Just In Time For Summer

Just In Time For Summer

You remember that rhyme we fondly recall from respective
childhoods? We'd chant it gleefully leaping and bounding out of
school on the last day of classes.
No more teachers!
No more books!
No more teachers' dirty looks!
We hope our kids won't have bookless summers. Fortunately James
Patterson has come up with two volumes that may have them forgetting
at least part of the vacation pledge.
Middle School: Get Me Out Of Here will be a must read for
affecianados of his Middle School: The Worst Years Of My Life. Rafe,
he of the very vivid imagination, is about to undergo serious life
challenges. His mom has lost her job which means no money for rent.
His grandmother has invited them and his sister to crash at her big
city apartment as long as they need. Seventh grade is about to
start. With Rafe in attendance the only thing that can be expected is
the unexpected.
In I Funny: A Middle School Story you meet Jamie Grimm, a kid
who is working to become a sit-down comic. (He uses a wheel chair.)
He's studied every joke book and website he can get his hands on. A
lot of people think he has what it takes. He's the one who isn't
quite sure. Then when he wins his first competition some people
insinuate that the judges voted out of pity for his disability. What
if they're right?
On a personal note, I recently had my week long vacation. University
of Maine has this post graduation tradition called Clean Sweep. All
the stuff the students leave in dorms is collected, sorted, priced,
and turned into the yard sale all the others wish they were. I get
totally caught up in helping the student workers and had the time of
my life. I got some really amazing clothes and other cool stuff.
This year for the first time we netted more than $5,000 in a two day
yard sale. YOWZA! Plus all the stuff we didn't sell went where it
was needed.
A great big shout out goes out to all my Clean Sweep Chums!
Julia Emily Hathaway




Sent from my iPod