When Otis Courted Mama Blog Tour!

Welcome to the When Otis Courted Mama blog tour! I'm excited to be part of this celebration!

Author Kathi Appelt is here to talk about books that influenced her writing of When Otis Courted Mama. Keep reading for lots more to follow!

Books that have influenced my writing . . .

Over the course of my career, I’ve often been asked about which books have influenced my own writing. My off-the-cuff response has always been “every book I’ve ever read.” And to a certain extent that’s true.  

Just as I tell my students that “every piece of writing is the piece that comes before the next piece,” I truly believe that every book I read is the one that comes before the next bit of writing that I do. Sometimes this is helpful, and sometimes it’s not.

It depends.

Nevertheless, I’m in the camp that believes that good writing definitely inspires good writing, no matter the source.  

Linda Sue Park often tells aspiring picture book writers that in order to write a good picture book, you have to read a thousand of them—preferably out loud. I agree. My two grown sons can attest to the fact that we read at least a thousand picture books together, probably ten times that many, as they were growing up. I’m happy to report that neither of them ever outgrew picture books. Even now, when we’re together, we still read them out loud to each other.  

So, when asked about which picture books influenced my writing in WHEN OTIS COURTED MAMA, it was at first hard to choose, for the simple reason that I’ve read so many.  But the more I thought about it, the easier the answer became.  

OTIS definitely banks on a tall-tale mentality, and the absolute master of tall tales is Tom Birdseye. It’s hard to describe how much I admire his book, AIRMAIL TO THE MOON. Illustrated by Stephen Gammell, this wonderful read-aloud features young Ora Mae Cotton, aka Oreo, an unlikely heroine who has lost her first tooth, and who believes that someone has stolen it from her, preventing the tooth fairy from leaving her enough money to buy a condominium or something equally as grand. One by one, she accuses her family members of stealing her tooth, and when she finds the real culprit she declares that she is “gonna open up a can of gotcha” and send the culprit “airmail to the moon.”  

I love Oreo’s determination, her spunk, the way she operates in her world. Moreover, I love the family that tolerates her tantrums, but that also comes to her side when she finally dissolves into a complete puddle.  

AIRMAIL TO THE MOON makes my ears happy. Tom’s use of repetition, alliteration, subtle rhymes, and especially idiomatic speech, just makes this book feel alive. Combined with the exuberant art, it’s a masterpiece of storytelling.  

Yes, that book influenced OTIS.  

Another book that I ken to is Cynthia Rylant’s THE RELATIVES CAME, also serendipitously illustrated by Stephen Gammell. The language of that book is much “softer” than Birdseye’s, but it still comes alive when read aloud. What that book offers is a perfect symmetry. I love the way that it makes a complete circle, leaving the reader with a sigh at the end. Again, it’s a family book. Unlike Oreo’s boisterous family, Rylant’s extended group of relatives is more reserved. Nevertheless, the affection they have for each other is palpable. Both books illuminate families who support each other, regardless of mishaps or distance.

What I hoped for my book was also to show a family that works it out, even when the young hero has to overcome his mixed emotions. My coyote pup, Cardell, is not as rambunctious as Oreo, nor is he as wise as the narrator in Rylant’s book. But he is held in the arms of those who love him most, even when he’s at the peak of growliness.  

The third book that comes to mind is Anna Grossnickle Hines’s WHEN WE MARRIED GARY, which she wrote and illustrated. Despite the common reality of blended families, stepparents rarely show up in picture books. Anna remedied this years ago with this story that was based upon her own experience. Her book felt a lot like my own family history, a history that included my parents’ divorce and their eventual remarriages.

I could have used WHEN WE MARRIED GARY when I was a child, and I know there are a lot of other kids, kids who have stepparents and step siblings, who need to see themselves in the pages of a picture book. Moreover, they need to see strong, positive stepparents who are not in the mold of Cinderella’s wicked stepmother.  

Finally, I have to put in a plug for CHARLIE ANDERSON, by Barbara Abercrombie and illustrated by Mark Graham, not only because I love cats, but because it features a family who is dealing with custody issues. The cat leads the way by showing its young girls that they can be happy in two different households, even though it might not be easy. It’s never easy. But it can be okay. It can even, after a time, be happy.

