Dr. Seuss is on the Loose at Stevenson Primary

If you work in a school, you don't have to have me tell you that last week was Read Across America week. If you work in a primary school, Dr. Seuss basically drives instruction during the first week of March. And that's a good thing.

There were themed days.

Crazy socks to celebrate Fox in Socks.

Wear green for Green Eggs and Ham.

Hats for Cat in the Hat.

Mustaches for The Lorax.

Our school was flooded with guest readers, 

including our school superintendent and several Jacketeers.

Our principals got in on the fun.

One of my favorite pictures from an earlier Read Across America week,

with me as the Cat and my library assistant and her daughter as Things 1 and 2.

This year, I wore last year's birthday gift from my wonderful sister. The perfect shirt to wear while reading the magnificent Green Eggs and Ham.

Love, love, love Dr. Seuss.

Don't forget to vote in Dr. Seuss's Battle of the Books. For every vote received, First Book will receive $1 (up to $10,000).

Did you celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday last week?

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 

 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now being hosted at The Book Date.

Art of the Pie: A Practical Guide to Homemade Crusts, Fillings, and Life

"I can't imagine any other food that symbolizes as much happiness and love."

My Grandma Frankeny was a pie maker extraordinaire. When I was a little girl in the fifties and sixties, my family ate Sunday dinner with my grandma and grandpap every week. Those were meals, folks. Roasts and mashed potatoes and chicken and corn and green beans. Oh my. But best of all were the pies. Grandma Frankeny always made pies. Pies plural. Always three or four or five or six big lovely pies. She specialized in pecan pies, regular, of course, but also lots of little odd variations like chocolate pecan and pecan cream and banana pecan, as she and Grandpap raised pecans on their hundred-acre ranch here in Texas. She could make any sort of pie, and the pie just seemed to flow from her fingers, effortlessly. 

When she and Grandpap passed away, we grandchildren were all given the opportunity to select something of Grandma's to keep. I chose her recipe box. I was a little saddened to see that lots of her pie recipes were not there or were incomplete (she'd had a stroke some years before her passing) but I loved going through all the recipes I found there. I try to keep her tradition going by baking a pie whenever I can, on holidays, on special occasions, and even, now and then, for Sunday dinner.

Her savory pie, a chicken pot pie, has to be one of her best. My mom often would bake up one of these for each of her children after we left home and married and surprise us by delivering it for our supper. 

"Pie is a comfort and balm to many a weary soul."

Do you see why I couldn't help myself when I saw the cover of Art of the Pie at BookExpo in Chicago last year? I never do this, but I contacted the publisher and asked to read and review (and bake up) this book. Pie seems to be in my genes, in my heart, in my soul. 

And the publisher sent me a copy at the end of last year. I've been lingering over this book ever since.

"...whether we are baking, sharing, or eating pie, we seem to tap into something that is much greater than the sum of its baked ingredients."

In her introduction to this fabulous new book about pie making, Kate McDermott shares all the pie secrets she's accumulated over the decades she has spent making pies. I love her rules of pie making and life, especially number one: "Keep everything chilled, especially yourself." So wise.

I've now tried out a savory pie recipe, Chicken Pot Pie.

It was right up there in taste and appearance with my grandma's chicken pot pie. And that's saying a lot.

I had to also try a sweet pie recipe, the Quintessential Apple Pie.

Keep it cold, McDermott says. The dough. The bowl. And your hands.

Look at that crust. I used the half butter, half shortening. Best, McDermott says, is half butter, half lard.

Four kinds of apples: Fuji, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Jazz

McDermott says you don't have to peel the apples. The peel adds to the flavor. And, oh my, was there flavor.

Just out of the oven.

"Made with hands and heart, pie is love, and love is best when shared."

This book is the perfect book for any pie maker, beginner or advanced. You can be happy just reading about making pie, I think, even if you never get farther than that.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

Saturday Snapshot is now hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. 

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Banished Words, a Library Sale, BookExpo Plans, and Other Bookish Thoughts This Week

Books That Arrived in the Mail (or Have Been Awaiting Me on the Shelf)

I got a nice little stack of books in the mail this week, and when I went to set them on my (upcoming) TBR shelf, I had a little shock: there were six books I received during the end-of-the-year Cybils rush that I never got around to reading and reviewing. I hereby vow to read and review these...well, soon. Very soon. Promise.

