Wednesday, May 11, 2016

ABEA Introductions

My "armchair" is actually a sofa. I need lots of space for all
those adult and kid books. :) #ArmchairBEA #myarmchair
@armchairbea #bookstagram #instareads

It's that time of year again when the BookExpo America event is going on (in Chicago this year). But for many of us book lovers and book bloggers, we can't make the trip. And so we're grateful for the committee who organizes ABEA -- "Armchair BEA" -- so we can participate from home!

Day One is all about introducing ourselves. So... read on for a little about me.



Monday, May 9, 2016

What the Cubs are Reading: May 9

It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Kathryn of The Book Date. Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers have adapted it to focus on Picture Books to Young Adult Books. Since I recap what I'm personally reading each month with Modern Mrs. Darcy, for this linkup I post what Abby (age 5.5) and Ellie (age 3.5) have been enjoying. 


Friday, May 6, 2016

The Lion's Tales: belated April edition

We don't go to bookstores often. 

It's looking like my "weekly" recaps have turned into monthly ones. :) Maybe eventually I'll get into a more consistent working/posting schedule... For now, follow me on Facebook or Instagram for more regular updates!

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

You Made Me a Mother

Do you remember seeing this little video that came out a couple of years ago?



My oldest will turn 6 this month, and my youngest will be 4 this summer. I often forget what it was like to be an expectant mother, especially the very first time around. Every so often I come across photos of my big belly, or of the girls as newborns, and try to remember what it was like...


The video was recently adapted into a children's picture book, called You Made Me a Mother by Laurenne Sala. I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for a review, and let me tell you -- it gave me "all the feels".


The illustrator is one of my favorites -- Robin Preiss Glasser (famous for Fancy Nancy). The book is very simple, only a sentence or two on each page. It leaves a lot of story open for imagination, and reminiscing about our own motherhood stories.


I'll admit, the book was not that exciting for my kids -- but I think ultimately the target audience is mothers themselves. :) I'd consider it along the same lines as Love You Forever, which is a best-selling book that appeals much more to mothers than to their children.

With Mother's Day coming up next weekend, this book would be super cute as a gift (Amazon has fast shipping, and I've seen it on the shelf at Barnes & Noble!). And could you imagine the ooo's and ahhh's if this book was given as a baby shower gift, or to a brand-new mother?

Here are some additional links to connect with the book and the author:
Website
Facebook
Twitter

Happy Mother's Day!


Friday, April 29, 2016

Quick Lit: April 2016

#raisingreaders  #bookworm  #librarylove  :) 

My 2016 Goodreads goal is 36 books -- 3 books a month -- after not quite making that goal last year.

(This doesn't count the books I read to/with my kids -- I try to post a few times a month what my kids are reading too, click here to read those reviews)

I'm already at 20 books completed, so I'm ahead of schedule. But this month was my smallest stack yet, especially since one of the books was only 62 pages long...

Monday, April 25, 2016

Korea: Part Two


We're finishing up our second and last month in Korea in the Reading Together Family Exploration Book Club! (Click here for more book club posts. This world traveling thing is fun!!)

Click here to read my Part One post about two other neat Korean kids books.

 

This month, after looking through Sheila's list of Korean picture books, I requested a stack of them from the library. Some were a little too long and historical for my kids, but we spent the month reading and reading three of them: Peach Heaven, The Green Frogs: A Korean Folktale, and Bee-Bim Bop.


Saturday, April 2, 2016

One year.


It seems like just yesterday, yet it feels like so long ago. One year ago yesterday was my last day working at the library. 

I looked back on my blog to see what kinds of things I was thinking about, and here are a few posts I wrote this time last year about the transition:


It really has been a good year. There were lots of uncertainties at first, but now I feel very confident that it was the right decision to make. I'm very content and satisfied with life. 

Here are some highlights, and things I've noticed from the last year...

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Quick Lit: March 2016

I don't often enjoy a reading lunch, but when I do it's
because of a very very addicting book series!! :)

My 2016 Goodreads goal is 36 books -- 3 books a month -- after not quite making that goal last year.

(This doesn't count the books I read to/with my kids -- I try to post a few times a month what my kids are reading too, click here to read those reviews)

I'm already at 16 books completed -- 6 just in this month -- and one of those was 800+ pages!! (though one was also less than 200 pages) We'll see if this accelerated pace continues...

Monday, March 28, 2016

Korea: Part One


After reading books about the Arctic in January and February, we've moved on to Korea in the Reading Together Family Exploration Book Club.

This is a culture I'm not familiar with at all, other than knowing where on a map to find it, and knowing a few people who were adopted from there.