couple who might have been German offered to take our picture.



We went on a hiking trail that turned out to be a little more challenging than we'd thought, mostly because 90 percent of it was either slippery snow or squelchy, slippery mud. (I'm sure it's nicer later in the year.)



But at the end of the trail, on top of a ridge where the wind almost got my hat, we got a great view. The trail sign said that on a clear day, looking south like this, you can see the Kaibab plateau at the north rim of the Grand Canyon.



I'm glad there are still places like this to enjoy. And now I'm all excited for summer, when the trails closer to home will be clear enough to hike!

Poetry 21 & 22

Why four blog posts in one day? you ask. Well, let me tell you, I reply (and if you were here in person, you'd hear the reason in my hoarse and scratchy voice). I stayed home from church, trying to recover from bronchitis, and needed something to distract me from the oppressive gunkiness. Now you know.

I came across two poems I liked in a book by John Sterling Harris. Here's the first one:


Curiosity
by John Sterling Harris

God distributed gifts.
To some he gave strength.
Others he made handsome
Or swift or let sing
Like larks at daybreak.

A last little boy asked,
Is there something for me?
God handed down an ivory box.

The boy saw the lid was curiously
Carved in a cryptic design--
It would bear some later study.
The hinges were ingeniously
Wrought, and the latch moved
With a satisfying click,
But there was nothing inside.

He stroked the surface
And looked up inquiringly.

You will have to fill it, God said
With bright pebbles and sea shells,
Maple leaves and June bugs
And red-shafted feathers.

It's a pretty thing--
I hope you find it much too small.



This second poem made me laugh. It's a confession of sorts (an unrepentant one).

The Culvert's Rise
by John Sterling Harris

Utah irrigation ditches
Have sovereign right of way
Sacred as the king's highway.

Thus Main Street accommodated--
For its hundred foot width--
The Settlement Canyon stream
With an elegant culvert.

But long culverts clog
With leaves and branches,
Apples and kids' boats.
They require poles
And fire hoses to clear.

For access this one was roofed
With cast-iron plates
So heavy the end of one
Was all a man cared to lift.

One hot night a coffee can of carbide
Floated into the culvert--
In its bottom a metered nail hole
That let it sink halfway through.
Carbide and water produce acetylene--
A smelly flammable gas.

From half a block away another can
Floated down, with a lighted oily rag--
Like a fire ship under full sail
Into the anchored frigates at Brest.

Blue flames squirted, riding a dull boom
And the heavy clang of plates
Lifted and fallen awry.

It was glorious and satisfying.
Investigators could not find the cause,
Though there was talk of sewer gas.
The miscreants were never caught--
And there is the statute of limitations.