By now, you’re wondering why I’ve chosen books that have been in print for a long time. Well, first of all I read all of these to my kids when they were growing up, and that was a while back, but the other thing is that I wrote OTIS many years ago. Sometimes a book has to take its own journey through the publishing process and that’s what happened here. But that is a story for a different day. The good news is that my patient editor roped Jill McElmurry into illustrating it, and that made all the difference.

Jen, thanks so much for inviting me to be part of your wonderful blog.

Thank you for being here and sharing your mentor texts, Kathi!

More about Kathi Appelt and some resources you don't want to miss!

Kathi Appelt’s perfectly wonderful stepfather was a terrific storyteller, and she grew up to become a teller of stories, too. She is the New York Times best-selling author of more than forty books for children and young adults. Her picture books include Oh My Baby, Little One, illustrated by Jane Dyer, and the Bubba and Beau series, illustrated by Arthur Howard. Her novels for older readers include two National Book Award finalists: The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp and The Underneath, which was also a Newbery Honor Book. In addition to writing, Ms. Appelt is on the faculty in the Masters of Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in College Station, Texas. For more information, download a free, CCSS-aligned curriculum guide or visit Kathi’s website.

Follow sweet Cardell on all of the tour stops!

Mon, Jan 5	5 Minutes for Books	http://www.5minutesformom.com/category/feature-columns/5-minutes-for-books/
Tues, Jan 6	Cracking the Cover	http://www.crackingthecover.com/
Wed, Jan 7	Sharpread	http://mrcolbysharp.com/
Thurs, Jan 8	Unleashing Readers	http://www.unleashingreaders.com/
Fri, Jan 9	Once Upon a Story	http://mariaburel.com/
Sat, Jan 10	Booking Mama	http://www.bookingmama.net/
Mon, Jan 12	Geo Librarian	http://geolibrarian.blogspot.com/
Tues, Jan 13	The Late Bloomer's Book Blog AND NC Teacher Stuff	http://www.thelatebloomersbookblog.blogspot.com http://ncteacherstuff.blogspot.com/
Wed, Jan 14	Teach Mentor Texts	http://www.teachmentortexts.com/#axzz3DP0vkvgi
Thurs. Jan15	Kid Lit Frenzy	http://www.kidlitfrenzy.com/
Thurs. Jan 16	The Fourth Musketeer	http://fourthmusketeer.blogspot.com/

Bonus! Find a full-color door hanger and other fun downloadables at:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/251856096/When-Otis-Courted-Mama-Activity-Pages#scribd.

Be sure to enter the giveaway below! 

Title: When Otis Courted Mama 
Author: Kathi Appelt 
Illustrator: Jill McElmurry 
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers 
Publication Date: January 6th, 2015 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Apart from sticker burrs and sand fleas, Cardell’s life is mostly wonderful. He knows he’s loved through and through by his perfectly good mama and his perfectly good daddy. They live in different parts of the desert, but that’s okay—Cardell is mostly used to it. Then Otis comes calling, and Cardell feels a grrr form in his throat. Otis can’t make jalapeño flapjacks or play Zig-the-Zag anything like Cardell’s daddy. And so Cardell waits for Mama to say "Adiós, Otis." But what will happen if she doesn’t?  
What I Think: It can't be easy having parents in separate houses but it's even harder to know that Mama might have another man in her life. I love how Cardell is able to recognize that he's loved by both parents even though they aren't married any more. I also love how Cardell struggles to get used to a new suitor for Mama but that he finds there is enough room in his heart and hers for another family member. This book is great because it's a sort of modern folk tale. It would be great to have discussions with students about what they notice about this story and how it does compare and contrast with traditional folk tales. There are definitely elements of folk literature to be recognized but differences as well.  
Read Together: K - 3 
Read Alone: K - 4
Read With: Always Mom, Forever Dad by Joanna Rowland, The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn 
Snatch of Text:    

"Best of all, when his perfectly good 

daddy howled, the stars shimmered and 

the moon beamed. Cardell felt loved 

through and through."

"Best of all, when his perfectly good

mama smiled, the moon, the stars, even the 

planets glowed. Cardell felt warm and safe."

