Review: Coral Snakes by Linda George

Coral Snakes by Linda George (Suggested reading level: Grades 3-5) I've mentioned before that Amber (11) is an animal lover and she picked this book up on a recent trip to the library. We read it together before bed the other evening. It's a decent book, but not outstanding. It covers a lot of information about coral snakes, from where they live and how they hunt to how deadly their venom is. One thing that I did find interesting is that can't open their mouths super-wide like other snakes, so they can't eat prey larger than their own heads. There's a lot of facts here, but it's rather dry and can be repetitious in spots. The photos didn't impress me either. It's definitely not worth going out of your way to find. Animals and the Environment: Snakes 48 pages Published 1998 by Capstone 2½ out of 5 stars Purchase through Amazon. Our copy was borrowed from the library and the above is my honest opinion....
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Another teaser from In the Woods

It was the unfairness of it that knocked the breath out of me. We'll see, Jamie's mother had said, don't worry about it; and we had believed her and stopped worrying. No grown-up had ever betrayed us before, not about something that mattered like this, and I couldn't take it in. We had lived that whole summer trusting that we had forever. (pg. 277, In the Woods by Tana French) Like I mentioned yesterday, I'm still reading this one. Good, good book, but it's taking a while. Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Play along. The rules are easy and I only cheated a little. Grab your current read, open to a random page, and give us two teaser sentences. Remember, no spoilers. I received my copy through PaperbackSwap, and the above is my honest opinion.....
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Muppet Peter Pan by Grace Randolph and Amy Mebberson

Muppet Peter Pan by Grace Randolph, Amy Mebberson, and other very talented people (Suggested Reading Level: Grades 4 and up) I love the Muppets, as just about anyone who knows me will tell you. I have almost all the various movies and DVDs of The Muppet Show, I have at least two Muppet t-shirts, have worn out two Kermit purses, have a Muppets in Space playset with Miss Piggy, a Kermit puppet, a Gonzo Pez dispenser, not to mention my Kermit hat that totally embarrasses Amber every time I wear it. Wow, when I list it like that it seems a little crazy. Anyway, so when I saw this book at The Written Word, I had to read it with Amber. This graphic novel was just a blast. It's based on Peter Pan, but takes plenty of liberties with the story as you can imagine. Kermit is Peter Pan, selfish, but still cute. Miss Piggy is a bossy, karate master Piggytink, who is...
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Chicken-Peanut Soup

Chicken-Peanut Soup I found this recipe at Rachael Ray's site. I was a little nervous. To be honest I didn't think Amber (11) would like it. She eats soup, but pretty much just the standards - chicken noodle, tomato, potato and that's about it. I was surprised though. She actually ate some of it. The recipe makes four servings, so David took the leftovers to work the next day. Ingredients: One 32-ounce container chicken broth 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound) 2 red potatoes with skin, cut into small cubes 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 1 red or green chile, with seeds, finely chopped (I actually took the seeds out. I'm a wuss when it comes to spicy.) ½ green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped ½ cup chunky peanut butter (I used creamy because it's what we had and, while I like peanut butter, I'm not actually a...
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