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.”

  • Hate – Guest Post by, Andrew Joyce…

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

    Hate

    I can hate broccoli
    I can hate a cat screeching into a dark night
    I can hate what man does to man
    But I could never hate another man
    I can feel his pain
    I can have distain for what he stands for
    I can hate what he does to others
    But I could never hate the man himself
    I talk of love, not of hate
    But do not applaud me
    I learned what I know
    I learned what I feel from another
    He taught me, he taught me good
    He taught me hate is not the way
    He taught me the way of love
    He died for me … he died for you
    He lived and died to teach us the way of love

    Andrew Joyce Website

    Amazon:

    USA  –  UK  –  Canada  –  Australia

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  • Remember when you read a book for the First Time?

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

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  • Every-Other-Sunday (Evening) Post/Readathon Update

    I have a meme on my phone that I should learn to send out here.  It has an adorable puppy on his back, paws up, saying, “Help! I’m running out of weekend!” Well, it is Sunday after 6 p.m., and I have run out of weekend.

    My Better Half and I decided to run 12 hours of the 24 hr. Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon. I set aside 13 hours, so I could include 1/2 hour each to heat up and eat lunch and supper.  We started promptly at seven, broke for lunch (although we snacked while reading, mostly trail mix and chocolate) around noon, put the dishes on to soak, and I started chicken marsella in the slow cooker.  Amid delicious smells we spent a rainy, warm afternoon reading relaxing either on the bed, propped up by pillows or in comfortable reading/rocking chairs in the living room. Around sixish, we had a pleasant supper and quit reading at eight to give ourselves the Dr.Oz recommended hour’s rest from screen time before turning in. Since I was subbing for our Sunday School teacher on Sunday, I had to put the “finishing touches” on the lesson, and we slept the best we had in a long time, probably because we had had such a stress-free, relaxing day reading.

    My progress report:

    I finished The Resurrection of Joan Ashby, which gave insights into the inner life and general life of an author in novel form (to be reviewed here soon). I had read approximately 1/3 of it going in, and since it was on my computer Kindle app, I read other things (like Friday’s and Saturday’s Houston Chronicle) to rest my eyes from the computer screen. I read about seven chapters from The Grouchy Grammarian, which I hope to give to a grammar-grouch like myself who teaches English in Lake Jackson, Texas.  I have approximately 24 chapters to finish, but they are mercifully short. I skimmed How to Write Haiku and Other Short Poems, looking for material to use in a lecture on poetry theory Thursday, but I should have been alerted by the Scholastic publisher’s label.  It is aimed at younger readers than college level. The basics are there, however, and I am keeping it as a reference book on the “basics” should I ever get to do my dream of teaching a poetry workshop. I began Jeanette Walls memoir, Half Broke Horses (I had read The Glass Castle) and ended on page 113 before quitting. All in all, I had a productive, most enjoyable day, and felt renewed and refreshed when I awoke around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday.

    Today was a busy day, teaching in Sunday School, meeting a student for lunch at Starbuck’s to help with a poorly written do-over paper, attending a meeting of the Alvin Museum Society which featured the head of the Brazoria County Museum Society who brought artifacts and reproductions and discussed what the “usual” doughboys took with them into WWI. Much of the material was new to me, and the speaker was generous enough to let us handle the “souvenirs” of the Great War and ask him questions. Our Alvin Museum is doing a temporary display of items from WWI, and I plan to go see them next weekend.

    After doing a set of papers and reading the Sunday edition of The Houston Chronicle, filled with the good news of our beloved Astros, managed by a home-town Alvin boy, Reid Ryan, I prepared supper (leftovers) and am seeing what I’ve missed in the blogging world in the past two days.  It has been a very good weekend! 

