This year (2025) finds me with 53 years of teaching “under my belt.” I have taught all levels from pre-K “(library lady” or “book lady”–volunteer) to juniors, seniors, and graduate students enrolled in my Advanced Writing class at the university where I have just completed 34 years. My first paying teaching job was junior high, and I spent 13 years with ages 12-13, the “difficult years.” I had some of the “funnest” experiences with this age group. When I was no longer the “young, fun teacher,” I taught in an elementary school setting before sixth graders went on to junior high, teaching language arts blocs, an assignment that was a “dream-fit” for me. After completing graduate school in my 40s, I went on to community college, then university teaching. This past fall I accepted a part-time teaching job at Apogee Gulf Coast Schools in its first year at the Alvin campus. After my Better Half died n 2022, I achieved a lifelong dream: opening a bookstore of my own, Rae’s Reads. A year later, I sold the house we had lived in for 47 years and moved into the bookstore. My goal is to circulate and repurpose books.
Just as teaching is “in my blood,” so is a passion for reading, writing, libraries, and everything bookish.
This blog will be open to anyone who loves books, promotes literacy and wants to “come out and play.”
A student recommended I read It Ends With Us, a book she had just read. When I looked it up on Amazon, I saw the author had written two books, the other titled, It Starts With Us. Naturally, I ordered Starts first, only to discover it was the sequel to Ends! Go figure. Luckily, Starts, published in 2022, reads well as a stand alone novel and the author cleverly fills the reader in on the doings in the first book, Ends.
Our story begins two years after the first novel. The main characters, Atlas and Lily run into each other after a long separation. Ryle, Lily’s ex-husband suffers under the mistaken notion that Atlas is the reason his marriage to Lily ended. Actually, it was an abusive relationship. The love between Lily and Atlas is rekindled in spite of all the both of them do to try to avoid “a situation.” It is obvious to the reader that the two are truly in love and belong together. Secondary characters are drawn especially well, as in the case of Ryan’s sister and Leo, Atlas’s twelve-year-old “therapist.”
There are some fairly graphic love/sex scenes, but there is nothing offensive. In her forward, Hoover tells us she wrote this novel to satisfy the demands of fans who wanted to know how things turned out for the star-crossed lovers.
It is a fast-read, an entertaining plot with enough twists and turns and miscommunications to keep things interesting, and a good summer read.
Just as Saturday mornings on 50s and 60s TV programming was reserved for kids, so PWR reserves Saturdays for kids’ books.
TODAY I want to discuss a book I am dying to read:
This 2016 publication, written by the mother of twins, Ryan and R.J. presents autism from the point of view of both siblings. Ryan, and R.J. It begins with “A Letter from Mom.”
“Dear Ryan and R.J,
When your dad and I found out I was having twins, I knew we’d been given a double blessing…In January of 2000, when you were three years old, our world changed forever, when your pediatrician told Dad and me, ‘Your son has classic autism.’ “
I read several books back in April (National Autism Awareness month) and another since then on autism, one even giving the perspective of the autistic boy by his author father. This one promises to present autism from the author mother’s point of view, plus a siblings’ as well. I am really looking forward to working it in this coming week.
Autism awareness card or background. vector illustration.
Reading about autism has become a year-round thing for me. It has helped me understand students, friends, and friends’ children.
Here we are halfway through 2023–can you believe it? Today I was looking back through my blogging notebook and reviewing the progress or lack thereof I had made on my 2023 challenges. Here they are in no particular order:
I had originally hoped to read a classic every other month. So far I have completed:
JANUARY AND FEBRUARY
MARCH AND APRIL
CIRCE by Madeline Miller, which I have finished but have not reviewed as yet.
MAY AND JUNE
So, I am right on schedule with the Classic Club Challenge.
Desperately needing to pare down my TBR shelves, I decided to read a book each month from them. Notice there are some overlaps with other challenges. What blogger doesn’t love killing two challenges with one book? LOL
JANUARY: I doubt I reviewed this book, but a signed copy I received from an Imprint evening in Houston had sat on my TBR next to my bed for quite a few months. Crying in the Bathroom, by Erika Sanchez, a memoir, was a tad disappointing after having read her earlier I Am Not Your Typical Mexican Daughter, which I loved. In her second book, Sanchez was more in-your-face in her memoir and she used such profanity, including the F bomb frequently, that it became a turn off. I persevered, however and finished the memoir. I placed it respectively on my signed-authors shelves, for who knows what Sanchez will write next!
