The BIG Review of The Dead and the Gone

The samquel, as Janson and company so aptly called this in book club last Thursday, shares the story of Alex and his two sisters who are faced with the same problem of Miranda and her family in Life as We Knew It. The third person narrative is a bit less intriguing than the first person narrative of Miranda's, but Alex's faith and Catholic guilt make the story real. I appreciated how much the character of Bri focused on her faith and her trust in the saints to get her through the terrible time. Perhaps Pfeffer set up her faith so well so that in the end I could imagine her last moments as peaceful instead of paniced.

It did seem that the worst parts of the novel were kept from the reader, and from Alex (even though it wasn't told in first person). He never finds out if his parents are dead, or how his brother is. He also never gets through to Bri. I also find it strange that the boy who is his arch rival at school seems ready to pass the torch along to him so easily. Perhaps boys are truly that much different than girls, but I couldn't imagine this happening.

All in all, I'm as terrified about an astertroid hitting the moon as I am a nuclear attack, which I imagine is what the auther was going for.

The BIG Review of Life as We Knew It

Susan Beth Pfeffer has somewhat of a classic on her hands here. I've read some good books this year, but this one sucked me in more than a book has done in a while. First, it's Miranda's narrative voice. She's so real, I feel like I am her. The more I read, the more I had to read. The more I felt as though I was in the story, and I was shocked to look up and see there was still electricity. I felt guilty eating lunch today, and I started to plan what I would buy if a store opened again.

Through Miranda's voice, I felt as though the world was covered with volcanic ash and the sun was shrunken from the new overwhelming size of the moon.

And yet as quickly as I started it, the book was over. I'm not sure that 337 pages have ever gone faster.

Tablet PC and the beginning of Life as We Knew It

Right now I'm working with tablet PC. I'm not sure how this will work out, but so so far so good. It's so weird to write on this and then see it transpose to type. It's kind of fun to see which letters tablet picks out for me. Today I started reading a new book. So far, it's great. It's the story of an asteroid hitting the moon. The main character, Miranda, is smart and funny, but she's living through a time I can't imagine, a time I dread.

The BIG Review of The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Totally, Completely Lost It

I finished this book in a week of homerooms--maybe less than a week. It went pretty fast, really. The novel, but Lisas Shanahan tells the story of Gemma, a teen who lives in small town Austrailia. Her sister announces she's getting married, a boy at school shows an interest in her, and a boy she likes doesn't know she exists. The difference between this story and most like it is that the boy who likes her isn't the "boy next door" type--he's the boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Raven DeHead is a character we should all aspire to be and yet fear. He's impulsive as well as kind; passionate as well as devious. His family is as dysfunctional as my own, and yet he falls for a totally "normal" girl.

I cried toward the end of the book for an injustice that the character suffers from losing a friend, from Raven losing a brother. Really, a fresh read.

We Almost Called Him Uncle

Tomorrow Scholar Lee "Scuba" Salley turns 3. Right now, he's curled up on Witt's stool, being a baby. I remember the first time we saw his litter--they were all so cute and dark brown. The tiny dogs just walked around each other and stepped in their pee and poo. They each had a different colored collar. I told Witt that first time that we saw them that we couldn't get one. We had just moved in, barely married a few weeks.

We drove past the house on Kansas Avenue each day for a few weeks, but then one day, the sign was gone. All of the sudden, we had to know where the puppies had gone, so we pulled into the driveway and I went to the door. The woman told us that her son had taken the last four dogs to the Wal-Mart to sell them there. We went, and saw the four dogs. The only two I remember are the two we picked up. I picked up the last girl with an orange collar, and Witt picked up a boy with a brown collar. We knew we were getting a boy--it's what Mama Dog had chosen (we did hand choice games, and she always chose the brother hand). Once Witt picked up that brown collared dog, I knew it was over for the orange collared dog. It was love at first sight for those two. The brown ten week old baby crawled all over Witt and licked him all the way home.

We struggled over a name for about a week. Since we had Mama, I thought it would be funny to call him Uncle. Mama and Uncle--brother and sister. The name just didn't set well with Witt, though, and when JenFlinn and Chad were visiting and Witt came up with it. "Scholar!"

Happy Birthday, Scoob!

The Cube

Last night we had our annual LAD meeting where we eat, do some business and hear a speaker. The first year I went, the speaker was a slam poet. He did some slam poetry and then we were encouraged to join the new slam poetry part of LAD. I don't know that anyone did. Last year we heard a woman talk about the beauty that is the graphic novel and how to use those in class. Both nights were dreadful--not becuase the information was bad, but because I am so tired by Thursday night when it happens. After school we rush to the meeting place ( Panera, Mr. Yen's, San Francisco Oven), and then wait for an hour to eat (my stomach grumbles and I think I'm going to pass out), get a lot of new and old people registered for LAD ( I usually staple and get a paper cut), eat some dinner (ususally leave hungry), and then listen to the speaker.

Last night's speaker started by doing activity she called "The Cube." You can do the cube as well. The first step is to draw a desert horizon with skyline and sand. Next draw a cube; what is it made of? Describe it. Then draw a ladder. What is it made of? Describe it. Now, draw a horse. Describe it. Finally, draw a storm.

The cube is you.
The ladder are your friends.
The horse is your significant other.
The storm are your problems.

Notice where they each are she told us. I couldn't stop laughing the whole time. And then I looked at my picture. I'm a big block of ice, melting in the hot desert. My friends are a big rope ladder all intertwined together, but I'm separate from them. Witt is close to them, but walking toward me with a thought bubble above his head that says "WTF? Water!" The storm is raging in his belly. That's right. In his belly.

What are the chances? I tell Witt about the Cube and ask "How in the world did this happen?" He looks at me sleepily and says, "You're smart."

I love him.

Why does that kid hate me?

Each year there seems to be one or two kids that just don't like me This year, though, there seems to be about a dozen. Perhaps it's becuase I've been gone for two of the four weeks we've been here. Maybe it's just an off year. Maybe that kid Kyle has a bug up his nose. Whatever it is, I'm a little sad about it. There seems to be at least one freshman in each section who rolls his eyes at me and grimaces when I talk.

In third hour that kid is Kyle. He's also in my homeroom which makes it that much harder to deal with. Twice a day? Really? He has a chip on his shoulder the size of Mt. Everest, and to prove it, he rolls his eyes. A lot. Today he was sleeping during homeroom and I asked him to wake up and stop drooling. He looked at me with daggers. Lots of little tiny daggers that peirced the teachery part of my heart.

I guess I should just get over it, but I can't stop thinking--why does that kid hate me? What did I do? And, I don't know that there is anything I can do about it. Probably not, really. There were teachers I just didn't like in school. Mrs. Gault--fifth grade. Mr. Askins--high school biology. My reason was that they were pure evil, but they didn't really do anything to make me think that. And so, maybe that's what Kyle will realize ins a few months or fifteen years. Will the teachery part of my heart feel better until then?

The BIG Review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid

I read this while Witt was in CCU fighting for every red blood cell he could get. There were a few drama ridden seconds when I thought I may be a widow, and I read this book intermittently during those seconds.

I laughed at loud at several parts in the book. Greg is a great kid and the way that he views the world reminds me of the way I viewed the world at that age--or maybe the way I wish I had viewed the world at that age. The funniest part to me is when Greg held the string over Manny's face and then Manny swallowed it. When his mom asked Manny to point to the thing most like the size of the string and Manny

grabs an orange from the fridge I laughed so hard I thought I would pee my pants.

Thank God for Cody Duvall, Jeff Kinney, and for Diary of a Wimpy Kid.