Love that little book!

Last night, I read the sweetest little book. With only 86 pages, and the entire story told in free-verse, written by a young boy who doesn't really like poetry, you can finish this one in under an hour. I don't want to give away any of this heart-warming story, but it provides wonderful examples of shadow poems, and in case that doesn't convince you, here's the first page:

September 21

I tried.
Can't do it.
Brain's empty.

Happy blogging

Your blog posts and comments have been insightful and entertaining; I'm looking forward to seeing you all again in just a few days and chatting in person about all we've been reading and learning.

Things to Do: Week Three

This week, I've asked you to each post two blog entries: one responding to Traci Gardner's "Five Things I've Gained from Reading" (my post is on the class blog, and I've reposted it on my personal blog), and one selling us on your idea of a book club (I've posted my ideas on my personal blog). Happy blogging, and happy reading!

Podcasts are fun!!!

So I have never really explored my itunes let alone podcasts before this class. It took me six months just to take my ipod out of its package and set it up!!! But now that I have had to explore podcasts for this week's responses, I might have found a new obsession!!! I was having so much fun listening to different podcasts that I totally lost track on time!! I had to make myself sign out of itunes so that I could continue working on my responses!! I hope that everyone had just as much fun as I did!!!

Summertime... and the reading is easy

Welcome to our virtual classroom. Whether you're in your garden, at your desk, or on your couch, you can share ideas with the group. Use this as a way of expanding and deepening our discussion and learning.

Five Things I've Gained from Reading Literature

I've decided to take up Traci Gardner's challenge and blog on what I've gained from reading.

1. What piece of literature has stayed with you, even though you haven't read it recently? Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, because it's a great story of friendship and creativity, and I've always loved the line "It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."
2. What character or story has influenced something you've done? Neighbor Rosicky (from Willa Cather's short story of the same name) realizes that his entire corn crop has been destroyed after a hot July day of searing heat. He leaves his fields in the late afternoon, returns to his family and to his wife who is preserving plums, and he arranges for a picnic in the orchard. Only after the evening meal does he tell his wife that after all his work, they've lost everything. When she retells the story to her sons, she says, "An' that's how your father behaved, when all the neighbours was so discouraged they couldn't look you in the face. An' we enjoyed ourselves that year, poor as we was, an' our neighbors wasn't a bit better off for bein' miserable." I've thought of Rosicky's example often when confronting failure or disappointment.
   
3. What character or piece of literature seemed to relate to a recent news story or personal experience? I've often identified with the mother in Tillie Olsen's "I Stand Here Ironing." Reflecting on her daughter's childhood, she says, "What in me demanded that goodness in her? And what was the cost to her of such goodness?"
   
4. What character has made you wonder why he or she did/said something? Why did Marlow feel the need to lie to Kurtz's Intended at the end of Heart of Darkness? Although Kurtz's dying words were actually "The horror! The horror!," he told her that his last words were her name. Was Marlow protecting himself, Kurtz, or the fiancee?
   
5. Name something from a work of literature (such as a character, setting, or quotation) that you find beautiful or vivid. I love these lines from Longfellow's poem "Snow-flakes":
   This is the poem of the air,
   Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
   This is the secret of despair,
   Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
   Now whispered and revealed
   To wood and field.
   

Book Sales

How do you recommend a book to others? These questions can help:

• What stands out for me?
• What do I like or dislike?
  
• What have others noticed or valued?

Here's a program that did a great job of selling books: