Hey, gang, it's me, simple old Carl this time. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I sure did!!! My sister invited me to come over to Memphis, where we grew up. She's an awesome cook and I earned a new name, the Great and Powerful STOMACHMAN!! We also saw the Memphis Zoo, 
which we went to as kids, and the Enchanted Forest, a Christmas exhibit at the Memphis Pink Palace Museum, 
whcih we also saw as kids. We all enjoyed ourselves, but it's a looooong drive there and I'm glad to be out of the car!
I didn't get to do much reading but did hear a terrific audiobook (or book on CD) called The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden, read by Rene Aubernojois. I'd never read the book but heard the story was good. It sure was! A cricket named Chester, who lives in the Connecticut countryside, accidntally gets trapped under 3 roast beef sandwiches in a picnic basket. When he fianlly escapes, he finds himself in the 42nd St. stop in the Times Square subway station. There he's adopted as a pet by Mario, a boy whose family runs a newstand there. Chester also makes friends with Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat, two streetwise New York animals living in the subway. Mario thinks the cricket might be good luck, which his family needs because the newstand is losing money fast, but his Mama is convinced that Chester is a jinx (bad luck)--which Chester and his firends nearly prove when they almost the newstand on fire! But Chester has a speciall talent that might make 
Mario's family rich and famous--but will Mario's Mama throw him out first?? As I said, this is a great story and not just some cutesy animal tale. And Rene Auberjonois (who was Odo on Deep Space Nine) does an absolutely awesome job of reading it--not just reading it, but getting all the voices of the characters just right! Plus there are sound effects and music with the reading, so you've got a really good time here. Just the thing if you're on a car trip or like to listen to books. We also have a comment and review. The comment is from Warnell:
Hello--long time reader, first time commenter, thanks for taking my call. I am a baby librarian (in a public school-first year) and found a very cool site I wanted to pass along (if you haven't already seen it). ReadKiddoRead.com is a site designed by Jame Patterson because he is the parent of a boy who is (was) a reluctant reader. There is a page with interviews (Rick Riordan and Jeff Kinney) and LOTS of booklists. I thought it was right up your alley!
Thanks for the call, Warnell. This site really is good. Take a look here. It's aimed at parents and teachers, but you guys would find a lot of good stuff there, especially under the Page Turners and Advanced Readers. There's also a section on books for boys--take a look here. I'll add it to our links.
There's also a new review from Lord Vader (aka Mikey):
I just finished Star Wars:the Clone Wars by Tracey West. I really loved this book. I thought it was funny when Anakin got stuck with a Padawan and he didn't want one. I like when they foil Count Dooku again. I didn't get to see the movie so reading this was great.
Fantastic! I haven't seen the movie either but I'd like to check it out or rent it. Do you watch the series on Cartoon Network?
Well, thanks for sticking with me for such a long post, guys!!
Carl
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