Tough Stuff!

NOT for the faint of heart!  What do you get when you mash-up Ancient Roman Games with Reality TV Shows?  Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, that's what!  This is a thrilling and chilling read that chronicles the frightening journey of Katniss Everdeen as she is forced to become a tribute of her District to the brutal game concocted by the heartless Capitol.  There are lessons to be learned in this suspense-filled book, TudyGirls - the value of family and friendship, making hard decisions, and caring for others - and that makes the scare worth it!  But in case it gets a little too dark, just enjoy the humor that the fashion stylists bring! 

As soon as you put this one down, jump on to Catching Fire, the second book in the series.  It's a whole new game that Katniss has to play and, this time, her hunting skills might not be enough!

Then finally, join the countdown for the final book in the trilogy, Mockingjay!  I can't wait!

Park Happy

From the great Yosemite to the Statue of Liberty, the National Park Service is waiving entrance fees to all 392 national parks from April 17-25.  So explore the great outdoors and celebrate Earth Day 2010 at a national park.  Become a Web Ranger, build your own ranger station, and start planting seeds for a brighter, greener U!

Listen, Again...

"And all that the Lorax left here in the mess,
Was a small pile of rocks with one word …
'Unless'. "

I'm bringing back the ecological, cautionary tale, The Lorax, as my pick of the crop for Earth Day 2010! Emmy Award and Pulitzer Prize winner, Theodore Seuss Giesel's (aka Dr. Seuss), The Lorax continues to tout an earth-friendly message as timely as ever! The lessons - reduce, recycle, and re-use - are all storied here by the master writer, poet, cartoonist, and hat collector extraordinaire. And because the book is written in metered rhyme, The Lorax is a fun, read a-loud book for all ages. Read it once, you’ll be captivated. Watch the video once, twice, thrice, and you’ll forever fall for that chubby, mossy, passionate, but bossy, Lorax!

Remember: long before green was “in”, the Lorax waxed poetics over the bright-colored tufts of truffula trees and the brown, fuzzy suits of cuddly bar-ba-loots! He spoke for the trees (“for the trees have no tongues”), the singing swomee swans, and humble humming fish.  In the end, he gave the mighty Once-ler a run for his money and the conspicuous, consumer-driven world a new, to-do twist!

 So plant your own truffula, Tudygirls! (“Treat it with care. Give it clean water. Feed it fresh air.” ) And as you do, really, really listen. You just might hear the Lorax whispering “thank you” ~ you’ll be smitten!

Tudy's Think Tank

Suppose Tudy has 30 polka dotted and 30 rainbow stripped socks all stashed in her drawer.  If she reaches into her drawer without looking at her sock stash, what is the smallest number of socks she must pull out to make either a polka dotted or rainbow stripped pair?


(Tudy's Tip:  3 socks suprisingly yield a pair!)

What's In YOUR Closet?

“A hundred dresses! Obviously the only dress Wanda had was the blue one she wore everyday. So what did she say she had a hundred for? What a story.”

… And, yes, I couldn't agree more.  It's right up my alley.  What a story The Hundred Dresses is!

When Wanda Petronski, the new Polish girl in Room 13, wears the same faded blue dress to school everyday but claims she really has 100 shiny new dresses in her closet, she becomes the laughing stock of her school.  She is teased and ridiculed by her friends and classmates incessantly.  Not until Wanda transfers to another school do her friends, Maddie and Peggy, learn the wonderful truth behind the hundred dresses. By that time though, the die had been cast!

This spring, step into this classic! You’ll be charmed by this 1945 Newberry Honor book by Eleanor Estes. It's a welcome redo-of-a-book that'll leave you with a profound makeover. There are lessons to be learned here, Tudygirls.  Certainly tolerance and compassion come to mind.  And words do carry weight, so choose your words wisely.  The Hundred Dresses is an all-season, skirt-worthy pass!  It’s a Tudy fave: a dress-up session 4 life!!!

Sisterhood

This is a book close to Tudette's and my heart!  The adventures of The Sisters Grimm are just the kind Tudette and I would love to have!  After all, who wouldn't want to be fairy tale detectives!  And to be reminded of how interesting grandmothers can actually be (give yours a big hug!)!

Book one of the series introduces us to Sabrina and Daphne Grimm and the grim reality they face as foster kids.  No wonder the only thing on their minds is to run away from Ferryport Landing and the strange woman who claims to be their grandmother.  But all that changes quickly when they realize that their family history, as the descendants of the famous Brothers Grimm, comes with an obligation they just can't turn their backs on.  Specially when there's a giant breathing down on them!!!  And best of all you've got seven more books to go, with an eighth one coming up in May! Plus a movie in the making!

This is a fairy tale review, Tudygirls, and it's fun (and sometimes scary!) to re-imagine them all!  So sit back and get into the madness of spring with Michael Buckley's madcap The Sisters Grimm!