I am exhausted. And stressed. Every day when my alarm goes off, I paw the bedside table until my fingers find my cellphone, then I bring the phone into reading position and check the latest news headlines. There is always – I mean always – at least one story related to the election. Usually it […]
New and Fabulous Eek! Halloween! by Sandra Boynton My pick for this year’s best new Halloween read. The chickens are scared…YIKES! There’s a pumpkin nearby with flickering eyes. And a mouse of enormous size. That’s not even the half of it. What the heck is going on?! A great board book from one of the […]
The other day I was watching the Cubs playing in a tight game. The opposing team was up to bat with a runner on first. The pitch…the runner took off…the Cubs’ catcher threw down to Javy Baez at second…in a single beautiful motion Baez glided a couple of steps, jumped, plucked the ball out of […]
Today’s inspiring story comes from my hometown Chicago where the Cubs may FINALLY win the World Series. Disclaimer: I do not have the power to jinx them. The Cubs have not won a championship in over a century. Many Cubs fans have come into the world and passed away again never experiencing the thrill of […]
Fall is late in coming this year. Most of the leaves near my house are still green. But this afternoon, the temps dropped a bit and the skies clouded over and fall suddenly seems imminent. Recently Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature. In celebration of his song Blowin’ in the Wind which is […]
Ever have those nights when your kids just don’t want to settle down for sleep? Cuddling up with a good book sometimes helps. Here’s a new one that is so quietly beautiful it might just do the trick. The Star Tree by Catherine Hyde The Star Tree is about the wonders of drifting off to […]
Chicago is preparing itself for a teacher strike. My kids are grown now but I remember the days when I worried about whether school was going to take a break mid-year. I worried about all the learning that wasn’t going to be happening if teachers weren’t there to inspire. Today I share — once again […]
We are now in October. Which means Halloween is creeping up on us (wha- hahahahaha). There is no more wickedly delicious author than Roald Dahl. So here are a couple of stories to get you in the mood… Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake If your child hasn’t read […]
It happens to all of us. We hear through the grapevine that a friend is sick. Maybe this friend lives alone. Or maybe he has kids and no one else living in the house to help take care of them. Or maybe she has a spouse who’s at work all day, every day, or even […]
To start the week, we talked about the importance of knowing the “backbone of your community.” Which got me thinking about the physical in-the-body backbone. You Can’t See Your Bones With Binoculars by Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Amanda Haley Here’s a book that gives your kids a picture of that amazing collection of bones that […]