The Lure of Young Adult Books

It is so easy to dismiss young adult books as not being worth your time. I know it has been quite a while since I was a young adult. But, like all genre of books, there are a lot of quality stories.

I love Harry Potter. I remember when the first book came out and my mother suggested I read it. I read the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone then set it down and forgot about it. A while later, a friend told me I had to give it another try, so I picked it up again. I ended up reading Sorcerer's Stone in one night and Chamber of Secrets the next. This was just before Prisoner of Azkaban was released and my father, who works in the book business, brought the advanced reader's copy home. I snatched it up the first chance I got and, again, read the book in one night. To this day, Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite of the seven books.

I turned into one of those crazy adults who was obsessed with this "children's" series. My mother was a book manager at a large store and I helped her plan and execute midnight madness parties. I own all seven books in hardcover, along with extra copies of Order of the Phoenix (one is the children's British version and the other is the adult British version, that just means they have different covers). They sit atop one of my bookshelves in a place of honor between Harry Potter bookends. Beside the books is the little cardboard trunk that holds the Harry Potter Uno game. I also have several of the books on CD, if you ever get the chance to listen to the amazing Jim Dale read these books do it! My prize piece is a special edition of the Half-Blood Prince with an autographed book plate inside, another perk of having parents in the book industry.

The Harry Potter books are an anomaly in the publishing industry. A series of books originally written for children but appealing to teens and adults as well, both male and female. With Sorcerer's Stone being published in the US in 1998 and Deathly Hallows published in 2007, quite a few children grew up with the series. But I actually know more adults than children who have read them.

A coworker of mine has a teen aged daughter and they are both avid readers. I have received more quality book recommendations from him than I can count. One that sticks out was the book East by Edith Pattou.

It's a young adult book written with a fairy tale vibe. In a small village in Norway, Rose is a North-born baby born to a poor mapmaker and his superstitious wife. It is believed North-born children are destined to break their mothers' hearts because they will leave home to travel far away. They are wild, unpredictable, and intelligent. So Rose's mother lies to her and tells her she was East-born and should be obedient. But her fate can not be denied. The story follows Rose's adventures after a great white bear comes to take her away.

East is a book I would never have picked up on my own, but I'm so glad I took this recommendation. The beginning was a bit slow, but I stuck with it and it got to the point where I could not put the book down. It was engaging and well-written, just a good, old-fashioned tale of folklore.

More recently, my cousin, who also works in the book industry (it seems as though I was always destined to be surrounded by books) told me about The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. She swore up and down that this book was fantastic and it was hugely popular. I had not heard of it and it seemed a little too sci-fi for me. But she kept at it until I finally picked it up.

I am so sorry I ever doubted her. The Hunger Games is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I can't stop talking about it and I have gotten so many people to read it, I should be on Scholastic's pay roll. The second I finished The Hunger Games, I gobbled up the second book Catching Fire which had the distinction of being even better than the first book. I am counting down the days until the third and final book in the series, MockingJay, comes out.

The Hunger Games tells the story of a post-apocalyptic North America, called Panem, where the country is now divided into 12 districts, each one responsible for a certain item (ie: grain, fruit, coal), surrounding a large capitol city. At one time there had been 13 districts, but 74 years ago the districts tried to lead a rebellion against the Capitol which led to District 13 being destroyed. As a reminder to the public that they are in control, the Capitol holds the annual Hunger Games. A boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are chosen to fight to the death until there is only one survivor. The Hunger Games follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen as she is sent to the Games and has to compete.

Now, reading that description, this does not sound like the kind of book that would appeal to me. I was very pleasantly surprised. No description can fully do justice to the characters and story. At no point while reading these books did it feel as though I was reading a story aimed at 7th graders. There is a surprising amount of violence, but it doesn't take away from the story or the characters. These are quality, well-written books with characters and a plot that grabs you and holds you. You'll find yourself unable to put the book down until you've finished.

Every year my mother gives a speech at a local restaurant to teachers and librarians about current award winning YA and children's books. There are piles of books and she can't read them all, so I help her. I dig through the pile and pick out the books that sound good to me. As always, it's hit or miss. One book I picked out this year sounded like something I would love and was compared to the work of the Brontes. Uh, no. This particular book and Bronte should never be mentioned in the same sentence. It seemed confused as to where it wanted to go and then just abruptly ended. Another book was set in the west just after the Civil War and told the story of a teen aged boy and his young sister. In my opinion it was overly dramatic and the point it was trying to make, about the way the government treated the Native Americans, was tossed in near the end and was implausible and rushed.

