Monday Musings: Children's Books

Do you buy books as gifts for children – either your own or those of friends or family? Would you buy books for all children, or only children who are already practiced readers?
I buy books for all children. My personal opinion is that one can never be too young to enjoy a book. Babies enjoy soft books and board books. Toddlers are fascinated with books and can have a single book read to them multiple times and never tire of hearing it. They also like to pack around stacks of books and build things with them. But that's ok; books are very much a part of their lives. I love when little ones sit down with a book they have heard so many times that they can repeat the story from memory, even though they aren’t reading this is how reading starts.
I have always bought books for my children and grandchildren no matter their reading level. Every year we looked forward to the school book fair where each child was allowed to pick out a few favorites.
My daughter reads chapter books to her very young children at bedtime. They love this nightly tradition, and I can certainly see that their vocabulary skills surpass many children their same age. Reading a continuing story to children also improves their memory, deductive reasoning and comprehension skills. Books and Children, belong together.

Last year I gave my oldest grandson a copy of the Spiderwick field guide, a blank leather field journal, and a satchel. His mom purchased the Spiderwick Chronicles. He had a fun year finding the magical, mystical creatures that live in our neighborhood and documenting them in his own field guide. I believe a child’s imagination should be encouraged through reading.

Lots of activities can be planned around children’s books as well. Just yesterday I was remembering how my son’s kindergarten class came on a field trip to my house. We harvested vegetables out of the garden. Back at the school we read the book Stone Soup and then prepared a delicious soup from our harvest.

I have a tradition with my grand children and books. I make books featuring my grandchildren. Each one has a different story:

Big Bears book was a photo story about a trip to visit the local dinosaur museum
Honey actually ended up with two books, the first is a counting book and a book about some of the important things to name—such as eyes, ears, mouth, etc.
Yummy’s book is all about things she likes to do
Little Bears book are names of the people in his life
Sweetings book is under production—it will be about colors in relation to the clothes she wears. She is a fashion diva. The children love these personalized books.

A child can never have too many books, and in my opinion those books should be accessible. A worn out book means that a book has been enjoyed.

Book Review: Hunting Ground

Hunting Ground
by
Patricia Briggs

Book #2 in the Alpha and Omega Series






About the Book
(Barnes and Noble)

Mated to werewolf Charles Cornick, the son—and enforcer—of the leader of the North American werewolves, Anna Latham now knows how dangerous being a werewolf is, especially when a werewolf opposes Charles and his father is struck down. Charles's reputation makes him the prime suspect, and the penalty for the crime is execution. Now Anna and Charles must combine their talents to hunt down the real killer—or Charles will take the fall.

About the Author
(Barnes and Noble)

Patricia Briggs lives out west with her husband, children, and six horses.

My Review:

This book continues with the story of Charles and Anna, newly mated and beginning their lives together. Charles is cautious and tender with Anna as she finds her place in his life and in the pack. She is also becoming aware of her role as an Omega in the pack and how to handle the skills that come as part and parcel of who she is.

At the beginning of this story Charles Father sends him to Seattle in his stead to a conference of Alpha Wolves from the entire world. The goal is to reach a peaceful resolution that will allow the were-wolves to come out openly in the public.

Things do not go well, as should have been expected when a group of Alpha Males find themselves confined in close quarters with each other. Battles ensue and vampires get involved. Charles is framed for a kill that bears the penalty of death. He and Anna quickly go to work to get to the bottom of the mystery.

As always Patricia Briggs writes a fantastic, well-paced tale, featuring the stuff nightmares are made of.


Book 1 in the Alpha and Omega Series is
Cry Wolf



read a teaser I posted about the book here

Mailbox Monday: Patricia Briggs

Hunting Ground
by
Patricia Briggs

The second book in the Alpha and Omega Series

released on Tuesday, here on Friday, finished today :)
fun read.

I'm still waiting for my book club book to arrive and I ordered it two weeks before this one.

Monday Movies: The Great Outdoors

hosted by Molly at the Bumbles

This Weeks Topic is . . . all about movies set in the great outdoors.

The great outdoors is the home of my heart. My dad was a big game manager for the Division of Wildlife Resources so a good share of my young life was spent camping in, tramping around, getting wet in, and riding horses through the rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains.



My Dad with his horse in the mountains, hunting elk--that's a big one draped over the saddle
look at the muscles in the front quarters of that horse, my dad's horses worked hard. They made it possible to reach the back country where he had to work.

My dad was also a huge fan of western films, John Wayne being his favorite actor. I remember watching the Duke as he rode through magnificent outdoor spaces and places that he looked perfectly at home in. My dad always mentioned how well the Duke sat a horse. I don’t remember too many of his movies being staged indoors, so I would have to say of all the actors who ever worked John Wayne and his films capture the out of doors the very best (for me anyway). I have two favorite John Wayne movies—Rooster Cogburn and the Lady, and True Grit. That last shot of him jumping his horse with the frame frozen is etched in my memory.


John Wayne as U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn in True Grit

Kevin Costner is probably the second actor I associate with the great outdoors—In particular Dances with Wolves and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves


Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves

Robert Redford also works well in great outdoor films, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was my favorite, but I also loved Horse Whisperer.


