Library Thursday: Show Your Card!

September is Library Card Sign Up Month and @yourlibrary has invited library card lovers to show your library card... The Sisters posted theirs this morning on click here to add yours. They have a fun slide show of all the photos, just scroll down on their website to watch it!

Take a moment to tell us about your favorite library and we'll add them to our ever growing  Favorite Libraries List --make sure the library you love is on it!

Happy Reading and don't forget to participate in this week's challenge, its a fun one!

Oh, and if you live in Northern Michigan: Check out an AMAZING Used Book Sale at the Woodmere Branch of the Traverse Area District Library!

One Liner Challenge

While we are temped to reveal
the one liner of a last line
from It's a Book --we'll
wait until more of you get
to read it!

This week while reading It's a Book, by Lane Smith, the Four of Us realized that sometimes one line from a book can unmistakably, identify the book.

We challenge you to share one of these unmistakably identifiable lines from a favorite book --whether fiction, non-fiction, picture book-- just share a good line!

Here is a twist: Do not share the title and the author. We'll leave it up to other readers to guess.

Don't forget: if you click on comments and "subscribe by email" you'll receive and email when new comments are posted!

Happy Last Day of Summer!

We have a tradition on the last day of summer --no matter the weather--  a swim in Crystal Lake.

Before our swim we had lunch at Phoenix Cafe with a cast of characters which included 3 out of 4 grandparents, an Aunt and an Uncle. At lunch we talked all about our Book of the Week: It's a Book. The book was passed around, The Sisters shared their favorite parts and we dined on some of the worlds best soup.

All in all it was a good last day of summer and the swim, although cold, was picture perfect!

Have you taken a Challenge lately? Browse a few of the Challenges and see what our readers are up to. And come by tomorrow for our latest Challenge, it's a good one!

Book of the Week: It's A Book by Lane Smith

It's a Book by Lane Smith is on our "readar" (readar: a made up word that means a book that is on our radar, get it? Read+radar= readar.) 

Have you read it? There is quite a buzz about the last line of the book. The Mom loves its comical way of bringing to light that technology will never replace books! And since The Books for Walls Project is also an attempt for The Four of Us to become a little more tech savvy, we got quite a kick out of the book... since we would all rather be reading.

Enjoy this great book trailer! For more on It's a Book, visit Lane Smith's website.  More on how the book came to be --read this post by Lane at Curious Pages.

On Fridays we may share a movie review or a book review or both. Or we may just bump up our list of movies that were once books, like today! The Mom added her two cents, click here to read her comment and to add your own.  We haven't picked a movie to watch tonight yet and could use your help!

Have you taken the Over and Over and Over and Over Challenge? Or check out what Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, has to say about the library. And we've managed to streamline our following options, be sure to sign up and keep up with all of the reading (and fun.)

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Happy Weekend from The Mom, The Big Sister, The Little Sister and The Dad!

Library Thursday: Elizabeth Gilbert

Are you an Eat, Pray, Love fan? Did you know that the first word author Elizabeth Gilbert ever read was the word "red"? How about that her first two books were written in the New York Public Library?

And guess what? She is a HUGE fan of the library!!

To Elizabeth Gilbert The Books for Walls Project says, "Bravo!"

Thank you to the American Library Association for this great video!

Streamlining!

Many of you know that The Books for Walls Project is all about libraries, literacy and --of course-- book love. But we are learning about maintaining a website/blog too and thanks to numerous requests we have streamlined our following options --thank you for your patience!

So don't miss out, sign up!!

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• Follow us on Twitter

• Google Friend Connect

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Book of the Week: Toot and Puddle

Toot and Puddle
by Hollie Hobby

The Big Sister: "Toot and Puddle remind me of my sister and me. It was my favorite book when I was three, actually is still kind of is! Before my sister was born I named her Toot (when she was in my Mom's belly!) We all still call her Toot sometimes. I love that Puddle loves being home, just like me! The stories are really fun to read and I recommend them to all ages."

The Little Sister: "I like Toot and Puddle! I remember that my Mom read them to me when I was little and now my sister reads them to me. I like Toot best, I want to travel like Toot --here are the places I want to go Egypt, South Africa, South America, and Paris."

