Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I really enjoyed the first two Erin Entrada Kelly books that I read–AND I have a passion for words in general–which means that my expectations for You Go First were pretty high. Two kids struggling with middle school pressures and home difficulties connect over online Scrabble? Sign me up! After reading it, however, I realized that I didn’t just want Charlotte’s and Ben’s lives to “intersect” (the word given on the back of the book). I wanted more of a relationship between them, which technically wasn’t at all promised in the description. Instead, there’s more of a series of brief touches there; the bulk of the book is made up of Charlotte’s story and Ben’s story, which are alternately told. Both of those stories were hard to hear at times, especially with my own memories of friend and social struggles at that age still lurking in the back of my mind. On the other hand, they were consummately told and kept me reading. Ultimately, this is both a hard book and a hopeful book–and a well-written one. Whether or not you should read it, well–that’s probably up to you.

Have I become a bit of a blogging bore? (Please tell me you appreciated my alliteration. And did you see what I did there?) Because it occurs to me that while I’m just trying to move through some of my mountain of books to read, the constant “now I can review THIS one and it can LEAVE MY BEDROOM” might get impressively dull for everybody else. I’m going to avoid being tedious today, however, and instead of reviewing one of the books waiting to be reviewed, I’m going to give you an easy, tasty, healthy slow cooker soup recipe. Because who doesn’t need one of those in December? Am I right?

I was looking for something to put into the crockpot on a Thursday, because Thursday nights are kind of awful–school pickup, home by 3:30, after school band pickup, 4:15, dance for one of my girlies, 5:15, and oh, yeah, people want to eat DINNER sometime in the midst of all that. Last Thursday I found and doubled this Slow Cooker Lentil Soup with Bacon to impressive effect; my son gave it two thumbs up and my oldest was a fan as well. (My second girlie will never love anything with legumes, and my last one is unpredictable. It is what it is.) I left out the red chili flakes mostly because I forgot them, although I only ever add a pinch of those because we’re wimps; the only conscious changes I made were to saute the onions and celery in the bacon fat before tossing them in (because WHY THE HECK NOT) and to toss in some cubed potatoes, which the recipe mentioned as a nice addition anyway. It was cheap, easy, tasty, and cooked nicely on high, folks. Who could ask for anything more? If you’re looking for a meal plan this week, then, you should absolutely let them eat soup!

My family LOVES Bartlett pears. (Well, except for the 4-year-old who has suddenly declared herself to be anti-pear.) Which means that when they’re a good price at Costco, I sometimes buy two boxes, hoping that if they’re different levels of ripe when I buy them, they won’t all be ready at the same time, right?

Wrong.

So. I had large quantities of pears to use up a week or so ago, which is why we had these Pear Muffins one night and these Spiced Roasted Pears + Sweet Potatoes (I had one of those to use up as well) another. The muffins were lovely–I used plain yogurt instead of sour cream and subbed in some whole wheat flour, and everyone except for that 4-year-old was a fan. I don’t know that I could really taste the cardamom, but they were good. (Possibly I might experiment with different spices next time? Or maybe cardamom loses flavor quickly when ground?) The Spiced Roasted Pears + Sweet Potatoes were also tasty, although some of my children liked the pears and not the sweet potatoes and some liked the sweet potatoes and not the pears (4-YEAR-OLD!). I left out the pecans, because I kind of like my children alive, and I used maple syrup instead of honey, because I prefer the flavor (and it fits very nicely with those spices). You definitely want your pears to be on the firm side of ripe and your sweet potatoes in relatively skinny pieces–the closer you can match their textures and levels of done-ness, the better–but oh, the flavor!

Bottom line? I would totally make both recipes again, and you should try them next time you have pears. Enjoy your Monday!

I just finished The Alcatraz Escape, the last in the Book Scavenger trilogy, and it was a solid conclusion (presumably?) to the series. I’ve realized with each book that they’re more my oldest daughter’s thing than mine–puzzle and mystery oriented rather than history and character driven–but they’re fun to read, and the book references always make me smile. I was slightly annoyed at Emily’s attitude towards her brother during the first half of the book, since it felt more like a forced lead-in to later plot points than a continuation of their relationship at the end of the last book, but–eh. I don’t know how much its target audience will care. Overall, this is the perfect trilogy for fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society, which my oldest most definitely is. If you’ve got a puzzle and/or mystery lover, don’t miss these!