But there are always a few that stick out. The one book that really stuck out to me this year was When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, the 2010 Newberry Award Winner.

It was a quick read and an enjoyable one. But it didn't really seem like anything special. I really liked how she ended the book, it was unexpected and unbelievable, but it worked. I returned it to my mother and told her it was a good read, but nothing really jumped out at me, I didn't understand why it won the Newberry Award.

After a few days, I knew why. I could not stop thinking about When You Reach Me. The more I thought about it, the more I really liked it. I mean really liked it. I found myself telling people about it and recommending it. There is just something about that story I can't really put my finger on that planted itself in my mind and refused to leave.

When You Reach Me tells the story of sixth grader Miranda who lives in 1970s New York City. She is obsessed with her favorite book A Wrinkle In Time and her mother is obsessed with getting on $20,000 Pyramid. There is a cast of characters including the vagrant who lives outside their building, Miranda's best friend who no longer wants to be her best friend, the new friends she discovers, and her mother's devoted boyfriend. Then one day, Miranda starts receiving mysterious notes that change the way she sees the world.

This book is full of the pre-teen drama we've all experienced and can relate to, as well as a bit of fantasy. This is book recommended for fifth to eighth graders and yet it was an enjoyable read for an adult.

Just like any genre of books, there are YA books that aren't too good, books I don't enjoy or don't want to read. But, just like any other genre, the good ones are really good.

Star Wars Cookie Experiment

About a week or so ago I discovered that Williams-Sonoma had come out with a set of Star Wars cookie cutters. There are 4 in the box: Yoda, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and a Stormtrooper. I had to own it.



The set cost $19.95, a bit pricey for 4 plastic cookie cutters, but it is Williams-Sonoma and the Star Wars name does cost money.
As soon as I got them, I couldn't wait to use them. So I figured Memorial Day was as good a reason as any to make Star Wars cookies. I knew it was going to be a huge undertaking, I have never actually decorated cookies with royal icing (I'm a buttercream person) and I had only ever used it once before. So, I set aside the entire day to work on these. Six and half hours later, I'm pretty happy with the results.


The cookie cutters came with a recipe for sugar cookies and royal icing from "The Williams-Sonoma Kitchen". I decided to use their recipes and, to be honest, there is nothing too special about them. Both cookie and icing recipes were very easy to make. The dough rolled out nicely and the cookie cutters worked great! They have a spring to push down on and it presses the details into the cookie.


They baked beautifully, GBD as Alton Brown would say. I was worried about the varying thickness, stamping the details on them made sections of the cookie thinner, but that caused no problems. Yoda's ears were a bit darker than the rest of the cookie, but they weren't burned.


According to the directions, the recipe would make about 32 cookies (8 of each design) I actually got over 5 dozen cookies. Next time, I think I'm going to make them thicker.


Then I outlined and flooded the cookies in their main colors with royal icing. The icing recipe did end up very thick and it had to be thinned down quite a bit to flood the cookies and decorate. I used a plastic squeeze bottle and toothpicks to smooth the icing. One important lesson I learned is that next time I'm going to use less icing in the flooding, I ended up over filling the details and when I decorated them, I had to freehand it and that was tortureous.

I waited an hour to let the icing harden and then I got to decorating. It was tedious work, a lot of dying icing and having to clean and reclean tips and couplers. The hardest one to do was Darth Vader, he had the most details on such a small cookie. I used a #1 Tip and it still seemed too big. I also realized that Darth Vader's features are kind of cat-like. But overall, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.


And even more important than how they look, is how they taste. Now, I didn't try all of them, but I can attest to the deliciousness that is Boba Fett.

Henrietta Lacks and Her Impact: We ALL Owe Her

I don't think there is any kind of book I won't read. Fiction, non-fiction, history, humor, how-to...if the topic interests me, I'll read it.
A couple of months ago, I was scanning through new releases on Amazon.com to see what was coming out when a title caught my attention. My paternal grandmother was adopted as a toddler, her birth name had been Henrietta Lester, so when I saw the title of the book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" it caught my attention. Like most people, I had never heard of Henrietta Lacks and the impact she has had on all of our lives. After reading the summary of the book, I found it hard to believe it could be true and I wanted to read the whole story. I am so glad that I did.



