I called the seed company and they told me that most of the seeds I had purchases last year, due to keeping them in the house (cool and dry), should be useable, and I purchased a few more seeds to plant things I have used in cooking this year that I had never used at this time last year (like eggplant and zucchini).  So, two weeks ago I went to Green Mama’s Organic Gardening Center and learned about what I needed to do to make my nasty clay soil productive, and purchased a lot of compost, lava sand and organic fertilizers, as well as some herb plants that are more difficult to grow from seeds.  I started planting indoors (with Sophia’s help, of course) tomatoes, some herbs, jalapenos and bell peppers.  Last weekend Andy built the boxes to go into the yard, and we worked together to till up the clay soil, add all the Green Mama purchases and mix it together well.

Finally, today, we were able to start planting outside in the boxes.  My dad came and helped, which made it go real fast.  We tied off the boxes into 1 ft x 1 ft sections, to keep everything organized (sort-of like square-foot gardening, but not as strict), and started planting.  The list includes green beans, eggplant, cucumber, zucchini, onions, romaine lettuce, spinach, a gourmet lettuce mix, carrots, as well as the herb plants that were bought.  The tomatoes and basil and other plants that were started indoors will go out in two or three weeks, once they have reached the proper height, and I still have sugar snap peas to plant, which can’t go into the ground for a few weeks.  However, I am super excited that this grand scheme is finally coming to be a reality.  It is so thrilling to see the tiny basil leaves poking up, or the teeny stem that will eventually become a tomato plant.  I have posted pics of the journey, and I will post more pics as things start to grow.

a. After Henry gets hit in the head with a pancake by Grandpa at breakfast one morning, Grandpa tells Henry and his sister the story of the town of Chewandswallow, where the weather revolves around food, and people only ate the food that the weather provided.  Instead of raining water, it rains things like syrup, milk, and juice.  Instead of real snow, it snows mashed potatoes or peas.  Instead of blowing air, the wind that blows in is frankfurters in rolls.  However, just as Henry and his sister (and the reader) begins to think Chewandswallow would be the best place to live, Grandpa reveals that the weather turned sour.  There was a hurricane of bread and rolls, and a tomato tornado.  There was a flood of giant pancakes and maple syrup.  The people of Chewandswallow had to leave their homes, and using stale bread and peanut butter that was piled up around their homes, they built boats and sailed to a new town.  Though they were safe in the new town, they had to buy all their food in supermarkets, which they thought was odd.

b. Barrett, J. (1978). Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  New York, NY: Anthem Books for Young Readers.

c. I thought this book was silly and fantastic.  It is a good story to help children realize that sometimes a fantasy world can be fun, but sometimes the real world is better.  I think it will be amusing to children of all ages, because the concept of food-based weather, is so different and unique from a normal fantasy story.

d. School Library Journal Top 100 Picture Books, Elizabeth Bird (2009):
#33: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett, illustrated by Ron Barrett (1978)
46 points (#9, #2, #1, #8, #3, #3, #5)

I cannot tell you how incredibly excited I was to hear a movie is being made out of this book. I have read it so many times I have it memorized and am always so disappointed to learn that a library doesn’t have it on its shelves. How can you not love a story about food taking over a city?! I am always recommending this and buying it for people and so many have never even heard of it. I’m a fan, a big one. – Amanda Snow

“Aside from The Giant Jam Sandwich there’s really only one other iconic gigantic food book that comes immediately to mind.  I rediscovered this book in my old age, and was delighted to find that it really does stand up to scrutiny.  Sadly, I found that it is not the best readaloud for large groups, but in spite of that it’s a fine tale of the best and worst aspects of sky-related foodstuffs.

The publisher description of the plot reads, “The tiny town of Chewandswallow was very much like any other tiny town except for its weather which came three times a day, at breakfast, lunch and dinner. But it never rained rain and it never snowed snow and it never blew just wind. It rained things like soup and juice. It snowed things like mashed potatoes. And sometimes the wind blew in storms of hamburgers. Life for the townspeople was delicious until the weather took a turn for the worse. The food got larger and larger and so did the portions. Chewandswallow was plagues by damaging floods and storms of huge food. The town was a mess and the people feared for their lives. Something had to be done, and in a hurry.”

Think it’s all fun and games?  Think again.  Bottom Shelf Books revealed what is undoubtedly the strangest picture in the book.  One that I’m pretty sure most of us have missed for years.  Mind you, there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for it.

Of course Cloudy was not without its sequel.  I don’t know many people who would claim to know Pickles to Pittsburgh particularly well.  Except possibly the Pittsburgh librarians out there.  So let’s hear it, Pittsburghians.  Do you know this book?  Do you read it regularly?  Cause as far as I can determine it is the ONLY picture book out there with the word “Pittsburgh” loud and proud on its cover (please prove me wrong, somebody).

