Buddha and squirrel

Buddha,

I want to have your peace,

your wisdom,

your serenity,

your acorn hat!

Love,

Squirrel

It's a book, Jackass

It's a Book ~ by Lane Smith, 2010, children's, 10/10

Online summary:  "Playful and lighthearted with a subversive twist that is signature Lane Smith, It's a Book is a delightful manifesto on behalf of print in the digital age. This satisfying, perfectly executed picture book has something to say to readers of all stripes and all ages."

Lest you think I'm using bad language in the title line above, let me explain that Jackass is one of the characters.  Yes, truly!  The title page shows the three characters and names them:

It's a mouse.
It's a jackass.
It's a monkey.

And in big, bold letters:

It's a Book

Mouse and Monkey keep telling Jackass, "It's a book."  But he simply doesn't get it.  He can only relate to his laptop.  Click to enlarge the illustrated pages above to see for yourself.  The following pages say:

Jackass:  "Don't worry, I'll charge it up when I'm done!"
Mouse (on Monkey's head):  You don't have to..."

And the final page has Mouse saying (SPOILER alert):

"It's a book, Jackass."

When I checked this book out yesterday, the librarian said this book was a hot item last year.  I have a grown-up friend who wants to buy herself a copy of it.  It's such fun!  It reminds me of the video of the first recorded IT specialist at work that I posted a couple of weeks ago.  Before I go read it through again, I'll tell you I rated the book 10 of 10.

Added at 9:45 a.m. ~ My friend Donna found this video book trailer online, and it does NOT say that last word!  It's only a minute long, so go ahead — watch it.

Anticipating Christmas

Raegan. my 2-year-old great-granddaughter, is pointing out to Gigi Bonnie (I'm behind the camera) which ornaments on Nanny's tree she likes best.  The first one she picked honors her great-grandpa Clyde, who died in June.

If you click on this photo, you'll see Jaxon's eyes are red because he started crying when his beloved Grandpa handed him over to his mother.  My great-grandson is a year old, and he wanted Grandpa, now!  It worked, didn't it?

Raegan got two folks to read to her tonight: her Gigi Bonnie and her grandpa.

Just before I left, she had this conversation with her daddy:

Raegan:  "Bye, I'm going to the office."
Daddy:  "What are you going to do at the office?"
Raegan:  "Do stuff and then go get a purse."
Daddy:  "Oh, so you are going to go to the office, do stuff, get money, and go get a purse."
Raegan:  "No, Daddy, I get your money and get a purse!!!"
Daddy:  "And so it begins."

Here's what one of the three houses looked like, when I visited with all three of my children and some of my grandchildren this evening.

And for now, at least, something interesting happens if you type the words "let it snow" into Google. Go ahead, try it!

Getting to know you ~ Sunday Salon

Let's sit around this cozy fireplace and chat, shall we?  There's popcorn beside the chair, and you're welcome to the soft drinks in the fridge.

This week, I have an agenda.  You ask questions, and I'll try to answer them — right here, today, in the comments following this post.  I got this idea from Sheila @ Book Journey, who took it from Jill @ Fizzy Thoughts, who told Sheila, "I stole this from other people, so you’re continuing a fine tradition."  Sheila's and Jill's readers had a variety of questions:

"Have you always lived in Minnesota?"

"How many hours do you read in a day?"

"Were you a cheerleader in high school?"

"Do you schedule posts in advance?"

"So what are you wearing on your feet?"

"What book would you want to receive for Christmas this year?"

"What do you think is the most important thing to living a good life?"

"What's your favorite triangular-shaped kind of dessert?"

I have a question for you, as well:

"What wonderful book would you recommend I read in the coming year?"

Saturday Snapshot ~ mother of grandparents

It's still hard to imagine my children are grandparents. My daughter's daughter has a daughter, and my son's son has a son. Here are those two (of my three) with their grandchildren.  Jaxon, who was wearing that plastic fire hat earlier, has put it on his Grandpa's head.  See him looking at it?

And here's Raegan, hugging her Nanny.  I got a good profile photo of her here, looking like she's on the verge of another giggle.  She looks straight at somebody and starts a loud "HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!"  And that makes all of us laugh along with her.  She had the whole firehall laughing at Jaxon's first birthday party.

This meme is hosted by Alyce @ At Home With Books.
Links to today's photos are here.

Friday Five ~ to-do lists

Earlier this week, I found the book tree on the left, which Helen @ Helen's Book Blog also posted this morning.  Then Wednesday, Sheila @ Book Journey posted the book tree on the right, made by the husband of a book club member.

Then Nancy @ Bookfoolery and Babble showed us the "Top Ten Ways for Cat Owners to Get into the Christmas Spirit" (this is Nancy's copyrighted photo of Izzy in their tree).

Then my artist friend Jane sent an email saying:

"Your Christmas tree up yet?  Mine is!!!!!!!  Highly unusual for me to be this organized.  Has the world tilted on its axis?  Something must have happened for me to be ahead of my usual lateness.  If you're out running around drop by.  I should be home part of the day at least!"

This is my way of getting to the point, that I do not yet have a tree up.  And today Jan @ RevGalBlogPals chose "to-do lists" as our Friday Five subject.

No matter how organized you are, there must be some things you still need to do.  For this Friday Five, tell us five things on your Christmas "To Do" List.  Include anything you have decided to skip doing this year.  As a bonus, give us something that helps you remember why this season even exists.

Only five?  I hadn't planned on having my whole family here, since we were getting together at the home of one of my daughters.  But plans have a way of changing, don't they?  To allow them to come as they are able, I'm having an open house on Christmas Eve.  And I'm not ready!

1.  Since we have two cats, we don't want a real tree.  Therefore, the first thing on my list is make a book tree, using the two above as inspiration.

2.  Take all the boxes still in the dining room to storage so we'll have room for people in our apartment.

3.  Vacuum, dust, polish furniture, make the faucets shine, etc.

4.  Make or buy snack foods.

5.  Wrap gifts, which was all I thought I was going to need to do.

What's still on YOUR to-do list?

Beginning ~ with old-fashioned candy

Turtle in Paradise ~ by Jennifer L. Holm, 2010, YA fiction (Florida), 10/10

Everyone thinks children are sweet as Necco Wafers, but I've lived long enough to know the truth:  kids are rotten.  The onlly difference between grown-ups and kids is that grown-ups go to jail for murder.  Kids get away with it.

I've already written a review of this book about kids in Key West in 1935, but I want to show how the author bracketed the story by letting Turtle (the main character) repeat at the end what she had said at the beginning.  Here are the last lines of the book (page 177, not a spoiler):

I've lived long enough to learn the truth:  not all kids are rotten, and there are grown-ups who are sweet as Necco Wafers.  And if you're lucky — lucky as an orphan — some of them may even end up being your family.

She learned, she grew, she changed — notice the words "lived long enough to know" in the first excerpt and "lived long enough to learn" in the last one.  What you think you know isn't always right.  And we get a healthy dose of culture from 1935, like Little Orphan Annie (shown here with Sandy) and Shirley Temple.  This is a great little book that I think adults can enjoy as much as kids.  That's why I rated it 10 of 10.

  If you want to play along, this meme is hosted by Katy at A Few More Pages. Share the first sentence or two of the book you are reading. (Sometimes it takes several sentences to get the full thought.) Then, share your impressions of that beginning.  Click this link to see what others say about the books they are reading this week.