Trick or Treat for the Book Club students...

As of this afternoon, 45 students have signed up for The Magic Wand Book Club.  Five new students this week, five new last week, and with those ten new students, I would say that maybe three of them are book-lovers. The rest, in my opinion, have signed up because their friends are members.

Enough is enough, and 45 students is enough.  I spoke to the principal this afternoon after I dismissed the students, and asked her if she would mind making a formal announcement that membership in the Book Club is now closed. Everyone who has signed up until this afternoon has been accepted into the club, and gladly, but no new students will be allowed to join now. I think the majority of the boys have signed up because of the carved wood wands, but I will be holding those wands until they have proven to me that they are really interested in books and reading.

Four students volunteered to tell the rest of the group about the books they have been reading, and I was pleasantly surprised that they were so willing.  One of the girls talked about a novel she has been reading since last week's meeting... she couldn't tell us too much about the story, so I asked her what page she was up to in that book. Very proudly, she said "Page 2."  All of the kids had a good laugh, and I suggested to the student that she read a little more of the book and tell us all about it next Thursday.

I had trick-or-treat bags for each of the students today, filled with small gifts, most of them pertaining to Halloween. I had the bags separated into two groups, boys and girls, and with my "Ladies first!" rule, the girls got to pick their gifts before the boys (who weren't too happy about that rule, by the way).  Most of the boys have no idea about being "gentlemen," and I doubt they even know the meaning of that word yet. (The students are all in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades.)

The students also got to take their pick of brownies in the shapes of bats and pumpkins, and Jack-O-Lantern shaped cookies filled with peach jam. (Baked by 'Little Debbie' -- the kids loved them.) Once again, I let the girls choose before the boys, followed by groans and moans from the boys.

More than a few of the girls gave me hugs today, thanking me for the books and the goodies, and those moments alone were worth all the extra work that went into this week's after-school Halloween Book Club party.

Boo! to the Magic Wand Book Club

This afternoon was the third meeting of The Magic Wand Book Club... and I now have 40 students signed up. Totally amazing... especially when I was initially hoping to get at least a dozen interested in joining the group.

I brought in Halloween books and mystery stories for the kids today... separated on tables for each of the grades (4th, 5th, and 6th).  I will do the same for next Thursday, and ask the students to choose their books just based on the covers alone, without reading the summaries on the fly-leaf or the back covers.

Some of the students who originally signed up were not there today, so I'm wondering if those few kids have already decided to un-join the group, after hearing that they really have to read the books they choose and then tell the rest of the group a little bit about the story.

They all seem excited about the little decorated notebooks that they are using for the Book Journals. I see them diligently writing the titles and authors into those journals, and at the end of the term there will be 'real' Book Journals for those students who really get into the record-keeping part of their book adventures.

I brought in one of my favorite memoirs today ("Life Is So Good" by George Dawson) to share with the students.  I read a few key paragraphs from the book and explained a little bit about Mr. Dawson's life... grandson and great-grandson of slaves, he didn't learn how to read until he was 98, and he was so excited about finally being able to read that he agreed to write his life story, along with the help of Richard Glaubman, an elementary school teacher.  Mr. Dawson's #1 rule was "Make a difference, just make a difference in this world... do whatever you can for someone else."  The students were as quiet as mice when I was telling them about Mr. Dawson, and one little girl asked me if she could borrow that book and take it home to read.  I explained to her that it was my one and only copy from my own library, but I would get another copy of the book and give that one to her to read, and I would make it available for anyone else in the Book Club also.  I have already found and bought a good copy of "Life Is So Good" on eBay, and I will indeed bring it to the school for that student to read.

That little girl asking to read Mr. Dawson's book was certainly the highlight of today's Book Club for me. Although, if you asked the students... four kids got to pick out their hand-carved wood 'magic' wands today, and I'm sure that was the high spot of the afternoon for those students.

What a great day.... I can hardly wait till next week... I have lots of Halloween surprises for those kids!