Henrietta Lacks was a 31 year old mother of five when she died a horrific death from an aggressive form of cervical cancer. A sample of her tumor was removed and sent to a lab without her knowledge or consent, which was common practice at the time. For the first time in medical history, human cells continued to live and grow in the lab after being removed from the body, they were "immortal". These cells became known as the HeLa cells, the name taken from the first two letters of her first and last names. The cells were sold to doctors and labs all over the world and were used in the creation of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine and every medical breakthrough since 1951. Drugs that treat AIDS and cancer were discovered using Henrietta's cells, or rather the cells that grew from the original sample taken from her. Her cells were sent into space for testing, they were used in researching gene mapping, and every other significant scientific research done in the past 59 years. It is almost overwhelming to think of all that has been achieved and discovered because of this one woman.

But there is so much more to Henrietta Lacks than just her cells. She was a devoted mother of five children, one of whom was born while the cancer was growing inside her. She is remembered very fondly by her extended family and friends as a caring woman who looked out for them, fed them, and always left the door open. She loved to dance and laugh.

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot is an important story to tell and a book everyone should read. There is not a person alive today who doesn't owe Henrietta a debt of thanks and yet her story was a barely mentioned footnote in scientific history. Her cells were taken and her family didn't know until almost 20 years later when researchers started calling to ask about her. Millions of dollars were made off the sale of Henrietta's cells and her family never saw a dime. They struggled to survive in a poor community.

And yet they did survive.

Rebecca Skloot's book tells the story of Henrietta's cells and their lasting effects on science and medicine, but it also tells the story of Henrietta and her family. While I found the science aspects fascinating, I enjoyed the stories of her family even more. It wasn't always pretty, there was abuse, death, anger, jail time, murder, teenage pregnancy, and mental illness. Henrietta's oldest daughter, Elsie, had mental problems and ended up at a hospital where, many years after she died, the Lacks family learned she had endured horrific experiments and abuse. After Henrietta's death, her 3 youngest children were sent to live with her sister who mistreated them. Luckily, her oldest son, Lawrence married Bobette Cooper after his stint in the military. Bobbette demanded they take in Lawrence's siblings and raise them, which ended up being the best thing to happen to those children. She offered the support and strength those children needed. Bobbette believed in education and made sure Deborah, Henrietta's younger daughter, finished school even though she became pregnant as a teenager.

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" was a labor of love for Rebecca Skloot. She spent years researching and, through persistence, was able to get in touch with Henrietta's children. Ms. Skloot worked closely with Deborah, Henrietta's surviving daughter, and was able to learn even more about her family.

I went to my first book club meeting for this book and I'm glad I did. It's really amazing to me how so many people can see one book in so many different ways.

When I read "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" I was impressed with her family's survival and strong faith.

They were poor, while their mother's cells were sold for millions. They had health problems, while their mother's cells helped treat and/or cure just about every medical problem known. For many years, the Lacks family was left in the dark about Henrietta and what her cells meant to the medical and scientific communities. There was a lot of confusion, no one had taken the time to explain just what had happened and why. Rebeeca Skloot was the first person to take that time to tell them everything, to explain what happened, to define cells and what they do and how they are used in research. Deborah wanted to learn more, so she went out and got medical books and a dictionary. I think that was my favorite part of the story. There was a lot of anger in the Lacks family, understandably. They were angry because they felt they had been misled and used, they were angry because Henrietta didn't get the recognition they believe she deserved, and I have to agree with them. Their anger was justified. But Deborah didn't sit around and give into her anger, she educated herself. She read and asked questions, she went along with the author to learn more about her sister, Elsie, and her mother.

While some people in my book club felt sorry for Deborah, I felt proud of her. She took control of what she wanted to know and I think that's wonderful. One of the women in the club actually told me that she was impressed with how I thought more about the people, the Lacks family, than I did about the money they didn't get. I was grateful that she saw that. Because this book is a story about people, it's not just about cells and money changing hands, it's about a family.

