Audiobooks

I love - love love love - to listen to audiobooks while I'm cleaning and cooking.

But so often this is how it goes...

Everyone is outside playing (and on this day I mean Leah, Hannah & two cousins - Elaina & Julia). I'm starting dinner and I think to myself: ohh. now is a good moment.

So I quickly plug my phone into the external speakers I keep in the kitchen and hit play.

*split second passes*

Hannah: MOMMY!

sigh. pause the book.

Answer Hannah's request.

Back to cooking.. wait a few minutes... push play again.

*about 2 minutes pass* (That was a good long time, right!?!?)

Leah: MOOOOMMMMMM!

Pause. Yes?

Elaina: I'm thristy. 

Sigh. pause the book.

You get the idea. 

So this generally happens four or five times before I yell at everyone. It makes me insane. It's like my pushing play triggers my children's request. It's worse than going to the bathroom!

Still I enjoy it. I get to do it the most when everyone is asleep or if Drew takes the girls to the park or some place.

Besides - the only thing worse than my listening to an audiobook or going to the bathroom? Actually sitting down and opening a book to read. That makes everyone go completely INSANE. Even Drew can't handle it. He has openly admitted he suddenly feels like he needs to compete for my attention with the book.

Oy. Some people's kids and husbands, eh?

Good thing I love them!

Children's Book Review

Except no mayhem or turkey murder!

Leah has hundreds of books but some are just more fun to read outloud than others!

These are two of my favorites:


The Barnyard dance one is in square dancing rhythm & you seriously can't read it out loud with out sing songing it and kind of bobbing. It's so fun to say "promenade two by two!"

Babycakes is a fantastic book too. Right away I started calling Leah babycakes and my sister I believe is the one who bought Leah the book. Before I'd ever seen it I used to say "babycakes, babycakes rah rah rah. babycakes, babycakes sis boom bah" and the whole book is written in the exact same rhythm. You can do actions with it too - kiss their toes, kiss their nose - and it ends with goes nigh' night. So it's a great bed time one.

Fun books!

(and no turkey murders!)

Children's Book Review - Take 2

You may or may not remember my previous book review - written last year - you should read that first.

You'd think I had learned my lesson about previewing holiday thanksgiving books.

But I have not.

Perhaps two adorable preschoolers (Leah & her cousin Elaina) were running about the children's section of the library pulling books and handing them to me and I did not bother to look. And then perhaps as we were getting Leah to bed last night she asks to read three of these books...

And maybe - just maybe - ANOTHER book was about not having turkey for Thanksgiving.

FOR THE LOVE OF PETE.

Okay fine. At least this one didn't have an ax and sobbing children but it did talk about plucking and stuffing and how scared the turkey was - there were descriptions of the process - which I did not read out loud. I said something like "Oh they want to get me" and kept on reading.

I will say that if you ARE looking for a vegetarian thanksgiving book - I'd go with this one as opposed to the other. :)

The two pilgrim boys are singing this song:

"We'll pluck him, and stuff him,
and cook him up right.
We'll gobble, gobble turkey
for dinner tonight!"

And look at this review I found:

“Two pilgrim brothers set off to hunt up a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. "We'll pluck him, and stuff him, /​ and cook him up right. /​ We'll gobble, gobble turkey /​ for dinner tonight!" Their song forms a refrain throughout, but the smaller pilgrim brother begins to have second thoughts. He most certainly sees a terrified turkey a number of times, but he always leads his brother in another direction. Meanwhile, Turkey tries hiding in a tree, a gopher hole and a pond-with disastrous results. Then small pilgrim brother helps Turkey hide in a woodpile, and the two boys take home a huge pumpkin for dinner instead. Vegetarian storytellers now have an excellent companion to Dav Pilkey's Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving (1990) for their cruelty-free holiday storytimes. Wickstrom's high-spirited hunting brothers and the most expressive turkey in recent memory are a perfect match for Archer's sweet hide-and-seek story. Even the most carnivorous listeners will enjoy this yummy addition to any collection.”

