Oh, Glorious Snowday
Today my school district had a snow day. My husband and children only had 2 hours late since only half our county seemed affected. So, with only one of four children home ill (you can’t have everything), I was able to play Civilization 3 on the computer, edit the hidden school wiki, contact my Mary Kay customers, and R-E-A-D!!! I love the Tamora Pierce series for middle school students like The Circle of Magic and The Circle Opens. During midwinter I picked up a copy of Terrier: Book One Beka Cooper (A Tortall Legend). 
Written entirely in the dynamic of first-person journals, this unique title captured me for 3 days. I don’t know why it took me so long to read it as it was only about 580 pages total. I was enjoying the process, the characters, and the plot. I enjoyed it so much that as soon as I finished all the extras including acknowledgements in the back of the book, I immediately turned back to the front and read the entire book again in 5 hours. I enjoyed it even more the second time and today I tackled it for a third time. I am so excited about this series and personally cannot wait for all the others to be out and in my hands. Go here to read everything else that Tamora is writing. Bloodhound (Book Two) is due in 2007. Elkhound (Book Three) is scheduled for 2008. I laughed as I read some of the Amazon reviews including one that mentioned Beka’s referring to her body parts as “peaches.” Having just read a Publisher’s Weekly article that basically scolded school librarians from negatively commenting on this year’s Newbery winner’s use of a word that sends red flags in every librarians mind, I wondered if my initial opinion of Terrier as being most appropriate for Grades 5-8 instead of my K-4 crowd was a form of self-censorship. I do wish that more of the Newbery titles were appropriate for my grades 3-4 instead of tending towards the middle school group. I deeply respect the members who serve on the award committees, but I am long past being the star-struckked newbie who blindly ordered award winners before reading them.
