Honor and Remember

Book Talk Tuesday Summer 2012

I have been searching the web for a great place to post book reviews for librarians and teachers to use in the classroom. Well, I am going to try hosting my own Book Talk Tuesday! I invite teachers and librarians to link to a recent book talk or book review that can be used by others- to help purchase new books, learn about new books and to help give us book talk ideas.    
My rules?
1. All content must be appropriate for children in grades kindergarten through eighth grade. 
2. Please link to your original content, not the content of others. 
3. Websites that you link to must be child friendly since lots of kids visit this site and if they click on your link, I want it to be appropriate for them. 
4. Positive reviews only, please... we only spread love here at The Lemme Library! 
5. Books must be available in The US. (you are welcome to link to ARC reviews)
6. I reserve the right to remove any reviews that don't meet criteria 1-5. 
In the link title field, be sure to include the title of the book you are reviewing and your site name. In the URL field, please link to this specific post that contains the book review (That way people don't have to scour your blog looking for it!)   
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Summer vacation is in full force here at the Casa de Butcher. The kids are outside all day and come in for dinner all dirty and cranky... filling the bathtub with sand and sunscreen.... falling into bed and drifting off to sleep within minutes. To be a child and be allowed to be so blissfully unaware of the problems of adult life. I don't remember what it was like to spend an entire day in blissful splendor- not worrying about at least 1 thing, no matter how trivial. I know that not all kids are lucky enough to be so carefree, but today, I am thankful that mine are. I hope you can all find a nice, peaceful summer day with no worries- only sunshine and smiles. 
Kelly
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Book Talk Tuesday Summer 2012

I have gotten several comments, Tweets and emails asking me about Book Talk Tuesday... will it continue? Can I take it over if you don't do it? Why aren't you doing it?
I am no longer a librarian... I am between jobs. Depending on how my job search goes, I may or may not be a librarian in August. If I'm not a librarian and my life goes in a different direction, I probably will not continue Book Talk Tuesday. I might not continue this blog... lots of unknowns right now. I will post a few Book Talk Tuesdays and see what kind of response I get. Hopefully more than 4 people will post... it isn't worth the time and effort to post if people don't share links and visit other blogs. So- spread the word that we will give it a shot for a while. If I choose to not continue, I will offer the "meme" to a blogger I trust will carry on the tradition in my absence. 
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I have been searching the web for a great place to post book reviews for librarians and teachers to use in the classroom. Well, I am going to try hosting my own Book Talk Tuesday! I invite teachers and librarians to link to a recent book talk or book review that can be used by others- to help purchase new books, learn about new books and to help give us book talk ideas.    
My rules?
1. All content must be appropriate for children in grades kindergarten through eighth grade. 
2. Please link to your original content, not the content of others. 
3. Websites that you link to must be child friendly since lots of kids visit this site and if they click on your link, I want it to be appropriate for them. 
4. Positive reviews only, please... we only spread love here at The Lemme Library! 
5. Books must be available in The US. (you are welcome to link to ARC reviews)
6. I reserve the right to remove any reviews that don't meet criteria 1-5. 
In the link title field, be sure to include the title of the book you are reviewing and your site name. In the URL field, please link to this specific post that contains the book review (That way people don't have to scour your blog looking for it!)   

1.	Colby Sharp	5.	Orani (NC Teacher Stuff)	9.	Zoe Gets Ready (Jen Robinson)
2.	Hollywood Nobody	6.	Seeing Symmetry (ICPL)	10.	You're next!
3.	SWIRL BY SWIRL (Bigfoot Reads)	7.	The Fourth Stall (Kidsmomo)
4.	Frog and Fly (The Cath in the Hat)	8.	The Brain Lair

Summer in Iowa Bucket List

Only 8 days of school left! YAY! Each summer, I take the girls (and hesitant husband) on "Mommy Adventures"... small day trips or outings.  A year ago, a "Mommy Adventure" resulted in my husband breaking his leg.  Oops!  I decided to make a Summer in Iowa Bucket List to guide us this summer.  It will also be useful on those days when we just stare at each other with nothing to do. Some of these things are free and some will cost money. What did I leave off? What would you add?  I will cross things off as we accomplish them! Wish us luck!

