Day 166 of the "What are you reading, and why?" project, and Kay is reading The Mammoth Cheese, by Sheri Holman, because she could get a bagful of books for $2 at her library book sale, and it was available. It really is about cheese making on a small farm. And the birth of a bunch of babies. And complications.
One plot element is that the cheese maker wants to take a big cheese to the White House, which really happened once. There's a picture book about that, A Big Cheese for the White House: The True Tale of a Tremendous Cheddar, by Candace Fleming, illustrated by S. D. Schindler. (I think I have seen this one at Babbitt's!)
Meanwhile, Zack, Kay's son, not usually a reader, has been zipping through books this summer! He's already read Because of Winn Dixie, by Kate DiCamillo and Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. Now he's reading Hoot by Carl Hiaason, which is really about owls. Miniature owls!
We sometimes have owls in the back yard. Sometimes hawks. Right now we have caterpillars. A jillion of them. OK, at 7 on one hanging plant. They are green and black and eating themselves huge and should soon, according to Eric Carle, in The Very Hungry Caterpillar, turn into 7 fabulous cut-paper collage butterflies.
Do owls eat caterpillars? I know miniature owls don't. They would gag on these. That, or get squirted, as I did, with neon green caterpillar innards. I was just trying to rescue the poor thing. It had fallen on the patio after eating the thing it was hanging on.
And that is life.
I will be out of Internet access for a while, but still asking people what they are reading and writing it down in my little black book. I will tell you about it later.
Hello from Ohio. I am near the end of a fascinating read! STUFF: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things. by Randy Frost and Gail Steketee.
ReplyDeleteThe book opens with the story of the Collyer Brothers who may be the world's most famous hoarders and then follows individual patients as they try to overcome their hoarding. On the way, I couldn't help but analyze myself and my collecting habits - wondering if my need to save 'meaningful' things is something to be concerned about. Fortunately, I think I'm ok -which is, by the way, what most hoarders say...:o)
I HAVE heard of the t.v. show about hoarding but have not yet seen it - it's on my list.
For anyone who has ever collected, this book will pull you in immediately. I can't look at my brick collection the same way...
Next on the list for me: COME TO ME - stories by Amy Bloom.
Love the blog.