FEBRUARY:
This non-fiction self-study, self-help book had been on my TBR shelf (again next to my bed) for over a year. I was saving it to take to my bookstore when I had one, but instead, I loved it so much, I kept the copy on my keep-forever-at- my-house-shelf in my ofice and will reread and refer to it from time to time. I even marked pages that would be appropriate for a workshop or class in the future.
MARCH: It Starts with Us is another book I haven’t reviewed yet, but it had been on my TBR shelf with the others since the beginning of the semester. I ordered it on the recommendation of a student who said she wanted to read it. I did not realize that this book was a sequel to It Ends With Us (sounds backwards, doesn’t it?), but I lucked out because it read well as a stand-alone novel as the author very cleverly had the two main characters read from each others’ journals about what had happened in the first book. Also very cleverly, Colleen Hoover, the novelist, marked journal entries by using italics. It was an enjoyable read.
APRIL: Everybody Writes by Ann Handley, a fellow blogger, had been languishing on my Kindle for over a year. I had started it once or twice, but I found very little that was useful for my Advanced Writing classes I had been teaching for the past 34 years. HOWEVER, when I changed my teaching assignment to Freshman Composition, Writing 1301, in the spring semester, the authors’ advice and especially her writing prompts became very valuable. Thank you, Ann.
MAY: And now we come to the overlap. Circe by Madeline Miller had also been on my Kindle since it was first published, and when someone donated a paperback copy to my bookstore, I found it very easy to have the print copy at the bookstore and read it on my Kindle at home in the evenings.
JUNE: I have not read June’s selection yet, but I am still on schedule because June isn’t over yet!
All in all, I am on schedule and clicking right along, which is amazing because since January, I have taught not my usual one but two classes, opened Rae’s Reads, my bookstore (where we have had three author events; a ladies tea, complete with speaker; a pot-luck dinner for twelve; a mini-craft-sale; and established a 5th and 6th grade girls’ book club, The Nerd Herd, since January.) I have been one busy lady, and there’s no let up in sight. Saturday we have an outdoor music concert. Then in July, I’ve scheduled a poetry workshop; a classroom shower for a former student who is starting her first teaching job; and hopefully, in August, a nurse who will speak on “Proactive Health Habits for Seniors.” At all of these events, we feed our guests and give them a free book on their first visit. It has been both exhausting and exhilarating!
Recently I received a request from Eileen Ike West to read and review her new poetry collection, Whistler of Petty Crimes.
Up front, Ms. West provided a copy of the collection, but the thoughts and opinions about the book are my own.
I thoroughly enjoyed this little volume, and indeed, it gave me a lot to think about and meditate upon. Evidently, un-superstitious, West has included thirteen poems, if one does not count “In Memoriam,” it’s dedication. The themes of the poems are widely varied, the poet’s thoughts on everything from softball to telling/contemplating the future.
My favorite poem was “2020: A Year Out of Hand.” Dealing with the pandemic year, a year I had two weeks in which to learn to teach on line thanks to our university being closed down–a baptism by fire–the poem conveys the closing-down of everything. Three girlfriends and I had planned a weekend…
My good friend Alda Dobbs has written a wonderful book based on stories her grandmother told her mother, who then told them to Alda. Her grandmother, renamed Petra Luna in this fine historical novel, lived through The Mexican Revolution of 1910, and that event is what brought Alda’s grandmother and her family to the U.S. The stories are told through the eyes of an 11 year old girl.
