More tissues....

The atmosphere in the school library this past Thursday was somber.... the fifth and sixth grade students are sad that Book Club is coming to and end. The sixth graders will be going to the Junior High and will not have a Book Club there, unless one of the students organizes it themselves.... and they can use books right from the school library. I gave them that idea, and maybe one or two of them will follow it through.

I was overwhelmed with their sadness, and overwhelmed yet again at a fifth grader’s love for a particular series of books.... “Dinotopia.”  This fifth grade boy won a top prize for his grade, and I gave him a gift bag filled with the Dinotopia stories. The look of joy on his face was so heart-warming and joyous that I can guess that it will be this book series that will have him hooked on reading for a very long g time, if not forever.

Just one more book club Thursday to go, on May 10.  We can’t meet next week because the kids are taking tests, and they were not happy about that either. They said they can take the tests any other day, so why did it have to be a Thursday.... which in their minds is Book Club Day.

The fourth graders were not as sad as the two other grades.... they just wanted to get out in the schoolyard to play because the weather was so beautiful. And I wish I had dismissed that grade early, and then spent the rest of the time with the fifth and sixth graders without being interrupted by the rambunctiousness of the fourth graders.  I do not regret my decision to limit next term’s Book Club to just fifth and sixth graders.

This entire term with the 40-plus book club kids has been more satisfying than I can describe. I know I have truly reached at least a dozen of these kids with the belief that the more they read, the further they will go in this world, and if a dozen life-long readers is the end result of this term, then that’s more than the world would have received without The Magic Wand Book Club.

I don’t want this term to end, but it will soon come to a close, and I have already begun collecting books for next term. Life is good. And sometimes it takes a little magic to make it sparkle.

Pass the tissues, please...

At this week's meeting of The Magic Wand Book Club, I gave out the Reading Excellence awards to the fifth and sixth graders. (The fourth graders got their awards last week.)  I have to say that I was surprised at the emotional responses of the girls, especially those in the fifth grade.  I literally had to hand out tissues because they were so sad at the thought of the Book Club coming to an end... we have just two more Thursday meetings and that's it for the term.

I have already spoken to the school principal about hosting the Book Club next term, and I told the students that I would be spending the summer looking for more great books for them. I already have a dozen copies of "To Kill a Mockingbird" for the sixth graders, but I haven't mentioned that to the students.

The fifth grade boy who won a Reading Excellence medal had asked me about books in the 'Dinotopia' series... he had read two of the books and really enjoyed them. That paperback series is no longer in print, but I found the first eight books (in a 22-book series) on the Internet and I ordered them and put them in a gift bag for him. The look on that boy's face when he saw all the 'Dinotopia' stories was just priceless.

A sixth grade girl won the Grand Prize, a full hardcover Harry Potter set of books, and she was just speechless when I announced that, and she tried so hard not to cry but I handed her some tissues anyway, just in case.  Another winner in the fifth grade got a whole set of the "Anne of Green Gables" books, and she just sat there while tears rolled down her cheeks and she clutched her Reading medal in her hands as if she had just won the Olympics.

These students have so very little in that tiny community of theirs, and any little unexpected surprise is like Christmas-on-steroids to them. Surprising them with the reading certificates and medals, and books to read during the summer.... what I thought would be a small delight for them turned into a mega-enormous Christmas-in-April explosion of cheers and tears.

The Magic Wand Book Club... a small idea of mine, or so I thought in the beginning... this has turned into something extremely important to these students, and it has made me realize that such small concepts can turn into huge life-changing experiences.

The Book Club's motto--- "The magic is not in the wand, the magic is in you!" --- that has also expanded to include:  "You can be anything in this world, so be kind."  -and-  "Don't make a mess, make a difference."

Just two more Book Club Thursdays to go... I am going to miss those kids over the summer. Will someone pass the tissues, please....

Eggs Bubba

One of our ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ called me the other day to ask about breakfast restaurants in town. Her sister is visiting from California and they wanted to go out for breakfast and have Eggs Benedict. When I stopped laughing, I asked her if she was serious. You want Eggs Benedict? Here? In this town? Or anywhere near this town?

