YALIT/Crit

HI, Dr. Stearns and All,

I am safely home now. I have had such special experience during my trip:

There was a 8-month -old baby, whose mom tried to make suicide, and couldn't survive in New York City illegally with the baby. Now the baby was handed to a stranger three hours before the flight departure. She cried from 12:00pm to the time we boarded the plane at 5:00pm at the waiting room, then  she cried for another 13 hours's on and off  on the plane, which broke my heart. I changed my seat fro A17 to G29 in order to take care of her. So during my 13 hours, I walked her from the front of the plane to the back most of the time, and I weeped a lot for her. She had serious diarrhea , so I had to change her diaper frequently. Another doctor degree Chinese girl is helping. This little star won my heart and many mother's hearts. She  chased away my fear of flight. I have never loved a infant so much other than my own babies. It's hard for me to be apart from her who will meet her grandmother, a new face, at the Beijing airport. I only wish God protect her.

I stayed in Beijing for two days at my former high school classmate' home, and I was shocked to see his home condition which was shabby compared with his position, the youngest doctor in the Chinese Dept. of Beijing University. He has 9 doctor students and 12 graduate students. I suggest him to do some kind of business outside school work. During those two days, I visited the Palace,of course, I took lots of pictures. I can attach some to you later.

I have all kinds of appointments booked by now--friends and relatives. Every single evening  somebody will invite me to eat outside. My family concerns about my health because they say I look much thinner than I was in China. My mother's goal for me is to add 5- 10 lb during my two months' stay. :) It is nice to feel to be loved and cared again after all I have experienced in America. I will visit my engineer brother's million-dollar new home. My another job is sleeping well and shopping crazy like before.:) Ok, hope your summer is as wonderful as mine. I am so happy now. Enjoy your time with your family.

American Library Association Best Picks for YA's

Here's their 2007 list. You'll see familiar titles but also a few "new" ones. I had considered including "Surrender." Read about this controversial title.

2007 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults

Anderson, M.T. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume 1: The Pox Party. Candlewick, 2006. $17.99. (0-7636-2402-0; 9780763624016).

Gratz, Alan. Samurai Shortstop. Penguin Group USA/Dial, 2006. $17.99. (0-8037-3075-6; 9780803730755).

Hartnett, Sonya. Surrender. Candlewick, 2006. $16.99. (0-7636-2768-2; 9780763627683).

McCormick, Patricia. Sold. Hyperion, 2006. $16.99. (0-7868-5171-6; 9780786851713).

Sayres, Meghan Nuttall. Anahita’s Woven Riddle. Abrams/Amulet, 2006. $16.95. (0-8109-5481-8; 9780810954816).

Smelcer, John. The Trap. Henry Holt, 2006. $15.95. (0-8050-7939-4; 9780805079395).

Turner, Megan Whalen. The King of Attolia. HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2006. $16.99. (0-06-083577-X; 9780060835774).

Werlin, Nancy. The Rules of Survival. Penguin Group USA/Dial, 2006. $16.99. (0-8037-3001-2; 9780803730014).

Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese. Roaring Brook/First Second, 2006. $16.95. (1-59643-152-0; 9781596431522).

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. Random House/Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. $16.95. (0-375-83100-2; 9780375831003).

I will miss you guys

My flight is tomorrow at JFK, and I will take the Short Line bus to New York City at 6:10 tomorrow morning. I hope that I can still use both my Yahoo account and this blog in China. If so, I will post some interesting stuff happening over there. I will miss you all. Enjoy your summer.

For TWILIGHT Fans

I thought you'd be interested in this list from Florida Teens Read of favorite teen pics from the sunshine state. TWILIGHT was chosen as number 1!

Book Club- Summer Break Edition

I'm going to try my best to keep reading for Book Club this summer, giving me yet another reason to buy another bookshelf to stock with new books(I just organized my 6 shelf one that's a good nine feet tall, and it is officially full).

At the recommendation of my kid sister and from Ray H. from one of the first Book Club meetings we had this semester, I read Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I picked it up over breakfast this morning and couldn't put it down until I finished it. What an amazing read! I am in love with the novel's m.c./narrator, a 15 year-old autistic boy named Christopher. The beginning of the novel is jarring (the graphic depiction of how the dog in question meets its fate is not for the faint at heart), but the mystery Christopher devotes himself to solving soon becomes much bigger than he imagined it would be. This novel is definitely worth reading. Thanks for the recommendation, Ray!

OUR BLOG!

I've decided that I'd like to maintain this blog so that it remains an ongoing dialogue for us about teaching and learning in ELA classrooms as well as about our own literacy learning.

It would be wonderful to do some book-talking on the blog over the next few months.

I hope we can keep everyone engaged--reading and responding to one another.

What do you think?

Best Wishes to All

I just wanted to say good luck to all of you. I wish you the best and I hope you have a great summer. Perhaps I will see some of you in the Fall. I have NO idea what class I will take. I actually hope that I will be teaching (PERMANENTLY) somewhere and that I won't be able to take a class in the Fall. Upon Dr. Stearns recommendation, I may take 506. I'll need to look into that some more. However, based on what some of you did with webpages and the blogs I am definitely interested in learning how to do that for myself and hopefully for a classroom of ELA students.

To those of you who attended Hairy Tony's - that was great, I enjoyed chatting with you. Good food and good company, it just doesn't get any better than that! To those of you who couldn't - sorry you weren't able to join us, we did miss you!

Take Care,
Celinda

(Let's see if I can do some kind of techie thing and insert a pretty picture like some of you have done...)

Nope, couldn't do it! I guess I better take that class!
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My Project and Our Lives

  Hey Kids! Here is a link to my project if you want to see it again... I would apreciate any criticism. A few of you have already commented. Thank You!http://normalcyisrelative.blogspot.com/

I look forward to seeing all of you again soon, either in our real lives, or in our Second Life.

Here is a link to my poetry blog if you want to see some of my poetry... Here is  my regular blog and my webage with my email link if you want to keep in touch.

Project

For all those who wish to check it out... here is the URL for my final project website.

Let me know what you think.

Have a Wonderful Summer for All

Hi, All,

I am so sorry that I couldn't join you guys tonight. My son had diarrhea since last night, and today he had to stay at home with his dad. I have used all his pull-ups.:) Unfortunately, his dad also got it today. Well, my son seems much better tonight. Since I will not see  some of you until the fall term, so I 'd like to say HAVE A WONDERFUL SUMMER VACATION TO YOU ALL. I will travel back to China on May 24th, and be back in August. I wish you the very best!  Li