School Days Kinda Womp

The day did not start out well, Esme is teething and ONLY wants me and she wanted me to hold her all night long. She didn’t want to wake up this morning either. Phoebe was wonderful until she realized she had to go to school today and then her stomach hurt. It hurt so much that she did not eat breakfast or even drink chocolate milk. Phoebe always wants chocolate milk. She was fine until the stoplight before her school came into view. She just said “I don’t want to go to school” and had big tears welling up in her eyes. I think it was because they were sincere tears and not tantrum driven, but I couldn’t hold back my own tears. So I told her we should pray and she agreed. We prayed for courage and strength, for Phoebe to be a good listener and to have fun playing with her friends, an all-around good day. Praying helped, because she had stopped crying and tried to be brave as we walked into her school, she gave her favorite teacher, Miss Beth a small wave and Miss Beth told her she was so glad to see her and that she was such a big girl and then that they were going to get all of her classmates together and have a birthday party for one of the little boys! There are few things in life that delight Phoebe as much as a birthday party. I knew that God had heard our prayer and knew of our need even before we did and I am thankful for little boys and cupcakes. I left a screaming Esme with Michelle with instructions about Tylenol and Orajel. I called my hubby to tell him about the morning drop off, so he would not be surprised about anything when he picked them up in the afternoon. God’s providence did not stop with a birthday party, but continued with a happenchance meeting with my Pastor’s wife and words of wisdom she spoke into me that I really needed. It didn’t even end with that meeting, a few hours later the wonderful aforementioned Michelle stopped by to tell me that Esme had stopped crying when I left and that a little Orajel and she had been a super happy baby. Thank you, God for knowing my limits and meeting me there.

Peter Nimble and His Fantasic Eyes

I know this is Wednesday and still no Kate Morten. I'm sorry that I've pooped on your day, but the good news is that I am going to tell you about one of the best books I've read this year. Yep, this YEAR.

I could not hold it in...

 Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes

by Jonathan Auxier

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic

"Now, for those of you who know anything about blind children, you are aware that they make the very best thieves. As you can well imagine, blind children have incredible senses of smell, and they can tell what lies behind a locked door- be it fine cloth, gold, or peanut brittle- at fifty paces. Moreover, their fingers are so small and nimble that they can slip right "Now, for those of you who know anything about blind children, you are aware that they make the very best thieves. As you can well imagine, blind children have incredible senses of smell, and they can tell what lies behind a locked door- be it fine cloth, gold, or peanut brittle- at fifty paces. Moreover, their fingers are so small and nimble that they can slip right through keyholes, and their ears so keen that they can hear the faint clicks and clacks of every moving part inside even the most complicated lock. Of course, the age of great thievery has long since passed;today there are few child-thieves left, blind or otherwise. At one time, however, the world was simply thick with them. This is the story of the greatest thief who ever lived. His name, as you've probably guessed, is Peter Nimble."

-Goodreads

 I am a member on NetGalley and as I was checking out the YA (young adult) offerings, I saw this cover and just kept going back to it. It has been sitting around on my Kindle for over a month now and I have no idea why I didn't read it before! This book makes me feel like I'm ten again and I'm reading underneath the covers with a flashlight at one o'clock in the morning. I smiled for the entire book and even attempted to read some of the less gruesome parts to my 2 year old, it didn't have pictures so she didn't go for it.

Peter Nimble was found in a basket floating in the ocean with a raven who had presumably pecked out his eyes, he was taken to shore, named and left to fend for himself. He taught himself how to steal food to survive and Mr. Seamus found him when he was quite small and expended his thieving knowledge. Mr. Seamus is a jerk and not above child labor and abuse. Through extraordinary circumstances he finds Mr. Pound and a mysterious box that Peter steals, inside the box are six eggs and inside the eggs are three sets of eyes made out of gold, onyx and emerald. The eyes each have a different purpose and the gold eyes transport him to the island where Mr. Pound and his friend Mr. Cake live, along with a hybrid horse/cat/man knight errant that was cursed by a witch. Mr. Cake gives Peter a message in a bottle with a plea for help from the Forgotten Kingdom that has disappeared. Peter makes some friend and enemies and a few mistakes, but he does eventually save the day with the help of some friends. He realizes that his thieving skills are an assist and finds a new family.

This book has everything right when it comes to a children's fairytale/fantasy and little boy’s especially will like it. I will warn you that it contains a good bit of violence and some gorey parts, but I have found that children do not mind those sort of things as long as they are in context. This is a classic story of good vs. evil told in the perfect voice of Peter Nimble. This will not be a story that is easily forgotten.

Hardcover, 381 pages

Published August 1st 2011 by Amulet Books

Funny story not found in any of the books I'm reading...

My oldest daughter was eating cereal at the table this morning when I got out of the shower. When I hugged her, she said, “Mommy, what’s that smell?” I told her that I didn’t know and asked what it smelled like and she replied, “Dirty”. I knew it wasn’t me and then I noticed my little one crawling past the chair and concluded (out loud) that it must be her sister’s dirty diaper. My husband yelled from the bathroom that he it better not be because…SHE DIDN’T HAVE ON A DIAPER!!! My baby pooped on the floor and then crawled away from the crime scene! I laughed so hard; however my oldest daughter did not see the humor in it and was not ok until I had cleaned it up. On the way to pre-school she asked for a puppy dog again and I told her that she already had one, her little sister.

I hope I made you smile today.

 Monday I will put up my review of The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton!

Happy Weekend,

Kelly

The First Post.

I've tried this blog thing before, but it never really stuck until my BFF Rebecca of Bending the Spine decided to start a paranormal book blog and carried me along for the ride and a few reviews here and there. Rebecca is awesome as is her/our blog, but not everything I read is paranormal so I needed a place to put reviews for everthing else and this is it! It's nothing fancy and it's all genres. I hope you find something you like!