Sometimes I'm Bombaloo by Rachel Vail

Sometimes I'm Bombaloo by Rachel Vail and illustrated by Yumi Heo was published in 2002 and tells the story of a darling girl named Katie Honors who is a good little girl except for when she is Bombaloo.

I like this book because it shows a child that sometimes our feelings get big and scary and out of control. It shows a child that we can take a time-out until we are not Bombaloo anymore. Katie Honors has a mom who understands that a child needs help to put things back together after being Bombaloo.

The illustrations are fun and use color and design to show Katie's escalating feelings. Three-year old Aria covered her face when Katie became Bombaloo, but she wanted me to keep reading. Three-year old Vincent enjoyed this story and didn't get scared. This book is grandchild approved.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Animagicals: On the Go by Svjetlan Junakovic and Carol Diggory Shields

Animagicals: On the Go by Svjetlan Junakovic and Carol Diggory Shields is a fold out book with twelve riddle rhymes. Published in 1999, Junakovic drew the remarkable illustrations and Shields wrote the poetry. This slim book measures 11 1/2" x 5 1/2".

On the left side of the page is the poem and the part of the drawing. On the right side is a drawing of a vehicle. You read the poem and open the flap to see which animal or insect is being described. Children will have fun guessing which animal will appear.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Mommy? by Maurice Sendak, Arthur Yorinks, and Matthew Reinhart

Mommy?, published in 2006, uses the art of Maurice Sendak, a scenario by Arthur Yorinks, and the paper engineering of Matthew Reinhart to create a darling pop-up book that contains one word on each page until the end of the story and that page contains two words. You can't go wrong with this trio of artists.

Each page contains the work "Mommy" with a baby looking for his mommy. Each page contains a wonderful pop-up and lift the flap pop-up with delightful illustrations of monsters, mummies, wolf-men, vampires, and crazy scientists, until the end of the book when the baby finds his mommy.

My grandchildren love this book as do I. It is a work of art. It is one even the smallest child can remember the words and feel like they are reading. It does need adult supervision in order to save the paper art.

The illustration above shows the pop-up and the fold out opened.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

What's in Your Reading Stack

Today, I realized I had a stack of books either that I'd started reading or that I will be starting soon.

This is my current stack:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee- Matt is reading this at school, so I am reading it with him at home.

2. Everfound by Neal Shusterman - This is the third book in the Skinjacker series. I started the first book last week and am nearly finished with this one. It is a fascinating series about a world for the dead.

3. The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan - This is my current audio book. I love to listen while driving, cooking, cleaning, or getting ready for the day.

4. Sarah's Quilt by Nancy E. Turner - This is our February's book club choice. I haven't started it yet, but I will as soon as I finish Everfound.

5. Beneath by Roland Smith - This is one of my bathtub books. It is a paperback, so there is less to lose if I drop it in the tub. I just started it and am enjoying it so far.

6. The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank by Willy Lindwer - I started this one a few weeks ago, and misplaced it, but I found it again, so now I can finish it. It is interesting so far. The author interviewed people who saw or spent time with Anne Frank after she was taken from the annex. He also tells their stories.

7. Brain Rules by John Medina - not a page turner, but an interesting look at how the brain works. I'm not very far into it yet.

8. Calling the Wind - a collection of short stories from Black authors. The stories so far have been really good.

I generally try to keep my stack at no more than five, but I'm a bit out of control right now.

What does your reading stack look like today?

Surprise NICU Book drive

One of Angie's coworkers shared our blog post about gathering books for the NICU with her sister-in-law who is a Young Women's group leader for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This leader decided to have her Beehives do a book drive for our NICU babies.

Neither Angie (my NICU nurse daughter) or myself knew this was going to happen. The Beehives (12 and 13 year-old girls) from the South Weber 2nd Ward did this as a service project. Nicole Andersen sent the pictures of the girls and the flyers. Angie took pictures of the books and sent them to me. These sweet girls and leaders collected 286 books for our project.

