Melissa Wiley's Blog, page 201

You Know Your Child’s Growing Up in the Internet Age When…

…she thinks baby talk sounds like “google ga-ga.”

One Day in Elizabethan England

While I was working on my book review master list, I came across this post about a book that, four years later, remains a family favorite. I read it to our Shakespeare Club, too, last year when I was launching the group, and that bunch of nine- to twelve-year-olds (at the time) guffawed all the way through it.

One Day in Elizabethan England by G. B. Kirtland, illustrated by Jerome Snyder.

Zounds! It’s a pity this book, originally published in 1962, went out of print. I’m writing about it anyway be

My New Favorite Word

Rilla is standing on a stool, flicking the light on and off, using, so she tells me, “the light flitch.”

Who Needs a Magna-Doodle?

Jane just entertained Rilla for fifteen minutes by writing letters and names with her finger…IN THE DUST ON OUR TELEVISION SCREEN.

Speaking of Recipes…

Someone got to my blog the other day after googling “Melissa Wiley tortilla soup.” Do you think she added my secret ingredient?

Pizza Dough Recipe Wanted

I need to use up some mozzarella and was thinking about making a pizza tonight. A Google search for “pizza dough” turns up almost 900,000 hits. I want something tried and true—and EASY—so I thought I’d ask you lovely Bonny Glen readers. You’ve never steered me wrong before! Got a favorite recipe?

Thanks!

Book Review Master List

I’ve begun to compile links to my book reviews on one page for easy access. With four years’ worth of recommendations in the archives, this will be a long term project. So far I’ve got about four months’ worth of review on the page. Got a long way to go, but if you’d like a sneak peek, here it is.

Call Me Al

Halfway through lunch, Beanie lets her book fall to the table. She sighs contentedly.

“I LOVE Einstein,” she announces.

She’s reading our small collection of Childhood of Famous Americans biographies, one by one. So far: Amelia Earhart, Sacagawea, Albert Einstein.

“Do you know why I like these books so much, Mommy?” she asks. “Because when I finish one, I feel like I know the person in real life. I feel like Albert Einstein and I are real friends.”

Finished!

Spent much of this afternoon rocking a sleeping baby and finishing The Mysterious Benedict Society. Loved loved loved it. But then you knew that already.

We’ve already got the sequel on reserve at the library.

Funny aside: Scott was tickled that the book’s cool cover art was done by Carson Ellis, the same person who did the jacket art for his Decemberists CD. Connections!

Booknotes: The Mysterious Benedict Society

I’m halfway through The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, and already I know this is a keeper. Figuratively speaking, I mean, because the copy I’m reading doesn’t belong to us. It’s the kind of book you want to own a copy of, the kind the kids are going to fight over when they grow up and start claiming favorites from these overcrowded shelves. So good, this book. I can recommend it wholeheartedly even before I read the second half.

It’s a mystery, full of puzzles, loaded with q