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 For Dog Lovers Everywhere: <i>The Eyes of the Impossible<i>, by Dave Eggers and Shaun Harris As a middle school student, I read and loved Old Yeller by Fred Gipson, but as a young adult White Fang (Jack London) changed my life.  Forever more I believed dogs could hear and understand much more than I ever realized. They certainly could communicate even without human language.  The 2024 Newbery Award winning book  The Eyes of the Impossible,    by Dave Eggers opened my eyes to the beauty of animal communication among all the species. If you've ever watched a stand-off between a cat and a blue jay, you know what I mean. The cat squawls and expands, the bird chirps and dances and pokes her beak. Clearly, there is communication between two different species. The animals in Eggers' book share a beautiful community of all types and species from buffaloes to sea gulls. The main character is a dog who calls himself Johannes. He is the "EYES" of their...

Using Quilts to Teach Life Lessons...or Show Way to freedom. My grandmother used her sewing skills (and her old treadle sewing machine ) to make quilts for her family. In her later years she was careful to craft a personalized quilt for each of her children and grandchildren. My gift quilt was constructed of fabric swatches from the polyester clothes popular during my teenage years. Every time I pick up that quilt, I see a new patch of cloth reminding me of grandmother or other family member. It is truly a personal treasure for me.   When I entered by doctoral program at the University of Memphis, I didn’t have much time to think about family or friends. Graduate programs can be 24/7 timetables that last for years. Even though I was absorbed in writing and research, my family was still thinking of me. Like my grandmother, a good friend was also talented with crafting quilts. She contacted every one of my family members, and friends near and far, to invite th...

  A terrible tragedy occurred in India in 1947 . It was not an earthquake, or a tsunami. There was no pandemic or military attack from the outside. But, it was the desperate tearing apart of families and friends. It was the forced migration from home to a newly formed country called Pakistan. Great Britain released India from their colonial control and left the people to form their own governing institutions. The reasons for the mobs, protests, and murders are complex and hard to understand, but we know people were hurt and mad. This leads to terrible social unrest. You can see on the map the green regions that are Pakistan. Pink indicates India. The main difference lies in that age-old conflict that results from differences in religions.  I do not write of faith and trust in GOD or other deity. I speak of religious practices that are as varied as humankind.  British and Indian leaders made the decisions to set the borders you can see on the map. Pakistan is literally to...

    As you are looking for best-of-the-best in Realistic Fiction genre, I recommend The Paperboy by Vince Vawter. This Newbery award winner could be considered Historical Fiction, depending on YOUR age. For me personally, it is realistic as I am reading about life in a small town in the 1950's. If you were morn after 1990, it will seem to be more historical. For nostalgia and vintage seekers, it is one of the most realistic, and accurate to the times, story I've read. Vawter frequently includes television, movies, and athletic heroes well known during those "HAPPY DAYS"  of 1950 to 1960.    More important is the story of an 11 year-old boy who stutters. During this time period, little could be done to help stutterers. Research in providing strategies to overcome traumatic speech problems was sadly lacking. As our hero approaches the trauma of adolescence, he is further stressed while trying to communicate through his stuttering disability. The story is m...

  A dollar for the paper growls a tall man in a raggedy coat. His hair sticks up higgledy-piggledy all over his head. He thrusts a thin newspaper toward Lily's mother. Lily hides, clutching her mother's coat as she peeks out. I was drawn to Lily and the Paperman   simply because of the name Lily. My mother, who preferred being called Peggy, was named after her grandmother. The spelling Lily-dell was a little different and mother could never quite get used to the dell as an addendum to the name Lily. When I read Lily and the Paperman by Rebecca Upjohn and illustrated by Renne Benoit, I was captivated by a little girl whose generous heart also reminded me of my mother as a child. Being very tender-hearted she would have reacted just as our storybook Lily did on a cold city sidewalk.   The story is set in a major metropolitan area in a cold climate. Lily and her parents live in a high-rise apartment with an elevator rather than a front porch or a back...

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