I want to thank all in their ward who donated to this project. Your generous donations will comfort many families in our NICU. I am humbled that you would do this for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 This is the flyer they delivered to the homes in their ward (neighborhood).

These are the amazing young women who donated their time and energy to our project. Thank you so very much. Yes, this did make me cry a little. I always feel a little closer to my own babies who didn't survive pregnancy when others feel compelled to help us. I feel like my little project to honor my babies has reached out and touched so many more people than I had ever hoped that it could. Thank you all again.

Words from their Young Women's leader, Nicole: "So glad we could help! They will be really excited [to be mentioned on this blog]. The girls took about an hour handing out flyers one night and then it took about an hour and a half to collect [the books] and another half hour to go through and make sure they were in good condition. So probably about two and half or three hours total."

Message to these incredible young women: Your service hours will touch the lives of at least 57 families. That is big. Fifty-seven more families will have books to read to their babies while they heal and grow in the NICU. Fifty-seven more babies will receive the gift of literacy because of your service. Thank you from me, Catherine Crosby

People are good.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Round Trip by Ann Jonas

Round Trip by Ann Jonas is a cool concept book published in 1983 and featured on the PBS series Reading Rainbow.

This book has all black and white illustrations. You read the story and when you get to the end, you flip the book upside down to read the trip back. The illustrations are clever and look like something different when flipped upside down.

It begins, "We started out as soon as it was light." This book is both the first and last page of the story. I love a book with a concept especially when it's done well.

Valarie, one of Angie's dear friends, found out that we needed Spanish books, so she ordered a box of books from Barnes and Noble. She operates a book exchange at her local school, and she is a writer. Check out this wonderful article she wrote on how to get grumpy kids to feel better. Wild Rumpus

It's so much fun to open a box of new books. 

 Here is a picture of all seventeen board books she sent us. Thank you so much, Valarie.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne DuMaurier

Daphne  DuMaurier is such a good story teller, and her book My Cousin Rachel kept me riveted wondering what would happen to all the players.

The story begins by describing a hanging that happened when the main character, Phillip, was a boy. DuMaurier builds suspense right away when we learn by the end of this scene that something wicked is coming, only we don't know who will commit the evil.

Phillip's cousin and guardian, Ambrose, marries Rachel late in life. She is a beautiful younger woman who is about ten years older than Phillip. When Ambrose dies mysteriously, Phillip hates and blames Rachel, until she comes to his Cornwall estate and enchants him.

The questions of who is good and who is evil will haunt the reader long after the story is finished. As always, DuMaurier makes the reader question what they think they know and leaves questions unanswered even at the end of the story. This novel is classic Gothic DuMaurier. I found myself frustrated with Phillip and with Rachel, but I couldn't stop listening to the story. The narrator of the audio version was wonderful.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson

The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson published in 2013 is the first memoir I've read that was written by a Holocaust survivor who was saved because of Oskar Schindler. Leon was fifteen but looked like he was ten when he was sent to a concentration camp along with his family. His father and older brother had been working for Schindler, but the rest of his family was in danger. Could Schindler get their paperwork done in time to save them all? 

This first person autobiography was published the year the author died, and his story is an important one. I found it interesting how he viewed racial discrimination and Jim Crow laws when he went to the Southern United States for basic training into the US military. He said, "Near the end of the training, I was transferred to a base outside Atlanta, Georgia. One weekend we received passes to to into the city. After boarding the shuttle to town, I wen to my favorite spot in the back to catch some shut-eye. I was startled when the driver stopped the bus and walked back to me. 'You can't sit there,' he said. 'The back seats are for the Negroes. You have to move to the front of the bus.' His words hit me like a hard slap. Suddenly I flashed to Krakow when the Nazis ordered us Jews to the back of the bus (before they forbade us from traveling on public transportation altogether). The context was very different, but nonetheless it almost made my head explode. Why would something like this exist in America? I had mistakenly believed that such discrimination was unique to Jews suffering under Nazi oppression. Now I discovered that there was inequality and prejudice in this country that I had already come to love" (190-191).

