BOOK ANGELS

This past week, my school was the lucky recipient of almost 80 books!! One of our teachers told me about a program called Book Angels. It is a program that is run by Anderson's Bookshop in Downers Grove, which just happens to be my childhood bookstore. They partner up with a teacher's professional sorority and hang needy children's names on a tree on little paper angels. Then members of this organization and patrons of the bookstore, pick a name and buy a hardcover book for that child. Every book was then wrapped and labeled with their angel by the head of the children's section, Kathleen March. All I had to do was write a letter and submit my student's names. I got to pick up four huge bags of beautiful, wrapped, new hardcover books and pass them out to so many of our students. They were thrilled, truly! I had fun being the book lady-- I said it was a raffle-- so that no one would know why they were picked-- but really it was the children who we felt might not have books at home to read.

What a great program, a great bookstore and a great booklady in Kathleen!! The book above was one of my favorites as a preteen and purchased at Anderson's on my bike in probably 1987!!!

African Reading Challenge Part III

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I read this novel for my social justice bookclub run by Amnesty International. We meet at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square to discuss issues around social justice and global issues.
This book is based loosely on political events in nineteen-sixties Nigeria, and focuses on two wealthy Igbo sisters, Olanna and Kainene. The sisters each fall in love with very different men and the story follows them and other characters who come into their lives. The book does a great job of showing different socioeconomic cultures and how war affects them differently. She is a good author and creates vivid characters. It is a disturbing book and made our group really look at how there are so many conflicts that we know so little about. Interestingly enough, one of the book club members had gone to Nigeria around that time to visit her boyfriend in the Peace Corp and couldn't believe how little she knew about this conflict and how it affected the Nigerian people.


“A gorgeous, pitiless account of love, violence and betrayal during the Biafran war.”

—Time magazine (February 12, 2007)

African Reading Challenge Part II

Angelina Jolie; Notes from my Travels- Visits with Refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan and Ecuador





Now, I never thought I would have read anything by Angelina, not a huge fan of her movies or her tabloids, but my sister sent me this book when I told her I was traveling to Ethiopia next summer. Well all I can say is that after reading it, I like her and I plan to bring a travel journal with me next summer. These are her memoirs from her journeys to Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, Cambodia and Ecuador. She simply writes about what she sees and how she feels. It is a very fast read and very simple but certainly makes you wonder why more people don't try to experience developing countries. Especially people with lots of money. :)

"Angelina is living proof of the power we all have-- every one of us-- to make a difference. I was deeply moved by her descriptions of individual refugees struggling to live with dignity and hope, and found her personal commitment to be an inspiration. Angelina's journals document her awakening as a humanitarian activist and I hope they will move readers to act. I look forward to my continued work with Angelina on behalf of the United Nations." - Jane Goodall, Ph.D. CBE Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace

African Reading Challenge Part I

28 STORIES OF AIDS IN AFRICA BY STEPHANIE NOLEN





Quite awhile ago, my friend Sarah encouraged us all to choose six books written about Africa or by African authors, read them and write a review of them. So, I am finally writing my reviews, one at a time...

The first book is 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolan. This is a good book to learn about the AIDS crisis as Stephanie takes 28 people affected by the virus and writes a short story about their lives and experiences. She writes about orphans raising younger siblings, wives who were exiled after their virus was discovered despite the fact that they contracted the virus from their husbands, to cross country truckers who frequent prostitutes. She writes a story for each of the million people afflicted by AIDS in Africa. Very powerful and very enlightening.

"If a war had killed 20 million soldiers, and left 28 million more dying of wounds, we'd call it the worst such tragedy since World War II. This is the scale of AIDS in Africa. Stephanie Nolen brings this story to life in a moving, deeply human way. Through these portraits—shrewdly chosen, varied, and sometimes startlingly unexpected—she artfully puts a series of human faces on the greatest health crisis of our time."
- Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost and Bury the Chains

Community Outreach Part 2

A huge thank you to all who participated in our school's adopt a family community outreach program!! We collected warm clothes, school supplies, toys and gift cards for 108 children. Monday, I collected at NNM and was amazed by some of the donations. Then Tuesday was pickup at my school... followed by some last minute deliveries Friday. Was super relieved to be finished but so happy to be able to help out so many families. They were all very appreciative and our NNM families and friends were so generous!!! THANK YOU TO CLAIRE AND SARAH FOR BEING PARTNERS IN THIS GREAT PROGRAM!!!!

COOKIE BAKING!!!

Today, I met a couple of my friends for our annual cookie baking session. We each pick two kinds of cookies, prepare the dough ahead of time and come prepared to bake enough for 3 households. This year, we made candy canes, thumbprints, peanut butter/Hersey kiss, butter tea cookies, armenian wedding cookies and an interesting chocolate cookie with a carmel inside and heath pieces on top-- probably a million calories in that one!

I came home with 4 containers full of Christmas cookies and no need to bake again this holiday season!!! Thanks ladies.

ADOPT A FAMILY

For the past three years, my school has been lucky enough to partner up with a wonderful school in the city to do an Adopt A Family program. With the help of my teachers, I choose families who could use some extra assistance at the holidays and match them up with a family at NNM-- an amazing Montessori school with very generous members. Then we collect the donations and my school's families pick them up and get to wrap the gifts for their children. It is such a fun program and I truly feel like Santa the day we pass out gifts. This year, we are hoping to provide gifts, warm clothes and support to over a 100 children.