RAE’S READS

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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 quote for Readers…

    A quote for Readers…

    Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

    ”Some books you read. Some books you enjoy. But some books just swallow you up, heart and soul” Joanne Harris

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  • TUESDAY TEASER

    The idea, friends, is to grab the book you are currently reading, copy two or three random sentences as a tease to get someone else to read the book too. As a big Stephen King fan, I am reading one published in 2013 which answers the question, “Whatever happened to the little boy in The Shining who had “special abilities.” Danny or Dan, as he goes by as an adult, is having a hard time of it, to put it mildly. As part of his “shine-ability,” he uses his gift for good in a nursing hospice where he is known as Dr. Death, not because he participates in euthanasia, but because he eases peoples’ minds in their last moments. It is one way he can make up for a wasted life lost in drugs and alcohol. From King’s Dr. Death:

    “Dan Torrance knew he would be living in the turret room of the Helen Rivington House from the moment he had seen his old friend Tony (an “imaginary” playmate of Dan”s who helped him escape from his psychotic father at the Overlook Hotel) waving at him from a window that on second look turned out to be boarded shut. He asked Mrs. Clausen (landlady)…about the room about six months or so after going to work at the hospice as janitor/orderly…and unofficial doctor in residence. Along with his faithful sidekick, Azzie, of course.” (Azzie is a cat who can sense when a resident/patient is approaching death.

    If you’d like to participate, leave your Tuesday Teaser in the comments section below or leave your url where you have posted it.

     

  • Abundance #midnighthaiku

    Sue Vincent's avatarSue Vincent's Daily Echo

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  • YOUNG ADULT READING by Rick Riordan: The Lightning Thief

    This is the first book in Riordan’s series, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.”  In The Lightning Thief, the protagonist is a junior high school boy with a touch of ADHD who has been kicked out of yet another boarding school, as the story opens. He has studied Greek Mythology under Mr. Brunner, his teacher, but is shocked when the mythology begins to affect and appear in his own life. Percy has a special bond with his mom and a hazardous relationship with his repulsive stepfather. Unsuccessfully, Percy tries to get his mom to talk about his father, hoping perhaps to go and live with him. His mother is evasive and mysterious which only fuels Percy’s determination to find him.

    At a summer camp where Mr. Brunner is a counselor, Percy runs into Grover, a friend from school and meets Annabeth, and the three form an alliance against the bullies at camp. Later after it is revealed that Percy is a halfling like Annabeth, in fact the son of Poseidon (Annabeth is the daughter of Athena), he and his trio are given a quest to find and recover Zeus’ thunderbolt, a weapon that has been stolen, threatening to start an all-out war between the gods of Mount Olympus.

    The story has “electrifying moments” and is packed with action and attacks on the three friends as they travel. The themes of heroism, family, friendship, and loyalty are developed throughout the novel. It is oft times humorous, often wistful, and always action-packed. The kids’ quest leads from the Atlantic to the Pacific–literally, and there is never a boring moment or lull in the story. It is a great read for any age, and the promise of a wonderful series.

  • TUESDAY TEASER

    This meme, initiated by The Purple Booker and first introduced to me on Brainfluff. asks that we choose at random two or so sentences from our current read to share with other bloggers and readers. Mine today comes from The Little French Bistro by Nina George.

    Mirianne, leaving her abusive husband after many years of a loveless marriage, finds herself in a small costal town in France.  She is taken in by an incredible cast of characters in a restaurant and hired as a cook after an unsuccessful attempt to take her own life.

    “A Whole Room to Myself. But just for one night, just one (she plans to try again the next day). For one night she would see what it was like to be a woman who had a room all to herself.

    She put on her chef’s uniform and hesitantly placed the white hat on her head.  She was only a little anxious about cooking at Ar Mor (the restaurant’s name). She and the kitchen were roughly the same age: they would get on well.”

    This is the end of chapter 15.

    Share your Tuesday Teaser in the “leave a comment” box. be sure to include title and author.

  • Hee

    elfkat's avatarAdventures and Musings of an Arch Druidess

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  • Millennials’ Reading Habits

    Rae Longest's avatarLiteracy and Me

    The following is based on a reading of “Millennials’ Reading Habits and Why They Matter,” written by Amy Collins on the “Book Works” site and reblogged on “The Story Reading Ape.”

    The author promised to offer some surprising facts, but they did not surprise me. I have been teaching Millennials since the millennium at my university and was aware of the surprisingly positive reading habits of this generation. According to Collins, “Millennials are more likely than any other group to visit libraries–public libraries–for the purpose of borrowing reading material.” She goes on to say, “New research shows that Millennials lead other generations in reading.” Citing the Pew Research Center, this author says the 19-29 years of age group was most likely to have read a book over the past year, with 80% reporting they had read a book in the past year. This percentage is compared to 70% of those…

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  • ATTENTION MILLENNIALS

    To any millennials out there who may be reading this, please check out my post on http://literacylessons,wordpress,com  for a post I wrote about how you are the hope of our literacy future!

  • perky pair

    perky pair

    Annette Rochelle Aben's avatarAnnette Rochelle Aben

    Coffee grounds, my friends

    You fill my cup with such joy

    And you taste good too

    There is a reason we blend

    My body’s mostly water

    ©2018 Annette Rochelle Aben

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  • TUESDAY TEASER

    This little game, originally started by the Purple Booker asks that you copy a couple of sentences from what you are currently reading to tease someone into reading the same book you are. Be careful not to give anything away (no spoilers, please). In the comments section, please include the title and author of the book you are reading, then your Tuesday Teaser.

    Mine for today is from a YA book, The Lightning Thief  by Rick Riordan: The three main characters are about to hitch a ride from a van carrying old, tired zoo animals to the West Coast where the three (all of whom have a superhuman side to them) are to carry on their quest to save the world.

    “We huddled in the corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to ignore the smell and the heat and the flies.  Grover talked to the animals in a series of goat bleats (Grover is a young satyr) but they just stared at him sadly.  Annabeth was in favor of breaking the cages and freeing them on the spot, but I pointed out that it wouldn’t do much good until the truck stopped moving. Besides, I had a feeling that we might look much better to that lion than those turnips.” (which was all that the lion had been given to eat)  The main character, Percy, is the son of Poseidon, which he doesn’t find out until junior high school when strange things begin to happen to him and strange creatures are “out to get him.” Of course the other kids in the school think he is just weird.

    The book is entertaining and a good adventure-read.