Monday, February 27, 2012

The Secret World of Arrietty

I have recently taken my granddaughters to the theater to see The Secret World of Arrietty. Aside from the sticker shock of the cost of movies and snacks......Admission was $22.50 for 2 children and 1 senior. Two small cokes and one small popcorn set us back $15.00. We had previously had lunch at McDonalds with two happy meals, one double cheeseburger, one large fry and one Big Mac (for their Pawpaw) about $18.00.

We met the girls' cousins and other grandmother at the theater. So two retired grandma teachers.. 8, 6, 5, and 3 year old girls, and a 4 year old boy entered the Secret World of Arrietty.

I remember reading The Borrowers as a child, but don't have any memory of it circulating much during my 16 year tenure in the elementary library. Perhaps the movie connection will give it another boost. I promised the oldest grand I would purchase it for her and we would read it together. We've been trying to work on Anne of Green Gables, but that's been a stretch.

I think maybe the language of books from the past is much more complex than popular fiction. We even discussed this yesterday in church as we were studying the book of Galatians. I wonder if people had to puzzle out what was being told them by the Apostle Paul as we did or were they just smarter.

Have just finished reading The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon and was glad I read it on the Kindle. Nice to have the dictionary right there at hand. You know the tendency to learn a new term and then it show up in other things you are reading? I am a blog follower of Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson as many of you know....last week there was a discussion of the term cats-paw. It was very present in one of the chapters in The Scottish Prisoner. I often have wondered if those sort of discovered terms are always present in our readings but we just begin to notice them when we learn the new word.

I always thrilled me when a library student would speak out during a lesson saying, "that's one of our spelling words!" Nice to see them making connections. That's when learning is real.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Bloodlines





Just finished the first in a new Richelle Mead series....Bloodlines.


Follow the link and read the first four chapters online.


I really enjoy reading Young Adult books and have a teacher friend that shares the affection for this genre. Heads up, Meg. You know you introduced me to them!


Will be interesting to see how Sydney Sage the Alchemist changes during this series. The change has already begun in book 1.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

A Kindle Gripe

When beginning a new book on my Kindle the screen starts with the first page of text.....no cover art, no Title page, no copyright page, no table of contents, no dedication page. You have to "back up" to see all this.

Got confused in a recent book and was at 7% (whatever page that is!) Tried to back up to see if there was some front notes I didn't see. Then wanted to resume where I left off but the wireless wouldn't connect soooo I had to page through till I got there.


Just a gripe for today.