I chose this book for the first selection for my 5th and 6th Grade Girls’ Book Club which meets at Rae’s Reads, my bookstore in Alvin, Texas. Only two girls came for the “organizational meeting” this past Wednesday, and both were brought by their grandmothers, who stayed in the conversation area of the bookstore and became friends. Both Evey and Ellie said they had a girlfriend who they’d bring this coming Wednesday, and one more grandmother volunteered her granddaughter via Facebook; so, I am expecting five girls this coming week. Evey’s grandmother has volunteered to bring refreshments. I have bought copies for the girls, and I am so hoping they like the book as much as I did. (See a review of the book written some time ago by going to the search box and typing in “The Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna.” )
I am also going to recommend that they read Dobbs’ sequel to Petra , The Other Side of the River,
which chronicles her life and adventures once she reaches the U.S.
I’m hoping the girls will want to discuss what they read last week and will spend some time lounging in the bookstore’s children’s room, continuing to read and enjoy refreshments and each other.
Here’s to book clubs, whether you’re a fifth or sixth grader or a seventy-eight year old!
This was a previous post, but after a day at the bookstore, Rae’s Reads, and seeing two kids select books from this series as their “Free Book on First Visit,” I thought I would repeat this post.
Just as Saturday Morning TV programming was reserved for kids’ cartoons back in the 50s and 60s, so mom and dad could sleep in while the kids ate cereal in front of the TV, PWR reserves Saturday mornings (unless I’m running late like today) for reviews of kids’ books.
Today’s recommendation is not for a single book, but for a whole series.
I specifically bought these for my bookstore, RAE’S READS, to compliment another series that deals with kids’ emotions. Be Cheerful was my favorite of these three. Early in the book, the author tells the child, “We cannot be happy all the time. All of us feel a little sad or worried sometimes.” It goes on to give pictures and words at the second level as to the things that cause us to be sad or worried. Then, the child is told “Most of the things we worry about do not happen!” This little book suggests ways for the child to become cheerful again, i.e. “thinking about happy things…doing something nice like baking a cake…[and] working hard on a project.” Very practical advice gives a child confidence that he/she can turn his sad frown into a happy, sunny face.
Best of all, the book/series does not preach, but entertains and instructs. I’m glad I bought this series.
This little book one can read in a single sitting. This little book one can read on a Sunday afternoon.
One of the most outstanding features of this little devotional book is the “personalized scriptures” An Weiss has added to each story. The “version” of each scripture is her own. The reader can read one story a day until she finishes the book, or, as I did, read through the book in an afternoon . The hugs, or embraces from Jesus are as follows: His Restoring Embrace, His Refreshing Embrace, His Redeeming Embrace, His Reviving Embrace, and His Replenishing Embrace.
My favorite story was about Mary, the Mother of Jesus. In this story of Jesus on the cross, turning his mother to the beloved disciple, John, assures us that the embrace or “hug” sometimes comes from someone else, but it is always from God. D. M. Street wrote, “Let God love you through others, and let God love others through you.
I have to admit I felt hugged by each story. It was a perfect book for my Day of Rest.
Just as Saturday morning TV programming in the 50s and 60s was full of cartoons for kids, PWR reserves Saturday mornings for books aimed at young readers. Today features a fun-style book with captivating illustrations that also presents a bit of history.
Subtitled “A Very Improper Story” with the letters arranged in a pink, lacy corset, Amelia Bloomer’s biography is presented in this fine little picture book. My copy is a paperback from Scholastic. Repeating the phrase “What was proper about that,” the story describes how ladies and their wieldy dresses and corsets struggled to do the simplest things in life, the book shows Amelia Bloomer making the first pair of women’s pants–bloomers! What an improvement, and what a response. Every woman wanted a pair, and the rest is history…
I highly recommend this book which will give your girls and boys alike a fit of the giggles!
It was my pleasure recently to hear Ada Limon read from her latest collection, The Hurting Kind, in Houston as part of the Inprint series of author appearances and readings.
I received a signed copy of this interesting. collection, which I confess I have not read yet.
Instead, prior to the reading, I read her recent collection, The Carrying, to get a taste of her style of poetry.
Just this past week, I finished this collection, which took considerably more time than reading novels or any kind of prose, not because it was difficult reading, but because I took the time to meditate on and ponder what I had read, poem by poem.
I found that my favorites were her “prose poems,” which were mini-essays written in a poet’s language. There were not many of them in The Carrying, but the ones I found in this slender volume moved me…
powerfulwomenreaders 