the problem with this blog thing is that i’m already on another book – the world’s worst BOB ever – it’s a high school one – and i so want to complain already…

“george whitfield” – there was another title to it – but it was a biography on the guy – who was a large part of the great awakening – which you may – or may not – learn in american history now – i’m not sure – i’m very sure we went through it though – this was one i’d call a challenge book – thankfully, it was just 270 pages of teeny tiny print – if it’d been longer, i would’ve struggled greatly – very worthwhile read though – and some of the book reminded me of some of the matters in the church today

“origami yoda and the pickletine gets on the bus case” – something like that – as always, cute – i worried at the start that the book wasn’t fresh or new anymore – that it was a sad book just extending a series – lots of series get that way – but i wasn’t ready for it to end – as usual, the origami was cover for getting through middle school “issues” – i do love what the principal did for standardized testing – we should do the same

“the teaching brain” – i taught you the best part of that book – that we have up’s and down’s in learning – i needed a bit more practicality – less theory – but hey, the writer went to harvard – she also gave up teaching after 10 years – maybe there’s a book in me too:)

enjoy your day off tomorrow

maf

slacker that i am, just one book this past week – the other is just taking a while…

“a season to remember” by carson tinker – all alabama fans should be required to read the book – really, any college football fan would enjoy it – good things in there about saban and how he runs things – i think i tried to teach the sixth grade some of it – and we all know how well that goes (my trying to teach things)

the other book i’m getting through – slowly but surely – involves the Great Awakening – which i doubt is covered in history until high school – and maybe not there any more – but it’s definitely an enjoyable read – here’s a fun (billy) bonus trivia question for you: Harvard’s school motto is “veritas” – truth in Latin – what was the original motto???

chelsea park had a fall festival friday – today when i ran by the elem school, there was a small-ish cowboy boot in the grass – near the school – i think there’s a story there – thoughts???

maf

just watch the marathon record fall under two hours, three minutes – amazing…

“brewster” – my “tough” book – or book i can brag about in adult conversations – b/c i totally have those – enjoyable read – the passages about running were outstanding – traditional adult fiction book with issues that would make not non-recommendable to YA – but i can’t fathom why kids would read outside of their target area anyway – but i really enjoyed the imagery in the book

“do life” – quick read – how a 360 pound guy lost 140 pounds, finished a marathon, and became a triathloner – there was a sad beginning – the kid knew he was overweight but it took a comment from the “cute” girl in fifth grade to destroy his self-confidence and spiral his life out of control – i could identify, in ways

“sure signs of crazy” – i actually would’ve liked this book better if it’d been about the title – about a girl trying to hold it together with a mom that’s been committed – but sadly, the book wasn’t anything like that – yucky BOB read

“counting by 7’s” – so i don’t know what book sarah is reading b/c 7’s took me a day – not nine weeks:) as for the review, i feel obligated to ruin it for sarah since she won’t read it – apparently – it was a decent enough book – to be technical, i had issues with the counselor – and the unlikely-ness that a genius would just fall through the cracks like that – but whatever, most books are about boys liking girls – or vice versa – so genius books are okay with me:)

maf

i thought it was supposed to rain today and get cool…

“after (something) after” – nicole should know the title for this one – but i forget it – it’s a follow up to “drums, girls, and dangerous pie” – a BOB last year – i think there are more books in this series – more power to them – the author, and the company – i, however, am not a fan – just b/c it’s really very low end reading – very predictable – and very unrealistic  – but for you fans of spicy eighth grade romance, go ahead:)

“january 365” – bad BOB – bad BOB – book one of 12 – hello??? 12 books for the series – in middle school??? before i lose track of all my anger, let’s go with this: someone help me, is there a Richmond in great britain or australia – b/c two pages in, i read “mum” and knew it was british – but they keep referring to the setting as richmond – and the only richmond i know is virginia – and there’s an original british publisher – so i think they switched some names to “american” to sell more books – or sucker US kids – who are apparently suckered if we’re reading this for BOB

so bad week with books – always next week…

maf

the sixth graders that are new – i’m brain dead after a race so there’s no telling what i’m about to blog – i know, excuses, excuses…

“left for dead” – i’ll start with the one i finished yesterday – BOB – i can see why some liked it – i can see why some hated it – i thought the whole 11-year-old that saves the world plot of the book a little much – in the sense that just b/c someone’s 11, doesn’t mean we stop congress and override a naval decision from years ago – but that can be how things operate when the media gets involved – of course, none of that bring back a naval captain that killed himself 25 years later

“my conference can beat your conference” – by paul finebaum – sports radio – why the SEC dominates – it was entertaining, perhaps most when paul talked about growing up – loving sports with his father – finebaum has this persona where it can be hard to believe much of what he says – and the book has to be taken that way – but the family moments were nice – i hope to get the book autographed this december at the Ole Miss/Florida SEC Championship game (i would not be happy if those were the teams, by the way…)

