It’s Saturday morning and I’m piled on the couch with my kids. All of us are in our pajamas and one of us definitely doesn’t want to be up yet. (Hint – it’s not the kids.) Bob Ross is on the television calmly painting a serene landscape and we are all completely engrossed in the…
I’ve always dreamed of being a dancer. I love to watch dance shows on TV such as Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance. Baby in Dirty Dancing? I wanted to be her! Alas, I am not coordinated and not built to be a dancer and so my dreams ended in…
Beverly Cleary is a well-known, prolific author of books for children. Her career spanned more than 50 years and her books have been loved by generations upon generations of kids. But have you ever wondered what Beverly Cleary’s own childhood was like? Thankfully Beverly penned two memoirs about her life prior to her publishing success…
I will never be a student of battle tactics, never really interested in the nitty gritty details of exactly which way a battle had unfolded, minute by minute, decision by decision. I am, however, very interested in the experiences and stories of the individual people who were there. The Little Ships: The Heroic Rescue at…
Stuff You Should Know is part of my regular podcast playlist. One recent episode caught my eye, moving it to top priority. Emu Wars. That’s right. I said Emu Wars. You want to know more, don’t you? I sure did! What were the Emu Wars? Technically, the Emu War wasn’t actually a war. It was…
Are there any other thesaurus lovers out there? I have been using thesauruses (thesauri is the preferred plural of the author but thesauruses is definitely more fun to say!) for many, many years. When I’m writing something, I want to use the perfect word to get my meaning across. Or sometimes I just need to…
See the world as a data collector Stefanie Posavec and Giorgia Lupi are visual designers who both loved drawing, specifically drawing with data. In the introduction, they say that Dear Data was concieved as a “personal documentary” and that data can be used to become more humane and to connect with ourselves and others on…
Did you know that the Los Angeles Central Library suffered a devastating fire in 1986? Me neither! I learned all about the largest library fire in the United States and so much more about the history and workings of a large city library from Susan Orlean’s book, The Library Book. (You may remember when I…
If you’ve never heard of Snowflake Bentley, then I’ve got a treat for you! Wilson Bentley was an amazingly passionate man who dedicated his life to photographing microscopic snowflakes. Keep reading to find out more… Which came first, the snow or the passion? Wilson Alwyn Bentley was born on February 9, 1865, in Jericho, Vermont. …
I don’t know about you but I definitely have a love-hate relationship with squirrels. On one hand, totally cute and entertaining to watch. On the other hand, prone to stealing tomatoes from my garden and causing power outages by chewing wires. There are two sides to every story though so let’s hear from the squirrel……
I like to teach my kids at school about Veterans Day. It’s a bit tricky because they are so young. How much do you tell a 5 year old about the military in a way that emphasizes the importance without scaring them? I’m always looking for books that can tell about Veterans Day in an…
How long do dinosaurs live? Do carnivores live longer than herbivores? If being a herbivore (vegetarian) makes you live longer, then why didn’t the carnivores switch or become omnivores? Do omnivores live longer than either of the others? This all started with a simple off-hand question from one of my students last spring –…