Writing Prompts: Write about people or places or things that make you feel loved like Cardell.
Topics Covered: Family, Love, Change 

I *heart* It:

 

*Thanks to Blue Slip Media for 

a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review 

and the opportunity to offer this giveaway!*

The One Where You Get an A #SOL15

Every Tuesday, I participate in the Slice of Life challenge at Two Writing Teachers. If you want to participate, you can link up at their Slice of Life Story Post on Tuesdays or you can just head on over there to check out other people's stories. For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, you can go here. 

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I'm an optimist...and proud of it actually. I do pretty well living in my little happy bubble but I've noticed that my bubble gets squeezed and sometimes needs to be re-inflated depending on how much stress I'm dealing with. As I was reading The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander yesterday, one particular chapter really spoke to me. It was about how we measure ourselves based on subjective metrics. Instead, the authors suggest we practice giving an A. We can give ourselves an A or we can give others an A. What if we gave all our students A's right from the beginning?

Benjamin Zander did just this with one of his classes. He gave them all A's from the outset of class but he asked them to write a letter outlining everything they were going to do to earn that A - pretending as if they were writing it already looking back at all that they had accomplished during the class.

He writes, "An A can be given to anyone in any walk of life - to a waitress, to your employer, to your mother-in-law, to the members of the opposite team, and to the other drivers in traffic. When you give an A, you find yourself speaking to people not from a place of measuring how they stack up against your standards, but from a place of respect that gives them room to realize themselves...This A is not an expectation to live up to, but a possibility to live into."

Later in the chapter, he writes, "As soon as you have the grace to give people A's, all sorts of things are revealed that were as though hidden behind a veil."

I had a few ideas about how to focus on grace this year but I think this is where I'm going to start. Giving myself an A - when I do something new or when I do something hard - but also giving others A's and letting go of comparing or judging. Breaking free from expectations and struggling to be enough or as much or all feel like a relief. It means exhaling and just being.

Have the grace to give people A's.

To me, this is truly living the growth mindset because if you know that you already get an A, that you already win, that there is no such thing as failure, it's much easier to take risks and to accept yourself. I think this would be pretty freeing for a student and that it would be a relief to know that the outcome has already been decided. I can see how it might even empower students to want to live up to that A even more. 

What do you think? 

How might you give yourself an A? 

What opportunities do you have to give others an A?

If you try it, how does it feel?

Thanks for reading!

You get an A!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 1/12/15

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA! 

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now...you just might discover your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and I decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children's literature - picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit - join us! We love this meme and think you will, too. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them. 

Last Week's Book Adventures:

I actually got blog posts up this week! It feels good. I loved rereading all of these and reviewing them. I finished The Lean Startup and am almost done with the Serial podcast. I also picked up The Art of Possibility but am still at the very beginning of it.

Reviewed Last Week:

Click on any picture above to go read my review/post.

Upcoming Book Adventures: 

I have a few audiobooks from the library to listen to after I finish Serial. I'm hoping to finally read We Can Work It Out and read more of The Art of Possibility. I have a long list of books to read and not enough time! Over the weekend I bought The Doodle Revolution and I'm all excited about it but I remembered I wanted to read Revision Decisions. AND - you know what?!?! Kate Messner's 59 Reasons to Write comes out tomorrow. I cannot wait to receive my copy! As usual, lots to read and not enough time!

This Week's Reviews:

Check back throughout the week to read these reviews/posts. 

So, what are you reading this week? 

Link up below and don't forget to check out other blogs to see what they are reading!

To help build our community and support other bloggers, 

we ask that you comment on at least three other blogs before you. 

Also, if you tweet about your Monday post, don't forget to use #IMWAYR!

Telephone

Title: Telephone 

Author: Mac Barnett   

Illustrator: Jen Corace  

Publisher: Chronicle Books   

Publication Date: September 9th, 2014 

Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 

GoodReads Summary: It's time to fly home for dinner! In this witty picture book from award-winning and bestselling author Mac Barnett, a mother bird gives the bird next to her a message for little Peter. But passing messages on a telephone line isn't as simple as it sounds. Each subsequent bird understands Mama's message according to its own very particular hobbies. Will Peter ever get home for dinner? This uproarious interpretation of a favorite children's game will get everyone giggling and is sure to lead to countless rereads.  

