Twilight

OK....Alyssa and I have been reading the series "Twilight" by author Stephanie Meyer. So many people told that we HAD to read them. So we proceeded to do just that. We are so hooked!! Only thing is we didn't have to wait for consecutive books to come out ...ha! She already has three out and they are so amazing. The third one just came out this week....and we had to put our name on a waiting list to get one!! Why hadn't we even heard of this series before?? Real life characters in a science fiction sort of setting! I would never read anything to do with vampires, but these books have you rooting for them all the same. What have I come to now??? ha!
Favorite character is............. by far......... Edward!!!

Harry Potter

OK...I admit I am glad I read the book!! I wasn't going to beacause I had heard that Harry dies.
I couldn't face our hero doing that. I mean, shouldn't the good guys win and all that?
Parts I loved: The whole "Snape" thing!!! (I knew it! I just knew he was a good guy!!)
George Weasley's comments about his ear! HILARIOUS!!
Neville's courage!
All the past students and family coming to "fight" (especially Mrs. Weasley...oh
my! I laughed so hard!!)
Yes! even Harry's sacrifice and that he got to come back!!
Ron's BOOK that he gave Harry!! Ha! A chapter on Compliments!!!!! so, so
funny!
I lalaloved the ending....well was it really an ending? I mean, you have their children now. Can we PLEASE go on?? ( And boy o boy is the movie going to be amazing!!!) and yay!! good wins!!!!

The Show WILL go On!

I am choreographer for High School Musical in Midvale Ut. And during this show I am also running sound. We got there last night to set up and realized that the dressing rooms had been broken into and more than 1/2 of our sound equipment was stolen. They had rifeled through all the costumes as well....and wrote stuff on the mirrors with shaving cream. We lost mics, mic cords, 5 speakers and 2 sound boxes. We were all devastated....then in turn angry and also determined that it wouldn't get the better of us. We decided to do the show with only 4 wireless.....we usually have 10! But because our sound boxes were gone....had to use the only one left! Luckily our director took the mic packs home every night!! So we still have all our wireless mic pacs. It was good we did the show. We started 40 min late but the audience was patient and the show DID go on. It turned out pretty good considering a lot of speaking parts were not heard very well. The kids really turned it up a notch and started the show of their rendition of "We Will Rock U!" ha...got them pumped! They had tons of energy and did great. Yay us!!

Whew!

Whew!! Where o where has this summer gone??
I have done 2 shows! As chorographer....one for Copperview Community Center Youth Theater. We had 63 kids in this show ages 5-18 and it was great. We had a packed audience every night!!
Now I am finishing up High School Musical!! Choreographer for that one too and also am doing sound! It ends this Saturday. We have had about 200 people every night so far. I always spend my summer doing shows! lalalove it!!
My daughter Aubry and her family come this weekend for a week and Adam will be in and out that week too!! Can't wait. I really miss my grown children!!!
I have re-done 2 rooms in our home. The laundry/sewing room and the family room. (Why did they put popcorn ceilings in in the 50's and 60's??ha!) So...there went June and July!!!
So, sad to say, I haven't done my "summer" reading. Of course I am awaiting for the last installment of Harry Potter....just like the whole world! (Harry better not die!!) August is my "free" month......so hopefully I will be able to visit the library and read to my hearts content!!!

Books by Henry!

I just discovered this series of books written for children by Henry Winkler....yes! The FONZ!!
The series is about a boy named Hank Zipster. He has based them on his own life. Hank also has a problem with dyslexia. (as did Henry!) But this isn't what the books are all about. Oh No! They are full of fun and good times. How he gets himself into trouble and out of it and right back into it (typical boy!! ha!) I laugh out loud sometimes when reading it....having 5 boys of my own.....it brings things to a whole other level for me!! Try'em.....you'll love'em!!

Value of a book!

I know I posted about my Soar reading group, but this is astonishing. We had been reading Inkheart (which my boss bought for us to read). And we didn't know what to do with the books now that we are done with our group. Should they go into Take Home Reading or the Leveled Library?! After talking about where to put the books, my boss asked if the kids would like to have them! I was elated. I brought the kids together and told them our delema about what to do with the books and then told them that we had decided to give them each their own copy. There was a hushed silence as it dawned on the six of them that they would indeed get to finish the book after all. Then, they all started talking at once, hugging me and thanking me very boisterously. I couldn't believe it! Were these the same kids who "hated" to read? Well, maybe they will read this summer after all!

Power of Lucky

I just talked to a co-worker about this book I want to read this summer and she said she had just read it. She was very dissapointed that a Newbery Award winner would stoop to using inappropriate language for a children's book. Now, do I really want to read this book?

Summer Reading!

Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson....this is actually a poem as Woodson delves into her own family history, with women who inspired each other.

Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (I absolutely LOVE her books Inkheart and Inkspell....her 3rd book in that series-Inkdawn-- doesn't come out till next year!!!)

I will most likely be drawn to The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DeCamillo yet once again! I have read it 3 times already!!!
And I will most certainly re-read Eragon and Eldest.
Kate DeCamillo is one of my favorite authors and I really want to check out her book.....The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

Entertainment

I work with six 6th grade students in Soar Success to Reading.
They hate school and they especially hate reading!
We happened to get through all of the Soar books and still had
a month left of school. I talked with my facillitator to ask her opinion
about reading a book I love and she went out and got 6 copies of
the book....Inkheart. In previewing the book, I could see a more
than casual interest springing up in several of my students. By the time
we finished chapter 6, they were all begging to go on. Realizing that chapter 7
only had two pages, I let them. They didn't want to stop there! So, did I have them
hooked? They realized that we would not be able to finish the book by the
end of the school year. I told them that the Public Library had copies available.
(Most of them live within walking distance to Tyler Library!) They said they never read
at home, especially in the summer. I then mentioned that the next book Inkspell is
even better than the first and that I bet they could finish both of them this summer.
One student asked if that was a challenge and I told him "absolutely!"
The reason why I titled this entertainment is that I realize children today have
access to a huge variety of electronic entertainment. When I grew up....BOOKS were my
entertainment. How can we compete with this? Thank goodness for great writers today
who capture the imaginings of my students! (Of course, it helped when I told them Inkheart was being made into a movie!)