Twisted Sense

I read Franklin's Valentines by Paulette Bourgeois (link) on February 13, 2012.
Publisher Name: Open Road Media; Imprint: Kids Can Press

From Goodreads:
The Valentine's Day Party has begun at last, but Franklin lost his cards on the way to school. As his pile of valentines begins to grow. Franklin feels bad that he has none to give in return. But in the true spirit of the day, everyone assures Franklin they don't need a valentine to know they're his friends.

1. What was your favorite part of the book?
When Franklin was making his Valentine's Day cards in the beginning of the book.

2. Was this book funny, sad, silly, or boring?
This book was kind of sad in the middle, but was very happy at the end. Franklin knew he had very good friends and that he was a good friend to them.

3. Who was your favorite character?
Franklin.

4. Would you tell your friends to read this book?
Yes, 'cause it's at my school.

Mom's Review:

Franklin's Valentines teaches a great lesson: Friendships exist and thrive because of our love for one another - not because of the gifts we give. As a parent of a young child, this message is important and this book beautifully illustrates how friendship transcends the desire for things. Our friends love us because of the happy way we make them feel when we're together!

I appreciate Franklin's concern that his friends might be hurt that he didn't give them their valentine cards, and impressed greater still by his initiative to create cards for "Friendship Day" which he declares can be any day they like. What a great role model for taking a sad and disappointing situation and turning it around into an opportunity to display gratitude and take on an alternative perspective when things didn't quite go his way.

February 10, 2012 10:47pm

Dear Miss Lauren,

4 years ago my life and yours were about to change dramatically. You were incredibly, incredibly sick, and I thought it was just the flu. You were so pale and lethargic with a cough and cold that seemed to have lasted forever. You had just turned 3, and your wonderful spirit shone through all the yuck and ick, and my beautiful girl was such a bright spot in my life.

Let's go back a bit to June 1, 2004. That was the day I knew for sure you were on your way. I'd known even before that, though, but this was the day I finally felt confident enough to believe it!! I was thrilled yet scared. I was excited yet terrified. I was always, always happy. I felt such a connection to you immediately, and I was thrilled you were going to be a part of my life.

Before February 12, 2008, we never worried much about your health. You were healthy and developed quickly. You were speaking very clearly by 2, and physically right on track. Though very shy and terribly difficult to get to bed, you were engaging and fun. Everyone was so lucky to know you. That night changed nothing of our feelings for you, nor for our commitment to keep you healthy. It's consumed our lives for a long time with the medicines timed just-so, and the frequent clinic visits... The spinal taps and going bald in the middle of the summer (08). Through it all, you've been cheerful and sweet, and such a thoughtful, caring, wonderful human being.

As your mom, I think a lot about the time leading up to your diagnosis of leukemia. I look back at the pictures from a month or two before, and I hate myself for not seeing what was so plainly there. I just thought it was the flu (which you were also sick with, concurrently alongside leukemia), and nearly everybody in our lives were concerned, but didn't see reason to think anything more was going on. You don't remember much of your time in the clinic and hospital now, so I don't suspect you remember how terrible you felt in those days, weeks, months preceding the diagnosis, but I'm sorry. I am sorry I didn't know. I am sorry i snapped at you that you weren't being friendly to people. God, your little body was wrecked with cancer, and I was mad you weren't friendly enough. It's an ugly monster, that guilt. She would eat me alive if I let it go on too long. I'm not sure there's anything I will be able to do to overcome the regret of not being more aware.

But here we are, looking at the nose of the diagnosaversary, and you're in first grade in the advanced spelling group and the highest reading level group in your class! You are artistic and creative - more so than I have ever been all throughout my life. You are ridiculously intuitive and aware of your effect on other people. As a result of that, you are very sensitive to others' feelings and sometimes take things personally when they're not intended to be. You care an awful lot what I think, and you really really like to sleep close to me. However, you are a crazy turn-sideways kick you in the head type of sleeper, so we sleep close, but not in the same bed.

I love you, and I admire who you are. I am lucky to know you and have you love me.

Mommy

From Goodreads.com

On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed forever. 
If you had the chance to change the course of history, would you?  Would the consequences be worth it? 

I'm a time travel junkie.  I love love love to read anything time travel, watch movies about time travel... I'll even spend a couple days' worth of time on archived Internet forums reading about a guy who claimed to be from the future searching for a piece of an old IBM computer (John Titor fans, hello!).  So when Stephen King's 11/22/63 was released, you can bet a time-travelling phone booth or two that I was gonna read it.

This book began with a delicious concept - a wormhole placed randomly in the back pantry of an old diner allowed for the traveler to be transported back in time to 1958.  Any changes effected upon the past would still be in place upon return to the present, but returning back to 1958 through that wormhole again will "reset" the changes entirely.   Go back in time, spend a couple of years wreaking havoc and having fun, come back to now, go back in, and any damage caused is undone - no hard feelings.  No consequences.