There was one gentleman in my book club who was a very proud, very left liberal. He would make broad sweeping statements that either had nothing to do with the book or that seemed to be more about pushing forth his political agenda than a discussion of the book. One of the things he brought up was if we thought the author, Rebecca Skloot, had just written this for the money and had she made a lot from this book. I told him I got the impression she wrote this book to learn more about Henrietta Lacks and to share her story with the world and I that hope she makes a ton of money. I, personally, have no problem with people who have a lot of money, good for them. I'm not jealous and I don't believe money is evil. Ms. Skloot tells in the book how she used her own money, her own credit cards to fund her research and travel costs. She spent years working on this book and because of it, she not only shared an important aspect of medical history with the world, but she also shared the story of the woman behind the cells. And I am so glad she did. The world will be a better place if more people knew about Henrietta Lacks and I wholeheartedly believe Rebecca Skloot deserves to be rewarded for bringing the whole story to the public.

I work for a local news station. Back in April of this year, we did a story on how the Penn State Hershey Medical Center had a historical marker placed on their campus to commemorate the perfecting of a technique for propagating HPV (the human papillomavirus) by Penn State College of Medicine researchers led by the late Dr. Mary K. Howett and Dr. John W. Kreider. My first thought was, This was possible because of Henrietta Lacks. Just last week, we did a story on the importance of vaccines. Again, I thought This was possible because of Henrietta Lacks.


I can't help but think that if more people had that thought when they heard of a medical breakthrough, it would mean more to the Lacks family than any amount of money.

I urge everyone I know to read this book. Whenever someone asks me to recommend a book, I suggest "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". This is a woman everyone should know. We all owe a debt of thanks to Henrietta Lacks.

4-Legged Assistant

This is Seamus (pronounced Shay-mus). He's a 3 year old cocker spaniel and he is my crafting assistant.


It goes back to when he was just a little, 7 pound, 8 week old bundle of fur.

He just wanted to be held, so I set him on my lap, picked up my needlework, and didn't think anything about it. After a while I felt a gentle tugging on the embroidery floss. I lifted my work aside and saw Seamus had rolled onto his back and was batting at the floss with his paws, trying to nip it with his teeth. My first thought was "Aw, that's so cute." But I have since learned better. I should have taken it for what it was: A Warning.

I had to become very careful with my notions. Skeins of floss and spools of thread would disappear. I later found them in his favorite hiding place, under my bed. The labels would be ripped off the skeins and the floss would be unraveled, damp with puppy spit. The thread on the spools was untouched, but the ends of the spools would be chewed to the point where I could no longer use them in my machine.

Seamus has a weird obsession with fabric.

I live in a very small apartment, so the easiest thing for me to do when I need to measure and cut fabric is to move my coffee table and spread it out on the floor. No matter where he is, I swear Seamus can hear me unfolding fabric. As soon as it's set out and I start measuring, he appears. His favorite thing to do is to plop his butt right on the fabric and stare at me, like he's daring me to cut around him. If that doesn't work, he sprawls across it. He doesn't just lay down, he spreads out as far as his body, legs and tail will go, covering as much of the fabric as he possibly can.

A couple years ago, when he was still just a puppy, my parents redecorated their family room and went with a lighthouse theme. I found some pretty Waverly decorator fabric, covered in lighthouses, and decided to make pillows for their couch. As I measured and cut the fabric, Seamus sat next to me, watching my every move. I dropped all the scraps into a pile beside me to deal with when I was done. Like something out of a cartoon, Seamus got up, sniffed through the pile of scraps and selected one. Carrying it in his mouth, he proceeded to creep across the room, heading toward the bedroom. I called out to him. "Hey, what are you doing?"
He froze, dropped the scrap of fabric and sat on it, giving me the 'What? I'm not doing anything' look. I don't know if he thought I didn't know he had the fabric because he sat on it or what, but it was one of the funniest things I ever saw him do.

I try just about every craft project I can get my hands on and several years ago, I bought my first and only latch hook project. It's a small rug of the Mary Engelbreit Scotty dog design and I love her work, so I thought I'd give it a try. Every so often, I take it out to work on it, and, of course, Seamus has to help.


It's nice to know that no matter what project I'm working on, I'll always have a little helper. Whether I want one or not.

Don't Be An E-Reader Hater

As I stated before, I am a bibliophile. I love books, holding them, reading them. The way the text looks on the pages, the feel of old paper in antique books, the first crack of the binding, the way they look lining shelves in libraries, stores, or my home. What's not to love about them?
For several of my formative years, my parents ran a children's bookstore. Whenever someone would ask me if I enjoyed reading, my father would joke that they had to open the bookstore, it was the only way they could afford to keep up with my reading habits. The best days in school were when the Scholastic book fair was set up in the lobby or when the books I ordered from their colorful, thin little catalogs arrived. I loved walking into the classroom after they were delivered and finding a small pile of books waiting for me on my desk. The rest of the day was a losing battle of paying attention to the teacher or flipping through the pages of my new books.