Friday the 13th

I never did believe in lucky or unlucky numbers, and I am not a superstitious person.  And if anything at all needs to be said about numbers, then I would say that yesterday was a lucky-number day because more students signed up for The Magic Wand Book Club.... there are now 35 students in the Book Club.  I was, and still am, pleasantly surprised.  And now I am sort of hoping that the total number of students does not get any higher because our group is tolerable and manageable just as it is.

I can already tell who the real book-kids are.... they are respectful of the school’s library where we meet, they are careful with the books and bookmarks, and they are following my suggestions for their Book Journals. I think a few of the students may have joined just because their friends did, or because they have nothing else to do after school.  Those students will not be getting their ‘magic’ wands anytime soon, at least until I know for sure that they will stay with the group for the entire term, and make a worthwhile effort with the book selection.

Four of the students got their wands yesterday, based on the books they chose to read last week, and also based on their behavior during the book club hour. The kids were thrilled to be the first four, everyone clapped for them after they chose their wands, and we all said the club’s motto out loud and together—- “The magic is not in the wand... the magic is in me!”  It was a stunning moment, to be sure.

Corey drove up here today to pick up her kitten Sadie.  After a week of kitty-sitting, the TV room seems empty without that four-pound ball of fluff, and I did like having a little cat here who reminded me of my AngelBoy cat of years ago... but Savannah was clearly not happy with having the kitten here.  Sweet Pea was fine with the kitten when the original shock wore off after the first two days, but I do believe that our Sweet Pea prefers to be the one and only cat.

All is back to normal.... Savannah is on her sofa in the TV room and Sweet Pea is on my lap.... and there aren’t seventeen kitten toys scattered on the carpeting.  But.... Corey and Sadie may come back up here for the Halloween party.

Book Club Day

This afternoon was the first meeting of The Magic Wand Book Club at a local elementary school.  I got there an hour before the last class ended and set up the tables in the school library... books and bookmarks, journals and pens, 'I Love Reading' buttons and bookplates.... and a box filled with little chocolate bars for the students.

As I was setting up the book tables, I had a moment of panic and started to wonder how many, if any, students from the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades would show up for my after-school program. I shouldn't have worried... the book-loving students came running into the library and their eyes lit up as if they had been invited to a party. They carefully selected their books, they loved all the bookmarks... they were surprised by the buttons and quickly pinned them on their shirts, and the carved wands just sent them over-the-edge. It felt like a Christmas morning as I watched all those young faces break out into such smiles.

Twenty-six students signed up today for the Book Club.... and that was before I announced that they could keep the books they chose, and before I showed them the carved wood 'magic' wands they would receive as they earned magic points with the books they were choosing to read.  The kids were thrilled with the book journals (colorful notebooks with lined pages) and the pens with different colors of ink to match the designs on their journals.  Most of the students are girls, but seven boys did join and they immediately picked out the books on sports, cars, animals, and Texas.

I could not have been happier with the enthusiasm of the students... everyone who joined the Book Club seemed very interested in reading, and at least half of the students asked if they could pick out two books instead of one.  I have started a notebook listing the students' names and their book choices, and the magic wands will be given out according to the subject matter of the books they choose, and how well they keep up with the book journals.

The principal popped in to see us and seemed pleased with the book selections and the wands. One of the teachers at that school is a neighbor here, and she helped the kids pick out their journals and pens and buttons while I wrote down the students' names and the titles of the books they chose. The hour went by so quickly... and the children seemed very happy with The Magic Wand Book Club.

As for me.... it was a Happy Happy Happy day... and I am looking forward to a good many terms as the Book Club Lady at that school.   I have long ago come to the conclusion that when a person is consciously aware of every moment in their day-to-day life, every day becomes a lesson. Today's lesson was that when you do something nice for someone else, disagreeable or bad moments become an insignificant and minuscule blip in the universe.

Not-so-quiet country life...

We used to have such a serene community here. Every once in a while, one of the neighbors would have target-shooting on their property, but when another neighbor called to ask "Is there a war going on?" the gun-shooting neighbor stopped the target practice. Nice neighbors.

