A Privilege I Have

Every Wednesday I go to the Classical School in Little Rock and read to these wonderful children.

What a blessing it is to me.

I love reading.  I love reading out loud- I think I have a little actress in me- very little :-)  I now spend time in the children's section at the library and online researching books that are good to be read out loud.  Here are a few of our favorites so far-
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Drummer Hoff
Baby Brains by James
Chewie Louie by Schneider

These books are too old or not appropriate or we just haven't gotten to yet for me to read at the classical school but still good.
Captain Abdul's Pirate School by McNaughton- when I got to the part about teaching spitting and pirate swear words I thought mmmm maybe better not read this so that they don't go home and ask mama about swear words but it was a fun read.
The Carpenter's Gift by Rubel.  I may read this in December.  Beautiful pictures and great story.  Did you know that the Christmas tree from Rockefeller Square was donated to Habitat for Humanity??  I learned that from this book.
Boys of Steel by Nobleman.  I never knew who the inventors of Superman were (two shy guys with glasses) and when it started (During the Depression).  Really interesting book.

My own collection of children's literature is swelling as I read good books and then feel the need to have them on my shelves at home.

Enjoy your privileges today!!!

What do you plan to read in 2012?

Have you started to say... Next year I'll do such and such?
Or my other favorite is ...I don't plan to do that again til next year...like ironing or paying bills etc

I am starting my reading list for 2012 and I love doing things like that because I love the clean slate, the newness, all the possibilities!

If you are ready to start your To Be Read List you will find good suggestions at this blog.

Books to read

Have you made your New Year's Resolutions yet?  Do you have reading on that list?  Here is a really cool blog  that will inspire you.  I haven't decided which challenge I plan to pursue but I'll let you know.

The Roque Crew

While I was in Savannah I finished reading The Roque Crew. It is a Redwall book.   I love the Redwall books!  They are a series of books written by Brian Jacques.  The books take place in and around the abbey at Redwall.  The stories are about good and evil and good always wins but not without great cost.  The characters are all animals- British animals, some I have never heard of.   There are 22 books in this series and there will be no more because Mr Jacques died this past February.  He wrote the first 5 books for students he encountered on his milk route.  They were blind so he provided them with fantastic descriptions.  I love these books, some more than others.  My all time favorite is the first, Redwall.  I just finished his last one, The Roque Crew.  It was outstanding but I didn't really want to finish it.  Now I have to say good bye to all the friends that I have made over the years.  I am sad that we will have no new adventures together.

Maybe I'll start at the beginning and reread some...

I am ready to go back

These are the books I have decided to read this October.  An Untamed Land was a wonderful, quick read.  I plan to find others in the series.  I am working on Walker Percy Remembered.  It is not one you can curl up in bed with so I am having to work at that one.

I am pleased to report- I miss my public library!  My list of books I want to read is growing.  I think I will celebrate November Fools Day by visiting the library after I request a few online.

Do you have a daily reading list??

I love to read.

And honestly, I get tired of folks who find out that I love to read and proceed to tell me, with great condensation, that they don't have time to read, but what they are really saying is, that I shouldn't have time to read either.

I love to read.

I have come to realize that life is full of choices and I choose to have time to read.

Here is a daily reading list that KimT sent me. I was encouraged. I hope you readers are encouraged too.

A Reading List!

Do you take dares??

A Dare I plan to take today. How about you???

I am recovering from The Spelling Bee. It went 20 rounds last night.

Different Priorities

I love to read!

Not all people understand this.

My children had an AWANA event one Saturday, when we lived in PB. Carl and I volunteered to drive our children and some of their friends-two brothers and their sister- to the event. Their parents, (what makes this even more shocking is they were homeschooled), had some errands to run in LR and would be gone the whole time of the said AWANA event. I would have called this women, who I can't think of her name at the moment, my friend.

Said AWANA event was cancelled! Now I had 6 children, on a rainy Saturday, for the whole day in my house. This was before cel phones, so we couldn't call them, not that we would have. And, you know, what the heck, my children enjoyed these kids so we all went back to our house for the day.

It was in the spring. I had pulled all the clothes out of the attic and was in the process of 'what still fits', 'what needs to be given away', 'what can a younger brother or sister possible wear next year'. In addition to the piles I normally have around my house, I had even more. The children never noticed. We watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, played board games, played with the crash dummies, had a big snack, etc and the day flew by.

Said 'Can't think of her name' and her husband came at the end of the day to collect their children. When they walked into my house the first words out of her mouth were and I quote" On Monday, why don't you drop your children off at my house for awhile, so you can clean your house"

I just laughed.

I should of taken her up on it. Would she ever have known what I really did? Probably, I don't have a good poker face. I still remember thinking, Who would use a day without children to clean your house? I said " If you watch my children on Monday, I doubt I'll clean my house, I'll get my book and read all day"

She informed me in no uncertain terms that she would not watch my children for me to read. I pointed out that I hadn't asked her to watch my children in the first place. We smiled and parted ways.

Now, lest you feel the need to call the heath department on me, I have had folks say that they enjoy being in my home because it is lived in and that makes them feel comfortable.

But I do surely love to read and now most of my piles are of books

One of the blogs on my blog roll is Reading to Know. I love her book reviews and have come to trust that she and I have to same view on books so if she recommends one, I usually enjoy it too. Here are Part I and Part II of an article she wrote on Reading as a Ministry. I hadn't thought of it that way before but I do have lots of folks that come to me for suggestions of what they can read or to borrow books for beach trips (hey Monica, were they good?) or ask me what they can give as a gift to a reader.

So if Said AWANA mama ( I did just remember her name) and I had the above interaction now, I might say, Sure you can watch my children and I'll get ready for some ministry work!