Here are the totals:
Picture books -6
Middle Grade-20
Young Adult-12
Adult-3

There is so much diversity in the genres represented this year that it is very difficult to pick favorites.  But here is as narrow as I can get:

Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger             

Any Historical Fiction by Laurie Halse Anderson

What is on the docket for early 2011?  I continue on the YA fantasy kick, with a twist toward sci-fi.
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness
Forge  and Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Hunts by Stephanie Hemphill
Spilling Ink by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter
Sugar Changed the World: by Marc Aronson

This list could go on into infinity but I will refrain for now.

Happy New Year to all Readers.

PS.  I recieved the Kindle from HoHo this year!!  I will travel with it next week and see if it lives up to its promises

So with that introduction I want to get ready to review 2010 and prepare for 2011.  I must admit that every year it takes me half of New Year’s Day to find my goals from last year.  That indicates how in tune I have been with those goals all year.  LOL  Regardless, it is quite entertaining to remember where you were a year ago and where you hoped to go this year.  Without taking the time to find that list I think I can remember being quite lost and purposeless last December.  I had been unemployed for 18 months and becoming paralysed in that condition.  My resolutions for 2010 were directing me towards a new career in teaching.  I did in fact take a class in the spring to prepare for my application into a teaching certificate program.  That class was so refreshing and motivating.  I was easily older by 30 years than all my fellow students and the teacher.  Surprisingly, this demographic that I thought would be intimidating, turned out to be flattering and enlightening!!  Soon I felt the courage to take on any challenge flowing through my veins.

At the same time I walked my little ol’ self into 2 different elementary schools and said…”Please use me!”   To my great surprise I found a home and a family and a new vocation.  Truth be told I never did go on to get my Master’s.  Now I doubt that I ever will.  I am supported by an amazing husband who loves to watch me shine.  But he is also very adept at keeping me realistic.  That is not always an easy task.  So with his financial backing I have continued to be unemployed in the financial sense but gainfully employed in the meaningful sense.  I now spend 3+ days a week volunterring in 4th grade at White Rock School in Waukesha Wisconsin.  I spend everyday doing what I absolutely LOVE.  I think you could call my title many things starting with volunteer and ending with head stapler.  But the role I am driven by is Reading Salesman of the Year!!!!   I have the unparalleled privilege to work with an incredibly gifted teacher and dedicated friend.  Together we can’t begin to act on all the brainstorms brewing in our heads, but we are certainly giving it the old college try.  We have a classroom of  engaged and motivated students who are enthralled with every idea we try.  As a volunteer I can choose my projects, push the envelope and find the time to create unusual experiences for our students.  Every thing else in 2010(and there were some amazing experiences this year) pales in comparison to the discovery of “Janet”.   I have found  a venue for my reading addiction, I have found a benefit to being 50 (experience, networks, knowledge base, and fearlessness), and I have found a hundred kids to shower with love and hope.

Goals for 2011????  Seriously, that will take a whole other post. 

Dad and I relax and enjoy the view at Villa Volpi

Again it has been an embarrassingly long time since my last blog.  As I look back I realize that my last entry was a few days before my father’s death.  I planned to create this entry to honor my dad months ago and seemed to balk away every time I started.  I suppose that is to be expected given the grieving process.  After 6 months, I think I am ready.  I have chosen this picture in memory of the love I had for my dad and a time when we were traveling and learning together.

The summer of 2005 Dad and I traveled in Italy for 3 weeks. 
We spent a week in Rome and  then 2 weeks in Tuscany on a cooking tour . 
I shared many passions with my father and this trip       
highlighted  them.  We traveled, experienced a new culture, met 
the real people of the region, experimented with their language,
and were immersed in their cooking culture.  All our fellow travelers loved my Dad.  He was a gracious, kind and vibrant man.  He was a life-long learner and loved to help others learn and discover their potentials.  Everytime I travel, pick up a book, teach a child a new concept or spend an afternoon cooking I will remember my father fondly!

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, A Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley 
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda
Peter and the Starcatchers by  Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Katie DiCamillo
Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick

Currently reading: Crispin by Avi and  Devil’s Paintbox by Victoria McKernan

I have loved everyone of these books.  I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite for the month.  Of course it is not quite the end of the month.  So maybe I will finish one more by tomorrow.  I will blog brief reviews tomorrow.

What was your new found purpose in life, you ask.  Well I threw myself at the mercy of some of the local elementary schools as a volunteer.  I looked into acquiring my teaching certificate but quickly realized that the freedom of a volunteer was much more in tune with my spirit.  Both schools placed me with some amazing teachers who were thrilled to have a flexible helper for any project they could think up.  I helped struggling readers in 1st, 3rd & 4th grade, I directed a play, I helped with a science fair, read-aloud in several classrooms, facilitated a couple of lit circles and even mentored three fledgling novelists!!!!