I never officially announced that I’d be taking Thanksgiving off, but really–was anyone surprised? There were pies to make (and eat–so many pies!), other food to prepare (yes, and eat), games to play, and driving to do. (That last was not so fun today–I left Davis County with my girls after the snow started. My hubby and son got home last night, but I stayed for the sake of a cousin sleepover.) I’m back now, however, and while you’re not getting a pie review, you are getting something almost as good–I finished Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus a few days ago, and if I review it tonight, it can go to whichever of my girls claims it first tomorrow.

Interestingly, my 10-year-old says that one of her school librarians told her this one wasn’t as good as its predecessor; I, however, possibly enjoyed it just as much as the first one. True, high school brings a lot of changes for Aven and her friends, and there are bullying and crushing and decision-making in spades. On the other hand, there are also friendship and outreaching and healing, not to mention the kind of humor that makes Dusti Bowling’s Aven stories so lovable. I loved both books, especially because I was left in such a positive frame of mind by the end. People are picky about sequels, though–if you’ve read it, what do you think?

My 10-year-old has been hassling me about Sunny Rolls the Dice for weeks–“Are you done with Sunny yet? Are you almost done with that? When are you going to be DONE?” I’ve been working on other books, but last night I went ahead and finished it in the interest of self-preservation. Afterward, while I was trying to get comfy and fall asleep, I thought about how I was going to review it. So here’s the thing:

On the one hand, this sends all kinds of good messages to kids, because it’s about two friends whose interests diverge as they reach 7th grade; it’s handled realistically well. Sunny’s interests are less mainstream, and that’s handled realistically well, also. Good messages, well handled, fairly engaging art. A win, right?

On the other hand, this is one of those books where the setting–in this case, the time period–is another main character in its own right. This can be an incredible device, but here, well…I felt like as a character, the 1970s have a lot of personality but don’t actually do much in the story. The themes here are timeless; it’s the accessories that differ, and those accessories seem relatively trifling as a plot point. I honestly wonder if it’s mostly a nostalgia thing for the Holm siblings.

Ultimately, however, I’m not the intended audience, and I don’t think IT is going to mind–I’m certainly expecting my 10-year-old to love it! If you read it, let me know what you think.

I received an ARE of Granted, by John David Anderson, longer ago than I’d like to admit; I finished it last weekend, however, and so it’s your review for the day. (One of these days I’m going to get to the recipes that need reviewing–I really am. But today is not that day.)

I admit, it took me a while to get into this one. And honestly, I think listening to it didn’t help; the beginning involves a decent amount of setting the stage and telling rather than showing, and it appears that I do better with that sort of thing visually. (It’s sometimes harder to appreciate well-written as a quality when you’re listening to something rather than reading it.) I also tend to prefer my fantasy to be more old-fashioned than not, which meant that this tale of a modern fairy from a modern fairy community (there are lattes) is less my thing. Once the fairy–Ophelia Delphinium Fidgets by name–entered the human world on her wish-granting mission, I warmed up to her a little, but it was Sam the dog that got me.

I LOVED Sam.

Sam isn’t just lovable in and of himself, though; he slowly renders Ophelia more lovable as well. And as she pursues her (elusive) assigned wish through Kettering, Ohio, she is slowly drawn into the human world around her. What happens next clinched it for me–I did really enjoy it after all. And if you don’t mind a more modern take on fantasy, you’ll have no qualms about enjoying it as well.

It might even change the way you wish.

It’s taken me far longer than I’m going to admit to get to Secrets Out! (The Top-Secret Diary of Celie Valentine). I gave its predecessor to my second girlie for Christmas two years ago, I believe; for a long time I didn’t realize that she’d read it, but once I found that out and she found out that it was part of a trilogy, I put Secrets Out! on hold at the library and then–procrastinated.

Or, alternatively, chose other things to read.