“Buffy Vol. 2 Omnibus” – well, you request one book and get a better book – the buffyverse is huge – i’m learning that – these comics were older than the ones i read a couple of weeks ago – 300 pages – enjoyable – particularly b/c i have yet to start season 7 so starting season 8 in a comic is confusing

brain tired – tv pretty…

maf

From Wednesday’s pep rally – hey, when you don’t have a game that day, you can go deep into your pep rally roster…

1D 4 eva!!!

maf

up, up all night

second grade coloring sheets raise many, many unanswerable questions…

“tesla’s attic” – i’ll try to start with a book that some of you might read – since it’s BOB this year – the good news is that it isn’t bad – i didn’t find it predictable – the baseball references were cool – there was even a part that could’ve been from an episode of buffy (the raising of the dead bit) – and it was very readable – so yeah BOB – that said, i will not read the other books in the trilogy, the romance was easy to spot and predict, and, most disturbing, these peopled moved from tampa to colorado – hello???

“stake your destiny: buffy the vampire slayer: the suicide king” – a choose your own adventure type book – or rather, choose your own death type book – these books should depress readers b/c you typically end up killing yourself a half-dozen times before you reach the “true” end – that said, i didn’t even know this genre existed any more – so i’m happy about that – there should be more choose your own adventure books – like for middle school – “choose whether to do mr. mayfield’s journals: sorry, the stress got to you and you DIED!!!”

“the best nonrequired reading of 2014” – the introduction was from daniel handler – and he had a bit from lemony snickett – so those were highlights – like all anthologies, it was hit or miss – and as i got bored, lots more misses – people do like to write non-fiction about romance – bah…

happy homecoming week

maf

i mean, that’s where the day got it’s name in the first place, right??? this evil teacher, mr. mayfield, made his students labor so hard, day after day after day, that a special day was created to honor everyone’s attempt to read a billion books a week – and write responses that were never exactly creative enough to meet his high demands (b/c he was creatively brilliant – i mean, a superhero with a binder battling a tragedy bear??? you just can’t make this stuff up people…)

“rickey and robinson” – book on the relationship between jackie robinson and the GM that signed up to break baseball’s color barrier – amazing as it is, the author knew both guys – i just honestly assumed everyone was dead from that situation that could add light on the subject – so it was a very good read – regardless of your interest in baseball, robinson is a great biography read

“you might have known me…” – biography on phil hartman(n) – he did SNL – he did tv – he was on peewee’s playhouse – he voiced troy mcclure on the simpsons – really funny/creative guy to read about – his end was tragic

“buffy the vampire slayer: season eight, volume 1” – okay, i don’t think i have any audience members out there, but those of you that regularly read comics/graphic novels – mega props – i was thoroughly lost and confused trying to do so – lots more to them than i ever figured – i definitely got a lot out of it

remember, all day reading and writing on labor day or else you fail sixth grade!!!

maf

greetings to all, especially those that keep adding to my spam folder (you know who you are dave – why can’t you be un-spam-y like your older, wiser brother??? 🙂

“hope” – biography on a great comedian – if you’re new to this, all comedians, yes all, seem to these really tragic backstories – hope at least wasn’t moody – which was nice – but he wasn’t like a great dad or anything – he was probably the only entertainer to dominate vaudeville, radio, tv, and movies – all at separate times – so learning about him was learning about the 20th century – i definitely remember his latter specials – so that was fun to relive and think about

“steelheart” – one high school BOB down… the basic story of steelheart is “trying to defeat evil superman” – this book was definitely written for movie work – less about any character development and more just a rather fast moving plot – i say that, it really bogged in the backstory – but i finished – will NOT be reading the second book (of course it’s the beginning of a series)

my second graders on sunday are now planning evil things for my sixth grade – b/c they didn’t have enough lego people to play with – i blamed it on my sixth grade messing everything up, nice, right???

maf

that was buffy, season one – the season everyone looks back on and says “oh, they look so young”…

“How to tell if your cat is trying to kill you” – i started the week with a very serious book – fortunately, i read the book in time to avoid the bell rub trap my parent’s cat had set for me – people of cats, listen – you must too read this book before it’s too late and we speak at your funeral about how you never saw it coming… 🙂

“team challenge” – book of team games – i made copies on some interesting ones – and some notes – i hope to get them into the classroom this week

“romeoiette and julio” – whatever – BOB No. 1 for me – hated it – awful book – why was it put here on earth??? to torture those of us that think we can write and send off our work and get no feedback – and then to discover that apparently, someone loved this book enough to publish – i just wonder where i go wrong and that author goes right – argh…

happy blogging this week (note the spelling jordan m:)

maf