I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the gifted teachers ( Mrs. Murphy, Mrs. Streibig, Mrs. Hoem, & Mr. Christianson) and the incredible kids that helped me regain my emotional/ spiritual balance and joy!!!!

So this summer, my second summer unemployed I am the happiest I have been in years.  I have exciting curriculum and integrated learning experiences bouncing around in my dreams.  I am focused on broadening my knowledge of Children’s/Young Adult Literature.  I even have made some “extra-curricular” friends.  I am helping with the local Bookmobile and plan to have a Booktalk at the local library a couple of times this summer.  I am relaxed and looking forward to fall.

Unfortunately, or maybe really Fortunately, the happier I am the less inclined I am to write poetry.  It seemed that my poetry was an outlet for my angst.  I have heard many writers say that so I won’t mourn the loss.  Not that there was any real talent displayed in those poems….Sooo I plan to use this blog to do some booktalks.  I have found some extraordinary book blogs out there and won’t begin to compete.  But I will gladly share those links and make my small contribution to the cyber bookworld.

Thanks for listening JF
Happily touching lives one great book and shared moment at a time!!!!

I stand staring at the jumble of bracelets, necklaces and earrings.
Knotted and twisted, tangles beyond distinction.
How did it come to this?
What confluence of disregard and carelessenss allowed this mess?

How like my life this appears.  Every piece someone I thought I needed, loved.
Some have been prone to tangle, drama from the start.
Wrapping themselves around everything, choking out their worth.  Paralyzing their beauty.
Better discarded than allowed to continue

Many were favorites once, comfortable and warm around my neck or arm or soul.
Buried in the jumble now.  Lost to disuse.
How could I have forgotten?  Can I begin to retrieve them?
Can I sort them out?

Several are essential still.  Not forgotten by any means.  Yearned for, grasped at.
Yet with every grasp they become more entangled.
They are the reason I survey this calamity, weigh my options, plan my strategy.
Painstakingly, achingly careful I try to puzzle them loose.
An art of gentle handling, teasing the knots apart, tracing back to the source of this bind.
Making amends, calming my spirit, holding on so loosely that they can slither back into their beauty and value.
Freed to adorn my life anew.

Finished: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
This author was on myAwesome Authors Challenge and thought I would delve right in.  Very well written, rather dated though and incredibly disturbing.  It is weird to read a futuristic book 25 years after it was first written.  The future stuff is already obselete.  Even so you could still sense the theme of the story and some of its timelessness.

Currently reading:  Now and Then by Jacqueline Sheehan.
A new time travel novel set in Ireland.  So far it has grabbed me.

If you want to join the fun follow this link http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/2009/11/its-monday-what-are-you-reading_09.html

The challenge starts January 1, 2010 and ends December 31, 2010.
Crossover from other challenges is allowed.
Choose the level at which you would like to participate, post about it and come back and leave a link to your post in Mister Linky.
Titles and authors do not have to be predetermined, and can change at any time.
Books can come from any genre or reading level, the only requirement is that you have heard great things about the author, but haven’t yet read any of their works.

The Levels:

Easy: Choose three authors and read at least one title from each author.
Moderate: Choose six authors and read at least one title from each author.
Challenging: Choose ten authors and read at least one title from each author.
Over-Achieving: Anything over ten authors.

Here is my list thus far:  (Rather lofty, we will see if I actually get close to accomplishing this

Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Magaret Atwood
Neil Gaiman
Cormac McCarthy
Phillip Roth
Salman Rushdie
Toni Morrison
William Faulkner
Scott Westerfeld

http://athomewithbooks.blogspot.com/2009/10/awesome-author-challenge-2010.html

My dad passed this book on from his book group.  I was hesitant because my dad’s taste runs towards heavy history and melancholia.  This book was in fact an historical fiction but not too heavy and written in a lighthearted tone.  It is set around a very obscure historical event but one that is very relevant to current events.  The protaganist is a middle-aged school teacher from Ohio who finds herself in Cairo during the weeks of the Cairo Peace Conference in 1921.  The players were Churchills, T.E. Lawerence (aka Lawerence of Arab ia) and Gertrude Bell.  These characters were the creators of the borders of  Iraq as we know them today.  Honestly, I always thought Lawerence of Arabia was just a movie character ( don’t tell my dad the historian I said that!!) .  So it was interesting to see a glimpse of these political figures.  The story left me wanting to do some exploring and further study of this time and these players.  Isn’t that just what an historical fiction should accomplish??

Without any spoiler, I must say the ending seemed odd to me.  But overall I found the book captivating and entertaining and informative.  How much more can you ask in a book?

Here is the fun book thing I found today.  Just everyone’s stack of  “To Be Reads” is worth a trip to this site.

           24hourreadathon.com