I finished Secrets Out! on Wednesday, however, and once I review it tonight I get to pass it along (and get it out of my bedroom!). Unfortunately, I’m tired and feeling somewhat overwhelmed, which means that this review is going to be relatively short (and, possibly, slightly boring). Julie Sternberg’s trilogy (I haven’t read the third one yet, but I know it exists) isn’t just made up of diary entries; it also includes emails, notes passed in school, texts, and illustrations intended to be part of the diary. All of these things together continue the story of Celie, her older sister Jo, her parents, and her growing-ever-more-forgetful-and-confused Granny, as well as Celie’s friend Lula and a few others. It’s a book that successfully marries friend difficulties with painful life events, striking an impressive line between authenticity and story. Celie doesn’t always make the best choices, but you can’t help but love her–and root for her. My 10-year-old is going to blaze through (and thoroughly enjoy) it, but its brevity and illustrations make it accessible for younger or struggling readers as well.

And now I’m done. On to the next thing on my list for the evening…

Last Saturday night I finished the audiobook I was listening to and started thinking about which one was up next; unfortunately, I was waiting on several digital holds from the library and my available choices mostly involved adult fiction from authors I haven’t read before. The problem there is that I’ve been trying harder and harder to limit my Sunday audiobooks to ones that don’t distract from the spirit of the day and my attempts to focus on my Savior, and if I’m not familiar with the author, I don’t know what to expect. I decided to scroll through available audiobooks for a better option, and I eventually came to Heaven is for Real. My thought process went something like this:

Hey, I’m pretty sure my sister enjoyed that and lent me a copy–yup, there it is on my shelf! Sweet! That sounds like a good Sunday option, and once I listen to it I can give her copy back to her, making something else that will no longer be in my house! And HEY, my niece is headed up that way for Thanksgiving, which means that I can just add it to the pile of stuff I already have for her and it will leave SOON! This is a win-win-win! Oh, and WIN, because the Goodreads Library Challenge for November is to read a book recommended to you by a friend or family member–SCORE!

Yeah, there really were that many exclamation points in my head. Sorry.

Seriously, though, it felt not just fortuitous, but downright serendipitous. And it was short–it took me a whopping two days to listen to it. Back to my sister it goes! As for what I thought about it–I enjoyed it, overall. I got teary once or twice, and I took it at face value as a family’s record of an amazing experience, told as accurately as a small child can actually tell it. My one issue was the father’s persistent efforts to prove his son’s story–constant reminders of “he couldn’t have known that” or “I know what he’s taught in Sunday School, and it doesn’t cover that and WE never mentioned it to him.” The father is a pastor, and I understand where he’s coming from, but I don’t believe those efforts are going to work the way he wants them to. Maybe they will help convince a few on-the-fencers, but in my experience, people who don’t want to believe are going to find a reason not to believe, while people with an open mind will respond just as well to the story itself, making so many reminders unnecessary (and repetitive).

Still, it was a nice Sunday read. And it can go back to my sister now. AND I commented on the Goodreads thread for November. Win-win-win!

There’s a reason Robert McCloskey’s Homer Price is still in print, despite debuting in 1947. Some books grow dated, while others simply become ‘vintage’, so to speak; Homer is the latter. I started listening to this myself, but I stopped before I was halfway through and started over, reading it aloud to my children instead.

They got a serious kick out of it.

There’s something timeless about Homer’s adventures here–the superhero who’s quite normal in real life, the competitive balls of string, even the never-ending doughnuts (which reminded more than one of us of the “Curious George” episode where he gets his zeros wrong and then tries to hide all the extra doughnuts around his apartment before the Man with the Yellow Hat comes home). McCloskey’s quiet but unmistakable humor was still completely accessible to my children–so much so that they took the (intentionally) ridiculous song from the last story, made up a tune for it, and serenaded my hubby when he got home, watching for him from the windows and bursting into song the minute he walked through the door. (He was entertainingly baffled. It’s not a song that makes any kind of sense out of context.) If you’re looking for a great read-aloud for (at the very least!) 2nd through 7th grade, this is your book; as a bonus, it should appeal equally to boys and girls.

Of all ages.