These are the books that arrived this week: The Rock Maiden: A Chinese Tale of Love and Loyalty; Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee; Effie Starr Zook Has One More Question; and The Fall of Lisa Bellow.

Here are some that have been lingering on my shelf, that I have somehow forgotten to read and review (oh dear!):

BookExpo Plans

I registered as media for BookExpo yesterday. I'm terribly excited and terribly nervous. It's one thing to go to BookExpo in Chicago; I know Chicago. It's another to go to...New York City. Whew. I don't know NYC. I looked up hotels and checked out flights. Just for grins, I looked into staying at the Library Hotel. Mighty pricey. But oh-so cool for all of us bookish types. Maybe one night?

Are you planning to go to BookExpo?

Banished Words

I ran across a crazy article on banished words last week. Every year Lake Superior State University makes a list of words that it is asking to banish because of "mis-use, overuse, and general uselessness."

I'm apparently so out of it that some (lots) of these words are completely unknown to me. Do you know about a dadbod? How about on fleek? Listicle?

The ones I do know are appropriately annoying, so I concur with LSSU (if concur is still an un-banished word) about guestimate and historic. Even though I'm not horribly familiar with 831, I agree that when you tell someone you love them you shouldn't use numbers.

What would you put on a list of banished words?

What I'm Reading

I'm reading (and enjoying, if that is the proper word) Lincoln in the Bardo. I've also started Effie Star Zook and The Fall of Lisa Bellow.
How about you? Are you reading anything good today?

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 

 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now being hosted at The Book Date.

Laughter Yoga

For more wordless photos, go to Wordless Wednesday.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky at West Metro Mommy Reads.

Books I Loved (Much) More Than I Thought I Would

H is for Hawk
I hate violence. This is a very violent book. But deeply true.

March by John Lewis
A graphic novel which I'm not wild about AND it's the story of the Civil Rights Movement, which doesn't sound engaging. Wrong, wrong.

I, Claudius
The story of a stuttering Roman emperor doesn't sound compelling.

Lab Girl
I'd never expected to be captivated by an autobiography of a science nerd.

Lonesome Dove
A western? Really?

True Grit
Please. Another western? And, c'mon, I've already seen the movie. This book is going to surprise me?

A Wrinkle in Time
I think I've spent the last fifty-something years since I read this book trying to find a book as wonderful.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
This was my introduction to the amazing-ness that is Mo Willems.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Nothing prepared me for the power of this book on my life.

Tenth of December 
Author Khaled Hosseini puts it best: "Saunders makes you feel as though you are reading fiction for the first time."

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Four ✭✭✭✭✭ Reads, Plus My Favorite Love Story, Tadpole's Promise

I've read 56 books so far in 2017 and 16 of them have been five star reads. That seems pretty remarkable. How can I account for this? The best reads have mostly been books I didn't get around to reading from last year. Oddly, the best books are not books I thought I'd love. I know nothing about hunting with hawks, for one, and who'd have thought I'd be so taken with a children's book with a scarecrow for a main character? cover title author review H is for Hawk Macdonald, Helen I'm not a hunter, and I'm not mad for animals, but great writing is great writing, and this book is great writing. Helen Macdonald's dad collapses and ...more [edit] Utopia Drive: A Road Trip Through America's Most Radical Idea Reece, Erik I've always been completely fascinated with utopias, and I've secretly longed to join one or start one. I'm a natural reader for this little travel na ...more [edit] Worzel Gummidge Todd, Barbara Euphan Worzel Gummidge is a classic not-quite-human, not-quite-other character, who is able to be in the world without being of the world, who throws out bri ...more [edit] Homegoing Gyasi, Yaa Two sisters in Africa. One becomes the wife of a white man who rounds up slaves. And the other is captured as a slave. Each chapter moves forward a gen ...more [edit] I finished four books this week and every one of them was a five star story. I'm reading two George Saunders books right now and I'm pretty sure that both of these will also be five star reads. I can't explain it, this Amazing Book Phenomenon, but I say, keep on coming, great books. I almost forgot...I also read my favorite picture book love story, Tadpole's Promise, to many of my classes this week. I snapped a picture of the typical reaction of a class to the story...Don't you love this?!

What are you reading today?

What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them,and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book. Click here to join the Salon.

The Sunday Post is a meme hosted by Kimba at Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It's a chance to share news and recap the past week.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share books that we found in our mailboxes last week. 

 It is now being hosted here.

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews in which you can share the books you've acquired.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now being hosted at The Book Date.