Alecia's teaser

It's unlikely that our parents ever looked up any of our names in one of those baby name books. The Riverside Shakespeare had obviously been the repository of choice. Once Rose had a summer camp counselor who, as an icebreaker, looked up the meanings of all the children's names, and Rosalind was horrified to learn her name meant, yes, "beautiful rose," but also "horse serpent." If that won't give a girl body image issues for life, we don't know what will.

The Weird Sisters by Eleanore Brown

Our New Read

Kori picked the book we will be reading for this month. We will be reading Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner. I have been wanting to read this book for some time now, so I am excited. Here is a little excerpt of what the book is about:

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: Freakonomics.

So pick up a copy at the library or if you wish to own it I highly recommend Amazon for great prices on new and used books. Happy reading.

Book Club Meeting

It's the third Tuesday of the month, which means we will be meeting tonight to discuss the book we've been reading, The Help by Kathryn Stockett. We will be meeting at Alecia Darrow's house tonight at 7p.m. If you need directions give her a call. Hope to see you all there.

The Appothecary's Daughter

As she knelt to her task, she heard a dog barking outside.  she thought little of it at first, but then the barking grew louder and more fevered. 
"Down, I say!" She heard a man holler in false bravado. "Down!"
She hurried across the shop and unlatched the door, just as a man pushed it open, causing him to nearly topple into the shop, his hat dropping to the floor.  She put out her hand to stop his fall--and to keep the man from falling  into her.


Pg 219  The Apothecary's Daughter  by Julie Klassen

Debby's Tuesday Teaser

"Once upon a time, this land was a barren and frightening wilderness whose high rocky mountains sheltered the evil winds and whose barren valleys offered hospitality to no man. Few things grew, and those that did were bent ans twisted and their fruit was as bitter as wormwood. What wasn't wast was desert, and what wasn't desert was rock, and the demons of darkness made their home in the hills. Evil creatures roamed at will through the countryside and down to the sea. It was known as the land of Null".
pg. 71 The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Debby's Tuesday Teaser

Leader set his pen aside and leaned back in his chair. " Tell me something, Matty. You and your friend are out there a lot, fishing. And you've been doing it for a long time - since you came to Village as a little boy. Isn't that so?"

"I don't remember exactly how long. I was only about this high when I came." Matty gestured with his hand, placing it level with the second button of his own shirt.

"Six years," Leader told him. "You arrived six years ago. So you've been fishing for all that time."

Matty nodded. But he stiffened. He was wary. It was too soon for his true name to be bestowed, he thought. Surely it was not going to be Fisherman! Was that why Leader had called him here?

Messenger by Lois Lowery page 30

Kori's Teaser Tuesday

When I was a boy, I used to wonder where my mother came from, how she got on this earth. When I asked her where she was from, she would say, "God made me," and change the subject. When I asked her if she was white, she'd say, "No. I'm light skinned," and change the subject again. Answering questions about her personal history did not jibe with Mommy's view of parenting twelve curious, wild, brown-skinned children.