Stranded with a Good Book

Have you ever been stuck at the airport waiting for the weather to clear so that your flight can take off? That was the situation I was in recently, and thank goodness I had a good book to keep my mind off of the wait. In fact, the book I was reading transported me to India rather than Chicago which was my desired destination.

Kashmira Sheth, the author of Keeping Corner, tells the story of Leela, a widow at the age of twelve. In fact, Leela was engaged at age two, married at age ten and just before her anu ceremony, her husband was bitten by a poisonous snake. When Leela's husband died, she was looked upon as bad luck. She needed to spend a year keeping corner, which was an Indian tradition. During this year, Leela could not go out of the house, had to wear drab clothing and keep her head shaved. According to Indian tradition, Leela was to not marry again.

Can you imagine what life was like for Leela? Although things looked grim, Leela's brother fought for her right to an education and this opened new doors for her. This break with tradition occurred as Ghandi was encouraging the Indian people to break with tradition and fight against English oppression.

I learned quite a bit about Indian traditions and history while I waited for the flight departure to be announced. What good books have helped you through a long wait?

November 4th

Why is November 4th the most important day of the year? It's the day of the presidential election and the day that the people of America get to choose the leader of our nation for the next 4 years. Everytime you turn on the television, radio or computer, the topic of the day seems to be the presidential election. As a kid, you may tune this stuff out and think "I'm not old enough to vote, so why should I care?". According to PBS.com, young people who vote , do so because they learned about the importance of elections when they were kids and they grew to believe it was an honor and a privilege. The internet is a great way to learn about the presidential candidates and the election, but it is important to to know where your information is coming from. Since anyone can post anything on the web, it's best to learn from reliable, un-biased sources.
So, if you'd like to learn more about the election, here are some good websites:
Time for Kids Election Connection 2008
Scholastic News Online Election 2008
Rock the Vote
Kid's Voting USA
PBS Democracy Project
Ben's Guide to Government for Kids

Do you like suspense?

If you are a fan of suspense novels, I have two suggestions for you. Caroline Cooney's latest novels Diamonds in the Shadow and Code Orange kept me on the edge of my seat!

Diamonds in the Shadow has an interesting connection to stories we heard when Mawi Asgedom was visiting. Like Mawi's experience, a refugee family from Africa is sponsored by a church group and moves to the United States. Unfortunately, the apartment rented for this family, the Amabos, is no longer available so they have to move in with Jared, his sister, mom and dad. After the two families live together for a couple of weeks, Jared and his sister Mopsy begin to suspect that these refugees are not who they claim to be. Jared also discovers that the son Mattu is hiding "blood diamonds." To make the story even more suspenseful, a fifth refugee, who arrived at the same time as the Amabos, begins to hunt for them and readers are left wondering why.

Code Orange is just as suspenseful, especially if you can picture what would happen if the smallpox disease began to spread again. As a high school sophomore, Mitty has perfected the art of avoiding homework. However, in order to stay in the same class as a girl he likes, Mitty is told he must complete the research paper on an infectious disease that his biology teacher assigned. While flipping through some medical books in the basement, Mitty runs across an envelope. He opens the flap and scabs fall out in his palm. As Mitty continues his research, he realizes that these scabs were from the smallpox epidemic that hit the U.S. over 100 years ago. Mitty starts to experience some of the symptoms of smallpox and is afraid that he has contracted the disease. Not only is the thought of infecting others with smallpox or dying of the disease himself, Mitty is afraid some terrorists are interested in getting their hands on the scabs themselves.

What suspense novels have you read in the past that you would recommend to your friends?