Did you know that March is National Reading Month? It all started to coincide with Dr. Seuss's birthday on March 2nd. Now March has become a favorite month for reading challenges and read-a-thons of all kinds, for adults and kids alike. You can create your own March reading challenge simply by setting a number of books you'd like to read in the month and assembling your TBR (to be read) pile. If you need some suggestions on children's books to try, a good place to look is BookAdventure.com. Click on the Find a Book button and you can enter in the parameters of what sort of book you want to find, including grade level and a wide range of subjects. It will then do a search for you, and you can export your list to an Excel sheet. Ok that might sound a little obsessive, but if you have them all on one sheet, then you set up a system of gold star stickers, rewards, or what-have-you as the kids (ok, or the adults, lol) finish each book on the list. Another fun aspect of Book Adventure is that readers have submitted multiple choice quizzes that you can take after you're finished reading the book to test your reading comprehension. For example, here's a Sample Quiz about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. So you get the idea. Reading is supposed to be FUN, and with Common Core coming in and tossing out some of the great classics of literature in favor of teaching kids to read things like product inserts, manuals, and EPA reports, it's never been more important (in my opinion--G. speaking here!) to foster the love of independent reading. National Reading Month is a perfect opportunity to create empowering reading habits. And speaking of empowering...The Lammily Doll is all the buzz this week. Have you heard about this? Pretty neat. Right now, she's a crowd-funding project with the doll's designer raising the funds to order the first batch of these dolls from a manufacturer. The great thing about Lammily is that she is designed as a type of Barbie doll - but with realistic proportions of the average American female. This would be a great gift for a school-age girl to help foster a healthy body image. Lammily's my kind of girl! Check it out.
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"Let the Good Times Roll!"Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday - this week is your last chance to party, party, party in whatever manner suits you before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Provided you will be observing Lent. I don't know how many Mardi Gras revelers actually do, but we will be here. I still haven't decided for sure what I'm giving up for Lent this year, (maybe complaining? maybe worrying? I don't eat a lot of junk food, so...hmm). All I know is that at this bleak, gray time of year, I'm glad for any chance at some festivities!
If you think that's kind of dark, you're not alone. So did Edgar Allen Poe, who set his classic tale, The Cask of Amontillado, during the annual Mardi Gras wildness. Mardi Gras always makes me think of this story. It's in the public domain, so you can download a PDF of it here, or check out this chilling reading of the Mardi Gras horror tale with images and sound effects, by Strobie Productions.
Looks like "G" when she's trying to help me with yard work. Sometimes it's easier to just do it myself, ha ha. G: Hey! I heard that. :P
So there you have it! That's how the Victorians kept, well...sort of, warm.
:) E We thought this might be a good time to share some of the neat facts we learned about surviving in arctic conditions while we were researching for JAKE AND THE GINGERBREAD WARS. It was a tricky challenge to make the North Pole landscape believable, but not soooo realistic, like to the extreme of having Jake and the gang quickly freeze to death. A sudden and tragic end to the series! NOOOO! That would not have been very Christmassy for a Christmas novella, methinks. So, boys and girls, if you find yourself stuck in a snowy wasteland, first, hope that you don't run into any hungry yetis. Then follow these little tips if you want to survive. Here's a quick recap of Arctic Survival Tips from veteran Expedition Director Pen Hadow, from an article that originally appeared on CNN.com. (Original article here.) * Wear layers - especially on your hands and feet. Keep your face covered up. * Bring a dog and flares called "bear bangers" to ward off polar bears. The dog will smell a bear in the area before you will, then you can deploy the bear bangers to scare the bear away before he has you for lunch. (Not something I'd personally like to test!) * Eat candy and high-calorie yummies like macadamia nuts. Well, ok, if I must. :) In the Arctic, Hadow says an adult needs to consume a recommended 5000-6000 calories a day (compared to the average 2000 calories a day) because the cold makes your body burn so much fuel. * Don't step on black ice. If it's black that means it's thin, but gray ice is OK to walk on. * Never travel alone, and bring a GPS. Still not convinced you're going to make it out alive? Yeah, maybe we still need a little more training... [Video credit to the Survival Information Channel on YouTube.] Much of the story in our new book, THE DARK PORTAL, takes place underground. This was a challenge in a number of ways. But unlike Jake with his mild case of claustrophobia, we LOVE going into caves and underground tunnels, so you can imagine how thrilled and inspired we were to find an outdoor adventure company in Snowdonia, right where THE DARK PORTAL takes place. These folks are not dwarves, but they do take people on underground tours of old Welsh mines! If you want to get the flavor of what Jake's mine tour with the dwarves and his foray into the coalmine would have felt like, run-don't-walk your clicker over to the website of Go Below Underground Adventures and check out the dramatic pictures. If you live in or near Wales, you should go! We'll be jealous. But lest you think that's all we have for you today, nay nay! Here is a video by Paul Hawkins of his explorations around an abandoned goldmine in North Wales. Very mysterious! I'd also call your attention to the very lush, green, and mossy woodland setting. Magic in those woods for sure. :) But wait, there's more. We wouldn't leave you hanging. You want to see inside! Well, Emrys was busy at Waterfall Village, so we brought in these guys to lead you on a tour into a different abandoned gold mine in Wales. (Video copyright credit @ A n00b Production.) Well, after all that traipsing around in the cold and damp, I'm sure you're ready for some of Snowdrop Fingle's warm bannocks and tea. No problem! I've got an authentic Welsh recipe for bannocks that I will share with you in an upcoming post. :)
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