Dearest darling readers,
Welcome to Title Talk, 06.2018. You might remember, I started this year hoping to participate in 3 reading challenges. Silly me, what was I thinking? As we approach the half-way point of the year, I am only reading books for 2 of them. Have abandoned the third one completely. Barely hanging in on those two. Life (and out of town trips) keeps encroaching on my reading time. And when I do find myself with a few quiet moments, I haven’t been able to focus.
Not sure then how I decided that it was a good idea for me to host my own virtual book club. But that’s what I have done. So I dropped a reading challenge and picked up a book club. The Summer 2018 Virtual Book Club. Go figure. Sounds about like my logic.
We read our first book, The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen in record time. I tell you, these book club members mean business. They are some serious readers! Just voted on our second book, Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate.
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Everyone is busy scrambling to buy or borrow a copy of the book this weekend and then we will begin reading the middle of the coming week. All that to say…there’s time for YOU to join us!! If you are interested, please leave me a comment below or shoot me an email at mommyhon333@hotmail.com or a message on my blog Facebook page, here.
Now, onto the book I read for this month’s Book Girl Magic reading challenge prompt, “in your ‘to-be-read’ pile”.
To be perfectly honest, this title was not in my ‘to-be-read’ pile until my sister told me about it. Valerie bought a copy of Only One You by Linda Kranz to give to our grandbabes, Cadence and Lucia. The girls call my sister Mimi Val as she is a surrogate grandmother of sorts. When I saw the cover of the book and read it’s summary, I knew I had to add it to my digital library. And then share it here with you.
Book Girl Magic Reading Challenge, 06.2018
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Years ago there was a poster that became very popular with the elementary school teacher set (and others). It was entitled “All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten” authored by Robert Fulghum, who wrote a book by the same name. I found a graphic of the poster pinned you-know-where.
So much wisdom and truth.
And in the ’90s there was the song “Desiderata” by Les Crane that was full of much of those same life lessons.
And then a few years ago, my BFF Sharon gave me a darling book entitled Everything I Need to Know About Love I Learned From a Little Golden Book by Diane Muldrow. Lessons about love (how I wish I had had this book several husbands ago!). I reviewed it here on the blog.
Only One You
All of that brings us to today’s book and review. Only One You is a picture book for children of all ages. It is the perfect graduation gift. For kinder grads and grad school grads, alike, with its seemingly simple message that there’s only one you in this great big wonderful world. Do your part to make it a better place.
Look for beauty wherever you are, and keep the memory of it with you.
Blend in when you need to; stand out when you have the chance.
And the principle that spoke volumes to my sister and to me:
Know when to listen.
Sometimes…ok, a lot of times, I talk too much. When what I should really be doing is listening. Imagine how much better the world would be if we all just looked for beauty, alternated between blending in and standing out (and knowing when do what) and listened rather than speaking so much.
The illustrations in Only One You are as bright and uplifting as its text. A pair of mommy and daddy fish are sharing advice with their little guppy as he begins to make his own way in the big, beautiful ocean. The patterns on the different fish remind me of the rocks people are painting these days for their yards or to share in public areas of their communities. Painting a rock like one of the fish and inscribing it with one of the principles from the book would be a perfect follow-up summer craft to do after reading Only One You.
For years, Dr. Seuss’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go has served as a wonderful book to help launch graduates of all ages. I am thinking that Linda Kranz may written the perfect companion to that time-honored classic. Found this video of Only One You on YouTube. See what you think.
Your Turn
Do you have a favorite book of wisdom or life lessons? Do you often give it as a gift? Would love to have you share in a comment below.
Thank you for coming by for Title Talk, 06.2018. Had originally planned to share this post a week ago Friday, so 06.15, but I was out of town and didn’t get it written beforehand. Then penciled it in for yesterday but a 2 hour nap took precedence over writing a post. Traveling and being mother of the bride was hard work last week! Looking for a fun book to read with your kids this summer? Read last month’s Title Talk review of Matilda by Roald Dahl, here.
This week I hope to bring you a couple of fun posts – a Spiritual Sunday, a Tasty Tuesday and will be sweeping out the cobwebs from my fashion haus for the first time in awhile. Please come back to visit!
Hugs and kisses,
Dreaming Up by Christy Hale is a great book that connects children’s imaginations with architecture.If I were to share a book, definitely Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney or anything by Jeanette Winter. My personal old favourite is The Story Girl by Canadian L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables). I read my mum’s copy when I was young and decided that I was The Story Girl.
I can’t wait to hear what you think of Before We Were Yours. I found it to be a powerful book. A book I like to give as a graduation gift is How to Ruin Your Life by 40 written by Stever Farrar. It’s worth a read every decade, in my opinion!
Before We Were Yours is on my TBR shelf. I stumbled across it a couple of months back and added it to the shelf. I can’t wait to read your review.
I’m looking forward to ‘Before We Were Yours’, Leslie. Really enjoyed ‘The Wife Between Us’ and have recommended it to others. Thanks for the review of ‘Only One You’. It will be perfect for my grandsons. xx
Oh, I hope our second book will be even better! I gave it to my 91 year-old mom in large print for Mother’s Day and she is just finishing it. She has really liked it. But said that the beginning was a bit confusing and she read it twice before going any further. I want to share that with the group in case a few of us (me!!) get mixed up when we start reading. Hope your grandsons will love “Only One You”. It is very sweet.