Savannah Hendricks's Blog, page 8

The Crap I Get, Doesn’t Matter

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I’m not today’s woman.

I was never yesterday’s woman either.

I’m not popular, nor are the things I do. The ways I think.

The past is the same as the future, only now I’m alright.

Alright with being unpopular.

I embrace it with gratitude.

It’s evident in my words, my home, my love, and my heart.

Don’t feel sorry for me, feel sorry for you. You’re missing out.

Give Your Dog More Than a Treat

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It’s easy and convenient to simply hand your dog a treat. I agree.

But what your dog needs and craves to have is his/her mind worked.

Over the years I have learned new skills with each dog, usually with grand amounts of trial and error.

I’ve been playing the FIND IT game for years, but often become lazy and resort back to “here just take the treat.”

All my dogs have loved this game and it’s easy as can be. I’ve done it a few different ways, sometimes with small boxes outside, but usually inside as a simpler set up.

FIND IT is simply putting treats in locations the dog can get to, but has to use their nose to find because he can’t see them. I place my dog in a command, PLACE, hide the treats, then release him with the command he has come to understand as game on, hence FIND IT! I repeat Find It until he has found all the treats, signaling that he has found them all, or he will keep looking for hours.

A Short History of the Girl Next Door ~ a short book review

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Author Jared Reck has a lot to live up to after his outstanding debt young adult novel. While I cannot wait…honestly, CANNOT, wait to read his future books, I need to share with you how amazing his current YA is/was. Terminology, whatever.

A Short History of the Girl Next Door takes your heart places. It made me laugh, and it even caused me to tear up (I don’t care that you know, whatever). This story is real, fresh, and meaningful.

I don’t want to give anything away, but once you start reading you will find yourself reaching for it at any break you can sneak. You will read it as soon as you wake up and before your eyes become too heavy.

The writing is sharp and sarcastic. The story is powerful, the characters honest.

Please, read this story even if you are not a teenager (lame sentence, I don’t care).

5/5 stars.

What is Home?

Growing up, when my father moved us from California to Washington, I thought the world had ended. Moving was nothing new, we did that here and there, but we never went too far from the last location.

Washington welcomed me with chicken pox and food poisoning. Thankfully, not at the same time. Besides that, Washington felt like a glove that didn’t fit (Dear O.J….). And, it was a completely different environment. As a child when it rained in California, we had recess inside. In Washington they let you play in the rain?! They had never heard of such a thing as “canceling recess.” In California, fire and earthquake drills meant you sat outside on the grass for nearly an hour. Washington had you out and back in under ten minutes. (You didn’t have time to look for four leaf clovers!!)

As an adult, moving to Arizona felt like the closest thing to coming home as I could get.

It had been too many years to count when I finally went “home” at the beginning of this year. But once I got California, something odd happened. It didn’t feel any different than any other place to me, it didn’t feel like I went home. What had happened?

I visited my mom’s home (since my parents divorced) from my childhood and also visited her grave site. Those moments were magical. Yet, the second I left that location I was a fish out of water. I visited the beach, and although dearly missed, it didn’t feel the same. Maybe because I was no longer the same.

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I know for some home is a feeling, not necessarily a place. I agree.

Funny thing is, I’ve come to understand a different home. A place I never thought I would consider home. I also grew to learn that home is a feeling you can have when you are with a person. And that, is the best home anyone can get ever have.

Best Picture Book of 2018 for Writers

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I know you are thinking…what is that, a typo? No.

Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings (2018, Random House) is an amazing book about rejections. I mean about being rejected…

Let me start over…

Can I Be Your Dog is about a dog trying to find a home.

It’s also about rejections.

Arfy, the dog mails out letters asking those in his neighborhood if he can be their dog. One letter in particular was stolen from an agent. I’m most certain.

Okay, maybe not, but it sure seemed like it.

Can I Be Your Dog, an amazing picture book for all ages, especially writers.

Picture Books to Encourage Children

For me a picture book must teach something, but not be thrown in the readers’ face. In fact, I like all books to teach the reader something important, even if abstract. Here are a few new release picture books that I was impressed with.

