How to use this Page

 ”And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?
It came without ribbons. It came without tags.
It came without packages,boxes or bags.

 And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store?

 What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?”

Our beloved John Martz keeps hitting these strips out of the park. Merry Christmas, everyone!

johnmartz:

From the Globe and Mail, December 24, 2011.

This is an odds and ends day! Lots of illness in my family, so I’m just trying to hang in there and get my 750 words written today.

Independent Bookstores Get Branded eBook Reader

IndieBound Mobile APP (only for Android right now, but soon for iOS) was released this week. It is a branded ebook reader, The IndieBound Reader™, that allows you to order shop local bookstores’ websites and purchase books. Read more here.

Children’s Book Character Costumes

Oliver is available to visit your school.

Nominations for Top Writing Blogs

Write To Done is having its “Nominate Your Favorite Writing Blog: 6th Annual Top 10 Blogs for Writers Contest”. Would you nominate Fiction Notes for this contest? Or, nominate your favorite blog?

Here’s how:

• Leave a comment with Darcy Pattison’s Fiction Notes at http://www.darcypattison.com. (Cut and paste, if it helps.)
• You must include a comment on why Fiction Notes deserves to be in the Top 10 Blogs for Writers, or the nomination doesn’t count.

DEADLINE: December 10, 2011.
Yes, I need you to nominate this blog, because to be considered, a a blog must be nominated more than once and the more the merrier. Hey–thanks. I appreciate each and every one of you.

NEW EBOOK Available on Nook Kindle PDF Now an iBook

Tweet

You know what the best thing about having interns is? You can get them to do your work for you have the privilege of teaching them what you know, and watching them grow professionally. This week, we bring you a special Linked Up, written by publicity interns extraordinaire, Alexandra McGinn and Hanna Oldsman. Be sure to check back next week for my (awesome/hilarious) Q & A with them.

I think I may want to move to Japan and make pizza. [Reuters]

The Good News: Thanksgiving isn’t a reason to break up. The Bad News: Christmas comes shortly after Thanksgiving. [Popfi]

I’m more of a Garamond type of girl myself. [Not Cot]

If you’re still in a candy coma from Halloween it’s time to let the goods go.

The Shining’s not so scary in Lego form. [Flickr]

Obama the Grinch Steals Christmas In Tea Party Picture Book [Gawker]

Commute via holograph? Yes please! [Wired]

C the difference? [Virtual Linguist]

Van Gogh would have bought an iPad. [BBC]

Which literary character is a Facebook addict? [Salon]

Reviewed by Amy M. O’Quinn for the National Writing for Children Center

Title: How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Written and Illustrated by: Dr. Seuss
Hardback: 64 pages
Ages: 4-8
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (October 12, 1957)
ISBN-10: 0394800796
ISBN-13: 978-0394800790

While perhaps not a classic in the traditional sense of the word, How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss, is definitely a beloved Christmas book in modern culture. How many of us haven’t enjoyed the story of the mean old Grinch and his nasty plans to steal Christmas from the residents of Who-ville? And how about little Cindy Lou Who? And, of course, the signature illustrations by Dr. Seuss are familiar to us all!

In the rhyming style of Dr. Seuss, this book tells about a stingy soul who hates Christmas and despises anything at all that brings holiday joy and cheer to others. So he (the Grinch) comes up with a spiteful plan to take all the gifts, decorations, Christmas trees, and food from the happy people of Who-ville. He dresses as Santa, transforms his dog, Max, into a ‘reindeer’, hitches him up to a ramshackle sleigh and heads to Who-ville. In the cover of darkness, he goes down the chimney of each home and steals anything and everything to do with Christmas. He doesn’t even leave crumbs big enough for a mouse!

In one home, however, little Cindy Lou Who wakes up and asks the Grinch why he’s taking all their Christmas. The mean old Grinch even deceives the child, and he tells her he’s taking the tree to fix a broken light. What a bitter, sly, critter he is! However, he doesn’t care as he hauls all ‘the presents, the ribbons, the wrappings, the tags, the tinsel, the trimmings, and trappings’…and even the logs from the fireplaces up the side of Mt. Crumpit! He thinks he’s stolen Christmas from all the Whos!

But suddenly he hears something and pauses! ‘Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, was singing! Without any presents at all! He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME! Somehow or other, it came just the same!’ The Grinch is confused.

Then the Grinch has a revelation! “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas…perhaps….means a little bit more!” And at that moment, as the residents of Who-ville will say ‘the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day!’ So he brings everything back and ends up celebrating Christmas with the residents of Who-ville!

In a nonsensical way, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, really pegs the true meaning of the season. It’s not the presents, the decorations, the special food, or the Christmas tree that matters. It’s the heart! So for a special treat, be sure to grab this book off the shelf to share with your family this holiday season.

********

Amy M. O’Quinn is a pastor’s wife and former schoolteacher-turned-homeschool mom of six. She is also a freelance writer who enjoys jotting down ideas around the fringes of family life. She specializes in non-fiction, and her work has been published or acquired by magazines including Jack and Jill, US Kids, Guideposts for Kids, Learning Through History Magazine, Highlights, GEORGIA Magazine, Homeschooling Today, International Gymnast, etc. She is also a product/curriculum/book reviewer for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and a regular columnist for TEACH Magazine. The O’Quinns live on the family farm in rural south Georgia. You can find Amy’s blog, Ponderings From Picket Fence Cottage, at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/picketfencemom.