But now we have the ignorant too-rich-with-new-money neighbors across the road. Loud cars and off-road vehicles coming and going day and night. They set up a target-shooting space on their property and at least once a week, there is a war going on, with everything from pistols to semi-automatic weapons.  These particular neighbors also love fireworks... the loudest and biggest ones.... and they don't wait for July 4th.  The fireworks are at random, without warning. Like tonight at 9:30 when everything was so quiet. And like April 27th of last year when they shot off M-80s before dark which sent our Savannah running off into the woods somewhere for a dozen days of heartbreak.

I hate those people over there with an unrelenting and unforgiving passion. And that's saying a lot, because I make it a point not to judge, not to condemn, and not ever to hate. But these people are an exception to my rules, mainly because they are so consistently inconsiderate and unnecessarily neglectful and disrespectful.

I have tried since last year to just ignore everything that goes on over there. It's like that property across the road no longer exists for me, along with the people living there.  It would be my greatest wish to see moving trucks rolling up their driveway to take away all the people in that house and all of their belongings, including the loud cars and the mega-loud fireworks and guns.  Especially the fireworks and the guns.

Heaven help them all if I ever find a genie in a bottle.

A tiny house guest...

We have Corey's kitten (Sadie) here for the week. Corey had to go out of town and she asked me if I would kitty-sit for her baby cat.  I had truly forgotten just how tiny and fragile a kitten can be. Our own Sweet Pea looks like a cat on steroids next to teeny-tiny Sadie. 

It has been a logistical nightmare trying to keep Sadie safe here, being that our Savannah thinks the kitten is some sort of toy that her 75-pound self can play with at will.  Savannah plays with Sweet Pea as if that cat is a strong little puppy, and Sweet Pea is smart enough to smack Savannah on her nose when she gets too rough. However, with Sadie being so small, she couldn't even reach Savannah's nose if she were standing on a kitten-sized ladder. So the key is to keep Savannah on a short leash when she is in the TV room with Sadie and Sweet Pea.

I've been keeping the two cats in the TV room, with the door closed. Savannah is missing her naps on the sofa in there, and Sweet Pea misses his window-perch in the kitchen and his favorite chair in the breakfast room.  This afternoon, I put Sadie in the TV room with the door closed, and brought Savannah and Sweet Pea into the kitchen and breakfast room. Savannah settled down on her blanket, but within minutes (after looking out the kitchen window to see if anything interesting was happening out on the porch) Sweet Pea was meowing by the TV room door, wanting to go back in there with Sadie.

Corey's allergies are still bothering her, and I've suggested a few solutions... the most important one has already been taken care of. The litter in Sadie's litter-box was horrible... it smelled like an overdose of air-freshener that had gone rancid... and that's just the odor of the clean litter, which was so strong that three-pound Sadie smelled just like the litter.  I dumped all of that out, washed Sadie's litter-box, and re-filled it with the light-weight Tidy Cat litter that I use for Sweet Pea. Now Sadie smells like a kitten, not a box of litter.

In all the years we've known Corey, she has come to our homes and played with the cats we've had... Mickey used to sit on her head and play with her hair, ShadowBaby untied the laces of Corey's sneakers, Rusty sat on her lap and looked at Corey upside-down, and AngelBoy smirked from a distance and Corey and I always thought that my blue-eyed cat was telling Corey that he was the number-one child of the household, not her.

Sadie is the first cat Corey has adopted, and she quickly became Sadie's one and only person... they play together, eat together, sleep together.... maybe just too much togetherness for Corey and her allergies. I am hoping that the change in the brand of litter, and not allowing Sadie to sleep on the same pillow, will somehow alleviate the allergy symptoms when she gets back from her out-of-town trip.

We really don't need a second cat now.... the relationship between Savannah and Sweet Pea is perfect... neither one wants to give up their status here and share the TV room, or be banned from the kitchen and breakfast room so Sadie won't be in solitary confinement behind a closed door.

Sadie will be here for the week... I am hoping that Corey misses this kitten so much that she drives up here as soon as she gets off the plane in Houston.... before I get too attached to this cute little blue-eyed kitten.