[Exasperated sigh after story hour at the Zooks] Are there or are there not just some really psychotic characters in the story of Rumpelstiltskin? First we have the proud father, who tells a complete lie to the king and sends his daughter’s future up in smoke. Oh, good thinking, Pops. Then we have the king. […]
Competition: story rewrite Read More »
The cookbook we’re using in our “Cooking School” is a delightful one from Betty Crocker: [easyazon_link asin=”0471753092″ locale=”US” new_window=”default” nofollow=”default” tag=”confession022-20″]Betty Crocker Kids Cook![/easyazon_link] We also like [easyazon_link asin=”1570710309″ locale=”US” new_window=”default” nofollow=”default” tag=”confession022-20″]365 Foods Kids Love to Eat[/easyazon_link], but it’s not colorful, spiral-bound, and glossy. [smile] [easyazon_link asin=”0471753092″ locale=”US” new_window=”default” nofollow=”default” tag=”confession022-20″][/easyazon_link] We’re also enjoying
Book for Busy Kids Read More »
I’d like to give you a peek at some of the good books I’m reading right now–from children’s books to fiction to spiritual growth. They’re worth your time! (Click a cover to view the book on amazon.com–you may be able to look inside!) [amazon_link id=”0141310014″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link] To Be a Slave, by Julius
Last summer I hosted a book giveaway for Life is for Living–Not for Waiting Around, written by my friend Anita Yoder. We had one fortunate winner. But here’s some good news for the rest of you: her book is now available at a 60% discount, close-out special, through March 31st. That means it’s only $4.40
Good news! Book discount! Read More »
Confession: I am a sunshine lover, but oh, the nice rich rain! All day it has fallen; and if it nourishes even me, how must the grass feel? ***** It rained and it rained and it rained. Piglet told himself that never in all his life, and he was goodness knows how old–three, was it,
In [amazon_link id=”0440414806″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Holes[/amazon_link] by Louis Sachar, Stanley Yelnats is sentenced to eighteen months at a boys’ penitential camp, where each boy must dig a five-foot hole in the desert every single day. Five feet across in every direction, five feet deep. “If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every
Profession: I have charming friends who write charming books. One is Miss Anita Yoder, my friend from Poland by way of Ireland. We met remotely—and don’t you dare think “Internet” because it wasn’t. It was a lovely old-fashioned snail mail writers’ workshop, in which we were fined a postage stamp for every day we delayed
Profession: If you want to read a book that makes you really depressed about life, try on The Hunchback of Notre Dame. First off, we examine the plot. We start with the perfect girl, mix in a dash of Gypsy, an unspeakable grace of motion, a mesmerizing beauty, a pet goat, and lost parents. We
After 30 days complete Read More »
Confession: I adore long, slow books with words like magic—Dickens and Bleak House at the moment. Source: Claude Monet, The Houses of Parliament (Effect of Fog), 1903, oil on canvas, public domain on wikipedia ***** Assignment: Shari Zook, please describe the state of the city in the painting above. “Alright. Here goes: London was full of
A soft black drizzle Read More »
In the Bleak Midwinter Christina Rossetti, 1872 In the bleak mid-winter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak mid-winter Long ago. Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him Nor earth sustain; Heaven and earth shall flee away When