"Presenting Puddle at Pocket Pond!
Every time he jumped in,
he cheered, 'Ole!'"

The Dad: "Simple, I love this book because it reminds me of being young."

The Mom: "Toot and Puddle, the original book, is a favorite that I can read over and over and over and over and over and over and never get tired of it. Between Hollie Hobbie's illustrations or her clever crafting of a story that appeals to young and old. Whether you are a world traveler, like Toot, or a homebody, like Puddle, there is something for you in this timeless tale of friendship. Toot and Puddle made bedtime simple: the end is perfect, with the buddies saying goodnight to each other. It made it easy to close the book say good night to the sisters. I always imagine the sweet dreams of travel and home in their little heads..."

"Good night, Toot."
Good night, Puddle."

For more on Hollie Hobby, and yes, as in the Hollie Hobby doll (she is the doll's creator) click here. The Mom owned an "Amy" doll --in fact still has it somewhere! Go to www.worldcat.org and find a copy of Toot and Puddle, and "Ole!"!

Movie Friday

This week let's talk Anthropomorphism again! The Sisters thought it would be fun to think up a list of movies based on books that feature anthropomorphic characters! Remember that word? Click here to get a little help from The Sisters. Have a great weekend!

Library Thursday: What does reading mean to you?

Yesterday was International Literacy Day. The Four of Us are big readers, huge readers, we LOVE reading. In honor of the day each of spent a moment thinking about how our lives would be different if reading was not a part of it -if we could not read.

Take a moment and do the same: what would your life be like if you couldn't read? Now can you imagine the nearly 800 million adults worldwide who cannot. 

If you feel an urge to help:

• Check out Room to Read.
• The Big Sister, The Bean and The Mom got to meet Greg Mortenson in 2008 (he is an amazing person!) check out the work he continues at the Central Asia Institute.
• Clean off your bookshelves and donate books to a worthy cause.
• Go to the Library and use it.
• Read to a child.
• Read to yourself, read and be grateful!
• Ideas? Share them :)

Want More? Jenny Engstrom at the New York Public Library wrote a great piece on International Literacy Day that ties in nicely with the first days back to school. 

The What Are You Reading RIGHT NOW! Challenge: September 2010

The Big Sister came up with this idea for this Challenge --to find out what everyone is reading, right now, we loved the idea --and so did our readers.

Beginning with our September edition we will begin each month with an invitation to share What Are You Reading RIGHT NOW.

In honor of today being International Literacy Day why don't you share what you are reading --and if you aren't reading anything, get some ideas from our readers and start reading!

Then come back every time you begin a new book, or feel moved to tell The Books for Walls Project what you are reading!

Please use the following format for your comment:

Title of Book, Author, and your thoughts on the book.

Literary Vacation Inspired by Soul of a Chef!

Have you read Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman?

Then you can understand what motivated our Literary Vacation. And since we are lucky enough to have relatives who live in Cleveland, we planned a whole vacation with the pièce de résistance: an amazing dinner at Lola Bistro! 

Haven't read it? Well, read on, and you just may want to!

First stop on our trip: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (watch for an interview with The Rock Hall's Director of Communication, coming soon!) We've been lucky enough to visit before so this time our goal was to watch:

So we donned 3-D glasses and what a show! --if you have a chance don't miss it! For details, click here. For the trailer, click here.

Next Stop Lola: Headed down East 4th Street -what a great location, most of the street is closed off so that diners can enjoy the fresh air and atmosphere --the House of Blues is on the same block! It was nearly 90 degrees that day so we were happy to dine in the A/C. The service at Lola is just what you'd expect at such an upscale restaurant, but much more friendly.

We've learned that when dining with the younger set to take the earliest seating, that way you can take your time and enjoy the restaurant before it gets BUSY. Amanda, our brilliant server, was happy to answer our questions about the history of the restaurant and details of the food... with a smile, a real smile. 

