Eye Trouble Part 2

Yesterday I was literally walking out the door when Jet got home from school so I kissed his forehead without really looking at him. I was gone until after 8 p.m. When I got home, I was shocked when I got a good look at Jet's eye. It was looking worse rather than better:

This photo doesn't really show how bad it looks--our old camera broke and we got a new one that I just don't like much. Anyway, his eye is looking black and purple from the inside of his eye by his nose all the way over to the side of his face--both above and below his eye. When I commented to Jet that his eye was looking worse, he told me that he got hit in the face with a kickball at school! I guess that explains it.

By the way, I was gone all afternoon and evening because I was helping at the solo and ensemble night for the band at the high school. The really good news is that Jumble went and performed her solo and ensemble pieces even though she was really nervous and didn't want to do it. Great job, Jumble!

All Those Newbery's

The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

The first year it was awarded was in 1922. (That means there are 88 of them as of last month.)My mom introduced me to Newbery books when I was young--we would often receive a Newbery book as a Christmas or birthday present (thanks, Mom!) I soon learned that even though these books were all very different stories about different people in different times and places, they all had one thing in common--they were all really good books that I loved. So in my teenage years, I decided to set a goal to read them all. That was the plan--once I had read them all, I could just read the new one each year as it was awarded. So yesterday, at the age of 40-something, I finally reached my goal! I finished reading the book that was awarded the Newbery for this year, "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead. It took me a bit longer to reach this goal than I originally planned. But I did it. (Now I can get back to reading books written for adults!)

If you want a check out a list of all the winners up to 2009, here is the link:

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal.cfm

And the link to the 2010 winner is here:

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal.cfm

Check out the list and see how many you've read!

Here's my own list of a few interesting things about them:

1. read the most times: "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham 1956

2. least favorite: "Tales from Silver Lands" by Charles Finger 1925

3. hardest to find: "Dobry" by Monica Shannon 1935 (it's currently out of print)

4. books I own: 43

5. fastest reads: "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleischman 1987, "Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices" by Paul Fleischman 1989 (yes, they are related!) and "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead 2010

6. longest: I think it is "The Story of Mankind" by Hendrik Willem Van Loon 1922

7. most fun: "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin 1979, "Holes" by Louis Sacher 1999, "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli 1991, and "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E. L. Konigsburg 1968

8. most unique: "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices of a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz 2008

9. favorites in addition to the most fun and unique listed above (I can never choose just one): "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham 1956, "The Bronz Bow" by Elizabeth George Speare 1962, "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle, "The Twenty-One Balloons" by William Pene du Bois 1948, "King of the Wind" by Marguerite Henry 1949, "Amos Fortune, Free Man" by Elizabeth Yates 1951, "I, Juan de Pareja" by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino 1966, "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brian 1972, "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry 1990, "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park 2002, and Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James 1927--to name a few!

10. ones I read long ago and remember almost nothing about so need to read again: "Adam of the Road" by Elizabeth Janet Gray 1943, "The Matchlock Gun" by Walter Edmonds 1942 I remember that I liked both of them, but don't remember them other than that!

11. Authors who have won multiple Newbery Medals: Joseph Krumgold (2), Elizabeth George Speare (2), E.L Konigsburg (2), Katherine Paterson (2), Lois Lowry (2)

12. Authors who won multiple Newbery Honors but never the Newbery Medal (not sure this includes everyone): Laura Ingalls Wilder (5), Julia Davis Adams (2), Hildegard Swift (2), Agnes Hewes (3), Wanda Gag (2), Genevieve Foster (4), Anne Parrish (2), Jeanette Eaton (2), Julia Sauer (2), Holling C. Holling (2), Mary & Conrad Buff (3), Alice Dalgliesh (2), Katherine Shippen (2), Gerald W. Johnoson (2), Mary Stolz (2), Isaac Bashevis Singer (3), Zilpha Keatley Snyder (3), Laurence Yep (2), William Steig (2), Gary Paulsen (3), Nancy Farmer (3), Patricia Reilly Giff (2), Gary D. Schmidt (2), Jacqueline Woodson (2)

