Friday, May 31, 2019

Ten 1001 Children's Books, Joyful June, and Mary Berry's Best-Ever Brownies






I've been working on the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read challenge since 2014, and I'm proud to say that this week I've finished ten more books on the list. That puts me at 660/1001

The Ship That Flew by Hilda Lewis  This was my favorite kind of story when I was a little girl. If I'd been able to find a copy on the shelves of my library, I would have checked it out ...more

My Friend the Painter by Lydia Bojunga Nunes  Claudio and the painter are great friends. The painter teaches Claudio much about art as well as life. But the painter dies and people say he killed himself...more

Two Weeks With the Queen by Morris Gleitzman  Colin's brother Luke has terminal cancer and Colin is being shipped off to England to stay with distant relatives during Luke's final days. This gives...more

Tow Truck Pluck by Annie M. G. Schmidt  This is a children's picture book and it's a children's chapter book. And it's absolutely delightful. It may be my favorite of the 1001 Children's Books...more

A Walk in the Park by Anthony Browne  Smith and Smythe go to the park, each with a child and a dog. The dogs are first to befriend each other, chasing each other merrily through the park. ...more

The Little Bookroom by Eleanor Farjeon  The Little Bookroom is a collection of twenty-seven of the best short stories of Eleanor Farjeon for children. These stories are wildly imaginative...more 

The Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum  Joris Verhagen and his family live in a windmill in Nazi-occupied Holland. The family finds ways to help those who are fighting the Nazis, especially ...more

The Demon Headmaster by Gillian Cross  Dinah knows something is wrong as soon as she arrives in her new school. Everything is too orderly, and no one steps out of line. But what is going on ...more

Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian  War is imminent, and William, an eight-year-old boy, has been evacuated out of London, away from his life with a disturbed single mom, to stay with a ...more

Grinny by Nicholas Fisk  Grinny appears out of nowhere, on the family's steps, announcing she is the family's Great-Aunt Emma. The trouble is that no one has ever heard of Great-Aunt...more






It probably won't surprise you to learn that I am currently reading the rest of the 1001 Children's Books I got from the Houston Public Library last week.






I'm joining in Classical Carousel's The Four Loves readalong in June. The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis is a relatively short book, and it's based on radio talks Lewis gave on the BBC in 1958. To join in, simply comment here.




Longtime reading expert and teacher Donalyn Miller should be announcing her Annual #Bookaday Challenge soon.  I plan to join in, starting on June 1st, and hope to tweet a little about each book I read.








It's time for the Joyful June calendar from Action for Happiness. Download your own PDF file for printing here



I made a batch of Mary Berry's Best-Ever Brownies this week. Instead of walnuts, I used pecans from my backyard. 



I also baked six dozen milk chocolate chip cookies. It's my own recipe, with lots of butter, chocolate, and a secret ingredient.






How did your week go?

Did you finish any good books?

Have you run across anything book-ish that you would like to share with us?

I invite you to link up here and/or at the Sunday Salon page on Facebook each weekend (Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Monday) and let us know what you have been doing. Visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

Other places where you may like to link up are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.


My linkup for Sunday Salon is below. If you wish to also post a link at Facebook, you can also do that. 


30 comments:

  1. I love that you are reading the 1001 Children's book list. And Mary Berry; what a woman. I miss seeing her on the British Baking show!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary Berry is such an admirable person. I miss her on the British Baking Show, too.

      Delete
  2. Oh, I didn't realize you had been doing this since 2004. It's hard to back out now, I guess.

    I like the idea of the Joyful June calendar. I just don't know if I can commit. :)
    So were they the best-ever brownies you ever had? :)

    My week went...well, it went. It's gone. No good books finished, but started a mystery by Ngaio Marsh that I didn't plan on starting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not really committed to the calendar. I look at it occasionally and I might do an activity for the fifteenth on the tenth. Then I will skip days and days until I come back to it at the end of the month. But it does remind me to live the month in joy.

      I've been doing the 1001 Children's Books since 2014. I inevitably run across amazing books. And a number of ho-hum ones, too.

