Anna is a worrier. But she is also a planner, which helps to alleviate some of those worries. Her weekly Safety Club meetings also help. She doesn't let the fact that the only other member left is Jericho - Anna's Sunday school teacher and part of her minister father's college group. But it is in one of these very meetings, that Jericho lets some news slip. News that Anna hadn't heard.
Anna's family is moving to Kansas.
This unleashes a whole new set of worries for Anna. She's prepared for weather emergencies in Colorado, not Kansas. She is going to have to sleep in a house that belongs to a church! She is going to have to deal with cousins.
Little does Anna know that there will be emergencies that will change her family and make her look at the big picture instead of focusing on her own private worries.
Anna Was Here is a charming book that explores family and faith in equal measure. Anna's family is Christian and their faith truly does drive their actions and their interactions. Even if readers are not religious they will be able to identify with the themes of moving, getting past oneself and shifting allegiances. Anna's relationships with her cousins and her conflict with her dad are perfectly age appropriate and it's refreshing to see her grow out of behaviors and into herself. A perfect read for those kids who are fighting the change of growing up, and for those families who are looking for Christian books for kids.
5 Stars Don’t Feed the Boy by Irene Latham Illustrated by Stephanie Graegin Pages: 288 Ages: 8 to 12 ……………………. Back Cover: No kid knows more about zoo life than Whit. That’s because he sleeps, eats and even attends home-school at the Meadowbrook Zoo. It’s one of the perks of having a mother who’s the [...]
The Heat of the Moment
Benefits 2007 San Diego Fire Survivors
Laurel, MD–December 1, 2007 — FIRE! You see it on the news, on the Internet, in the papers, but if it doesn't strike close to home it's easy to ignore. When a small fire in Karen Syed's Maryland apartment complex brought neighbors out, Karen got proactive. With one e-mail sent to 21 authors, The Heat of the Moment was developed. Each of the authors, the youngest being sixteen years old, involved in this remarkable collection of short stories has made a pledge. Contributors, authors, editors, and artist, have all committed their royalties to benefit the survivors of the San Diego fires of 2007.
After speaking with Marty Leavitt, President of the The Fire Safe Council of San Diego County (FSCSDC), Echelon Press pledged to send all proceeds from the sale of The Heat of the Moment to the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County. "It is important to us that these people who have lost everything know they don't have to do this alone. We may be strangers, but we care," states Ms. Syed. The goal of "The Heat of the Moment" is to put money directly into the community of San Diego, and those who lost so much. With no direct link to San Diego, Ms. Syed had to make a difficult decision as to who would benefit from the publication of The Heat of the Moment. With thousands of homes destroyed in the 2007 San Diego fires, and dozens of injuries, the loss is impossible to measure. This fact alone spurred Karen Syed, president of Echelon Press, LLC, to take a step to do something. "This organization (FSCSDC) represents everything that we would like to accomplish with this project," states Syed.
The Heat of the Moment is a compilation of twenty short stories with one common theme—fire. From fantasies to tributes remembering historical catastrophes, chilling and moving, the stories will tap human emotions with their overwhelming credit to survival.
The Fire Safe Council of San Diego County (FSCSDC) was formed in 1997 and is comprised of a 15-member Board of Directors (voting members). The Board consists of federal, state, and local agencies and stakeholders as determined by the (FSCSDC). The (FSCSDC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, is incorporated under the California Franchise Tax Board. The (FSCSDC) is a member of the California Fire Safe Council, a non-profit corporation, and is authorized to use the name "Fire Safe Council" and the FSC logo. All (FSCSDC) Council members have common goals of fire safety education and pre-fire management, attend meetings, and participate in SDCFSC programs and activities.
Echelon Press, LLC, is an independent publishing house based in Laurel, MD. With ninety authors in their three divisions, Echelon Press has spent nearly seven years cultivating a stable of authors ranging from beginners to national award winners. Echelon authors are located across America as well as in New Zealand, Australia, Israel, and Canada.
A listing of all parties contributing to The Heat of the Moment is available upon request. The list includes story titles and author locations.
For review copies, requests for interviews, and author events, please contact Karen L. Syed at [email protected].
Author/Illustrator: Jonathan Allen
"I'm Not Cute" is a charmingly simple tale that also serves as a diagnosis of an unfortunate symptom of the life of a child television or movie star. As with many child stars, the baby owl struggles to convince the public that is not just a cute face. This is what is commonly known as the "I'm Note Cute!" Syndrome. There are several possible paths open to the baby owl. Below are the historically most likely scenarios.
Scenario 1: Never manage to break the suffocating mold of childhood fame and eventually disappear into the misty hills of obscurity.
Exhibit A: Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Sorry, Simba. The Circle of Life for a child star is painfully unforgiving.
Scenario 2: Burn out in a blaze of glory, never to fully recover.
Exhibit B: Corey Feldman
Last spotted on VH-1s The Surreal Life. It doesn't get any lower.
Scenario 3: Temporarily fade from the limelight only to reemerge and go on to have a successful career as an adult.
Exhibit C: Alyssa Milano
a.k.a. The boyhood crush that keeps on giving.
