Angel Thieves has many stories of several characters happening across time, and it did take me more than a minute to sink into the many different pieces woven together. Appelt does not wrap things up neatly at the end. But to me this makes sense given that many of the characters were enslaved and their… Read more
2020
Goodness. I think this will be the third year I have done the 12 days of Christmas with Julie Hedlund. Usually, I start off strong with this, join the 12X12, and then limp along the rest of the year. It’s something of a tradition. I’m not sure I like the limping part, but every year… Read more
I can’t remember when I first discovered Leo Lionni. It may have been with my now grown son twenty years ago. Since then I have read several of his works and especially enjoy Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse. With a tale similar to The Velveteen Rabbit, this story tells of a toy that becomes a… Read more
I thought at first I would write of our school experience this fall and why we made huge changes we never before considered with our fourth grader. It turns out that I don’t want to write about how painful it’s been. I only want to write to you about what I’ve discovered about my kid… Read more
A friend told me that Harry Truman went to bed the night of his 1948 election with his usual glass of buttermilk. I checked and found this true. I am hoping to do the same or something similar next Tuesday, November 3rd. Though I am not running for any office whatsoever, I am nervous… Read more
Last weekend we were hiding from the rain in a small Westport shop. My husband was standing at the book display chuckling behind his mask. “Quinton would like this,” he said. I bought it because the husband liked it and because in the first few lines I could tell the language and art lived up… Read more
After staring at my steel-toed boots on the scale, the tall nurse asked me what I do. (I did not have the energy to remove them and decided just not to look at what that darned number is with the steel included.) “I am an academic instructor who works in a welding program,” I said… Read more
Meaghan Austin should be playing her clarinet solo today at a community concert to showcase her musical skills. Last February, she auditioned and won the Lovezolla 2020 Scholarship Award. She won’t play for a live audience. The Puyallup Valley Community Band stopped rehearsals for that concert on March 10–the same day a Skagit Valley choir… Read more