Swinging Bridge in Columbus Junction

Sunset Park in Washington  
Usher's Ferry Fairy Tale Festival in July

Wilton Candy Kitchen in Wilton

American Pizza Company in Davenport
Lagomarcino's in Davenport (I am a sucker for an old fashioned soda counter!)
Circa '21 Dinner Theatre in Davenport
The Button Factory Woodfire Grille in Muscatine

Skyora Bakery in Cedar Rapids

Adventure Land
Crystal Lake Cave in Dubuque

Zombie Burger in Des Moines

See a movie in a drive in theater
Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines
Botanical Garden in Des Moines 
Grand Harbor Resort Water Park in Dubuque
Fenelon Place Elevator in Dubuque 
Freddie's Popcorn Company in Dubuque

Maquoketa Caves

Mississippi River Museum
Star Brewery Building (For husband, not children) in Dubuque

Pike's Peak State Park

Spook Cave in McGregor

Tanager Place Summer Fest in Cedar Rapids

Chimney Rocks in Creston 
Villisca Axe Murder House
James Kennedy Aquatic Center in Tipton (Hello, Lazy River!) 
Lost Island Waterpark in Waterloo


My 8 year old has asked me to add:
Iowa Children's Museum (we live 2 blocks from it) in Coralville
Coralville Pool

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My friend Carrie (you might know her as Mrs. Gordon), had some ideas for our list!
The Field of Dreams in Decorah
Snake Alley in Burlington (Never heard of this before!)
Hotel Manning in Keosauqua
Lake Lacey in Keosauqua 

Thanks, Smart Aleck!

I did not know this! This little guy saved my battery!

iWanna iPad: Free Apps for All!

Every week- every day- dozens of highly rated, paid apps go free. I spend waaaay too much time online each day looking for the best apps that are up for grabs.  There are some great sites that scour the web to find and share the best apps of the day and the week. I visit these sites every day and end up downloading lots of apps.  These aren't all kid apps- I download lots of apps for photos, games, fun and organization.  Be aware that not all apps on these sites are free- read before you click!

Did I miss any? Where do you go to find your free apps?

App Addict Daily Free Apps

iSnoops: Be sure to click on iPhone & iPad Apps gone Free

The Daily App Show

AppiDay

App Chronicles

Free App a Day

 

Famigo: Check out their Best Apps of the week (not all free)

Smar Apps for Kids: (Be sure to click on Free App of the Day)

Common Sense Media: Not all free, but great ratings... (Kids apps)

iwanna iPad

I bit the bullet and bought a iPad last week.  I am a big fan of Apple, so I don't know what took me so long... oh yeah- the price tag! Now I have a $600 toy for my children. They are obsessed with it and the house is silent when they are using it. I can't stand to see them sit for long, so they are limited to 1 hour a day (is that too much?)

I plan to share some great iPad finds here, under "iWanna iPad". It is so easy as a blogger to keep all of your cook stuff in one place- so as much as this is for my audience (do I still have an audience?) it is for me. 

iWanna iPad: Wallpaper

iLikeWallpaper: You can search by category, purity (no bikini clad ladies), date or color. Here is my favorite retina display wallpaper from iLikeWallpaper:

Not strictly a wallpaper or Mac site, but Make Use of has a beautiful feature on retina wallpaper from March 29. Most of these are photographs that take you to Flickr. To use the picture, you have to select the original size and then "view image". Here is my favorite from Make Use Of:

13 Beautiful Retina Display Wallpapers from OSXDaily.  Here is the one I love:

You can search Flickr for iPad wallpaper- your search would be something like "iPad retina wallpaper (2048 x 2048)". Be sure to read the copyright info before you download or use a photo. Here is my favorite from the mentioned search:

This is the wallpaper on my iPad... it is safely protected behind an eighty dollar shatter proof case that is covered with jelly finger prints. Thank goodness I can enjoy all of that high def retina display!

Have You Seen Gale?

Finally! Someone expresses my thoughts in film! (Total Hottie!)