Book Review: Dear Author

Dear Author: Letters of Hope, is edited by Joan F. Kaywell, then-president of the 1999 Assembly on Literature for Adolescents. The book is a compilation of correspondence between top young adult authors and kids who have been so moved by a book that they felt compelled to write to the author. It was a wonderful, quick read. I especially appreciated the biographical sketches for each author at the end of the book. In addition to sharing how the authors came to write their books, it also provides brief summaries of their books. I made note of quite a few to add to my endless reading list.

All of the authors included in this selection have written realistic fiction addressing the tough issues teens are facing. Although I haven't read nearly enough of these young adult writers, I was very privileged to work first-hand with one of the authors who participated in this great venture. Nancy Garden was my instructor when I took the writing course via the Institute of Children's Literature. (Side note: The novel I began writing in November - 52K words in, but not yet finished - is a work of realistic fiction and I sincerely believe that it bears a message of hope that some girl out there is needing to read. I long for the day when I might receive a similar letter from a child, explaining how my book was a help to them.)

This book provides an excellent resource, both for teens and the adults who work with them (or who just enjoy YA literature). It covers a wide range of issues that are plaguing our young people today (weight, bullying, racism, prejudice, drug and alcohol addiction, cutting, death, etc.). I believe teens would find this book especially helpful because they can obtain advice and book recommendations for whatever problems they are experiencing.

Moreover, I would consider this a must-read for teachers in the middle-school grades. I don't have as much opportunity to suggest books to students any more (oh how I loved that perk when working at Littlejohn), but I did make note of a book on cutting and plan to suggest it to a young girl I know who is struggling with that. If you care about kids and books that could change their lives, you'll benefit from this great read.

Giveaway: Sands of Time

It has been a long time since I've offered a giveaway. Since my husband is on a mission to clear our entire house of every possible extraneous item (his daily mission and goal), I have decided to offer up my copy of Susan May Warren's Sands of Time. This is a fast-paced novel set in Russia. You can view my recent review here.

To be included in the random drawing, please leave a comment telling me the name of your favorite Christian author. If you aren't a Christian, or don't have a favorite Christian author, leave a comment sharing another author you especially enjoy. I will place all of the names in a hat on the evening of Saturday, March 6th. If you don't have a Blogger account, remember that you can easily comment anonymously and leave your name in the body of your comment.

If you post about my giveaway on your blog and let me know in the comments, I'll enter your name twice. Good luck and good reading!

For Art Minded Boys

I just happened upon this highly interesting article about a Scotch tape sculpture competition. The photos of some entries are quite amazing. I especially loved the one of a girl swinging on a tire swing in a children's library.

Next, I discovered that you can go to the Scotch Tape Competition website and see all of the entries and even vote for up to 10 of them. I voted for the tire swing sculpture, a postman sculpture and a drummer sculpture.

Problem is ... I don't dare let my MS catch sight of these wonderful works of art. As it is, he already goes through about six rolls of Scotch tape each month. This morning he was making a beard for himself out of masking tape (he wore it while he played the drums on Rock Band).

Man, he would go to town with this competition. Might even someday win the $5,000 prize. But I'm not letting him in on it just yet.

Book Review: Sands of Time

Sands of Time, by Susan May Warren, is a Christian romantic suspense novel. It tells the story of two individuals, Sarai Curtiss (a single medical missionary, who believes that God is calling her to do-it-all) and Roman Novik, a Cobra Captain in the FSB (don't ask me what that stands for - I haven't a clue), whose primary mission is to apprehend criminals smuggling Russian uranium. Thirteen years earlier, these two had enjoyed a romantic relationship, but Sarai had dropped the relationship because of her disappointed hopes that Roman would become a missionary instead of an investigator/police officer.

Now, Sarai is trying to discover why two children have contracted renal failure. In the midst of her attempts, Roman bursts onto the scene intent upon scurrying her out of the country. There has been a political coup and he explains that all Americans are being evacuated from the country. However, Sarai is convinced that she is in no real danger and she can take care of herself. As Sarai ditches Roman repeatedly and attempts to remain in the country, the two are swept into a whirlwind journey of discovery, full of action and emotion.

