"Yeah, readin's my passion"

I like browsing blogs, though these days I mostly find them through Pinterest. There are the tips from cleaning, organizing, and money saving blogs, which I might even put  into practice some day. I've tried a recipe or two from the cooking blogs, though to me it's mostly food porn, especially the cake decorating.

But I've neglected my own blog to the point of abandonment.

Because, here's the thing: for a blog to keep rolling along, it has to be about something. It needs a focus. Cooking is a focus. Fashion in a focus. Political analysis is a focus. Raising a family is a focus. Focus is not a strong feature of my make up.

Then recently I came across children's lit blogs. There are hundreds of them. Of course there are. The School Library Journal (www.slj.com) hosts at least a dozen. How did I not notice this before? And I thought, Pshaw! So there are hundreds. There's always room for one more.

There's my focus.


A cat who needs no introduction--very worth writing about.

Sure, I could write more conscientious reviews on Goodreads (I like reading those, as well), but I want a broader discussion. Trends, motifs, comparisons, commentary.


Reading it through the first time is only half the fun.

To get things rolling in this new direction (and because I'm lazy), I'll start with a reprint of a paper I wrote in school. It was for my rhetoric class. I know, boring, right? But I wrote it on "Where the Wild Things Are," and that kept me from putting it off to the night before (I was always telling my students to use research papers to personalize their education, write about something they cared about, something they actually wanted to learn about and spend time with. So few listened.)


There's a reason--many reasons--it continues to be a favorite.

It's long, so I'll put it up in sections. And it's academic. Sorry, can't do anything about that--or at least if I did, that would mean a lot more work, which would undercut the benefit to my lazy self.

So that's it. Let the wild rumpus begin.