Now in its 27th year the book is being turned into a major motion picture.  And while you may disagree with the liberties taken with the plot, you can’t deny that this trailer certainly taps into the human desire for building-tall jello.

e. I think this book could be used to introduce students to the concept of fantasy, and a discussion about what is “real” and what is not.  Favorite quote that could be used around the library: “It’s funny, but even as we were sliding down the hill we thought we saw a giant pat of butter at the top, and we could almost smell the mashed potatoes.”

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

a. Four children are forced to leave London for the home of a professor in the country, due to bombing runs being made on the city.  At the professor’s home they discover the magical world of Narnia inside a wardrobe.  Once in Narnia, the children learn that there is to be a battle between Aslan, the good king, and the White Witch, and the children are to be the saviors of the kingdom.  One of the children thinks to side with the White Witch because she promises to make him king, but then realizes she is evil and really means to kill him and his siblings.  The other children, along with the help of Aslan, rescue him.  Shortly after the battle ensues, and Aslan and the children triumph.  The children continue to live in Narnia for many years, ruling as kings and queens, and stumble back upon the wardrobe by accident.  They travel through it, back  to the professor’s home, are returned to their child forms, and discover not one second of time has passed since they first entered the wardrobe.

b. Lewis, C.S. (1950). The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. New York NY: Harper Trophy.

c. Having never read this book as a child, I was very taken with it when I read it for the first time.  However, I believe that I was reading more into it than a child would.  I was able to see correlations between the characters and various events of the story and persons from the history of Christianity and the life (and death) of Christ, something that a younger child might not be able to see.  However, even reading the book as a small child, there is adventure and excitement to keep the story moving, and the reader involved.  The fact that the main character, Lucy, is the youngest, will give younger children the motivation to do things that otherwise they may think they are far too young to do.  I also think that this book does a great job showing the differences between the fantastical world and the real world, and helping children to understand the concept of war and doing what is right (even if it doesn’t seem like it is any of your business).

d. Sondra Eklund Reveiw (2003)
http://www.sonderbooks.com/ChildrensFiction/lionwitchwardrobe.html

“I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to review The Chronicles of Narnia. For that matter, I’m amazed it’s taken me this long to read them to my youngest son.  We had been reading to both kids at the same time, and we’d already read them to his older brother more than once.  Besides, he was planning to read them on his own, but only got through the first book.  (The first in the new edition is actually the sixth in the order that C. S. Lewis wrote them.  I simply had to read them in the traditional order, even though the new editions put them in the order that the events happen in Narnian time.)

Even though they are paperback, the new edition includes ALL the original illustrations by Pauline Baynes, not just one per chapter, as our old paperback edition did.

I first read The Chronicles of Narnia in approximately fourth grade.  I remember that my older brother and sister read them first, and liked them so much that I had to try them, too.  It turned out that our church library had them, as well as the public library.  I lost track of how many times I read them.  Finally, when I was in junior high, I decided with regret that I had outgrown the Narnia books.

By the time I was in college, I had outgrown that silly attitude, and I discovered a whole new dimension to the Narnia books, the spiritual truths that the wise author embedded inside them.  As I grew older, I got to experience the new delight of sharing the books with my own sons.  If I had to make a list of my top ten favorite books, this set (I couldn’t possibly exclude any of them, so I’d cheat and count them as one.) would definitely be on that list.

C. S. Lewis took an idea that had fascinated him from childhood—a world where animals could talk and mythical creatures were alive—and he asked himself what it would be like if Jesus came to that world.  The books are not allegories, but they do contain riches of insight as to what God is like, as seen by one of his intelligent and dedicated servants.

The adventure begins when Lucy opens the door of a wardrobe and finds herself in a magical world, a world where the White Witch has made it always winter and never Christmas.  Next, her brother Edmund finds his way into Narnia, but he meets the White Witch and falls under her spell.  Finally, all four of the children, including Peter and Susan, the oldest two, find their way into Narnia.  With the help of Aslan, they must work to save Narnia from the evil spell of the White Witch.

After having just read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, this book seemed much shorter than I had remembered it!  This is the essential magical tale, and no kid who reads it will ever look at a closet door the same way again.”

e. This book can be used in the library setting as book to suggest to children who want to read more about fantasy.  It is more than a picture book, but the writing is not so difficult that a younger child could not read it on his/her own, or with a parent.  Due to the fact that there is so much going on, I am not sure it would be good read aloud by the librarian during story-time because it would take more than one session, and students may not remember everything that has happened before.  Favorite quote that could be used around the library: “Once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen.”