And So the Week Ends

So I end my winter break sick --- 2 days of a sore throat, swollen glands, headache, which is morphing now into a head cold and tight cough.  I had to go into school yesterday and today for workshops, and if I'm being honest, they were not the most productive use of my time.  While some of the work was necessary, it could have been condensed into one day.  Today especially felt like busy work to me.  It was hard enough to have to go into school these last two days; at least give me a meaningful task to accomplish or give me time to work in my classroom on planning.  

I have not gotten as far as wanted to on my knitting.  I may, if I do nothing but knit from now til Sunday, finish the body of my sweater, but not the sleeves.  I'm disappointed, but that's okay.  I gave myself a challenge, and it's okay that I didn't finish . . . .I also couldn't watch all of the ice skating last night --- 11 pm is too late for me to watch TV on a school night!   I did enjoy the men's aerials, though I think they're crazy!!

Here's a good read:

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Flavia deLuce is the eleven year old sleuth in this debut novel.  She's precocious, imaginative, lonely, and passionate about chemistry.  Flavia is the youngest daughter of a widowed philatelist, and she's devoted to finding ways to "get even" with her older sisters Daphne and Ophelia. She's especially fascinated with poisons, and uses her knowledge of pharmacology to "prank" her sister.   She lives in 1950's England in Buckland, the ancestral home of her family, and her family has a reputation for eccentricity.   As a schoolboy, her father was involved in the suicide/accidental death/murder of his schoolmaster and also in the disappearance of a very rare stamp.  When a dead body appears in Flavia's garden, her father is a suspect, and off she goes, hot on the trail of the murderer, finding clues that even Inspector Hewitt misses.  I really enjoyed this book.  I'm not sure if it's being marketed as a young adult mystery, an adult mystery, or a children's book. It would certainly appeal to some of my more mature readers on some levels.  I learned a lot too -- about chemistry and stamp-collecting, and I could see this book being used as a hook in a chemistry lab. 

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