The book was very readable and held my attention. My only complaint is that parts of the book felt smarmy and preachy at times. Although, I will say that I found myself reading it with a critical ear for this issue.

When I began working on my own novel in November, I never really intended it to have an outright Christian message. I knew what the main conflict was, but I didn't set out to reveal underlying Christian truth. However, it showed up over and over again as I wrote in the wee hours each evening.

I would imagine it is difficult to write a Christian novel and not have the messages feel overly blatant. I suppose if the author is Christian, the story will inevitably take on Christian tones. As far as Christian novels go, this is a fairly good one.

Boys Dig Bathroom Behaviors

It is a well-known fact that boys relish anything having to do with bodily functions. A toot can elicit a good five minutes' worth of laughter. An outstanding production in the toilet has to be announced for all the brothers to come view and marvel at its size and shape. When playing outside gets boring, you can bet that a swig from a bottle and a mock vomit scene for passing cars will liven things up.

Thus, I was not surprised when my boys began to clamor at a new commercial featuring bathroom behavior. However, it was surprising to hear the Barbie theme in the background. I mean, no mother of a self-respecting boy wants her sons to be chiming in with "Barbie girls." Enter the commercial for Barbie's Potty Training Pups. What?

Yes, the Barbie franchise is now pushing puppies who actually pee and poop. Here is the product description from an Amazon listing:

"Barbie is having a fun-filled day with her new puppies! After she feeds water to each of her 3 puppies, they “go potty” to reveal a surprise on the newspaper – it changes color to yellow and brown! Each of the puppies goes potty in a different way: the boy dog potties when you lift his leg and the girl dog squats to potty when you press her back. The third puppy just needs a squeeze on the tummy to go potty and reveal a surprise. And when Barbie feeds the puppies, they're ready to go again! Includes 3 puppies, Barbie doll, 2 pieces of color-change newspaper, dog bed, assorted collars and toys for the pups."

But my question is why? Girls don't really dig those bathroom behaviors like boys do. I can understand the appeal of the puppies. Young girls often fall for the cuddly charm of puppies and ponies. But why must they potty?

I've never actually potty trained a puppy, but I did endure the process with two boys (my first son trained himself, amazingly). Although most of the time, I feel like all that is behind me, there are still days ... or should I say nights ... when I am back in the trenches.

YS begs and begs to be put to bed in big boy pants. Some nights that works out just fine. But, he's a very solid sleeper and some nights he wakes in tears with a soaked bed. Those are not the moments where I think to myself, "I think I'd like to play at this all day long."

Apparently, I'm not alone in my skepticism. I noted this opinion shared by Mary Tara on E-pinions:

"The newspapers are made of plastic (with what looks to be fashion ads on them) and when they get wet they turn yellow and brown meaning that the dogs have gone #1 and #2 on them. Sounds like loads of fun right? ... The peeing puppy process is one that we are familiar with since we already have Barbie, Taffy & Puppies.... In this set, all of the dogs are said to pee but none of them actually do as they are supposed to.... I do like that the "papers" in this set are plastic and re-usable unlike the cardboard squares that came with our other set that were not well thought out. However, whoever thought that it would be fun to see the paper turn brown or yellow has too much time on their hands. That is just plain gross!"

My boys think it is grand to watch the paper turn brown or yellow. They call me into the room every single time this commercial comes on.

Maybe a man (or a boy in a grown up body) was on that creative committee and thought it would be fun. If not, then maybe the makers of Barbie were just trying to give little girls a dose of reality (after all, all the world must deal with bathroom behaviors, whether they revel in them or not). Indeed, one of their similar products is called the "Barbie Reality Clean Up Pup Playset." I'm guessing if they were really interested in portraying reality to little girls their doll would look more like this image my sister-in-law forwarded to me:



Still, even if the bathroom behaviors of puppies is thrilling for my boys, they are not asking for the Barbie doll to go on their birthday lists. For that to happen, I think Mattel would have to come up with a Ken doll, complete with a skateboard and quarter pipe, where Ken can experience horrible injuries in his risky endeavors and ooze blood onto plastic pavement pieces which turn bright red. Hopefully, they will stick with the same process they perfected with these insane potty training pups, so the mess will just evaporate.

