Sunday, October 21, 2007

Time For Another Week & Challenge Completed

Here it is, another weekend over. Tomorrow I actually start at my new school so I have those first day nerves all over again. Training is officially over. But I'm sure things will be fine, I'm really not too worried. I know I'll start the day in good spirits seeing as both LSU and The Saints came away victorious this weekend!! We also have another cool front coming through and we've been warned that we may actually need light jackets for this one in the afternoon! How cool (literally :p)

This weekend was tons of fun. It was such a blast following everyone's progress for Dewey's 24 hour reading challenge. Congratulations to all of the participants! Everyone blew me away with the amount of time spent reading and the amount of blogging that they did! I'm definitely in next year. I decided to have my own little readathon and got 3 books read this weekend. I read Because of Winn Dixie and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane for the Four Legged Friends Challenge and started Bud, Not Buddy for the Newbery Challenge yesterday. I finished Bud, Not Buddy today which officially ends the Newbery Challenge for me!

Bud, Not Buddy was a great little book. It's the story of a young boy who's in foster care after his mother's death. All of his belongings fit into a suitcase wrapped in twine and include a picture of his mother, some rocks with dates written on them, a blanket, and a photo of a jazz band with a man that he believes to be his father in it. After having horrible luck in his new foster home, Bud runs away in the hopes of finding his father, hoping to finally find acceptance. It was a very endearing story and I was reminded of many of the kids that I've worked with while reading this one. A nice ending to the challenge.

I went hunting all over the place today for a copy of Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree after Debi suggested it during the 24 hour Challenge last night but came up empty handed. I'd really like to read that one on Halloween night. So I ordered it on Amazon today in the hopes that it will get here on time. I also got Kate DiCamillo's new picture book, Great Joy and Jan Siegel's Prospero's Children. So I have a new package of books to look forward to sometime soon ;)

Hope everyone has a great week!

16 comments:

Becky said...

Chris:

You should DEFINITELY make plans to read Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis. (I've read Bud, Not Buddy and The Watsons Go To Birmingham...several years ago so I haven't blogged about the but...) His newest book is just so so so so so good. :) Hopefully, your book(s) will arrive on time! It generally takes the free shipping about a week to arrive. So you should have it on time. :) It's ordering things used that can take a bit of time. I hope you enjoy Great Joy. I have my copy, but I haven't read it yet. I'll get to it soon though! I didn't want to rush into Christmas before Halloween was over.

Bookfool said...

Snuck in a book order, eh? Cool. I can't think of anything more fun than opening a box of books.

So, now I know why the bloggy world was so quiet, today!! I'd forgotten all about Dewey's 24-hour readathon. I would have joined in, if it didn't happen to be swim season (I'm always a wreck by Sunday). Looks like you had an awfully fun day.

Best of luck for tomorrow. My trick for getting through things that make me nervous is to remind myself just how fast time flies: "It'll be over in no time." I say that to myself and I visualize, say, the end of the day and how glad I'll be to have it over with. You'd be amazed at how helpful that is!!

chrisa511 said...

Becky, You know, I saw Elijah of Buxton tonight at Barnes & Noble and thought about picking it up! I didn't though :/ But now I know I should...I'm the same with Great Joy...don't want to rush into Christmas, but I suspect that I won't be able to wait, lol! It's a DiCamillo AND it's the same artist from Edward Tulane...I'm so excited about that one!

Bookfool, Yeah...It seems like I'm always sneaking in another book order, lol. I tried to just go out and buy two of them but I couldn't find them.

The readathon was so much fun to watch...or follow...I'm definitely doing this next year! It was great to watch the highs and lows. You should see how many pages some of these people read!

Thanks for the tips for getting through tomorrow :) They'll definitely help. You're right...it'll be a wonderful thing to have the day over with tomorrow and know that I made it through! After that, it won't be new anymore!

DesLily said...

What? ANOTHER book order? Gee..that's surprising...not! lol

It sounds like soon you will own ALL of DiCamillo's books! I am surprised that more adults don't read YA books for theirself.. it's a nice break to read fantasy without always having wars in them.

Ana S. said...

Good luck with your first day at the new school! Not that you need it :P I'm sure the kids you'll be working with will love you.

Wasn't the readathon awesome? I'm definitely in next year as well. I'm also going to try and hunt down The Halloween Tree after reading Debi's posts.

Carl V. Anderson said...

