Oh, the Thinks You Can Think

There is nothing that heralds the arrival of Spring like the sound of the spring peepers. I enjoyed listening to their chorus when it was warm enough a couple weeks ago to open the windows and hear them singing in the evening from the creek in the backyard. But frogs are often hard to see - especially now that the weather has turned cold again!

To get a wonderful close up peek at spring peepers and other frogs, take a look at Nic Bishop's book Frogs. It's filled with beautiful color photographs of a variety of frogs and fascinating facts about them, too. Read more »

It is 1936 in the depths of the Great Depression and Abilene Tucker has been sent by her wandering father to live in the dying town of Manifest, Kansas. She spends the summer making friends and trying to discover the truth about the town, its colorful inhabitants, and her father's past. The mystery revolves around the years 1917-18 when America was fighting in World War I and a deadly outbreak of influenza swept the world. Abilene and her buddies delve into old newspapers, find hidden clues, and uncover secrets through a diviner's stories to reveal the extraordinary friendship between two young men, Ned and Jinx. Abilene is disappointed when she believes there is no trace of her father in Manifest but for the first time in her life, she begins to think of a place as home.
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I find it hard to pick a favorite Dr. Seuss story... I enjoy both the early reader chapter books and the longer stories that I remember my parents reading to me as a child: Bartholomew and the Oobleck, Yertle the Turtle, and even What Was I Scared Of? (probably because those pale green pants were a little creepy). But on a cold, cold wet day like today, I'd have to say that my favorite Dr. Seuss story is The Cat in the Hat, Seuss's first book for beginner readers.

What's your favorite Dr. Seuss story? Let us know. And share it with a friend to help celebrate Read Across America Day on March 2. This is Dr. Seuss's (Theodor Geisel's) birthday, and a day that the National Education Association honors by calling for every child to be reading in the company of a caring adult. We'll be celebrating on Saturday, March 5th with some Seusspicious events. Join us!

If you thought this winter in Bloomington was a fierce one, you may feel it was downright balmy after reading about the winter the Revolutionary War soldiers experienced at Valley Forge in 1777-1778.

In Forge, Laurie Halse Anderson continues the compelling story she started in her award-winning novel Chains which describes the involvement of African American slaves in the Revolutionary War. Chains was told from the perspective of Isabel, a slave who spies for the rebels during the start of the war. She meets Curzon, a slave whose owner required him to enlist as a soldier and fight in the war in his place, with the promise that Curzon would become free when the enlistment time expired.
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