What I Think: I love silly books from Mac Barnett! This one is a great one. As I read, my kids giggled more and more. Basically, this book is a game of Telephone but the illustrations are wonderful and it's perfect that the birds are all lined up on a telephone wire. Peter's mom just wants him to come home the the message gets a little warped along the way. 

     This book would be a great opportunity to practice visualizing because the image doesn't really show what they are talking about in the text. It gives the reader an opportunity to imagine their own vision of what's each bird is talking about. I also think this is a great opportunity to talk about how everyone interprets everything differently. As receivers of information, we have our own experiences that filter what we hear, see, read, etc. This makes the case for being descriptive and clear in our writing so that we help the reader visualize what we hope to convey. Reading and writing go together. The author's job is to help the reader understand the words he or she puts together.     

     Obviously the reader is going to interpret information based on his or her background knowledge but it's the job of the writer to give the reader enough information to do this. I absolutely love having this conversation with students. When you think of writers and their craft and the intention they put into writing, it brings a new conversation to looking at a text. Likewise, this blends over into writing because it's important to be conscious of the choices you make as a writer. At NCTE in November, a friend asked me about craft moves and what that terms means. I hadn't heard it before but was able to track it back to Katie Wood Ray. She discusses craft move in her books Wondrous Words and Study Driven. Writers have moves - just like dancers and athletes and chess players have and make moves - and writers make these craft moves intentionally, with specific purpose to help the reader. This text would be a great book to start this conversation.  

Read Together: K - 3 

Read Alone: K - 3

Read With: Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett, The Right Word by Jen Bryant, Little Red Writing by Jen Holub

Snatch of Text: 

"Tell Peter: Fly home for dinner."

"Tell Peter: Put your wet socks in the dryer."

"Tell Peter: Rock stars are admired."

Writing Prompts: Write about a time when you had a miscommunication with someone else. What happened and how did you resolve it? 

Topics Covered: Communication, Patience 

I *heart* It:

Let's Celebrate Thank You Cards for Humanity!

It's time to CELEBRATE This Week with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.  Every week Ruth invites us to share our celebrations from the week and link up at her blog. What a fun way to reflect on everything there is to be thankful for. 

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This week I'm celebrating thank you cards for humanity!

*throws confetti*

For Christmas we gave my brother-in-law Cards for Humanity which defines itself as a party game for horrible people. Well, this week, I had a few things happen to me that makes me believe in awesome people in humanity and I feel like I need to send out a few thank you cards for humanity. A-la Jimmy Fallon, if you will. (Erm, these aren't so Jimmy Fallon-like, actually. These are supremely sincere.)

http://www.hitfix.com/comedy/12-funniest-thank-you-notes-from-late-night-with-jimmy-fallon

Thank you...

janitors at the middle school where I presented on Monday. 

For being there bright and early, for opening the doors for me, 

for welcoming me even though you hadn't been informed that I was coming, 

for asking how you could help, for offering to bring me coffee. 

Thank you...

colleagues who offered to help me get everything unloaded from my car into my office. 

(If you didn't read my amazing retelling, you can check it out here.)

For reminding me that I work with some pretty awesome people.

Thank you...

Nerdy Book Club.

For existing.

 And reminding me that I'm not alone when Friday night at the bookstore is my idea of fun. 

(How can walking out with these books not be fun?)

And for recognizing the best books of the year and giving them shiny Nerdy Awards.

(In case you missed it last week, the 2014 Nerdy Awards were announced!)

