Princess Award

It is my turn for my first award - from Mrs. E at Easy Street.  I am humbled and would like to thank all the little people who made this award possible.  Perhaps I should first thank my sister who was a year older and brought home little readers from first grade (little Byers had no kindergarten) and I sat beside her while she was learning and just took off.  From then on, I have been a reader.  I do remember the first grade teacher suggesting that my mom hide Kim's books from me so that I wouldn't read them all before 1st grade, but that ship had sailed because reading already made sense to me and there was no going back.  So in first grade I read the Little House books while the other kids had reading.  My mom took us to the library every Saturday afternoon while we were in town for piano lessons.  Thanks for that Mom!


1.  Name an author you love.

I have read most of Barbara Delinsky's books, and like Dan Brown, Curtis Sittenfeld, and for some reason I remembered the Jean Auel series that started with Clan of the Cave Bear.  The pre-historic fiction was different and good in the same way that Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth and World Without End captured the Middle Ages.


2. Name an author who highlights your personality.

Judy Blume - I  like her sense of humor and wish she would write more adult fiction like Summer Sisters and Wifey.


3. Name some books you love.

I am going to regress and mention some of the books from my childhood.  The Anne of Green Gables series, Little House on the Prairie, Encyclopedia Brown, and my all time favorite series - Trixie Belden.

Otherwise, now I like the books mentioned in question #1.  This year, the two books I read that I remember most were The Help  and Kite Runner.



4. Something that always excites you.

Snow days!  They are like a gift.  We got pretty excited today at lunch to see the sun.


5. Something you hate.

Hate is strong - here are some dislikes.

Improper use of the English language.  In general, I think the kids are speaking more correctly now than ever.   The "ain'ts" of my childhood seem to be gone, and more adults than kids say things like, "They was . . ."

 Pumpkin.  I know . . . this is a problem in the fall when so many pumpkin things are served.

Cleaning bathrooms, and I have 4 1/2.

P.S.  I just started Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson after Bridgette did her author's study on her at class and she was on Mrs. E's blog.  I really like it so far.