Sounds like a great weekend. I may have to do that 24 hour reading challenge next year as well, or just try it sometime randomly to see what it would be like. Its been awhile since I've stayed up for a full 24 hour period.

Glad you had a good weekend. Best wishes for your start today, I'm sure it will be an exciting day.

Debi said...

I'm anxious to hear how your "first day" goes! Good luck!

Glad to hear your teams came through for you this weekend. My alma mater (Penn State) ended up coming through for me, but I'm pretty convinced that the Dolphins are looking for a perfect losing season to along with their perfect winning season of so long ago.

I do so hope The Halloween Tree arrives in time! I was just telling Annie that I think that's a book I could read each and every year on Halloween. Hope you enjoy it!

chrisa511 said...

Deslily, yeah, yeah...lol, I'm full of surprises, what can I say! I love YA books, they're some of my favorites. I agree that more adults should read them. They're such fun stories! So imaginitive!

Nymeth, I'm at my lunch break and loving my school! The kids are great and the faculty are all incredible..so the worries are out the window :)

The Readathon was great...it'll be so much fun to be a reader next year. I had a blast reading everyone's posts! Glad to see you'll be reading The Halloween Tree too! (assuming you can find a copy ;) Hope you have better luck finding it than me!

Carl, It's been a great day at work so far. Everyone's great and the kids are really fun. The 24 hour readathon looked like so much fun. I don't know how successful I'd be at reading for 24 hours straight but it'll be fun to try! My eyes may not like the idea all that much :/

Debi, It was an AMAZING football weekend! I wish every weekend was this great...who knows, maybe the rest of the season will be...yeah right!

I'm so excited about the Halloween Tree! I really hope it comes in time!

chrisa511 said...

Deslily, yeah, yeah...lol, I'm full of surprises, what can I say! I love YA books, they're some of my favorites. I agree that more adults should read them. They're such fun stories! So imaginitive!

Nymeth, I'm at my lunch break and loving my school! The kids are great and the faculty are all incredible..so the worries are out the window :)

The Readathon was great...it'll be so much fun to be a reader next year. I had a blast reading everyone's posts! Glad to see you'll be reading The Halloween Tree too! (assuming you can find a copy ;) Hope you have better luck finding it than me!

Carl, It's been a great day at work so far. Everyone's great and the kids are really fun. The 24 hour readathon looked like so much fun. I don't know how successful I'd be at reading for 24 hours straight but it'll be fun to try! My eyes may not like the idea all that much :/

Debi, It was an AMAZING football weekend! I wish every weekend was this great...who knows, maybe the rest of the season will be...yeah right!

I'm so excited about the Halloween Tree! I really hope it comes in time!

Stephanie said...

I wish I had the time for a 24-hour-Readathon!! But alas....too many things to do!!

I loved the movie of Winn-Dixie!! It was just so charming and sweet. I'm sure the book is probably better.

chrisa511 said...

Stephanie, You need to do like Debi did and ship your kids away for the weekend when the 24 hour readathon comes around ;)

I'm looking forward to the Winn-Dixie movie...though the book was great! I doubt if it will surpass it, but I'm sure it's a fun movie.

Anonymous said...

how was your first day? i hope it was good! its so exciting!

3 books in a weekend?! wow! that really is something.

chrisa511 said...

JP, First day was excellent! Much better than I expected. I was nervous as hell, but everyone was really nice and my nerves were settled right away. Looking forward to it now.

3 books in a weekend most certainly isn't the norm! I was just inspired by all these readathon readers and they were all YA books, so they were easy to read. Lots of fun!

Ladytink_534 said...

The Halloween Tree was great (movie was too)! I just finished up my posts on them the other day.

Bellezza said...

I'm halfway through the Halloween Tree right now; I'm so on a Bradbury kick! Plus, I just noticed a new release of his (two novellas never published before) at our library: Now and Forever, Somewhere a Band Is Playing and Leviathan '99. I guess all three novellas are in this one book. Anyway, it'll be fun to discuss Halloween Tree once we both finish it.

p.s. It's fun to see your 'old' picture again!

chrisa511 said...

Bellezza, I'm glad to see so many people reading Bradbury! His stuff is addicting, isn't it? Once you start, you can't stop! I can't wait to get The Halloween Tree, I love the cover! Very spooky...

I'm very temperamental when it comes to pictures, I'm sure it'll be something else in a couple of weeks :p