Guest Post by Hope Edelman

by Carol6 Comments
Thanks to Hope Edelman for taking a page in my notebook to share a little about her story today. TAKING THE SHORT WAY HOME When my husband first expressed interest in traveling to Belize, I confused it with Ibiza. I thought he was talking about an island off the coast of Spain. That’s how meager my knowledge was about Central America. After a few days of internet research, however, I learned that Belize is the smallest and least populated country in Central America, tucked between Guatemala and the Yucatan Peninsula; that until 1984 it was known as British Honduras, which is why the national language is English; and that for such a small country it has exceptional cultural diversity, with citizens from an entire rainbow of races and ethnic backgrounds: Mestizos; Mayas;  Creoles; Scots; East Indians; Lebanese; Taiwanese; and Garifunas, who are believed to be descended from 19th-century shipwrecked African slaves. It seemed to be a safe country, and also an interesting one...
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By the Numbers – Guest Post by Larry Sweitzer

by Carol6 Comments
Thanks to Larry Sweitzer for taking a page in my notebook today. By the Numbers Statistics and little known facts are a part of life for an avid baseball fan like me. As the most statistical of sports, baseball’s long and storied history lends itself to be remembered—condensed and reduced to a palatable set of memorable numbers. Leonard Koppett wrote: "Statistics are the lifeblood of baseball." - A Thinking Man's Guide to Baseball (1967) A single stat can become synonymous with a player’s name. Cal Ripken will forever be connected to the number 2,632. You can hardly discuss the great Joe Dimaggio without the number 56 coming up. The number 7 has a special meaning to Nolan Ryan’s pitching career. Sometimes numbers define a player’s career. Some would say that stats, more than anything, determine entry into the Hall of Fame. Others would disagree, saying statistics could never define a player—or the game itself. A set of numbers couldn’t possibly tell the whole story....
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R is for Red

by Carol7 Comments
Vicki of Reading At The Beach hosts A-Z Wednesday. Today's letter is R. I'm going back to one I read in 2007. There are only three books in this series, but I loved all of them. Kooky characters and an out of the usual mystery always draw me in. The Red Hot Empress by Meredith Blevins Annie Szabo returns with another bizarre cast of characters as murder and mayhem ring in the Chinese New Year in San Francisco. Annie Szabo has discovered a miracle: Jimmy Qi, a kid from Chinatown with the power to heal using music. He's dazzling, he's a scoundrel, he's wise, and he makes a great newspaper article. Now everyone wants Jimmy. Feeling responsible for creating San Francisco's latest hot commodity, Annie enlists her mother-in-law, the audacious fortune-teller Madame Mina, to help keep Jimmy safe from his avid pursuers: an evangelist, an ex-hero with a troubled past, a tong society, a CDC doctor, a dolphin fanatic, and an FBI agent...
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Teaser Tuesday

by Carol13 Comments
Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page. Share with us two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page. You also need to share the title of the book that you're getting your "teaser" from...that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given. Please avoid spoilers! My teaser: With that relief, I began to fetch my breath again, and to see things about me, as things really were. Looking toward the sand-hills, I saw the men-servants from out-of-doors, and the fisherman, named Yolland, all running down to us together; and all, having taken the alarm, calling out to know if the girl had been found. -pg. 174, The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Play along. My copy was purchased. I am an Amazon Associate....
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Quest for the Tree Kangaroo by Sy Montgomery

by Carol2 Comments
Quest for the Tree Kangaroo by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop (Suggested reading level: Ages 9-12) This is the third collaboration between Montgomery and Bishop that Amber and I have read. We're huge fans and this book was as great as we expected it to be. The book follows biologist Lisa Dabek and her team of scientists and local guides through the rugged, remote cloud forest of Papua New Guinea in search of the Matschie's tree kangaroo. This elusive, adorable creature is fascinating. The team first has to find and capture the kangaroos and then they can fit them with radio collars to learn more about them. It is certainly not an easy effort, but Dabek's love for the animals shines through, and conservation efforts of the local people are also highlighted. Bishop's photographs capture the expedition in brilliant detail. Stunning close-ups of plants, insects, and birds vie for attention with panoramas of moss-draped trees in the eerie, ancient forest. And the tree...
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