      Delete
  3. You have made great progress with the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read challenge. I didn't read as much this past month with my daughter as I would have liked. My mom was visiting and she and Mouse enjoy reading together. And then my husband and daughter were reading more together. You would think that would mean I would read more on my own . . . No such luck.

    Those brownies sure look good! I prefer pecans, and so would probably have liked yours quite a bit. :-) Oh, and yummy cookies too! My mouth is watering.

    I am very much looking forward to tomorrow. My only day of the week with no plans. We may take in a movie. Or perhaps have a pajama day. I just know I am in need of a free day!

    I hope you have a wonderful week, Deb.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love reading the 1001 Children's Books. I know I will get to a point where I just can't find any more of the books. Sometimes I think I am almost there now.

    I took the cookies to a family get-together yesterday. My little great-nephew ate a cookie and then came over to me and said, "Aunt Debbie, these are the best cookies I have ever eaten," in that way that only little kids can. Pure joy.

    Enjoy your free day. There is so much busy-ness when you are raising children. Enjoy a bit of time for yourself!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mary Berry is a British institution! I love baking. :)
    I also love kids books... I kinda miss that my son is past the really cute picture books stage. :( On the plus side, he's the reason I'm loving Rick Riordan's books so there's always a silver lining!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I found so many children's books because of my kids.

      Delete
  6. Those brownies and the cookies look so delicious and yummy! Now I'm craving cookies LOL I'll have to bake some.
    Genesis @ Whispering Chapters

    ReplyDelete
  7. You are doing great with the children's books. Those brownies look delicious! Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If I could only find all the books, I'd have a better shot at reading them all.

      Delete
  8. Impressive progress with the 1001 Children's Books list, Deb! Glad you have your baking mojo - I'm hoping to find mine once I've broken up for the summer holidays - another month and a bit to go... Have a great week:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's funny that your summer begins so much later than ours. I guess it is because you are much farther north.

      Delete
  9. Wow, I'm working on that Children's book challenge myself with my son. Our library recently sent a notice saying that they'd forgive fines for a week and connected with that was a survey asking if that program benefited us and I was like: Most definitely!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have found so many amazing books by reading from that list.

      Delete
  10. Great progress on your Children's Book list! I miss reading children's books. Your chocolate chip cookies look amazing. I'll be baking a cake later this morning to take to family dinner, but now I'm craving cookies, lol!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think I need to bake some cookies!!

    Happy Reading!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Pecans for walnuts... Always a good choice. ;) Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow you're doing great on the Children's Book challenge! And that Action Calendar looks like a neat idea.

    mmm brownies and choc chip cookies- two of my favorite things haha!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I know we're here to talk books but I'd so love to try some of those cookies and brownies. Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I’ve never been terribly successful at making Choc chip cookies but I made Choc chip muffins yesterday.
    I do you like the idea of the happiness calendar, if my kids were younger it would make a great family activity plan I think.

    Have a great reading week Deb :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow! Lots of great books you got here! I've heard a lot of good things about Two Tow Truck and I need to read that!

    Here’s my Sunday Post!

    Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog

    ReplyDelete
  17. What a great selection of books! Enjoy your week, and thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Nice job with the baking!! Love that 1001 book challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I think it is great that you are reading 1001 children's books. I just had my second one published, please email me if you would like a copy to read/review. It is titled, I Am Not A Skunk, loosely based on how we thought our cat , Emmy was a skunk when we found her.

    ReplyDelete
  20. You read such diverse things. I always prefer pecans. I hope you have a wonderful week!

    Anne - Books of My Heart

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a challenging challenge. My biggest problem is that sometimes the challenges sound like so much fun, and then I get over-challenged (Hahaha) and have to drop some. "Gotta know when to fold 'em." I rarely don't finish things but the audiobook challenge I took on for 2019 just isn't sitting right. The IDEA of listening to a book is great, but in actuality, I don't get as much out of it.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I forget to link up here GAHHHHHH! Still its great to catch up with you Deb! Your 1001 challenge is so neat!! The Ship that Flew sounds so good. ❤️

    ReplyDelete

I hope you will leave a comment so I know you have visited. If you stop by my blog, I will always stop by yours.

Note: Disqus commenting is only available on the web version of the blog. Please switch to the web version if you are using a mobile device.