Sunday, May 29, 2011

A Good Read

   Normally, I would not rave upon a book this much, but I need to tell the world how wonderfully written Marisa de los Santos novel, Belong to Me is.  This book was a whirlwind of emotions.  As a reader of many books, this is one of the only books I have read where I can honostly say that every character is relatable, every emotion portrayed is felt and every idea is realistic.  The characters jump off the page at you, and beg you to realize that you know that person, that you have experienced that situation, in some shape or form.  You really feel what the characters feel, you can relate to the love, the uneasiness, the anger, the friendships, the saddness, all of it.  I would recommend this book above all others (at this point) to anyone.  It is a tale of living and loving, but also of friendships, secrets, betrayals and self-realization.  I definately give it two very enthusaistic thumbs up.

Let me tell you about this book.  First, you meet Cornelia, the literary, off-beat kind of gal. . And Lake, the crazy, spontaneous, secretive type.  Then there is Piper, the stuck-up one you dread to come face to face with, but in the end she finds her true self to be total opposite of that whom she portrays.  And the list goes on.  The synopsis tells about a big city women trying to make it in the suburbs, finding friends in the least expected places.  You take the rollercoaster ride with each of these characters and it opens your heart and warms your spirit to see them triumph over their individual demons.  You begin to cheer them on, and get that sense of gratitude and excitment when they succeed.  Like I said before, it is impossible not to relate in some way or form to every character in this book, which is what makes it so unique.  Never have I been so captured and caught up in a story like I have with this one.

So, do yourself a favor, go to the library or the bookstore and pick up a copy of Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos, and find yourself caught up in the whirlwind of emotions and characters.  You won't be sorry! :)

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Finding Fun with Storytime!

I was thinking the other day, I know scary right!  I realized that there are thousands of preschool and kindergarten books out there and  most story times come with snack time, but most snacks are either unhealthy or unrelated to the story topic. With our kids, they like to make a big deal out of every story.  And I thought, it would be fun to do a story and snack time that is based around the theme of the book.   So I started searching.  I searched the library, I looked online, and everywhere you can imagine I looked for snacks that matched story themes.  Needless to say I came up pretty much empty handed.  There was the all time favorite Green Eggs and Ham but other than that, there really isn’t anything like this out there.  This baffeled me, because I can't be the first person to come up with this idea!  While I'm not sure it's a strong enough idea to publish in a book somewhere,  I came up with the idea that I could add a section to my blog. I could start here, see what the response is, and then go from there. This posting is to explain what this new section is all about.  It will be located on the side columns and every month I will feature a story with a short description.  The there will be a craft activity and a snack that goes with the theme of the story.  So, for all you stay at home moms and elementary teachers, there will be some good ideas for you to build off of!  Hope you enjoy!  And let me know what you think, if I get enough positive feedback, I will reconsider the publishing idea.