Recommended Read

CLOUD TEA MONKEYS by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham.  Illustrated by Juan Wijngaard.  (Somerville, MA:  Candlewick, c2010).

"Tashi took her bowl of sweet tea outside and stood beside the rough road in the blue morning."  I love that line, from the second paragraph of this beautiful, pay-it-forward story about a little girl named Tashi whose mother is ill.  Because she is ill, Tashi's mother is unable to work and thus cannot pay for a doctor's care.  Tashi is too young to pick tea leaves on the nearby plantation.  And she is sad because she cannot help earn money for a doctor.  But Tashi has always treated the monkeys in the village with kindness and respect.  And when the monkeys discover the reason for Tashi's sadness, they bring her a basket full of rare and valuable tea leaves.  This is a lovely story, gently told, and embellished with jewel-toned illustrations that perfectly capture the tenor of the tale.

Successful

Per Random House College Dictionary:  Successful = having achieved success; Success = the favorable termination of endeavors; Succeed = to accomplish what is intended.   It's not about how many programs are offered or how many people attend them.  It's about how well they are planned and presented.  Period.  Exclamation point.

Mismatch

I love Shannon Hale's books for young adults.  They are full of heart, intrigue, magical happenings, and rich description.  Her settings are places full of danger, but also where love can triumph over any treachery.  Hale's books are fairytales for teens.  But I hate the new covers of her books -- with realistic looking (superimposed photos?) of teenage girls wearing generically bland blouses.  The new covers, while probably a misguided marketing move, just don't do justice to the evocative pages within.  They make me cringe.  And wonder if the author had much say in the new look of her books.