This book was written for young readers ages 9 to 14. The font is a bit larger and is widely spaced with plenty of white space on the page making this a good hi/low book even though the lexile is 1000L. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We are in need of Spanish books at this time, especially board books. We can always use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the book you donate. 

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman was published in 2013 and is classic Gaiman storytelling with all the suspense and creepiness of Coraline.

Gaiman brings his magic to life once again in this fairy tale for adults. Here is the blurb from Goodreads.com: "Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

"Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what."

Gaiman has the ability to make the man remember what it is like to not only be a seven year-old boy, but to become that child once again. One reason his stories have so much creep factor is that he makes the characters come alive and makes the story almost too real. I could feel the young boy's anxiety, his fear, and his struggle to make sense of the things that didn't make sense.

I listened to the audio version that was performed by Neil Gaiman, and it made the book even better. He has a rich voice and the story seemed to become a movie as I listened. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We are in need of Spanish books at this time, especially board books. We can always use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I will make a book plate with their name for the book you donate. 

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lingren

The Children of Noisy Village written by Astrid Lingren and illustrated by Ilon Wikland was published in 1961. I enjoyed this little story set in Sweden. Lingren relates the life of a farm child during a year. She uses her same fun writing style in this realistic fiction that she uses in Pippi Longstockings. 

Noisy village is three farm houses set close together, and it is noisy because there are so many children. The story is sweet and fun. In it I learned about snow lanterns, and now I have to make one as soon as it snows. I thought of my Swedish grandfather while I read this book and wondered if he had some of these same experiences. 

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We are in need of Spanish books at this time, especially board books. We can always use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the book you donate. 

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

Little Witch by Anna Elizabeth Bennett

This book is an older chapter book that is still darling. Little Witch was published in 1953. It was written by Anna Elizabeth Bennett (I love her name) and illustrated by Helen Stone. The pictures are perfect for the story. I have an original copy that was published on the most glorious rich, creamy, thick paper. This book was reprinted to celebrate its 60th anniversary.

Minikin Snickasnee is the daughter of a mean witch who turns neighborhood children into potted plants. Her mother doesn't allow her to go to school. Minikin has never had a bath or washed her clothing. One day she decides to sneak out and go to school, and here her problems get worse before things get straightened out.

This book would make a fun read aloud. Minikin Snickasnee is such a fun name to say. The story is just the right amount of scary combined with humor and friendships and fun for your early reader. I found it predictable but in a good way for a young reader. This book has 128 pages of widely spaced text and darling pictures.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We are in need of Spanish books at this time, especially board books. We can always use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the book you donate. 

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

My Life as a Fifth-Grade Comedian by Elizabeth Levy

Although My Life as a Fifth-Grade Comedian by Elizabeth Levy was published in 1997, it still works twenty years later. 

Bobby is the class clown and is constantly getting into trouble. His principal has threatened to send him to the School for Intervention. His older brother also got into trouble a lot, and he has been kicked out of school and out of their house for bad behavior. Bobby doesn't know when to stop joking and often takes jokes too far. He isn't turning in his school work and is struggling to get along with his dad. 

This book look like it would be fluff, from the blurb on the back to the cover, but it is a lot more complex than that. Bobby's dad is often a jerk - one who doesn't mean to be a jerk, but there he is anyway. Bobby and his brother used to laugh with his dad often, but now his dad has taken his humor on a mean sarcastic bend, and Bobby may not be too far behind him. 

With the help of a good teacher, Bobby is assigned to create a school laugh off to save his grade and to be able to stay in his school. Will Bobby's efforts help his family and himself be able to communicate more effectively or are they all lost causes?

I think some students will see themselves in this book. I think others will see their relationship with their parents in this middle-grade book. This book is thoughtful and worth reading.

