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.”

  • THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Krueger: A Review

    William Kent Krueger is one of my favorite authors, and I respect him for his wonderful writing as well as his versatility. He has said that he always wanted to write his version of Huckleberry Finn, and in Tender Land, He has done just that.

    a wonderful captivating novel

    This novel is “the unforgettable story of four orphans who travel the Mississippi River on a life-changing odyssey during The Great Depression.” It begins in Minnesota in 1932. It is a fast-paced page-turner, a big hearted book that has an outstanding ending and a closure-providing epilogue.

    Odie O’Bannon and his brother, Albert, are sent as the only white boys to the Lincoln Indian Training School when they are orphaned. Why and how this happened is a mystery revealed in the very last pages. Odie is of a “lively nature,” which often gets him in trouble and sent to solitary confinement, the “quiet room.” Albert is older than Odie and his opposite, logical, mechanically-gifted, and eager to please because he recognizes the benefits of doing so.

    After an incident at the school and a catastrophic tornado, the brothers escape, pursued by school officials, police, and authorities.They take Mose, another boy from the school, a Native American , and little Emmy, the daughter of the school’s teacher who was the only person kind to the three boys. Emmy has been orphaned by the tornado.She is pursued by the vicious headmistress who hates the boys and wants to enslave Emmy. The four children escape in an old canoe with the contents of the school’s safe, not only some money but incriminating papers reflecting fraud and corruption.

    Along their journey, the children meet struggling farmers, traveling faith-healers, and Hooverville residents. Close calls and capture are too many to count, and the novel is filled with adventure, melancholy, and suspense.

    It is a darned good read!


  • SATURDAY MORNING FOR KIDS AT MIDNIGHT SATURDAY NIGHT

    THANKS to Carla at Carla Loves to Read for this image.

    This is a book I am reading (haven’t finished) for today, Saturday (oops, it’s now Sunday!) October 9th.

    This is a hilarious book about a kid who in 1935 goes to live at Alcatraz.

    His dad is the electrician at the prison, and he and his mom live in special quarters on the island. So far, he has begun school at the tiny institution of learning for the kids of employees, and has been told Al Capone, THE Al Capone, works in the prison laundry; thus the title…

    The reason I didn’t finish the book in time is a GOOD one!

    ******I AM GOING TO OPEN A USED BOOKSTORE****in my hometown of Alvin, Texas. It will be called “Rae’s Reads,” and if all goes well, it will be a non-profit. I don’t plan to make any money–well, maybe enough to pay taxes, insurance and utilities–but it is something I have been dreaming about and planning for over ten years. My goal is to get books out into the community and to circulate them. I plan to have a couple of huge baskets of FREE books. I have about 350 books, a card table (I am going to look at Goodwill and second-hand stores for a couple more, and a bookshelf. (I am having another built currently.)

    I have found a house mid-way between the Alvin Library and my house, near the high school practice fields. CLOSING IS WEDNESDAY of next week!

    KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED AND YOUR PRAYERS A’ COMING. This is literally a dream come true.

  • SATURDAY MORNINGS FOR KIDS

    A GREAT SERIES by my favorite sci fi author:

    I love cats; I love this author.

    RAE

  • Begets ☕️ | #GratiTuesday

    The Starry Night Elf's avatarStarry Night Elf

    Image Source:
    Garden of Bright Images
    – Facebook

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  • STACKING THE SHELVES

    HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE I’VE DONE ONE OF THESE POSTS?

    A looooooong time, for sure!

    I was browsing some posts from blogging friends this morning, and I came across one from Stacking the Shelves on Carla’s blog, “Carla Loves Reading. ” It reminded me of this particular meme, so here, at least is a picture of what arrived to stock my shelves this past week, Sept. 18-today, the 23rd.

    I HAVE SOME GOOD READING AHEAD!

    Happy reading!

  • BLUEBIRD OF BITTERNESS’S “Bored of Education”

    Here are some of the best from that post:

  • FOR EVERYTHING A SEASON by Phillip Gulley: A Review

    This book, subtitled “Simple Musings on Living Well” was published in 1999, a year after my father died.