And even though I have an undying love of books, I took the plunge over a year ago when I got my Amazon Kindle for Christmas '08. Seriously, how did I ever live without it?
I know, I know, I've heard all the whiny, pretentious people try and mock my Kindle and my love of it.
"How can you can you say you love books and read on one of those?"
"I would never read on one of those things, I'd miss a book too much."

Yeah, a couple years ago, I was one of those people. I could never imagine giving up books. And I haven't. I still read books and when it comes to my favorite authors, like the clever, talented Jasper Fforde, I will always buy his books, and they have to be hardcover first editions.
But I am completely hooked on my Kindle now. It's truly amazing. It's smaller than any hardcover or trade paperback book you pick up, and yet it holds hundreds of books. There is just something about carrying an entire library in my bag that I love. And as soon as I finish one book, I can have the next one delivered to my Kindle in less than a minute.


I even made a special bag just for carrying my Kindle. It's based on a pattern I bought and tweaked a little. There is a pocket in the lining for the charger so I always know where it is and the strap is long enough to carry over my shoulder or across my chest.

"But it's not like holding a book."

No, it's not. I splurged a little on my Kindle cover, I had just gotten my tax refund and I bought a cover from Oberon Designs. They make e-reader covers, journals, and purses out of tooled leather. I purchased a beautiful black leather cover embossed with Celtic knots on the front and back. It opens like a book, and it not only protects my Kindle, but it gives it a little more heft, which I like. It feels like I'm holding a good sized book with a worn binding that allows me to fold the cover back.

"Between the covers."
But let's be honest, even more important than holding a book in your hand is what is between the covers of that book.

The first book I purchased on my Kindle was the incredible "Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen. A friend had recommended it so I thought I'd give it a try. I was blown away by what I read. The story was so engrossing, the characters so real, I could not put it down. I carried it with me and read every time there was a few minutes break at work or if I had to wait in line somewhere. And, believe it or not, I forgot I wasn't holding a book in my hands.

When a story is that good and emotionally intense, when the characters come to life and pull you in so you feel their pain, their anger, their happiness, does the medium in which you are reading it really matter?

No, I can honestly say it doesn't.

As much as I love the feel of a book in my hands, the smell of a library, the feeling of a bookstore...reading on a Kindle does not take away from my joy of reading. It's just a new and different way to enjoy a story. Does this mean the end of books? I don't think so. There was a time when it was thought television spelled the end of radio. That hasn't quite happened yet.

Trying something new

It's funny, I remember when blogs first started and I couldn't understand why anyone would want to read someone else's thoughts. Who cares? And now I find myself reading and checking blogs on a regular basis. So, why not?

I have learned so much from others and I enjoy finding others with the same interests as me.

I decided to start this blog for a number of reasons.

1.) I wanted to try something new.

2.) The future of my business is on the Internet, so I wanted to learn more about blogging, and what better way to learn than to actually do it.

3.) It's just one more way to keep busy and stay out of trouble.

4.) I enjoy writing and I thought what better way to use this skill than to write about what I enjoy: Reading, Crafting, and Baking.

There are, obviously, three purposes to this blog:

1-Reading Hello, my name is Joanne, and I am a Bibliophile. I love talking about books. Books I've read and loved (or hated), books I haven't gotten around to reading yet, and anything to do with my favorite authors.

2-Crafting I sew, do cross-stitch/embroidery, and I just started knitting. I love sharing projects I've done, talking about projects I'm working on, and sharing tips as well as seeking advice and ideas from others.

3-Baking I love baking. I never planned on making it my career, it's just a hobby I enjoy. I do have a small side business making small, specialty cakes for friends and coworkers. But I have fun with all types of baking: cookies, cupcakes, bars, etc... I experiment with recipes, I've created a few cupcake/cake recipes of my own and I'm pretty proud of them. It's just one more thing I like talking about and sharing pictures, recipes, and ideas.

I know what direction I'd like to take this blog, but in reality, we all know nothing goes exactly as planned. So I look forward to seeing just where this goes.

Thanks for stopping by!