losing faith in Newbery winners

Some time back I finished another Newbery award winner, The Midwife's Apprentice, a book I was looking forward to both in its plot and brevity, but finished it feeling nothing but relief. I like the idea of the story: a nameless girl wanders from place to place eventually finding herself in the job of being, yep, you guessed it, the midwife's apprentice; a girl who learns how to stand up to the things that confront themselves as challenges (both people and situations in her life)...but I just didn't like it.

I was so glad to be done with it, excited to move on to another book...though now I am reading The Wheel on the School, Meindert DeJong, illus. Maurice Sendak--this is proving to be terrible...not quite Miss Hickory bad, but pretty close...I am losing faith in Newberry winners, seems like the bads are outweighing the goods...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

eggnog with lighter fluid and other cherished Christmas memories

Image
I started digging to find my favorite Christmas-esque scenes/lines from movies and I was pleased with what I found. In spirit of my 14's lists, here goes: 1. Charles De Mar: "Ah, come on! It's Christmas Eve! I could be home right now, drinking this *monster* eggnog my brother makes with lighter fluid." ~ Better Off Dead I also love the present opening scene on Christmas day, where his mother is dressed like a reindeer, his father gets an ardvark jacket and the kids get freezer dinners. Pan out to the neighbors Christmas when the French foreign exchange student gets a framed picture of Ricky. I LOVE THIS MOVIE! 2. When Zuzu says to George Bailey, "Look, daddy! Teacher says, every time a bell rings, an Angel gets his wings." George quietly agrees, "Attaboy, Clarence," as "Auld Lang Syne" rings out. That scene makes me cry everytime. (I also love that if George had never been around, Mary became a spinster librarian--see pic) ~ It's a W
Read more

sample retirement acceptance letter

Image
The hardest part of being the Director in a small library is that we don't have an HR person, so on top of everything else we do we also get to do the paperwork for the new hires, and retires. Thank God for the internet or these processes would take a lot longer!  One of my board members pointed out that though I'd been informed of staff retirements, I had to officially accept them with a letter...I am finding that a paper trail is an important thing. So, I found a short and simple letter on one university's HR website (sorry forgot which!?) and honed it to work for us. Attached is my sample of a retirement letter.  Is anyone else out there going through this process too?
Read more

meditating through my HULK SMASH

Image
I haven't written much lately because I've been getting my ass kicked by Summer Reading. Truly. 2 of my 3 Circ ladies had to take vacation time (for various reasons) during 3 consecutive weeks of our 6 week programs which means A. I've been covering the desk; paperwork is backing up and B. I've been working insane amounts of overtime. I told the Board at our last meeting that I would be keeping track of all my overtime and would be taking a few days off at the end of Summer Reading. I've literally worked enough overtime to accrue 5.5 days off! Downside: I'm exhausted! Upside: Some lonnnnnng weekends coming my way this month! So, think happy thoughts for me this week, as we wind down and finish our final week. I'm doing extra yoga and meditation and trying not to HULK SMASH anything!  
Read more