The most important book you'll ever read...

... is the one you read to a child. So I lied, I haven't actually quit reading for the summer. I've been reading a book called The Read-Aloud Handbook. I think it should be required reading for all new parents or expectant couples or teachers. The most important thing I've learned so far from this book (I'm only on page 34, but I had to share my thoughts with you in case I don't finish the book before school starts) is that the difference between high achievers and middle level students is their love of reading. Especially with the way schools are "supposed" to teach reading (through phoenetics... thank you No Child Left Behind for yet another dumb idea), children are being turned off to reading. So it's important for parents to read to children from a very early age (the author suggests beginning to read to your child in the last trimester of your pregnancy so that the baby already associates certain books with comfort) so that the child associates reading with pleasure and not with worksheets, etc.

This book has me thinking about changing my Master's degree from Youth Librarianship (for a public library) to School Librarianship. Parents need to encourage their children's teachers (throughout all of elementary school) to read out-loud to their children (with no reading quizzes at the end) and have SSR (Sustained Silent Reading). One principal in an at-risk Boston elementary school turned his school's reputation and testing scores around in two years by having 10 minutes of read aloud time each morning and 10 minutes of SSR each afternoon. If 20 minutes a day can make that much of a difference once the child is already in school, imagine what a difference it could make if you start reading to your child from infancy.

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

Here it is folks. The last of Becca's summer reading. With only a week left until school starts I've decided that I'm don't want to get immersed in a book that I can't finish before school starts and the reading piles up. But this book was a great way to end my summer reading and get geared up for school. The title of the book pretty much sums it up. One of the biggest contributors to the OED (which is commonly considered to be THE authority on all matters of english definitions) lived in an insane asylum the entire time that he was helping to define words and find illustrative quotes.


I really don't know what else to say about this book. It was a good read for a non-fiction book, but since it is a true story it doesn't have quite the drive that fiction does. It's harder to bring in symbols and foreshadowing and all those things that make fiction really fun. There's less "coming full circle." That's not to say that I don't recommend it. It was a great book. You just need to know that it's not fiction and therefore not going to be quite as fun.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Overpowering. That's the only word I can think of that describes this book. It knocks you down with it's perspectives and descriptions of life. I don't know how an American could write so convincingly about life in a completely different culture. It's one of those books that makes you want to find some poor child and just hug him and give him everything he needs.

What I really took from this book is how much luxury I have in my life. Sure I'm a "struggling" college student, but I have never looked at bare cupboards and wondered whether or not I'd be able to buy food. I've never had to subsist on ramen noodles and bread for a month because I don't have money for anything else. Sure I can't buy everything I would like, but I'm definitely not starving or suffering from malnutrition.

I think the reason that the talk of food struck me is that I've really been focusing on that lately. I've been trying to read a lot of articles on nutrition and how eat healthy on a college budget. I'm trying to start "dieting" in a way that I can just get myself into good, healthy habits for life. I've read so many articles it's ridiculous. Everyone has a different opinion about the best way to eat, but there are a few things I've found.
1) Get as natural as you can. Whole grains are great. Stay away from cans and boxes as much as possible.
2)Don't limit yourself. Don't completely cut out sweets or salty foods, just find healthy ways to eat them. Try all sorts of different things from the produce section to see what you like.
3) Don't force yourself to eat something you don't like. I heard someone say that you should try all the foods that you don't like at least once a year because your tastebuds may change, but if you've tried it recently and you don't like it, then don't force yourself to eat it. My prime example... salads. I like salads when other people prepare them, but if I buy stuff to make salads then it'll just rot because I don't like them enough to make them. I will however, eat just about any kind of cooked vegetable.
4) Beans are a great substitute for meat in most cases. I'm contemplating buying lots of beans and seeing if I really can cut meat out of my life (or at least cut down on how much I eat it). I'm not necessarily becoming a vegetarian, because I'll still eat meat, but beans are a lot cheaper than meat and just as good of a source of protein without all the fat and with a lot more fiber.

Okay, that's a long tangent, but it's what I've been thinking about all day... actually all week.