From Author Rebecca Grabill
This Joyful Mess
Blasted Blight: or What to do with Green Tomatoes
I started the season with ten lovely tomato plants. A few heirloom, some beefsteak, others. All went well for quite a while. We made it through June, July (even with two weeks of neglect while I was at Hamline University), into August. But then the cool nights hit, and the wet days, and the icky constant dampness. Blight set in.
Last weekend I sacrificed nine of my ten beloved lovelies...
Theft and Motivation
So, we watched the second Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie over the weekend and found it even better than the first one. Side-splittingly funny, especially given the plot of brothers - Doug and Rodrick's constant fighting - and Fish/St. Nick's similar inability to get along. The movie got to the part where Mom starts bribing the boys with fake money to spend time together, and Fish/St. Nick got excited.
"Mom Bucks! Can we do Mom Bucks?"
Devil in the Details: Sewing the Cutest Little Girl Dress
What is up with me? I hate sewing - loathe it - despise it. But here I am, sewing like I'm, uh, I don't even know. Martha Stewart (does she sew? Did they allow sewing machines in prison?).
Here's dress for Pie #2:
Mama Why?
Because I said so!
Uh, no, this is the book, Mama Why? by Karma Wilson (illus. by Simon Mendez), McElderry, 2011
The poet in me loves the rhythm in this gentle story...
Another Sweet Picture Book
Quiet Bunny's Many Colors by Lisa McCue, Sterling 2010.
As with any picture book, the pictures are the first thing you notice. They were, in fact, what drew Mud Pie to the book at the library and compelled her to yank it off the shelf and stuff it in her over-full library bag. Predictably, she oohed and ahhed...
RUMInations
Thirteenth century ecstatic poet, Jelaluddin Rumi, has been part of my daily literary meal of late. Sandwiched in time between St. Francis of Assisi and Meister Eckhart, Rumi's mysticism is stunningly present, green and alive. Qualities I strive to live: presence, awareness of all that lives around me.
For example, today...
Funkify Your Wool: A Tutorial on Wool Dying for Rug Hooking or other Crafts
I'm easily bored so the excitement of that Great Goodwill Find of a Hideous Blazing Purple jacket soon wears off. I start to wonder what that purple would do to a light brown, or whether I need a hazy blue-white for snow or sky or what that Blue Blazer would do to white slacks, just because it might be cool and...
Review Unwritten—Katherine Paterson’s Bread and Roses, Too
Just after putting down this latest Paterson book, I had idea after idea about what to say. That was a month ago (at least) and the details have now faded. All my brilliant points of critique, all my Deep Thoughts. Oddly, details of the story itself are not lost, nor are one or two things I’d thought when I first read it. This is probably for the best
Two Undecodable Books (ok, maybe a little decodable)
An adventure story about fun and friendship.
Rylant uses short sentences, though I must say from a reading-developmental level (whatever it’s called), the vocabulary used requires decoding skills a Level 2 might not have. “Knocked” and “enough” are more...
Cinderella or Cinderella or Cinderella - All the Same
If a culturally rich adaptation of a classic tale is going to be on a required reading list for any MFAC program, I think it should be Yeh Shen.
Hi, I’m Rebecca. I write books and I write here at This Joyful Mess to inspire everyone to find JOY in the everyday messes of life. Here you’ll find inspiration, educational resources, and so much more. Please explore and connect. I’d love to hear from you!