Al, the owner of the diner where our friendly wormhole keeps residence, has concocted a plan to go back in time, wait until 1963, and save Kennedy from assassination.  He'd do it himself, but lung cancer isn't patient, so he asks Jake, our main squeeze, to follow through.  Al's taken notes, gone back in time numerous times (resetting the past with each trip) and feels almost certain Oswald acted alone.  Jake's job is to take the "almost" out of that equation, and ultimately save Kennedy!

Along the way to 1963, Jake attempts to adjust the lives of some unfortunate people whom he knows in his current iteration.  While a school teacher in real life, he poses as a contemporary-to-the-late-1950s version, as well.  He falls in love.  He commits murder.  He saves lives.  Ultimately, his goal to save Kennedy has an unexpected ending.

I read I Will Surprise My Friend! by Mo Willems (link) on February 10, 2012.

1. What was your favorite part of the book?

When they forget that they're surprising each other. The elephant and the piggy have a lot of fun together.  Lunch time!  They faint and say, "Oh, let's time let's just play tag."  The end!

2. Was this book funny, sad, silly, or boring?

Really really really so really funny!

3. Who was your favorite character?

The elephant and the piggy were both my favorite characters.

4. Would you tell your friend to read this book?

Yes, I would!

I read Imogene's Antlers by David Small (link) on February 5, 2012.

1. What was your favorite part of this book?

When Imogene fed the birds with the doughnuts stacked on her antlers!

2. Was this book funny, sad, silly, or boring?

It was a fun book.

3. Who was your favorite character?

Imogene, the girl who had the antlers grow out of her head.

4. Would you tell your best friend to read this book?

She should.

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers — but you have to know — the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

Q: What would your prefer: reading your favorite book over and over again until you got sick of it OR reading 100s of mediocre books? And why?

If I had to choose between these two scenarios, I would absolutely choose 100s of mediocre books. I am a fairly creative person, and I think, given ample free time, I would "re-write" the mediocre parts of the books in my mind and make them great. Now, I'm left with 100s of better-than-mediocre books (at least so far as my interests are concerned), and everybody wins!

Please follow me (over on the right) and leave a comment so that I can follow you!

Happy Friday!

This is a blog hop! Clicky for more blogs here...

So, I'm new around these parts, and I wanted to start out my blog with a giveaway.  My absolute favorite thing on the planet is a bookstore.  My second absolute favorite thing on the planet is a gift card to a bookstore.  This giveaway will have a scaling amount depending on how many new followers (based on the count on linkyfollowers) I get.  So let's break this puppy down:

For 0-25 new followers, the gift card will be worth $5
For 26-50 new followers, the gift card will be worth $10
For 51-100 new followers, the gift card will be worth $25
For 101+ new followers, the gift card will be worth $50!

So remember - the final count that affects the gift card amount is based on how many new followers I get on Linky Followers!  This is being touted as the replacement to Google Friend Connect, slated for slaughter next month for those of us who are not using a Google-based blog.  I've seen a number of blogs hosting giveaways regarding Linky Followers, so I am hopeful this will be a good service.

On a totally unrelated-but-totally-weirdly-cool-to-me note, the creator of Linky Followers (Brent Riggs) is connected to me in a completely different forum, and I had no idea until I saw his picture in the welcome page.   But that's a whole other blog post.

Anyway!  On with the giveaway.  This giveaway is open for 2 weeks (until 12:01am Friday, Feb 24).  Please encourage your friends to join, too, as it sweetens the pot!

Make sure you post a link to your OWN Linky Followers giveaway! (Below the Rafflecopter box)

a Rafflecopter giveaway




Now, post your links to your own giveaway here:

Wishlist Wednesday is a book blog hop conducted by Pen to Paper, where we will post about one book per week that has been on our wishlist for some time, or just added (it's entirely up to you), that we can't wait to get off the wishlist and onto our wonderful shelves.

Wishlist Wednesday has a blog hop each week!  I am choosing one of the books that's been on my wishlist a while, but which I'd love to actually get into my hands and read!

 

Before I Fall

by Lauren Oliver (Goodreads Author)  4.02 rating * 21,488 ratings * 4,291 reviews

What if you only had one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last.

The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. Living the last day of her life seven times during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death--and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

 

What an overwhelmingly wonderful experience it could be to re-live the last day of our lives ... not just once, but seven times!  The chance to say goodbye, to close up loose ends, to tell every person you love just how much you love them?  I love this idea, but am also wickedly terrified by it!  I love that all these feelings arise with just a preview!

I am fiercely intrigued by the description alone!  Add to it the wonderful rating  with a large number of readers it's received, and it's high high high on my t0-read list.