Truth in Fiction - Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge

What you are doing right now,

this moment, THIS STEP,

is the most important thing

in your life.

Bad experiences are like bad drawings. They stay in our sketchbooks. They stay a part of us. You can't erase your past or who you are. You have to deal with it, I suppose.

Truth in Fiction - Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

It seemed like life was a sort of narrowing tunnel. Right when you were born, the tunnel was huge. You could be anything. Then, like, the absolute second after you were born, the tunnel narrowed down to about half that size... Then you started to grow up and everything you did closed the tunnel in some more. -  June p. 254

Maybe you had to be dying to finally get to do what you wanted... Then I had this thought: What if it was enough to realize that you would die someday, that none of this would go on forever? Would that be enough?  June - p. 255

I knew the way lost hopes could be dangerous, how they could turn a person into someone they never thought they'd be. - June p.322

*I needed to know that my mother understood that her hand was in this too. That all the jealousy and envy and shame we carried was our own kind of sickness. As much a disease as Toby and Finn's AIDS. - June p. 349

* emphasis mine

Truth in Fiction - A Flight of Angels by Rebecca Guay

The Rabbi was concerned for he knew that foolishness and fear are like tinder and matches, and wickedness the flame they produce.

Truth in Fiction - Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller by Joseph Lambert

Still, I suppose a hunger improperly satisfied is better than starving. - Teacher to Annie

You are often solitary, and sometimes lonely, I know. But you did not create yourself. No one does. - Dr. Anagnos to Annie

Screen Free Week

Tomorrow, April 29, 2013 marks the beginning of screen-free week. This week I will only be checking my work e-mail. What does screen-free week mean for me?

• No text messaging. Please call if you'd like to talk. 
• No Twitter (This will be the hardest sacrifice for me)
• No blog reading. No blog posting.
• No Hulu (no tv shows/no movies)
• No personal e-mail 
• Yes to phone calls
• Yes to letter writing
• Yes to reading

Dewey Read-a-Thon End of Event Meme

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
I was getting tired and quite cranky at hour 18. By hour 20 I didn't just hit the wall, I crashed into it full force. I think I ended up reading 2 pages an hour for about 3 hours before I perked up again at hour 23


2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?Gillian Flynn novels are high interest page turners. I would also suggest Caldecott, Newbery, Printz, and Coretta Scott King Award winning books for those hard hours.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
No suggestions from this newbie. The read-a-thon was great!

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
I enjoyed the mini-challenges hours 1-12. After hour 12 I was too lazy focused on reading to participate. 

5. How many books did you read?
I read four books

6. What were the names of the books you read?
Diary of a Wimpy Kid #6 Cabin Fever by Jeff kinney

Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick

Drama by Raina Telgemeier

Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
Although the subject matter was very difficult for me to read, I enjoyed Never Fall Down the most.

8. Which did you enjoy least?
I enjoyed Love and Other Perishable Items the least. I am really not into angsty, "unreciprocated love stories.

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
I was not a cheerleader, but they rocked! Cheerleaders have skills I do not possess.

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I am very likely to participate in the Read-a-Thon again. I will be a reader until I get it right. After I have mastered Read-a-Thon reading, I would like to come up with a good mini-challenge and try hosting for a few hours.

Dewey Read-a-Thon Mini-Challenges: Hours 13-24

Read-a-Thon: Hour 14 Mini-Challenge "Share a quote"

http://www.neabarabea.com

"This idea, it wrap around me like a warm blanket, it settle my shaking bone, it calm my heart, and I understand. All the time you fighting, you think only of how to survive. All the time you survive, you wonder why you don't die. But now my life can be something different. Now, in America, I don't have to fight. I don't have to survive. I can chose a new thing: to live."
Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick p. 208

Read-a-Thon Hour 16 Mini-Challenge Turn the Page

http://www.reflectionsofabookaholic.com

For this challenge, you must turn to page 32 of the book you are currently reading (or the nearest page with text on it) and find the most entertaining phrase to complete the following sentence:"I would rather read than ________ any day!"

I would rather read than have my History of American Foreign Policy double lecture in the afternoon any day.

From Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo p.32

Read-a-Thon: Hour 17 Mini-Challenge "Six Word Celebration"

http://estellasrevenge.blogspot.com

Your challenge is to creative a six-word celebration of Dewey's Read-a-Thon.

Dewey Read? Books Open 24 Hours