It's the time of gift giving and somehow, even though I'm somewhat prepared, the holiday season always runs away from me. Even though I've done most of my shopping (Yay for online shopping!), I know there are some last minute consumers out there.
Here is my list of the BEST GIFT IDEAS FOR BILBIOPHILES....so far.
Our house isn’t ready for Christmas. My stack of cards, unaddressed, is still sitting there. We don’t have our tree up yet because we’ve been sick. Our stockings aren’t hung by the chimney with care. (Though Mr. Bookworm has taken our Christmas boxes down from the attic.) And though we have lots of presents, none of them are wrapped. There is no guarantee of any of those things actually getting done this weekend either—not with us being sick. And that’s okay.
The only thing that MUST get done today is the movies. Because we’re off to see The Last Jedi today.
Featured Fridays: I'm featuring a non-profit organization every Friday for the nine Fridays leading up to what would have been Macy's ninth birthday.
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep is an organization that provides volunteer photographers to document the life of infants who are born still or who live for a only short time.
Last year I posted a 12 Must-Have Picture Books for the 12 Days of Christmas. The list contains some classics and some newer ones, but they are all picture book 'must-haves' for any young bibliophile (or older ones too). My friend suggested that I make a list for older kids that other people could reference for great gifts for different age groups.
Well, I don't feel exactly qualified to do so. Why? Because while I have read thousands of picture books, I am not as well read in early chapter books, middle grade books, or YA books. So I may curate a list with some input from some other knowledgeable friends, but in the meantime, I thought I'd place all my First Lines novels in one place along with book summaries in case you might want to gift one to a friend or family member this holiday season.
I posted a letter to Macy on my Caring Bridge site on her one year birthday. At the time of my pregnancy with her, it was my lifeline to my supportive family and friends.
I wanted to share what was going on with us, but I did not want to have to say my story over and over again. So I did what I do best: I wrote about it. I wrote and wrote, and so many people sent me messages of support, either on Caring Bridge itself, or by email, or in person. Or even verbal messages through my sisters and parents.
Every since Mini Me was little, we've talked about different types of families. We've talked about families with just one parent, with two parents that are boys or girls or one of each, and with different households.
Every so often, Mini Me will check out a cookbook. For a very long time. We're terrible about hoarding our books and keeping them too long. This time around we've been hoarding Let's Cook a Treat: A Step by Step Guide, which is from the DK family of books.
I don't normally post our crafting or cooking processes because I don't come up with new recipes or craft ideas. I tend to do a mish-mash of craft ideas I've heard of, unless I'm problem-solving a costume. But since the holiday season is coming up, I'll tell you that this book was great for baking with a 7 year old!
Featured Fridays: I'm featuring a non-profit organization every Friday for the nine Fridays leading up to what would have been Macy's ninth birthday.
I didn't know the logistics of what it would be like to give birth to a baby who may or may not survive the birthing process. Enter the St. Joseph's Perinatal Comfort Care Program.
"'Finders Keepers! Hee Hee!'
'Grabbing my notebook out of my hands isn't finders keepers. Zita?'
'This wasn't here yesterday."
'It looks like a meteoroid.'"
"Sophie had waited all her life to be kidnapped. But tonight, all the other children of Gavaldon writhed in their beds. If the School Master took them, they'd never return."
On the way home from our Thanksgiving celebration with the family, I realized that we forgot to say what we are thankful for. Traditionally we write what we are thankful for anonymously and then place them all in a bag. The gratitude notes are then read out loud.
Since we forgot, the four of us stated our thank yous in the car.
"Far away from here, following the Jade River, there was once a black mountain that cut into the sky like a jagged piece of rough metal. The villagers called it Fruitless Mountain because nothing grew on it and birds and animals did not rest there."
Celebrating the 5 year book anniversary of Special Delivery:
What's Special Delivery? It's a children's book that I wrote when Mini Me was two years old and I was pregnant with Macy, my daughter who lived only briefly. One sleepless night I couldn't get these words out of my head as we were figuring out how to tell Mini Me that her sister was likely going to die.
Eventually, for Macy's funeral, we had five books printed at a local shop. And then, in 2012, we received a grant from Sappi Ideas That Matter to have the book published so that we could distribute them to other families, free of cost.
"Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death."
I'm keeping with the unicorn theme for the next few book recommendations, thus locking in my other moniker as Dr. Unicorn/the Unicorn doctor. :D This time we're talking about Bob Shea's Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great in which a unicorn takes on a goat in a fight. Sort of.
"Everyone thinks it was because of the snow. And in a way, I suppose that's true."
I had NO idea that there was going to be a sequel to Uni the Unicorn, especially as Amy Krouse Rosenthal passed away last Spring. However, I do know that the picture book publishing process is a long one and she likely finished this book several years ago. Having said that, I can't help but think that this is Rosenthal's swan song, and what a beautiful one it is.
"Garrison Griswold whistled his way down Market Street, silver hair bobbing atop his head like a pigeon wing. He tapped his trademark walking stick, striped in Bayside Press colors, to the beat of his tune."
Common Welsh Green Dragon from Harry Potter, Tsunami Dragon from Wings of Fire, and Mother of Dragons, not really from Game of Thrones :D
"When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim's warmth but finding only the rough canvas of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course, she did. This is the day of the reaping."
