I’ve only been abducted by a day job.

Hopefully I will be back to blogging soon.

But for now

I am off the air…

These small worries pile up and before you know it, my true signs of stress are showing.

What are they?

First, I dream of tornadoes. Lots and lots of tornadoes.

I feel bad for the people in the US who recently experienced real tornadoes. I hope I didn’t bring them on. Hmmmm… that may make a good book. A person’s moods brings on various natural disasters.

Never mind. It’s probably already been done.

So anyhoo… my tornado dreams generally take the form of me watching one approach.

Sometimes I’m by myself and others I’m with family or friends. We notice it for the first time when it’s mere blocks from where we are standing.

Of course I’m scared to death. We run for cover and generally the dream switches or I wake up. I don’t think it takes a dream expert to analyze why this is a stress dream for me. When I’m faced with hard decisions, worries of home repair, finding money, someone’s health is fading, or thoughts of how are we going to do this, this, or this, I dream of tornadoes. I especially dream of them when a life change is in on the horizon.

Those are my thoughts. If you have any input, I’d love to hear it.

The other way I know I’m stressed is I dig out one of these:

Yep, a jigsaw puzzle. I have tons of them that I bought from a local thrift store for $0.80 each. In fact, I may go buy more today.

Why do I do jigsaw puzzles when I’m stressed? Because they occupy my mind. All I think is, “Blue piece with a smidge of orange. Blue with a smidge of orange.” It’s impossible for worries to creep into the brain with it filled with blue and orange.

What do you do when your stressed?

~ Jenna

Ugh!

Define Normal by Julie Anne Peters

Description – Antonia is a “priss,” Jazz is a “punk.” Antonia belongs to the math club. Jazz hangs out at the tattoo parlor. Antonia’s parents are divorced and her mother struggles to pay the rent. Jazz is from a traditional family and lives in a mansion with a pool. But when these two very different girls find themselves facing each other in a peer-counseling program, they discover they have some surprising things in common.

Pages – 196

Reading Level – 350L  or 3.5

Accelerated Reader – Quiz #41465 EN; Book Level 3.6; Points= 6.0

Appropriate for Ages -  ??? Other websites are all other the place. I am going to say 10 and older.

Main Characters – Jazz and Antonia, both female characters.

Side Characters – Jazz’s rich parents, a male teacher/counselor, Antonia’s younger brother, and her mom. There are appearances by other people but these are the key players.

Themes – Outward appearances, secrets, home life, caring for a sick parent, perceptions, friendship, music/piano, judging others, judging someone by their appearance, mental illness, judging others, compassion, what do people risk to appear normal or carry on
their dreams, dealing with a parent who has depression, mothers and daughter
relationships, middle school

Content – (spoiler alert) There isn’t any talk of sex. Some of the tags on Amazon and other online vendors make this sound like a LGTB story, it isn’t. I can’t remember if there is any profanity – I’m thinking, no. There is one scene where Antonia’s mom and younger brother are missing. It isn’t very intense. All in all a mellow look at two girls and what they are dealing with at home.

My Thoughts – Antonia appears to have it all and be perfect. Jazz is a punk rebel and doesn’t care about anything. Truth is, their lives are flip flopped. Antonia needs to care for her family and find food to put on the table due to her mother’s mental illness. Jazz is rich beyond belief and has it all.

I found Jazz to be overdone. Antonia’s side of the story was thought-provoking and interesting. I enjoyed this book and rated it four stars. A good look at these themes. Not fantastic, but good.

Students will find many topics to use in a book report.

~ * ~

Check out my entire list of book report titles.

If you would like to help me create a few of these posts, please contact me. I’d like to grow this list to 20 or 25 titles that are good for book reports.

~ Jenna

Look what we bought the Kiddo. A Kindle!

Yay!

I’m sure he wanted this primarily so he could show off at school. Some of his classmates got Nooks for Christmas. I said I’d be happy to buy him a Kindle but it would be the basic, no frills, no Internet, made for READING, Kindle.

He loves it.

Kindle are great for struggling readers. You can read all my reasons HERE.

The first book we purchased for his new device was Monster by Walter Dean Myers. It has a reading level of 670L or Grade Level Equivalent of 7.1.

He is already 25% into and enjoying it very much.

~ Jenna

About Me

I think they would be great for young girls who are advanced readers. They are free of swearing and sexual references. Of course boys will love them too. I’ve read them all and loved each one.

The Humming Room

This is a retelling of the classic The Secret Garden. The author, Ellen Potter, does a great job. I loved trying to find the parallel elements between the original and this one. Very cleverly done. Girls will love it.

The Children of Green Knowe

A boy is sent off to live with his great-grandmother who lives in a giant house in a flooded land. He discovers mysteries in the walls and clues about the children who lived there many years ago. At times he even hears them and sees their toys move.

Oh – love this story so much. It could be a little spooky to some readers, but the way the authors delivers the elements just made it magical.

Night Camp

A spooky graveyard. A creepy basement. A pair of coffins. Thirteen-year-old Shane Andrews hates summer camp. When his parents allow him to choose, Shane decides to pick the worst camp he can find. Night Camp must be terrible. For one thing, activities take place at night and campers sleep during the day. That can’t be good, Shane reasons.

… do you see where this is going? The kids think the camp is run by vampires! Oh so much fun!! My son read this when he was ten and loved it. I’m sure both boys and girls will enjoy it.

Thanks for stopping.

~ Jenna