Here’s the Latest!
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What to Read After the Eclipse
The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel is about the wives of the Mercury Seven astronauts finding their voice as they transformed from military wives to celebrities during the great American space race! I loved how they supported each other through this exciting and dangerous time. Here’s the setup: “As America’s Mercury Seven astronauts were…
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Planning Birthdays
I start planning for birthdays a couple of months beforehand. First, I figure out the date of the party (my husband likes to have the party the Saturday AFTER the actual birthday). I usually send family a save-the-date text. Then, I book the space and any other rentals. This year our girl wanted an inflatable…
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Building Positive Relationships While Teaching Virtuallly
It’s important to build positive relationships while teaching, but especially important while teaching virtually. Host a Zoom Coffee at the beginning of the semester. Tell students to bring your favorite (school appropriate) beverage and be prepared to introduce yourself. Use the time to briefly go over the course, your syllabus/ pacing guide, and expectations. You…
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Fearless Martha by Sheila Ingle
Fearless Martha by Sheila Ingle was a great read! Definitely read this book in print, because the illustrations are wonderful. They were drawn by John Ingle, Sheila’s husband. Fearless Martha begins with a brief forward, and ends with a glossary explaining colonial-era words the reader may not be familiar with. Set during the American Revolution,…
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A Historical Fiction Book to Read in the Spring
A spring historical fiction book that sticks out to me is The Lavender Garden by Lucinda Riley. This is a worthy WWII historical fiction novel intertwined with a present-day storyline. Let me know what you think!
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The Wartime Book Club by Kate Thompson.
I loved Kate Thompson’s earlier book, The Little Wartime Library, but The Wartime Book Club was even better! (See my review of The Little Wartime Library here). If you liked The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, you must read this inspirational tale. The heaviness of occupied…
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If You Get Behind in Your Online Class, here are the two steps you need to take.
Sometimes when students get behind in their online classes, they become overwhelmed and stop working. They just give up. One student told me, “I feel like just doing an assignment won’t make a difference in my grade.” While one assignment may not make much of a difference, getting started will break the ice and help…
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The Lindbergh Nanny
The Lindbergh Nanny by Mariah Fredericks, a historical fiction novel, reads like a thriller–even though you probably know the ending. This story of baby Lindbergh’s kidnapping is told from the perspective of Betty Gow, the baby’s nurse. From the beginning of the book, you get the sense that she might be an unreliable narrator (which…
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Yesterday’s Tides by Roseanna M. White
Yesterday’s Tides features a family owned and operated inn on Ocracoke as a character throughout this dual timeline story. The inn and its family weather literal and figurative storms, and wartime with grace. Evie, the main character of the World War 2 timeline, fashioned jewelry and artwork from found pieces of sea glass, all the…
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My Reading Life Lately and a TBR Spreadsheet
Right now I’m listening to All My Knotted Up Life by Beth Moore. Beth Moore narrates the audiobook, and reads section based on the earlier years in a more Arkansas twang, depicting how she would have sounded in that time. I love that. This seems to be a huge two weeks in publishing- Embers in…