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A CHANCE? by Kobi Yamada, illustrations by Mae Besom – I enjoyed the illustrations as they captured the main character and his emotions with a mix of color. This story is for any age.

TINY AND THE BIG DIG by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illustrations by Matt Myers – This had a nice surprise ending that children will absolutely love!! A story of never giving up, even when others tell you to stop. Interestingly, it was not well received on Goodreads.

MIGHTY TUG by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, illustrations by David Mottram – This story is busy indeed, with some rhyming text. The story follows a tiny tug boat and showcases all it can do, even though small. Sadly, unless you are a brand new parent, this story has been done before, several times.

A COOKED-UP FAIRY TALE by Penny Parker Klostermann, illustrations by Ben Mantle – Parents, teachers and caregivers will enjoy this story with its play on well known fairy tales. This story showcases the main character’s ability to keep trying and not give up, even if it is not working right now. It also reminds kids to be different because it might just lead to a happily ever after.

Top 5 Things Your Dog Hates (with pictures)

Dogs are like people, they have likes and dislikes. I thought it would be important to emphasize the five things dogs hate the most. This way new dog owners have a leg up with their next family pet. I’ve included photos so there is no confusion.

1. Dogs hate comfortable beds.

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2. Dogs hate being close to people and especially don’t like napping on them.

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3. Dogs hate peanut butter, so never let them lick the lid.

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4. Dog hate fruits and vegetables, and run the other way when you have a carrot.

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5. Dogs hate exercise, mostly walks and fetch, anything adventurous. So make sure never to take them anywhere they can do these things.

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Thank you for stopping by, I hope you learned something new about what dogs hate.

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City – poem

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Wind kisses the chimes.

Unable to cover the sound of tires.

Gaps in between,

when my eyes close.

It is silent.

Before a distant hum grows and passes.

To hear nothing but chimes,

a dream that lasts longer than in between.

The Parachute

The other day, I drove past a group of school children playing parachute. It took everything I had not to pull over, run across the field and beg them to let me play. Okay, so while I wanted to, I also didn’t want the cops called on me for chasing up to a bunch of kids.

In school I was not liked, as in I was not a welcomed friend. I was an outcast, for whatever reason, I don’t remember. Maybe it was my clothes, or my personality, I cannot say now, or then.

When it came to group activities in school I was always the last picked. At times other kids were even instructed to pick me. Talk about embarrassing. So going P.E. was my ultimate fear, and not because of the uniforms.

It must have been about 4th or 5th grade when I was introduced to the parachute game. When Mr. Clark pulled the parachute out of the multicolored bag I was in full wonderment of what would happen next.

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about let me explain. The parachute was gigantic to a eight year old, especially one as short as me. It had handles all around it, enough for everyone, so no one was left out, including me. Everyone had to work together and there was zero room to exclude anyone, everyone was equal because they had to be. The parachute games only worked if everyone participated.

Every time the parachute came out, we played the same games, and I loved a routine. Mr. Clark would throw a bunch of Nerf balls on top and we all had to shake up and down in unison to get them to fly as high as they would go. Then Mr. Clark would call your name and another student and you had to run and switch places. We would also lift it up and then get under it, sitting on our handle as the center stayed up in the air and the colors filtered all around.

Yet, my most favorite was when you got to lay in the the middle, on your back, and all the kids would lower it up and down as the colors appeared to explode around you like a sky full of stars.

So, driving past these kids and that big, colorful parachute caused me to smile. I hoped that any kids feeling like I did were able to fit in, even if only for thirty minutes.

Inside a Bilingual Picture Book

Recently I had the delight of Ginger Mom Reads reviewing the bilingual edition of Nonnie and I. And Dani over at Perspective of a Writer commented that seeing the inside of the book (to get a feel for what it a bilingual layout looks like) would be great. Alas!

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When my publisher announced that there would be a Spanish and bilingual edition I was overjoyed. Yet, it was not as easy as it might sound to just “make a book that way.”

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My publisher spent a few months trying to get the layout right so that both the English and Spanish text could appear without covering up too many of the illustrations. At one point we all thought it could not happen. Nonnie and I has a rather high word count for a picture book, about 670!! (Most picture books are under 500)

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I figured others might also have the same question as Dani. So there you go, a look at three different editions