Completely Full Bookshelf

For MMGM, I am recommending The Hundred Dresses  by Eleanor Estes, with illustrations by Louis Slobodkin. Here's the publisher's description: Eleanor Estes’s The Hundred Dresses won a Newbery Honor in 1945 and has never been out of print since. At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn’t and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time it’s too late for apologies. Maddie, one of Wanda’s classmates, ultimately decides that she is "never going to stand by and say nothing again." This powerful, timeless story has been reissued with a new letter from the author’s daughter Helena Estes, and with the Caldecott artist Louis Slobodkin’s original artwork in beautifully restored color. This book has been

For Poetry Sunday, I am recommending "[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]" by E.E. Cummings. I don't usually talk about the poem, but its uniqueness (strange formatting and no capital letters) gives it a perfect flow. Also, the title is in brackets because it is simply the first line of the poem, which has no official title. I hope you enjoy the poem!

For MMGM, I am recommending The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, with illustrations by Jules Feiffer. Here's the publisher's description: Hailed as “a classic. . . . humorous, full of warmth and real invention” (The New Yorker), this beloved story--first published more than fifty ago--introduces readers to Milo and his adventures in the Lands Beyond.  For Milo, everything’s a bore. When a tollbooth mysteriously appears in his room, he drives through only because he’s got nothing better to do. But on the other side, things seem different. Milo visits the Island of Conclusions (you get there by jumping), learns about time from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and even embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason! Somewhere along the way, Milo realizes something astonishing. Life is far from dull. In fact, it’s exciting beyond his wildest dreams. . . . This book is one of my favorites of all time! It is a very unique book, set in a world that ma

For Poetry Sunday, I am recommending "Otherwise" by Jane Kenyon. I hope you enjoy it!

Firstly, here are the results from the poll which ended a few weeks ago: How many books do you want to read this year? 1-25: 0 votes 26-50: 1 vote 51-75: 1 vote 76-100: 0 votes 101-125: 1 vote 126-150: 0 votes 151 or above: 2 votes  Next, for today's MMGM, I am recommending The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech. Here's the publisher's description: In a tiny village high in the Swiss Alps, life for one angel has been the same, well, for as long as she (or he?) can remember. Until Zola arrives, a determined American girl who wears three skirts all at once. For neighbors who have been longtime enemies, children who have been lost, and villagers who have been sleepily living their lives: hold on. Zola and the angel are about to collide. Figs start flying, dogs start arf ing, and the whole village begins to WAKE UP. Zola is a girl with a mission. And our angel has been without one—till now. I started this book yesterday and finished it today (it is

For Poetry Sunday, I am recommending "The Apology" by Lee Upton. I hope you enjoy it!

For MMGM, I am recommending My Life in Pink & Green by Lisa Greenwald. Here's the publisher's description: Twelve-year-old Lucy Desberg is a natural problem-solver. At her family’s struggling pharmacy, she has a line of makeover customers for every school dance and bat mitzvah. But all the makeup tips in the world won’t help save the business. If only she could find a way to make it the center of town again—a place where people want to spend time, like in the old days. Lucy dreams up a solution that could resuscitate the family business and help the environment, too. But will Lucy’s family stop fighting long enough to listen to a seventh-grader? Sometimes you just need a book that has substance, but isn't depressing. This is one of them! The main character, Lucy, lives with her mother and grandmother, who run a dying pharmacy. One of the themes in the book (and its sequels) is how adults often treat kids as being unable to do much. In the book, Luc

For Poetry Sunday, I am recommending TWO POEMS! The first is "The Sadness of Clothes" by Emily Fragos, and the second is "Self-Portrait on the Street of an Unnamed Foreign City" by Jennifer Grotz. I hope you enjoy them!