I can't believe it even mentions the last book I reviewed on this very topic.

What is with my luck? You know there are TONS of thanksgiving books for kids in the world. Probably even with perfectly innocent people eating turkey.

The message from this book? Let the turkeys live.

I wonder if I can accidentally check out one next year?

And as you can see - we still go to the library every Friday for more books. :)

I have another one we haven't read called Turkey Bowl. There's people playing football on the front. It might be safe...

Wierd Book Room

Weird Book Room on www.abebooks.com

Go check out some of these books - that's some good chuckles. :)

My favorite so far: The Great Pantyhose Crafts Book

Enjoy!

Children's Book Review

Leah & I got this book from the library last Friday (we go to the library every Friday for a fresh supply of books). It was in a "holiday book" display.

As expected it's written in a chant like 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It's absolutely an adorable beginning.

There are 8 children on a school bus riding to a turkey farm. They get there and there are 8 tiny turkeys and a farmer named Mack Nuggett which cracked me up. Leah was thoroughly enjoying my reading of it because I was hamming up the chant, of course.

And then sudden I hit this stanza...

Then somebody spotted
An ax by the door,
And she asked Farmer Nuggett
What it was for.

With a blink of his eye
And a twist of his head,
The old farmer told
A grim tale of dread:

"Tonight," said Mack Nuggett,
"These feathery beasts
Will be chopped up and roasted
For Thanksgiving feasts."

After this the children start crying - in the pictures it's full on sobbing. The farmer & teacher run to a well to get them a drink and when they come back the children are calm. And you see they each have a turkey stuffed up their shirt. They steal the turkeys and take them home.

The book says they each have a turkey as a guest for tday. And "feasted on veggies with jelly and toast, and everyone was thankful (The turkeys were most!)."

Seriously, I don't need a children's book that is going to prompted my child to ask me to explain what happens with an ax and a turkey!!!

Fascinatingly on the author's website it says:

"I don't consider this book to be a story about vegetarianism... to me, it's just a silly story about love and friendship. If this book has any 'message', it is perhaps that following your heart is often more important than following the rules."

It also states that he wasn't a vegetarian when he wrote the book but he is now a vegan.

Whatever. Not about vegetarianism? Give me a break. It points out that the bus was filled with love on the way home. Ya know, because they STOLE turkeys to save the turkey's lives.

Whatever. We only read it the once & then I put it up so she wouldn't even flip through and see the picture of the little girl holding an ax and asking what it's for!

Frankly, even if you ARE a vegetarian or vegan, it's so not appropriate to scare little kids with stories of turkey murders!

Sheesh!

Just so I'm clear - I'm not so much recommending this one ;)

Twilight Spoof

This is funny stuff.

Of course, if you haven't read Twilight - it will not be funny.

Big Stone Gap - updated

I've been reading a series - correction I've read a series lol - the last couple of days. The first books is called Big Stone Gap. Novels written by Adriana Trigiani.

Big Stone Gap
Big Cherry Holler
Milk Glass Moon
Back to Big Stone Gap

Apparently for quite a while it was called the Big Stone Gap Trilogy but in 2006 she wrote the 4th book.

They are not long, are easy reading but have left me feeling very introspective & thoughtful. I like that about a book. And those people are ALIVE to me. She weaves a good story.

I've had the first book for a long time on CD. I've listened to it probably 6 or 8 times over the last year in my car. It just finally occurred to me to see if perhaps Adriana had written more books. I was beyond excited to discover that it was a series! I went to the library the next day & found the other three books were all there. I read all three in the next day & a half.

I will say, if you have the chance to listen to them as audio books - do it. Adriana reads them herself. Her voice is fabulous and hearing Ave Marie's thoughts in that way - from the author - is a treat. Although I've read all the books now I'm still going to get them all on CD so I can keep the whole set in the car.

If you read them do come back & let me know!

Oh! And if you go to her website (click here) you can read about each book. Don't skip ahead though ;) Theres also an 'audio download' link for each book. You can hear a little of her voice.

A list of her books

(There ya go, Leah ;) )