  • DEWEY’S 24 HOUR READATHON

    Tomorrow is the big day.  We are not required to read for 24 hours but to read as much as we can IN 24 hours.  I plan to set my alarm and start reading by 7:00 a.m. CST. My main objective is to whittle down my TBR stack and at the same time to come near to completing my “Color Coded Challenge.” I made a big pan of Italian Baked Beans, laced generously with rosemary and have some quick fixes like frozen burritos and frozen pizza to pare cooking time down to almost nothing.  Snacks are very important, so I went to the local Aldi’s and made trail mix from a variety of nuts, dried fruits, and yes, I threw in some raisins and chocolate chips.  I hope I don’t get the book pages sticky!

    Who would like to join me and thousands of others around the world in the readathon?  It doesn’t have to be official, just let me know we’ll be reading together, and we’ll check on and update each other on our progress.  Updates will be posted here irregularly and spasmodically from time to time tomorrow.

    Let’s read!

  • 12 Must-Have Fall Accessories for Bookworms

  • Listed Libraries of the North

    Historic England's avatarThe Historic England Blog

    Libraries have played in an integral part in English literary history.

    Notable authors and academics have used them as their place of work and research, and they frequently form the hub of the local community. Often housed in grand public buildings, libraries face considerable pressures as heritage buildings.

    There are 363 English public libraries on The List, recognised for their architectural and historic importance. We recently listed 6 public libraries in the North of England at Grade II.

    Here we take a look at what makes these buildings nationally important:

    Beverley Library, East Riding of Yorkshire

    Beverley Library © Alastair Coey Architects Beverley Library © Alastair Coey Architects

    This Edwardian public library was funded by a private endowment from successful industrialist and art enthusiast John Champneys. It was built in stages- the core block in 1906 was designed by John Cash in Jacobean-revival style. His son Herbert Cash added a gallery extension and reference library…

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  • CRYSTAL CLEAR, A novelette by Aiden Reid: A Review

    Aiden Reid, author of Pathfinder and Sigil, both fascinating novels, has written a long short story or a short novel which is another story about the hero of Pathfinders. In the story, Stephen finds a crystal that has special powers that turn his life around and change him from a slacker/loser to a very successful person.  How this is all accomplished, where the crystal came from, and what happens to the mysterious crystal is the focus to this attention-grabbing, interest-sustaining narrative.  It is sci-fi at its best with bits of philosophy and life-lessons tossed in for good measure.  It is a quick read, but one you won’t want to miss!

  • Caturday funnies — cat shaming edition

  • “The Inside scoop on punctuation” by Carl D’Agostino

    Carl D'Agostino's avatarI Know I Made You Smile

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  • CLARICE BEAN: Review of a Children’s Book

    Lauren Child’s charming chapter book, Utterly Me, Clarice Bean was not my first encounter with the girl of the title.  Several years ago, I found a book at Half Price Books for my Little Free Library (LFL) entitled Clarice Bean Spells Trouble which was about a kid who couldn’t spell if her life depended on it and a teacher, Mrs. Wilberton, who couldn’t understand why Clarice “just didn’t try.” This book, Utterly Me… is evidently the first in the Clarice Bean series. Clarice and her best friend, Betty Moody are “utterly” (Clarice’s favorite word) hooked on the Ruby Redford series (think Nancy Drew with James Bond gadgets and Batman’s butler).

    Not only do Clarice and Betty follow the books (of which excerpts are included throughout), they write to the author and use the girl detective’s methods to solve a mystery in their own classroom, much to Mrs. Wilberton’s dismay  (She is not a fan of either Ruby Redford or Clarice.), Clarice and Betty decide to do their book report on a Ruby Redford book they are reading. Betty disappears, Clarice is partnered with the worst boy in class (who turns out not to be so bad), and eventually the mystery is solved with the culprit astonishing Mrs. Wilberton.

    Secondary characters like Clarice’s and Betty’s parents, Clarice’s siblings, and various students in their class add humor, interest, and satisfaction. The cartoonish drawings which illustrate the story are excellent as well.

    It is aimed at 8 year olds to early junior high, providing an excellent starter-chapter book for any girl or boy.  I received it as a discard from a local elementary school for my LFL, free, so I can boast that my five out of five star rating is totally unbiased. I am glad I took the time to read the book.