13. Authors who won Newbery Medals and Newbery Honors (not sure this includes everyone): Cornelia Meigs (1 medal, 3 honors), Elizabeth Janet Gray (1 medal, 3 honors), Rachel Field (1 medal, 1 honor), Kate Seredy (1 medal, 2 honors), Lois Lenski (1 medal, 2 honors), Armstrong Sperry (1 medal, 1 honor), Eleanor Estes (1 medal, 3 honors), Elizabeth Yates (1 medal, 1 honor), Marguerite Henry (1 medal, 2 honors), Meindert Dejong (1 medal, 3 honors), Marguerite de Angeli (1 medal, 1 honor), Elizabeth Enright (1 medal, 1 honor), Jean Craighead George (1 medal, 1 honor), Irene Hunt (1 medal, 1 honor), Scott O'Dell (1 medal, 3 honors), Lloyd Alexander (1 medal, 1 honor), E.L. Konigsburg (2 medals, 1 honor), Virginia Hamilton (1 medal, 3 honors), Ellen Raskin (1 medal, 1 honor), Susan Cooper (1 medal, 1 honor), Beverly Cleary (1 medal, 2 honors), Katherine Paterson (2 medals, 1 honor), Madeleine L'Engle (1 medal, 1 honor), Robin McKinley (1 medal, 1 honor), Paul Fleischman (1 medal, 1 honor), Cynthia Voigt (1 medal, 1 honor), Elizabeth George Speare (2 medals, 1 honor), Paula Fox (1 medal, 1 honor), Avi (1 medal, 2 honors), Russell Freedman (1 medal, 3 honors) Cynthia Rylant (1 medal, 1 honor), Karen Cushman (1 medal, 1 honor) Christopher Paul Curtis (1 medal, 2 honors), Jerry Spinelli (1 medal, 1 honor) Sharon Creech (1 medal, 1 honor), Kate DiCamillo (1 medal, 1 honor), Richard Peck (1 medal, 1 honor)

14. Author who won the Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor in the same year: E.L. Konigsburg the 1968 Newbery Medal for "The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" and the 1968 Newbery Honor for "Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth" (I've read them both and loved them both. Cranked out two great books in one year--pretty impressive!)

I've read many of the Newbery Honor Books. Question is, should I go back and read all the rest of them?? What was your favorite children's book? Your favorite Newbery?

Eye Trouble

Jet is the child of mine that gets the black eyes. In February. A few days before he turned four, he fell and hit the corner of his eye at preschool. So all his fourth birthday photos sported a big purple and yellow shiner:

This past Saturday he went to his cousin's birthday party and knocked heads with the birthday boy resulting in this beauty:

Earlier this week, Jet had a sty infection in his right eye that got infected and it looked red, swollen, and terrible! We got him on an antibiotic and it cleared right up--thankfully before he got the black eye. Then he really would've looked like he'd been beaten up. He still had a great time at the party!

Jet Turns Nine

Friday was Jet's 9th birthday. It seems like we just did his 8th!

Every year I somehow forget until I walk into a store in late January, that late January is a bad time to go shopping. The store shelves are all picked over and somewhat empty after Christmas, the new shipments haven't really come in yet. Each year I lament that I didn't remember to get Jet's birthday presents at the same time I get his Christmas presents--when the shelves are packed and everything is on sale. Or at least that I wasn't smart enough to go right after Christmas to get a few things for him on post-Christmas clearance. By the end of January, all of the good stuff is long gone. I was commenting to Niles about this as we walked into Target a week or so ago--"Why can't I ever remember how dismal it is to go shopping in late January?!"

Then we turned a corner in the toy section and hit gold:

This fun voice command quarterback game for $8.50 (originally $32)

And this 14-in-1 game table for $32 (originally $130). This thing has foosball, air hockey, pool, ping pong, bowling, soccer, basketball, etc. etc. Yahoo!

Of course, Niles was rethinking how great a deal it was as he spent hours putting it together (I helped a little). But I think after our family home evening foosball tournament and pool match last night, he decided it was a good deal after all!