My Favorite Place

Source: http://www.artistcommunities.org/

Mark Levine over at Mindful Literacy wrote a post titled "Your Favorite Place".  After reading his post I decided to follow suit and write about my favorite place. I've had several places that I would consider my favorites over the years. But every July since last year I will think about Manasota Key. Summer before last I followed my friend Joy Hawkins on Facebook  as she spent three glorious weeks at the Hermitage Artist Retreat on Manasota Key and wrote about her experience.  Since I live in Florida and I've been on both coasts, I have to say I prefer the west coast more than the east coast. So last year I was thrilled to learn that I was one of five teachers in Florida chosen to spend three weeks, like my friend had, at the Hermitage Artist Retreat.

My cottage sat on the beach.

I had a view from my writing desk of the bay to my right across the two lane road, and the gulf to my left.

I accomplished more with my writing while I was there. However, there was something even more important that I accomplished. I learned how to put away school and relax just for me.  I have always struggled with this.  I took so many pictures while I was there. When I am becoming anxious and non-productive I pull up those pictures and IMAGINE that I am on that beach once again.

It didn't matter if I watched the sun rise, the sun set, the storms roll in. It didn't matter if I walked with the turtle lady looking for new  turtle nests or sat quietly  and almost alone on the beach and listened to the waves crash. I was relaxed. I have found that when I can not physically go somewhere, that sometimes pictures will conjure up those happy memories. So I ask you, what is your favorite place to go and why?

Heaven's Peak by Miguel Estrada

Genre: Young Adult, Horror
Source: I purchased a copy. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I have to say I really enjoyed the story. The cover drew me in. As you get further into the book you understand how the cover goes with the story.  You have people  disappearing. The FBI gets involved. Then we have a family that has moved to Heaven's Peak. Kevin and his sister Jenny along with their father have moved to Heaven's Peak because this is where their parents met. Now that their mother is dead their dad has moved them back. Kevin and his new camera capture something to validate that things are not heavenly in Heaven's Peak. This is a horror story of the type I have not read in years. In some ways it reminded me of Stephen King's writing. However, the book definitely needed to be proofread. There were a lot of mistakes.  I also hated the use of the "f-bomb".  If it was a clean read and was edited for grammar mistakes it would be a book I could put on my middle grade shelves for my horror lovers. However, since I have all grades check out my books, I sadly won't add it to my classroom library.  I would read more by this author. Hopefully he will take what others are saying and re-edit this book. That is the only reason I didn't give it a 5 star rating.

20 Degrees From Normal by Anissa Ferris and Antonio Ferris

Genre:  Poetry, Children
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

This fun book of poetry was created by a brother and sister team. It isn’t only fun to read but has very subtle messages. The very first poem, “Underappreciated Wheel” had be looking at wheels in a different way. They carry all the weight on bikes, trikes and cars, yet no one ever talks about how wonderful they are. 
I teach middle school and I am here to say that my students would love this fun rhyming, quirky poetry. I loved “Perfect Friend”. So often we want a “perfect” friend and after finding what we think they are we find that what we had before was much, much more. “Skip” teaches that you have to do some preliminary things to be a success.
This book has something for everyone, old and young. I will enjoy adding this to my classroom library next year and providing a copy to our elementary school which will be merging with our school. I highly recommend this book to teachers and parents.