    This book was presented to our church library in memory of my dad, six months after he died by the Sunday school class I was teaching at the time. It was the age group, “Seventy to Heaven”. I was not old enough to be in the class, but took it on and with the help of My Better Half, continued teaching it for a total of 30 years. It was a very good “season” of my life. And, this is how I would describe this book of simple, but profound essays, a journey through the various seasons of our life. The author has been dubbed “a master storyteller,” and that he is. His stories are about his friends, family, and the inhabitants of his hometown, Danville, Indiana, population 4,800. Indeed his musings/stories are small town homilies.

    Overall, it is a pleasant, enjoyable reading experience. Read this book if you think you would enjoy good Cristian insights from a Quaker pastor.

  • Peaceful Prelude

    Peaceful Prelude

    Annette Rochelle Aben's avatarAnnette Rochelle Aben

    It’s

    Begun

    Falling leaves

    Of late summer

    Trees that are still green

    But autumn will be here

    And in the blink of an eye

    Green leaves will become golden brown

    Or even shades of orange and red

    And they’ll relocate to the ground below

    ©2022 Annette Rochelle Aben

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  • READ AN E-BOOK DAY: Sunday, September 18th

    I began reading an e-book on my Kindle during my Labor Day Readathon.

    group people worker professionals labor day vector illustration

    I chose one I had won in a blogger’s giveaway, Dead of Winter Break, a cozy mystery by Kelly Brakenhoff. In this second book in a series (which read just fine as a stand-alone) Cassandra Soto, an administrator at a Nebraska college has begun her second semester there after living in warm Hawaii. She has her first, unwelcome, taste of Nebraska winters. She and Murphy, an unwanted dog, live in a house that is damaged by a Nebraska storm. Sean Gill, one of the love interests involved in this story, is a neighbor’s son, visiting for the Holidays. Or is he? Is he there for some other reason, and does he get involved in the fixing of Cassandra’s house for some other reason than neighborliness? The head of Campus Police, Andy Summers, is another love interest who keeps Cassandra apprised of all campus matters, since she is in charge during the Holidays.

    At the December commencement, attended by Cassandra and her sleuthing buddy, Cinda, they spot Dr. Nielson, who supposedly retired and moved to Florida. It turns out Nielson, who had supervised a student/faculty trip to China the past semester, has changed his mind about retiring and has returned to the small college town. Wondering how his return will affect her promotion and plans, Cassandra attempts to get in touch with him, but before she can do so, he is murdered.

    Forced to live in the dorm with the International students and those who cannot go home for the Holidays, Cassandra becomes the “dorm mother” to the students who connect with Murphy in a way she has been unable to do thus far. The relationships between the students and between the students and Cassandra provide clues and suspects into Dr. Nielson’s demise.

    There are a good number of twists and turns that keeps the reader turning pages–whoops! scrolling right. LOL that provide red herrings and many suspects in the affair.

    It is a darned good read .

    o

  • FOR THE LOVE OF THE BARD by Jessica Martin: A Review

    a second chance at romance after goofing up the first time

    Miranda Barnes, literary agent and secret writer is conned by her mother, professor of literature and head of the annual Shakespeare festival in Bard’s Rest, a small town in New England, into directing Twelfth Night on one of the stages featuring The Bard’s plays. She is avoiding “the guy who broke her heart on prom night,” Adam, son of the local veterinarian, who is standing in for his father who has had heart surgery.

    Since Miranda is directing and Adam is in charge of set design, they are unavoidably “thrown together” as they navigate the plans for the festival.Shakespeare’s observation that “The course of true love never runs smooth” is proven as miscommunications that cause plot twists and turns occur. Family relationships including Miranda with her parents, Amanda with her younger sister, and family secrets from the past are revealed as the reader quickly turns the pages in this 2022 publication.

    I had to wait weeks to get this book from my local library, but the wait was worth it. There is one fairly graphic sex scene, but it is not offensive, nor does it use “bad” words; instead, it carries the element of attraction, and ultimately love between the main characters.

    I would label this novel a good, fast, “sweet” read.

    This was one of the three books I finished in my Labor Day Readathon.