Click this Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We are in need of Spanish books at this time, especially board books. We can always use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the book you donate. 

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

The Private Thoughts of Amelia E. Rye by Bonnie Shimko

The Private Thoughts of Amelia E. Rye by Bonnie Shimko was published in 2010.

Amelia's grandpa says that all a person needs is one true friend in life, but until Fancy comes along to be that friend, Amelia is friendless. Her mother was not happy to have had another baby late in life and dresses Amelia in her older by twenty years sister's clothing that has been stored for all those years. When Fancy comes along, Amelia meets the first black person she has ever met. Fancy has all the things that Amelia wants: nice clothing, a loving mother, a safe home.

Fancy helps Amelia gain courage to stand up against bullies and bigots. Her friendship with Fancy helps her discover her place in the world and in her family.

This is a touching story of friendships and dysfunction. It is a story of forgiveness and love. It also shows the importance of being that one person for someone. My goal this year is to try to reach out to be that one person who makes someone's day a little better.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you. 

2017 Year-End NICU Book Project Totals

I started collecting books in 2014 for the NICU where my daughter works to honor the lives of my own twins and also of two grandchildren who did not survive pregnancy. It took me a year to gather 150 books sorted into packets of 5 books each. I delivered them in September of 2015. I had only planned on making this one donation, but the books were so needed by the parents, that I kept on gathering books. 

Other people started donating books so we could attempt to make sure every baby went home with a packet of books. Parents read these books during their often lengthy stays, helping their baby's brains and creating bonding moments full of love. 

In 2016, eight other donors sent books for our project. 2016 totals. We gathered a total of 1,123 books in 2016. 

In 2017, we had over 30 donors to our project. Some chose to donate anonymously, and many people donated to honor the memory of one of our NICU babies, Liam Heintz. We collected a total of 1,618 books. This means that 323 babies will be read to in the NICU and will go home with their very first collection of books. 

Thank you to the following people and to those who donated anonymously. 

• Michelle Schwendiman 
• Friends of Liam Heintz and Miranda Heintz
• Angie Moore
• Mikiya Herring
• Judson Duryea
• Leslie
• Janice Crosby 
• Mary Miller
• Aime Hsieh
• Dani Phipps
• Diane Lund
• Lori Russell
• Kaytie Ellis
• Alysen Jefferies
• Cayli and Brandon Johnson
• Caitie Jolley
• Gail Jeriosh
• Rolean Peterson
• Brandy Peterson
• Christy Blair
• Sharon Hall
• Angela Jensen
• Emily Goldman
• Deb Malloy
• Janelle Topik
• Breitling Corts
• Several Anonymous Donors

I thank each and every one you. I know that reading to babies makes a difference in their educational future. When the packages of books began arriving to honor Liam, I cried for the love that was sent to honor his life. Each book that is donated means so much to me and to what began as a small gesture to honor my own babies. Our project has grown a lot. Now nearly every baby in my daughter's NICU receives a packet of books. I hope that in 2018, every single baby will receive books before they go home. 

Here are pictures of our last two donations of 2017. Breitling Corts's mom and Brandon and Cayli heard that we were in desperate need of Spanish books, so they came to the rescue. 

Breitling is one Angie's scouts. He was so kind to bring these bilingual Spanish and English books for the NICU babies. 

Here are the bilingual books that Brandon and Cayli brought over. It is so important for children to be read to in their first language. Thank you, Brandon, Cayli, and Breitling for helping make this possible.

Link to our NICU book registry if you'd like to donate books to babies in the newborn intensive care unit so their parents can read to them while they grow. You can also donate gently used books to our project by sending them to me or to Angie. Email me for a mailing address. We can use both English and Spanish books. If you have a graduate of the NICU, or if you have a baby whose life you would like to honor by donating books to this project, let me know, and I can make a book plate with their name for the books you donate.

Read to a child today even if that child is you.