2014 NERDY AWARDS FOR FICTION PICTURE BOOKS

2014 NERDY AWARDS FOR NON FICTION PICTURE BOOKS 

2014 NERDY AWARDS FOR EARLY READERS AND CHAPTER BOOKS

2014 NERDY AWARDS FOR MG/YA NONFICTION

2014 NERDY AWARDS FOR GRAPHIC NOVELS 

2014 NERDY AWARDS FOR YOUNG ADULT FICTION (PART ONE)

2014 NERDY AWARDS FOR YOUNG ADULT FICTION (Part Two)

2014 NERDY AWARDS FOR MIDDLE GRADE FICTION

2014 NERDY AWARDS FOR POETRY AND NOVELS IN VERSE

Thank you...
man and woman in a silver Jeep sitting in my driveway.
For finding my wallet at the mall, seeing that my house was on your way home, and personally dropping it off at my house 
with all my cards - and cash even - still inside.
(Okay, maybe you freaked us out at first...
but when I found out what you did, 
I was completely shocked at how awesome you are.)
I'm still sort of speechless about this.

http://its-called-gratitude.tumblr.com/

There are so many other things but these stand out the most. I'm so happy to celebrate having the opportunity to say thank you for these things this week. What thank you cards are you writing this week?
What are you celebrating this week?

Hug Machine

Title: Hug Machine 
Author: Scott Campbell
Illustrator: Scott Campbell  
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 26th, 2014 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: Who have YOU hugged today? Open your arms to this delightfully tender, goofy, and sweet tale.

Watch out world, here he comes! The Hug Machine!

Whether you are big, or small, or square, or long, or spikey, or soft, no one can resist his unbelievable hugs! HUG ACCOMPLISHED!This endearing story encourages a warm, caring, and buoyantly affectionate approach to life. Everyone deserves a hug - and this book! 
What I Think: Earlier this week, I saw a tweet that said that people who hug a lot actually get sick less than people who avoid hugs. I was excited because...I love hugs! It also made me think about this book and how it will be a perfect read for Valentine's Day. And it's great timing because Valentine's Day is just around the corner!
     As I've worked on my novel and am drafting another one, I've thought a lot about how a plot rolls out and I notice how this parallels storylines in picture books. Picture books are deceptive. While they are short and don't need a lot of text, it doesn't mean they are easy to write. I actually feel like they would be harder because of how tight the story has to be. I wrote a picture book when I had a flash of inspiration a couple of years ago but I haven't spent much time really closely studying the structure of picture books. This book makes me really excited to look at picture books more closely. And here's why! I love how Hug Machine starts with our little huggable hugger...but eventually he runs into an obstacle or two...and then after that, he runs out of steam but he figures out what to do to solve his problem. For some reason, the story map just really stuck out to me when I read Hug Machine and I think it would be great to include when looking at things like exposition, rising action, climax and resolution in a story. 
     I would also pair Hug MachineI with Kelly DiPucchio's Zombie in Love also illustrated by Scott Campbell. Zombie in Love is one of the most clever books I've ever seen and also fantastic for Valentine's Day - especially for boy and girl readers alike. When I reread Hug Machine and looked closely at the main character, I imagined him as a zombie. Maybe I was getting my books confused but it was fun to compare Scott's illustrations in these two books and to see how reading Zombie in Love might influence how we interpret Hug Machine. At first, I read it is a sweet book...then I read it with him as a tiny bit zombie-ish and it added some great personality to the boy. It reminded me a lot of my own kiddos who are always goofing around and being silly. I've found that it's not always easy to capture the essence of a character in writing but I love how this can be a great opportunity to talk about rereading and how the more we read, the more we bring to our reading. I love showing kids how great rereading is but also how we change as readers and how we bring our experiences to our reading.
Read Together: When Otis Courted Mama by Kathi Appelt, Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, Zombie in Love by Kelly DiPucchio 
Read Alone: Grades Pre-K - 3 
Read With: Grades Pre-K - 5 
Snatch of Text:  

"Whoa!

Here I come!

I am the Hug Machine!

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Compare and Contrast, Identifying Story Elements, Making an Inference, Visualizing, Rereading, Predicting
Writing Strategies to Practice: Plot, Characterization, Descriptive, Narrative  
Writing Prompts: Write about someone in your life who has a big personality. How might you capture their spirit by describing an interaction with him or her? 
Topics Covered: Family, Friendship, Generosity, Kindness

I *heart* It:

