Boobs and Poop

I'm back! I took a break, and then an even longer break. I lost my confidence and I guess my voice too. In reviewing my last post - from March! - I can see that my thinking was not as sharp or clear as I'd like. I have a lot to say but am really nervous about saying it or writing it. The truth is that as much as I seem to want to do this, blogging is very hard for me. I have in my recent past really hurt people's feelings with my writing. I have also taken some personal risks and wrote things that later embarrassed me. Worst of all, I've both hurt other people and embarrassed myself at the same time with my writing. Sometimes I guess I'm fearful I'll make the same mistakes again... or if I'm really honest about it, I feel as though I don't deserve the chance to write about whatever I want to now because of the mistakes I made then. There was also an incident. A short, brief conversation. Not even a conversation... my mother made a passing commen...

by Alysson Foti Bourque;  illustrated by Chiara Civati Buy it on Amazon! Every Thursday the kids at Alycat’s school get to eat dessert after lunch. Alycat is so excited to choose from ice cream, fudge popsicles and popsicles with cream in the middle. Dessert is all she can talk about at breakfast on Thursday morning; she even daydreams about dessert on the bus on the way to school. Alycat is so distracted by her excitement, she misses the bell and is late getting to the cafeteria for lunch. By the time she makes it through the lunch line, all of the ice cream, fudge popsicles and popsicles with cream in the middle are gone. Alycat is so disappointed she refuses another dessert from the younger kitten’s dessert choices. She says she won’t have any dessert at all as tears stream down her face. Her friend Spotty tells her not to worry so much because it’s the same ice cream every week and nothing exciting. She is surprised that Spotty doesn’t look forward to desse...

I joined a virtual book tour as a reviewer, and I've had a blast so far! I'd determined not to do product reviews when I first started the blog (almost a year ago!). The idea of a book review never occurred to me before, but it is definitely something I plan to do again. You can follow the virtual book tour and read other reviews this week too! So, here it is! My first children's book review: THE LIL’ DEFENDERS by Jaimie Hope illustrated by Jose Julian Ramirez Rivas Get it on Amazon ! Brother and sister Hunter and Holly discover they have superhero powers while playing baseball in the park with two friends. The four children are surprised by the discovery and rush from the park to Hunter and Holly’s Aunt Jaimie. Aunt Jaimie asks: “Didn’t your parents ever tell you we’re superhero families?” The children are at first wary but ultimately excited to learn this. Aunt J explains that the children have “suddenly come into [their] powers” because “someone or something mus...