Scenario 4: Manage to survive the spectacular flame-out, and then (after years of rehab) rise from the ashes to reclaim stardom with a vengeance.
Exhibit D: Drew Barrymore
Went from snorting cocaine at 13 to Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme at 31. Not bad.
While Barrymore's recent nomination as U.N. Ambassador is impressive, she is not the first child star to succeed in the political realm. That distinction belongs to the mother of all child stars: Shirley Temple Black, who went from a life as an international childhood sensation to a distinguished career in international politics.
From the Good Ship Lollipop...
... to serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia during the Velvet Revolution (which, by the way, was hands down the coolest name for a revolution ever).
As these stars prove, the "I'm Not Cute" Syndrome is not fatal... but it is life-threatening and can have crippling long term side effects if you're not careful. So if hear "cha-ching!" everytime you look at your adorable offspring, just take a minute and consider the tragic fate of the kids from Different Strokes... that should at least slow down the money train long enough for you to jump off before it's too late.
What are we talkin' bout, Willis? We're talking about the exploitation of children leading to irreparable psychological damage with sometimes tragic consequences, that's what we're talkin' bout.
Tricky Dicks Note: (Warning--juvenile and crass pun ahead.)
Slate just featured an article about recently released Nixon documents. Within those documents, there was a memo revealing that our former president dealt with the opposite of the "I'm Not Cute" Syndrome. He struggled with what doctors refer to as the "I'm Not a Cold and Heartless Bastard" Syndrome. You can read the article and the original memo here, but here's a taste:
Nixon complained that "average voters" regarded RN as "an efficient, crafty, cold, machine." To help correct this common misconception, Nixon cited "warm items" (Page 3) such as "the calls that I make to people when they are sick, even though they no longer mean anything to anybody" (Page 4). "I called some mothers and wives of men that had been killed in Vietnam," he added, helpfully.
Because he was Nixon, he resented somewhat the social imperative that the president be courteous. "[W]e have gone far beyond any previous president … in breaking our backs to be nicey-nice to the Cabinet, staff and the Congress … around Christmastime," Nixon groused (Page 3). "I have treated them like dignified human beings and not like dirt under my feet" (Page 4), he continued.
Ahh... there's nothing like an efficiently calculating memorandum to your staffers to help convince the American public that you aren't efficient or calculating. Now, I just can't wait until three decades down the road when we finally get to see some of Vice President Dick Cheney's secret files (if they still exist).
Just think, given all the ridiculousness that's been coming out about the ultra-secretive Vice President's office lately... if that's the stuff we do get to see, just imagine what bizarre and delicious treats he's hiding from us in those unmarked drawers and file cabinets!
Word is that Comedy Central is already planning to bring John Stewart and Stephen Colbert out of retirement for just that occasion. The special will be called:
The Daily Show Reunion Special 2037
Inside Cheney's Drawers: The Dick We Never Knew
If you have TiVo... set it now.
Author: Anna Rozen
Illustrator: Francois Avril
A young entrepreneur (who looks like the illegitimate son of the Monopoly guy and Mr. Peanut), opens up a business selling noises... but you could have figured that much out without even opening the book. The story gets much more complicated once you actually dive in. The merchant's ingenious idea takes the world by storm and soon the small shop becomes a booming multinational business.
Once people realize how lucrative the sound industry is, everyone is quick to jump on the bandwagon. Eventually all noises are for sale and no sounds are free any more. If you walk down the street past a construction site, you have to drop $3.95 for the pleasure of listening to the robust staccato of the jackhammer. The sound of someone yapping on their cellphone? 99 cents. The Sound of Music? Priceless.
To avoid unexpected roaming fees, people start walking around with earplugs... which works until an insidious little company out of Hoboken patents the Sound of Silence. That will now cost you 10 cents a minute.
Meanwhile, the merchant grows more and more powerful by the second. As wealthy as he is, ultimately he cannot resist the siren song of the most lucrative industry of all. He eventually signs a contract with the Pentagon and joins the military-industrial complex.
The U.S. government commissions the merchant to develop a frightening new weapon. This new technology utilizes the current medical technique for getting rid of kidney stones--using intense pulses of sonic waves to pulverize the painful little suckers (a procedure called Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy, which already sounds like a videogame weapon). Taking this to scale, the merchant develops an ultra-powerful sonic ray that (using a GPS satellite system) can obliterate your internal organs from space.
This starts an international arms race and soon the entire world is thrust into a new Cold War. (Canada finally becomes a major international player due to their possession of the ultimate in sonic terror: Celine Dion.) Inevitably, terrorists invade and take over the Pentagon, threatening to level New York City unless their demands are met. What they didn't count on is that one of the old bald security guards is loose in the building. And he is none other than: John McClane.
Thus begins the final installment of the Bruce Willis action series: DIE HARD DYNASTY.
And poor Gary Coleman...the money train is back, after him with a vengeance: "I LOVE CashCall! The lent me money after no one else would. Not even my relative." Ouch!
(LOL seal approved!)
I enjoy your blog.
It takes a different look at things.
If I may presume to be forward, I have given you a THINKING BLOGGER award. Sorry if you already have one:
http://johansennewman.typepad.com/cats_and_jammers_studio/2007/07/thinking-blogge.html