Ordering from the MENU: Just 3 months ago we would have had a trickier time ordering since most menu items are a meat lovers dream. The menu features items like: beef cheek, sweetbreads and steak and other items are deep fried in pork fat! Even the roasted red pepper soup, that's right, a luscious pork base. Please reader, skip down to the desserts if you don't believe that Lola can make magic with pork. 


Fortunately, The Sisters and The Mom have recently moved from being strict vegetarians to selective pescetarians who will eat things that may have been fried in pork fat, thank goodness! So we were not daunted --only swooning-- over the magical menu. 


Who created all this you may wonder? Well, read Soul of a Chef to find out! Okay we'll tell you: the magician's name is Michael Symon, chef and owner of Lola. But to really understand this food, you have visit.

Next, order drinks: This is the only time you will read this at The Books for Walls Project: "We absolutely loved the I-Pad... for the drink menu!" Very cool way to feature the extensive drink and wine menu. 


As our up and coming sommelier Jude decanted and served our red and we suggested he visit our favorite restaurant Stella, to complete his education on Michigan wines (really there are some good wines made in the mitten!) And our wine was perfect with our meal, thanks Jude! The Sister's usual: orange juice and soda water, was perfect.

Eating: The knife for The Dad's dinner of Smoked Berkshire Porkchops with cheesy polenta -it reads: "live to cook!"

The Little Sister had: fresh pappardelle pasta (we understand it is made locally), with spring peas and french horn mushrooms, with her sister's rejected tomatoes on the side!

The Mom's dinner: Scallops, chanterelle mushrooms, cippolini onions with parsley sauce (hold the bacon, please.)

The Big Sister couldn't wait for The Mom to take the photo: she had, disappearing, Alaskan wild salmon with zucchini fritters with roasted tomatoes (which, note above, she gave to her sister!)

And now dessert: The famous "6 am special": brioche french toast, maple-bacon ice cream, caramelized apple --yes, you read that right maple-bacon ice cream. The Dad tried it, and his opinion was: "ummm, interesting." The girls like the brioche french toast, a lot!

More dessert: The Sisters split a "Coffee and Doughnuts" hot chocolate with espresso and cinnamon, whipped cream, with fresh cinnamon and lemon glazed doughnuts (The Sisters love sneaking coffee, this time they didn't have to!) The picture doesn't do it justice... the whipped cream was piled high!

A stroll after that amazing meal: To walk off our dinner we stopped by one of the United States' first indoor shopping malls The Cleveland Arcade, which opened in May of 1890 --we wondered what Laura Ingalls Wilder might have thought of shopping there! We caught The Sister's Aunt in this shot --she is an amazing hostess, an expert on Cleveland, Rock and Roll and good food, we were so happy to get to spend so much time with her!

Just a peak: since The Arcade was closed for a private party, a wedding! Very fancy!

Final highlight The Great Lakes Science Center:  a must see if you have kiddos and even for adults (the Mom and Dad said "wow" as often as The Sisters!) As if all the hands-on fun weren't enough we decided to take in an IMAX show.

Getting dizzy watching: Hubble the The Sister's first IMAX and The Mom and Dad's first in a while, holy vertigo! Thankfully we packed snacks and distracted ourselves with cookies for a while. Then we relaxed a bit, and laughed, as the recorded introduction suggested we "just close your eyes if you got dizzy and wait for the scene to end."

The film was outstanding on so many levels: to learn about the lives of astronauts, the Hubble telescope, and our brilliant universe --we cannot wait to learn more. Start here: check out the Hubble's comprehensive website. Warning: once you go to the site, you may be tempted to spend hours stargazing!

A perfect vacation: time with family (including a magical auntie), top notch museums in the great city of Cleveland, and an unforgeable meal, all inspired by Soul of a Chef, thank you Michael Ruhlman! 

All in all it was a magnificent Literary Vacation. Take the Challenge, tell us where a book inspires you to go! 

This Week's Feature: Haiku Your Book

This one is really fun 

--click here to read all of the amazing Haiku's and add your own!

How to write a poem using basic Haiku form:  

  The first and last lines have 5 syllables 

and the middle line has 7 syllables.

Take the Haiku Your Book Challenge!