Shh! We Have a Plan

Title: Shh! We Have a Plan 
Author: Chris Haughton   
Illustrator: Chris Haughton   
Publisher: Walker
Publication Date: March 6th, 2014 
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
GoodReads Summary: From award-winning illustrator Chris haughton, one of the most exciting new voices in children's literature, comes a brand new picture book about a beautiful bird, an unquenchable desire and plans gone awry...Four friends, three big and one little, are out for a walk. Suddenly, they spot it - a beautiful bird perched high in a tree! They simply MUST have it and - SHH! - they have a PLAN. So they tip-toe, tip-toe very slowly, nets poised - "Ready one...ready two...ready three...GO!" But, at the turn of the page, we find a ridiculous bunch of very tangled characters and a blissfully oblivious bird, flying away.  
What I Think: We've read books by Chris Haughton before but during the Cybils judging this year, we downloaded, played, and fell in love with the Hat Monkey app. As part of the app, you can get a glimpse into Little Owl Lost, Oh No, George! and Shh! We Have a Plan. The next time we visited the library, we tracked down all three of these books and happily read them all over and over again with a renewed excitement. Little Bean especially loved Shh! We Have a Plan and if we read it once, we had to read at least three more times. He can read it all by himself and with such emotion. It's awesome. I love when books capture kids like this. It reminds me of when we read Warning: Do Not Open This Book! by Adam Lehrhaupt. That was another that we read over and over and that got him excited every single time. It's so fun to watch.
     Repetitive books are great for the youngest readers. You can see the anticipation build in them as they start to realize what's going to happen next. So much fun!  
     For older readers, this might be a great opportunity to think about how repetition might be used in a story but also how putting in a twist when the reader least expects it really makes a story fun. They can easily right their own stories where something happens over and over again until something different happens and they can write their own silly twists in.
Read Together: Pre-K - 2  
Read Alone: Pre-K - 2 
Read With: Little Owl Lost and Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton, Hug by Jez Alborough, Warning: Do Not Open This Book! by Adam Lehrhaupt
Snatch of Text:  

"Ready one...

ready two...

ready three...

GO!"

Writing Prompts: Write about a time when you did something good for someone or when someone did something nice for you. How did it make your feel?

I *heart* It: 

The One With an Entourage of Helpers #sol15

Every Tuesday, I participate in the Slice of Life challenge at Two Writing Teachers. If you want to participate, you can link up at their Slice of Life Story Post on Tuesdays or you can just head on over there to check out other people's stories. For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, you can go here. 

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I so wish I had pictures to go along with this story but I don't so I'll have to do my best to describe a wonderful little helper parade I ended up leading on Monday afternoon. I have to first start by reminding you, dear reader, that my One Little Word for 2015 is: grace (I do have a visual for that...).

Monday was the first day back from winter break in my school district. I led professional development for teachers at one of our middle schools. In the morning I had help unloading my car with all the materials for the day. In the afternoon, I headed back to the office on my own to attend a meeting. I considered waiting for help to unload everything and bring it up to my office but instead I decided I could do it all by myself. (I also didn't want the chocolate sitting in my car overnight and freezing and possibly getting bad - I mean, save the chocolate, right? Although, frozen chocolate is yummy...)

Picture this: a small cart, a smaller crate-cart on the cart loaded with plastic boxes, a full reusable bag, two cases of water bottles, two chart paper pads, a back pack, a smaller backpack purse, my lunch bag, and a Venti Starbucks Pineapple Kona Pop tea - hot, and ME.

Now picture all of that: in an recently-snowed-upon, somewhat-plowed-and-iced parking lot, a slight downhill slant, a curb, and two sets of double doors.

Yes, somehow I imagined this was actually going to work. 

Right away, a colleague who was also headed up to the same meeting I was going to had parked her car near mine and offered to help. As I thought over all the things and what might be most helpful, I knew right away it was the Starbucks. So I asked her to carry my drink. She had her own drink so now she had a drink in two hands and her own full tote bag. I started to push the cart.

We get super close to the main entrance when the downhill-ness starts. That's when the cases of water bottles both go toppling into nice and dirty slushiness. I reach to pull them back onto the cart but the smaller cart his slid forward and while I'm reaching, my small back pack slides off my arm into the nice and dirty slushiness also. This is when I mention to my friend the irony in the fact that my 2015 OLW is grace. But we manage to put everything back together and onward we go to the curb.

