Welcome to Litsy!

I just started reading The Bad Seed series to Jace this week. This is THE cutest series! This was my favorite page from this particular book - it‘s always great to see my favorite show, Mad Men, mentioned out in the wild. 😅 I would highly recommend this entire series and Jace really loved it as well. I love the artwork. #TheBadSeed #childrensbooks #MadMen #raisingreaders

The other two I‘ve read by her were home runs, but this one was more #goodnotgreat. I‘d still love to read more Ozeki, though! #AuthorAMonth

Yumi runs away from her tiny Idaho town at 14 after sleeping with a teacher. As her parents age, a neighbor takes care of them, but when their health falters she returns with three kids in tow. Meanwhile, a group of organic food activists have targeted the area to protest GMO potatoes.

What 12-year-old doesn‘t love potatoes and books?

This is the second Michael Pollan book I‘ve listened to this year, and once again it did not disappoint. He has a keen ability of making his subject accessible to the layperson. In The Botany of Desire his main conceit is to present the reader/listener with a view of humanity from the perspective of 4 different plants: apples, tulips, cannabis, and the potato. I‘m not sure if he really stays true to his thesis, but the plethora of info is great.

Definitely not Ozeki's best but still her trademark frankness and balance of bitter and sweet is too good to resist

This was a random library choice and I finished it because I'm stubborn, but it had its faults: too long, I couldn't stand the one main character and her shitty choices, and when a writer gets basic facts completely wrong, like thinking that human babies are born blind (🤯), that really pisses me off. I'm completely anti GMO. so that part was fine and done okay, just quite dated by now.

This book was recommended to me from one of my students, who is Irish. Nory is a girl who lives in Ireland as the potato famine appears to begin. She watches as her younger brother gets thinner, grandfather has to work… 3-7th grade read. It is rare to come across a book that takes you through the potato famine. This historical fiction was not really educational, but to get a student interested. It didn‘t stay with anything enough to really learn

This book is about a boy that loved to stay inside and do nothing but play video games. He never wanted to go outside or do anything else besides play his games. However, one day he is unable to play his video games because he loses power. He is forced to find something else to occupy him. He ends up going outside and realizing how much fun it is to do things other than playing video games all day.

The Couch Potato by Jory John is a great children's book about a Couch Potato that has everything he could ever need in arm's reach but will not get up off the couch. This story is great for young children about determination and the benefits of getting active and being outside.