About the only place open for breakfast is the Denny’s up on the main highway, and in my not-so-humble opinion, I would not eat at a Denny’s if I were starving. The cafes in town here are not open for breakfast, and lunch is served only from eleven till two and everything closes up by three. And Eggs Benedict is definitely not on anyone’s menu around here.

I told my friend that she would be better off driving up to College Station (40 miles away) and going to IHOP... surely, the pancake house should have Eggs Benedict on their menu. (She called them, and they do.)

So all day long, I kept thinking about Eggs Benedict, and the possibility of a Hill Country restaurant having that on their menu. And me being me, I got carried away.... and came to the conclusion that such a menu choice would be called Eggs Bubba up here. The description would be three fried eggs, a side of bacon, a few onion rings, your choice of Texas toast or biscuits or cornbread, with the option of adding hot sauce or jalapeños on top of the eggs. It would be served by an older waitress who calls everyone Darlin’ or Honey and she would be topping off your cup of hot coffee every time she passed by your table.

I told my cousin F up in NY about Eggs Bubba and we sent frantic eMails back and forth that whole afternoon, deciding on the final breakfast options for Eggs Bubba, as stated above. F told me not to forget that the table would be covered in a red and white checked cloth with matching napkins.  No way. I told her that the cafes up here have wooden tables with a big roll of paper towels plopped in the center of the table. Paper towels? Absolutely. F was crushed.

So this is what this particular city girl has come to.... restaurants without tablecloths, no Eggs Benedict on a breakfast menu, and paper towel rolls as a centerpiece. Welcome to the Hill Country.

Books and Bluebonnets and Barn Swallows...

The first term of The Magic Wand Book Club will be coming to a close in mid-May.  I have written out certificates for the students who participated in the Book Club, plus I have Exceptional Reader medals for the best of them. The medals look like Olympic medals, complete with red/white/blue ribbons. The kids will be excited about those, as well as the book-prizes that go along with the medals.

I picked the best two students from each of the grades... 4th, 5th, and 6th, to receive the medals and books.  The top 6th grade prize is a hardcover set of Harry Potter, and I cannot wait to see the expression of the student who has won that.

I have spoken to the principal about next term's book club... I will be eliminating the 4th grade students next term... they are just not focused enough for the book club, and the span between the 4th and 5th and 6th grades is just too great to have good discussions about most of the books. The 5th and 6th grade girls were reading Anne Frank's Diary a few weeks ago... I couldn't give that Diary to the 4th grade girls, so right there was a problem.

This first year for the Book Club was a learning experience, as my husband would call it. I worked out the kinks along the way, and the club was very successful... 46 students signed up, and 36 of them were there every week, only missing the after-school meetings if family issues came up, or if they had to have math or science tutoring.  Next term will be better... and I've assured the principal and the students that I will continue to bring books to the school for as long as I can carry them through the door.

The bluebonnets were spectacular this year... a carpet of blue is behind the barn in the two fields there, and the field in front of the house is covered with bluebonnets and red paint-brushes, with tufts of bright yellow Texas stars here and there. My husband and I walked the entire property this past weekend... I took pictures and just marveled at the sweet aroma of those wildflowers. It was like walking through a cloud of delicious perfume that was soothing, not overwhelming. And then I found out that there is a blue rattlesnake that blends itself right into the bluebonnets... you can hardly see it. Until you step on it, I guess. Fortunately, we didn't see such a snake... and I've already told my husband that from now on, I will view the bluebonnets from the porch, thank you very much.

And the barn swallows.... they have returned and have begun building their nests around the porch. We will let a few of the birds pick out their favorite spots, but we just cannot have too many nests on top of the porch columns this year. The porch has been painted, the columns are clean and bright white, and besides all of that... the nests of eggs and baby birds attract snakes. And we had enough snakes on the porch last summer to last me a lifetime.

Honestly, for as long as we live here, I just cannot get used to the wildlife and creepy crawly slithering things that come up on this property on any given day or night. My cousin F up on Long Island tells me that I need a glass bubble around the entire house and property, and she is so right.