Nurture Shock and Other....

I just finished Nurture Shock: A New Way of Thinking About Parenting by Po Bryson on my new KINDLE! God, I love that machine. I really thought I'd miss the turning of pages, but, alas, NO! I love that I can wrap my hands in fleecy blankets in my frigid bedroom at night and never have to take them out! Next page, next page, next page....my goodness! So, the Bryson book is a must for parents because it looks at different aspects of children and goes to research that pretty much turns everything we think on our heads. For instance, if teens just get an hour more of sleep (one district did this for high school-later starting time), their SAT scores can go up 200 points! You have to read the research for the details, but that's the beauty of the book; the research is completely accessible to everyone. I love the preschool program he talks about- the name escapes me at the moment. Check out the website to see what it has to offer!

I had the misfortune of having to explain to my daughter what suicide is after an 8th grader at her parochial school committed suicide yesterday. This is a first in the history of the school and will have reverberations for eons due to the circumstances surrounding it. I made sure that I told her what I think every time I hear of a young person committing this act: "Nothing is that bad. Your parents will always love you-and so does God."

I received a huge box of ARCs this week from Scholastic that I can't wait to dive into. I was kind of tickled that The Babysitter's Club reissues were in there. I'll see what the resident 4th grader thinks of them. They don't yet make ARCs for the Kindle so I will content myself turning pages as I read them.

Hello Lover!

No school on Monday due to the MLK holiday, but I will be glued to the computer screen to hear the award winners. I have no predictions as others do, but I am hoping that some of my favorites from the year claim a spot or two. Then, off to read them all and make notes for our presentation NEXT November at NCTE where my illustrious colleagues and I are making plans to review book awards once again. Whew. I thought this would be a short post. Huh.