Of course, that's not very realistic either. When my boys take to the skateboards (if the snow ever melts and spring ever gets here), their injuries are not going to evaporate. Oh well, I guess the motivation for play is to prepare a kid for real life. And speaking of real life, I'd better go scoop some of that non-evaporating brown stuff off the front of my yard before spring comes and my boys step in it and track it all over the house.

What if The Boys Had Been Girls?

What if my ES had been a girl instead of a boy?

I would have been bummed. I had longed for a blond haired, blue eyed baby boy for as long as I can remember. In fact, when I was in high school, we had to carry around egg babies. I say egg babies because I got twins (score - if I had to have the work of twins, I'm glad it was in the round where they were as light as eggs and only remained in my care for a week). My egg babies were girls and I think I named them Collette Nicole and Courtney Lynn. Caring for children must have even felt burdensome back then, because when the assignment was over, my little brother and I took those eggs outside and shot them with dart guns.

All through my pregnancy with ES, I was convinced the baby was a girl. Every dream included my arms bundled with a girl baby. Hubby was convinced it was a boy and he said he was hoping for a girl. He was right. I was happy.

What if MS had been a girl?

Up until a year before MS was conceived, I felt completely happy with the idea of all boys. Then, something shifted (I'm not sure why) and I began to hope for a girl. If MS had been a girl, I might not have been sad at the time, but looking back I would be bummed. If MS had been a girl then we would have most likely been done and I would have missed out on all the joy that is YS. I would never have been able to observe two siblings who are close in age (nerve-wracking, at times, but also endearing).

What if YS had been a girl?

When we discovered that YS would be a third boy, I did cry. I felt such a loss of dreams. No beautiful dresses. No opportunities to french braid hair. No mother-daughter excursions. No bride to beam at (or share my wedding dress with). No chick-flicks with popcorn on a weekend night.

But, man, I would have been bummed now. YS is such an adorable, sweet, tender-hearted little guy. He and MS have such a close bond - at one moment hugging and being the very best of buddies and the next moment slugging one another over some minor infraction. I would have missed out on watching these three boys build such a strong bond of solidarity with each other.

Tonight, ES was in his room playing Rock Band and the two little boys recognized the song and ran in to join him (MS sang into the microphone and YS pretended to play the guitar). These are the moments when three boys feels so right and perfect. Or when they all three head outside to sled or snowboard down the hill in the back yard. I watch them from the window and my heart nearly bursts with joy at their camaraderie. So, we're really quite fine here with three boys.

MS has been begging for a sister, but I think he does that because he knows that my heart used to pine intensely for a girl. I tell him that we are done with babies and besides, he can give me a granddaughter. His reply really irks me. He always quickly says, "But, you'll be dead by then." Thanks a lot, mister. Maybe I'd better head back up to review that second question again. Hee-hee.

Seriously, though, I would have missed out on these three wonderful boys if they had been girls. I'm pretty sure now that God knew exactly what he was doing. I'm not a girly girl. I would have truly been lost with daughters. Moreover, the friction could have been more intense than I'd like to experience. I'm feeling quite blessed that God's plan worked out the way it did.

How about you? What if your children had been girls instead of boys, or vice versa? Could that plan have felt just as comfortable? Do you still pine for something that never was?

As for me, my blog title wouldn't have worked as well. Of Books and Girls just doesn't have the same ring does it?

Sorry Simon, You're No Longer in Charge

Last night, my husband had salmon for dinner. The little boys begged for a bite. Surprisingly, they actually liked the taste of it.

This afternoon I overheard them, playing on the heated porch.

MS: Hey, you weren't supposed to move yet!

YS: Why?

MS: I didn't say "Salmon Says!"