I can't quite make it over the curb at first. By now, a man who is going to the same meeting we are comes behind us and decides to point out that it didn't seem like this was going so well. I give one more huff and make it over the curb to look up to the main entrance and our first set of double doors where yet another meeting-going person is there to open the door for us. She's been watching us from the warmth of the foyer the whole time. Naturally.

We make it to the front door but as soon as I try to forge through, of course, the cart gets caught on the threshold and now the water bottles and the small cart all go toppling forward. Along comes another man to catch the small cart as it goes forward. There are five of us all crowed around this mess of a cart in the middle of the entryway. I hope you're laughing along with me at this point!

They've realized I'm a mess and have to help me all the way up to the 4th floor and into my office. To my relief, the door-opening woman takes one case of water, the man from the curb takes another, I push the carts and my drink-holder friend still carries my tea. As we ride up the elevator, I turn to them, thanking them for helping me, acknowledging that I was a little ambitious and appreciate their help with a smile. The elevator doors open and they follow me down the hall, my little helper parade, an entourage of helpers, a helper train. 

I can't help but shake my head at myself and this whole situation. I'm thankful to have colleagues who were wiling to help. This was also a reminder that choosing grace for my OLW was a perfect choice. But at the same time, as I think back on it, all the way through, I was frustrated but laughing along and, while it wasn't the most graceful experience, I did accept the craziness with grace. I'm not sure I would have recognized that before and it makes me happy to think of it in this way. Sometimes it's all about the perspective you take.

When I think about the work I do with teachers and students and my own kids, having a positive attitude makes such a big difference. Knowing that things aren't always going to go as planned or that unknowns might throw us off-track is important. But putting a smile on my face and dealing with those interruptions as bumps - or sometimes potholes - rather than obstacles makes a huge difference. I've found that taking a deep breath and smiling gives me the energy to keep moving forward with grace. Hopefully this mindset makes its way to others. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (1/5/15)

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA! 

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now...you just might discover your next “must-read” book!

Kellee Moye, of Unleashing Readers, and I decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children's literature - picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit - join us! We love this meme and think you will, too. We encourage everyone who participates to visit at least three of the other kidlit book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them. 

Last Week's Book Adventures:

Happy 2015! Looking back now, December seems like such a blur...but a fun blur! I still have to get to 2014 wrap-up posts and 2015 big-plan posts but I know they'll come and I'm okay with that. I wish I was better at getting reviews up but life is what it is lately and family has been a top priority.

I did finish Shopaholic to the Stars and My True Love Gave to Me and What If and I'm super close to finishing The Lean Startup. I've also been listening to Serial which I know isn't a book but the story is interesting and I like listening to how she puts the story together and how she adds in snippets of sounds or songs and first-hand interviews.

Last Week's Posts:

Upcoming Book Adventures: 

My plan is to finish The Lean Startup this week for sure, no matter what, hands-down. I'm really excited to read We Can Work It Out by Elizabeth Eulberg and Revision Decisions by Jeff Anderson. (I'm about 25,000 words into my next novel and am excited to read about his revision ideas for when I finish this draft.) I also have Fantasy League by Mike Lupica and Serial to listen to. We'll see how I do while dealing with a whole week back at work!

This Week's Reviews:

Check back throughout the week to read these reviews/posts. 

So, what are you reading this week? 

Link up below and don't forget to check out other blogs to see what they are reading!

To help build our community and support other bloggers, 

we ask that you comment on at least three other blogs before you. 

Also, if you tweet about your Monday post, don't forget to use #IMWAYR!

1/5

Let's Celebrate the 2014 Cybils Shortlist!

It's time to CELEBRATE This Week with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.  Every week Ruth invites us to share our celebrations from the week and link up at her blog. What a fun way to reflect on everything there is to be thankful for. 

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This week I'm celebrating ALA award-winning books!

*throws confetti*

It was super fun to be a Cybils Book App judge again. It's such a fascinating process to go through - reading and rereading all the book apps, deciding on my favorites, discussing with the others and seeing what we finally decide to send through as our shortlist. It was a great group to work with and I learned from the discussions, which is always a plus.
Here is a link to see all the Cybils Finalists or you can click over to see the Cybils Book App Finalists. I'm excited to see the winners this year!

What are you celebrating this week?