Books to Help Kids Understand Dementia

Many, perhaps most, of us know someone who deals with dementia. My first encounter with dementia was when I was in my early teen years, although that word was not commonly used then. We’d go over to visit my paternal grandparents, and Grandma would say, “Father is confused today.” We accepted this confusion as part…

Read More

Celebrating Three Special People

Cue the herald trumpets! Those of you who have been reading my blog for some time will know that October 1 is a special day of celebration for me. It is the birthday of three people whom I admire, who have directly or indirectly provided guidance, example, wisdom, and strength. As is my custom when…

Read More

Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan — Book Recommendation

Title: Amina’s Voice Author: Hena Khan Publisher: New York: Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster Children’s, 2017 Genre: Middle Grade Fiction Audience Age: 9 to 12 Themes/Topics: empowerment, racism, feeling comfortable with who you are, lifting up your voice Opening Sentences: Something sharp pokes me in the rib. “You should totally sign up for a solo,” Soojin…

Read More

Moving Forward — By Asking Questions

If you’re on Facebook at all regularly, you’ll no doubt have seen more than one of the plethora of quizzes and questionnaires that are so popular there. I admit I have fun with them. You may be interested to know that if I were a children’s book character, I’d be Max from Where the Wild…

Read More

Moving Forward — Open to Possibilities

As I said in my last blog post of 2013, I won’t be doing my month-end accountability posts this year. Instead, in keeping with my chosen theme for the year of moving forward, the last Monday of each month will feature a post designed to get us all thinking about some aspect of moving forward…

Read More

Year End, Year Beginning

Janus, the Roman god from whom the month of January derives its name, is usually depicted with two faces, one looking forward, one looking back. He was considered to be able to see both past and future at the same time. As I stand on the brink of another January, I find myself looking both…

Read More

With gratitude to a teacher and mentor

“Bonjour, mes amis!” Those were the words that greeted our Grade Seven classroom that early September day in 1968 when Monsieur Pugh strode into our first French class. Little did I know, the first time I encountered the sandy-haired recent arrival from England that he would have an impact on my life that continues to…

Read More