Robert Redford and Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, this is my favorite scene--when they jump off the waterfall

A few more movies set in great outdoor settings that popped into my head were
Holes
Nim’s Island
Tuck Everlasting
On Golden Pond
Anna and the King
The Last Samurai
Romancing the Stone
And Last of the Mohicans

But being who I am, I can’t end there
The best panoramic shots of the great outdoors are found in “The Lord of The Rings”


Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and his cart arrive in the Shire

Over the weekend . . .

I saw the hilarious movie
Julie and Julia
I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed . . . . I think you get the picture.



I probably enjoyed it so much because I actually watched Julia Childs cooking on television, and the whole blogging thing just struck a chord with me because--I blog. It was a light-hearted fun film about two women's journeys to find themselves. I will buy this one and view it again and again.

Apparently you can still read her blog page even though she wrote it in 2002, I'm heading over to check it out.

Sunday Scripture: Sun

His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.

Psalms 72:17

KJV

LDS Version

Photo Scavenger Hunt #3, August 2009

click here to view more great photo scavenger results

Photohunt: Surprise

I was so surprised to see this Iguana on a leash at the park
and what says summer more than taking your pet for a walk
this picture is doing double duty for two meme's
photo hunt hosted by tn chick
and summer stock hosted by robin at around the island
click on the buttons

Photo Story Friday: My Roses

Three times a year my rose garden produces a flush of roses, spring, summer and fall. The spring and fall roses are large and beautiful because the roses love the cooler weather and the rain. The summer roses are generally smaller and fade quicker. Here are a few pictures of some of my favorite roses in the garden.


Lipstick Pink


Gardenia White


Summer Yellow


Peace Rose (my favorite)


Red Velvet


Pretty in Pink


Orange lace

Read this post to see how my rose garden got its start

If you want a good laugh today visit Heidi at Cake Crumbs, she's got a very funny story


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Thesaurus Thursday: Villain

Word of the day: Villain;
1. a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
2. a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.

The "word of the day" is chosen by me and usually has something to do with my day. This is an "increase your vocabulary activity"

Play the game like this: Open up a thesaurus on-line. Type the word of the day in the search bar. Using the generated words write a sentence, paragraph, poem, story; anything you choose using at least one of the generated words.

On Monday I did a post about some of my favorite movie villains. I mentioned Edmond Dantes from the Count of Monte Cristo as being one of my favorite villains. Even though he is the main character of the film/book he is indeed the villain. At the beginning of the story Dantes is a light-hearted affable character that seems to have everything going for him; financial security, loving family and a beautiful fiancé, by the name of Mercedes.

The story takes a drastic turn of events when evil men jealous of his success conspire against him. He finds himself imprisoned under false circumstances. During his imprisonment he is befriended by a priest who educates him. Dantes becomes embittered and plots the destruction of these evildoer’s. The Priest exhorts him, as a sinner, to forgive and put it behind him. But Dantes refuses to take his counsel. The Priest also gives Dantes a map to the Island of Monte Cristo where in his more rapscallion days he hid a massive treasure. The Priest and Dantes work daily to escape the prison by digging a tunnel. In the end the priest is killed when the tunnel collapses. Dantes wraps himself in the body bag intended for the priest and is hurled into the sea, thus effecting his escape.

The rest of the story unfolds as we watch/read about Dantes, a true scoundrel, as he goes about the business of destroying the lives of the miscreants who sent him to prison. He creates an identity for himself, the Count of Monte Cristo, using the money the priest hid on the island; then posing as the count he is like the devil himself as he executes his vengence. Dantes greets each brute face to face and kills them personally. He is the enfant terrible when he hands a loaded pistol to his last victim and watches as the man blows his brains out.

The movie did redeem him a little for his love and reconcilliation towards Mercedes, showing that he wasn’t a total malefactor. I think this is why many feel he was truly the hero of the story. But in the book he is as brutal to Mercedes as the rest of the people he perceives as offenders.

The movie did leave you with a feeling that Edmond Dantes was our hero, wronged and so he was justified in his criminal acts. In the book he had no redeeming qualities. He had become as much of a reprobate as those unfortunate, albeit deserving souls that he sent to their graves.

Booking Thru Thursday: Fluff

I recently posted about the demolish of our basement to make way for a new family room. So the fluffiest book I've recently read was precipitated by this event. I read the book by House beautiful, 500 Sensational Ways To Create Your Ideal Home. I had a ton of fun browsing the pictures, marking inspirational ones and designing the layout for the room. You can read a teaser I posted from the book and my review here

Sepia Scenes and Window Views: The Orchard

My sister and her husband are farmers. They grow vegetables and berries and also produce a lot of peaches and apricots from their trees. This spring we visited and she gave us a little tour.


this picture shows the baskets and boxes stacked and stored waiting to be filled. Each Saturday during the summer these boxes and baskets will be loaded and taken to the farmers market






This is the view of the orchard from the window of the barn


This is the barn



and if you'd like to see some more pictures and read a little bit about her farming experiences you can visit her blog here

Wordless Wednesday: Wind Erosion

Wind Caves in Logan Canyon (Utah)
photo's by J4