Under Lavender Skies

I think annotating literature is a really fun way to deeply explore the ideas in books further by making notes or writing something of your own to take the idea and elaborate on it.  Marking passages and words is a good way to appreciate the book even more.   Now, I personally really enjoy the idea of annotating a book or even getting a used book and being able to see what others thought of the ideas.  However, when I was younger I hated it and I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to write in a book and ruin it for the other people who would read it.  If you don't like the idea of annotating books, that's okay but just hear me out.   Earlier this year, I believe it was this June, I took an online class using the book The Lord of the Flies.  Essentially, for the class, I had to answer and write a section, (one to three paragraphs) answering different questions and turn them in before Wednesday each week.  Lots of the time the questions were talking about specific section

Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month and is an organization that promotes writing in the month of November.  The idea is for writers to write the first draft of their book in one month so they get it out and ready to be revised.  The hardest part is just to get it out and into the world and so Nanowrimo gives writers a place as well an incentive to do that.  It happens every November and this year I decided to do it.  The goal is 50,000 words in one month.  As you can imagine, that is a lot of writing per day and my life has almost been revolving around it.   I am writing a historical fiction novel so I am going to tell some stories and facts for this month's history week.  The story has to do with two children (Russell and Clara) who ride on the boxcars in 1930.  There wasn't much easily found information so I have done lots of digging.   One of the best websites I found is one telling stories that were passed down generations from children and adults who rode on

Today is my 43rd post!  I know that I should be saying that when it's the 40th or 50th and the 43rd seems like an odd number (Ha! get it?).  Having said that, I still think it's pretty cool that I have made it to 43.   Have you ever read a book that is on a banned book list?  If you like to read, or have gone through high school, you probably have.  A lot of the books on the list are, from what I know, popular books to read in high school and almost all of them are historical fiction.   If you don't know what a banned book or book censorship is, it's when there is a record that a school has banned the book, or tried to remove it, from the school because it has suggestive content in it.  I looked through this list,  http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics , and the books that I have read from that were banned are: The Great Gatsby, The Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, The Lord of the Rings, and A Separate Peace.  Some other commonly banned bo

PART TWO   “I must go in. The fog is rising.”    -Emily Dickinson- “Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows' Eve.” -Ray Bradbury  Here was the plan, the party would be held at Mrs. Kerbs’ house, she had enough space for snacks, people, and games.  She decided she would just invite the kids in the neighborhood and see what would happen from there.  And so a year passed, a strange and uneventful year for Leola.  She helped plan but still, there was not much for her to do.   “Elizabeth, Elizabeth!” There was a sharp and continuous knocking on the door.  Leola was at Mrs. Kerbs' house kneading bread as she did each Sunday afternoon when the figure of a man appeared through the blurred glass door.  He was a short man, short and wide, and she noticed how the top of his head was shiny and bald with the rest of his head covered in white fluffy hair.  His shirt was pulled tight over his belly and

Hello everyone!  I planned to post this story last week but didn't finish it in time.  On top of that it is longer than I expected, so enjoy part one! Part two coming next week.     PART ONE  “I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey.” -The Criminologist,  "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"- Leola got up one Saturday, like most Saturdays, and went to Mrs. Elizabeth Kerbs’ house to help her with gardening and other odds and ends.  Mrs. Kerbs loved her garden, she was the head of the gardening community and she kept a steady eye on each flower and made sure even the smallest weeds were plucked  That was one of Leola’s jobs.  Leola had helped her for many weeks and came to learn that she loved gardening herself, but more so she loved Mrs. Kerbs, and hearing her stories.  Elizabeth Kerbs liked to tell them too, mostly.   “Mrs. Kerbs,” Leola asked her later that day when she was pulling weeds. “What happened after you moved here from Switzerland?” That was where