everything is ok

One day, I'll grow up to be really excellent at something.
I don't know what it is yet... 
but I sure am having fun figuring it out.

the appalling silence

I just read a thoughtful story about bullying called BYSTANDER by James Preller.

Eric is the new kid in seventh grade. He meets Griffin who has good looks and charm. But underneath, pretty-boy Griffin has the dark side of a bully. Initially, Eric doesn't do anything when he realizes that Griffin is a bully. Eric is a bystander because stepping in would make Eric the next target.

Through it all, Eric didn't say a word. He was innocent, Eric reminded himself, he never participated in the pranks. He never lifted a finger to harm David Hallenback. He didn't think it was funny, so he usually walked away, pretending not to see. But Eric did see. Just like all the other kids in the halls. And he slowly began to recognize it for what it was.
Terrorism in jeans. It comes with a laugh and a loose-leaf binder. 

Kids can be cruel (adults too) and it doesn't always mean throwing punches.

Mr. Floyd began by reminding the class of the definition of bullying. He read from the screen,  "Bullying is whenever someone uses his or her power unfairly or repeatedly to hurt someone." 

Are you a Bystander? It's a great question for every tween. Dr. Martin Luther King called it 'the appalling silence'. He said, "In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

questions...

Who are you? Why are you here?
What are you looking for?

Does this have anything to do with Lemony Snicket?

THESE ARE ALL THE WRONG QUESTIONS.

Lemony Snicket has a new book coming out: Who Could That Be At This Hour?
I just pre-ordered it & can't wait to read it.

Check out the awesome book promo HERE
Read the first chapter HERE




From Goodreads:

In a fading town, far from anyone he knew or trusted, a young Lemony Snicket began his apprenticeship in an organization nobody knows about. He started by asking questions that shouldn't have been on his mind. Now he has written an account that should not be published, in four volumes that shouldn't be read. This is the first volume.

superpowers

Dav Pilkey (author of Captain Underpants) 
draws and talks about the Power of READING!

strange things are happening...

Look what I just got:

From Goodreads:

Spending the summer at her grandmother's house is the last thing Sarah wants to do—especially now that Grandma Winnie has died—but she has no choice. Her parents have to fix the place up before they can sell it, and Sarah and her brother, Billy, have to help. But the tedious work turns into a thrilling mystery when Sarah discovers an unfinished letter her grandmother wrote: Strange things are happening behind the bookcase. . . . 

Sarah's mother dismisses the letter as one of Grandma Winnie's crazy stories, but Sarah does some investigating and makes a remarkable discovery: behind the bookcase is a doorway into Scotopia, the land where shadows come from. With a talking cat named Balthazat as her guide, Sarah begins an unforgettable adventure into a world filled with countless dangers. Who can she trust? And can she face her fears, not only in Scotopia, but also back at Grandma Winnie's house, where more secrets and strange goings-on await her?

it's teen read week

October 14 - 20 is Teen Read Week. It's a time to celebrate reading for fun... reading in all its wonderful forms: books, magazines, e-books, articles, on-line, etc.

Some of my top teen picks include:

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

Every Day by David Levithan

Miss. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 

by Ransom Riggs

Divergent by Veronica Roth

The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

A great book to read together with your teen this week is The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker.

“It still amazes me how little we really knew. . . . Maybe everything that happened to me and my family had nothing at all to do with the slowing. It’s possible, I guess. But I doubt it. I doubt it very much." ~The Age of Miracles 

Another great idea would be to share online articles or magazines on a subject your teen is passionate about. What cool things can you learn together this week?

May Betts

Caroline Starr Rose, the author of May B, is over on Mr. Schu's blog today. I absolutely love her!
Here's my favorite bit from Mr. Schu's interview:

Reading is…Henry Ward Beecher pretty much sums it up with this: A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.
I’ll add reading is a resting place, a new way to see the world, a chance to intentionally examine life, a familiar friend.

Check out the May B book trailer:

the unknown still outweighs the known

After seeing this book on nearly every reading list, I finally finished The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. It's a debut novel in adult fiction... but I think a cross over into Teen and Young Adult Fiction is certain. It's the perfect book to read together with your teen.

The Age of Miracles is an unforgettable story about coming of age in absolutely extraordinary times... the Earth is slowing. It's about people getting on with life amid profound uncertainty... it's the ordinary mixed beautifully with the extraordinary consequences. 

It's a must read for anyone who loves science and life and love and grace.

Here are some of my favorite bits:

Later, I would come to think of those first days as the time when we learned as a species that we had worried over the wrong things.

And who knows how fast a second-guess can travel? Who has ever measured the exact speed of regret?

How much sweeter life would be if it all happened in reverse, if, after decades of disappointments, you finally arrived at an age when you had conceded nothing, when everything was possible.

And yet, the unknown still outweighed the known.