I'm Sally Apokedak, and I
live with my son and my
daughter and my old, old
mother, in the lovely city of
Atlanta.
Born to missionary
parents, I spent my early
years in Taiwan. By the time
I was six, I'd been around
the world. The wanderlust
I acquired early followed me
into adult life, taking me to
work in places as far-flung as
Barrow, Alaska, and Santa
Cruz, Bolivia.
My most fulfilling job,
though, was staying home,
taking care of my family. My
husband was a quadriplegic
and we adopted two children.
You can read more about
me on my bio page.
54000 / 80000 words.
68% done on my WIP!
I'm talking about life and
children's books, because
the two seem to get all
tangled up together for me.
I've loved both--the life
and the books--ever since
I was...well...a child.
I review books that I
have bought or borrowed
or begged. Sometimes I
beg them from authors
and publishers.
No matter where I get
books, I always give my
honest opinion when I
write reviews. I am not
qualified to review books,
really. I'm just a reader
with strong opinions. I love
talking about what I read
and want to get others
excited about children's
books, too.
Many links on this blog
lead to Amazon.com. If you
like my reviews and you
click on a book title or
cover picture and then buy
the book (or anything else)
from Amazon, I will get a
small percentage of the
sale price. Feel free to do
that. It helps support my
book-buying habit. I made
about thirty bucks this way
last year.
Good article. I thought this quote from Jonathan Rogers was the best: “It’s fine to tell our children that courage is good; it’s better to tell them a story that shows them that courage is beautiful and desirable; it’s better still to tell them a story that makes them feel courageous.” Whoo-hoo. That’s what I want to do–make people (not just children) feel. Afterall, most of the time, wouldn’t you say we do what we feel like doing, not what we think we should do?
Becky
I want you to know I came back three times today to read the new post. Hahah–OK maybe when I’m the only one who knows you’re blogging it’s OK to miss a day.
Becky
heh heh. My one faithful reader. I did get one posted before midnight anyway. I’ll have to make sure to get them up earlier now that I know my public is so picky.
I was wondering what you would think about this article since you were a teacher for so many years. I sometimes think I might be guilty of trying to make my son calmer than God made him. I have been guilty of telling him, in so many words, that his sister if far easier to live with.
It’s the truth but I don’t want to turn him into a girl. I just want him to be a Godly man. Compassionate, strong, loving, patient, kind, gentle, joyful, peaceful, perseverant, and self-controlled.
That doesn’t mean he has to be calm and sedate, I guess–though self-controlled would mean he’d have to fit his behavior to the situation.
So did you agree with the woman about the teachers trying to Betty Crocker our boys (to put in the words of Mel Gibson’s character in Conspiracy Theory).
sally
I thought she went a little too far. I mean, years ago, standards for behavior in school were much more rigid than they are now, and men had no problem becoming men in all the right sense of the word. I think there’s more to the Betty Crockering (feminine movement, gender confusion, etc.)
But we cannot ignore the fact that we have become a less physical society, so boys don’t have the outlets for their aggressive tendencies as they once did. Even in sports, it’s, Stand in line to wait your turn, don’t talk while the coach is talking, that sort of thing. There’s so little time for kids to make their own decisions, play the way they want to play, tussel and bump and crash. (Maybe that’s why skating became so popular. Hmmm).
As with most things, I vote for balance. Kids need to learn discipline and self-control and kids need opportunities to do kid things. I think discipline and self-control might be easier if a kid had the assurance that at 2:15 he’d get his chance. Know what I mean?
So how come these last few comments are aligned to the right???
Becky
Oh, OK, I get it–only the gray ones with the frame on the right. Like this one–right?
Becky