Dear Friends: On Saturday we went to the farmer's market in the city, which takes place in the center of a plaza. Specialty food groceries, restaurants, and other shops enclose the plaza in a frame of delicious smells, bright colors, and interesting sights. In the open space in the plaza there were rows of vendors selling flowers, plants, fruit and vegetables, baked goods, soap bars, and other handmade items. What a treat it was so see many beautiful and delicious looking items. If I could have I would have bought a large selection of succulent plants; a vendor there had varietie ..read more

  Artwork from Little Men created by Ruth Ives Dear Friends: This week I was in Kansas City for four days to see my daughter and to celebrate her twenty-second birthday with her. My husband and I had never visited her in her space before, so this was something of a milestone for us; being our daughter's 'guest!'     On Wednesday morning we set of on out first expotition, (1) and the first thing that I noticed as we drove into the city was that the topography was flat. Really flat. I live in a narrow valley that is surrounded by mountains, so this was a little bi ..read more

What if people we consider collectors today were actually just dragons in disguise, building their hoards? “I am a dragon. And this is my hoard.” “You… don’t look like a dragon.” “Well, hardly anyone does, these days. Times have changed, we have too. The scales and tails thing worked with the dinosaurs, but we learned quite quickly that… that wasn’t going to fly with you people.” “You were around all the way back to the dinosaurs?” “Well, not like… me personally. How old do you think I am?” “… There’s no safe answer to that.” “No.” “So… when you say this is your hoard…?” “All dragons have th ..read more

  Dear Bookish Friends, Oh how I have missed you all. It has been a very a very trying few weeks health wise, and I am daring to hope that I might be on the upslope at long last. I had to spend quite a few days in bed and the only things that made it bearable were audiobooks, books, my three dogs, and my honorary dog (who is a cat). I had a nerve block procedure done to see if that would help with my Long Covid symptoms, but alas it has not worked and I am back to square one. To say that this is tedious is an understatement.    One of the few enjoyable things I have been abl ..read more

  Typically Easter cards have images of bunnies and chicks and flowers on them. I could have chosen a typical card for my Easter greetings, but I'm proud to say that I tend to lean towards the quirky. Therefore, Happy (Dachshund) Easter!    The reason I chose this card is that I am a dachshund fan. I have three of them and they are such wonderful little dogs.     I grew up with a medium sized dog, and we tended to have medium to big dogs until I rescued a little white Westie cross from a puppy mill. He was small and I came to appreciate that having a dog that li ..read more

I used to think that egg decorating was a tradition that was only found in countries where Easter is celebrated. It turns out that I am wrong! For example, in Mexico they decorate eggs for Cinco de Mayo and other celebrations, in addition to Easter.     I mostly grew up on the island of Cyprus, which is a Greek Orthodox country. Easter is the biggest religious holiday of the year on the island, and they have many wonderful traditions that you only get to experience at that time. Special foods are prepared, including a sweet and savory bread called Falounes, which I am particu ..read more

Sarah Plain and Tall by P.J. Lynch "I shook my head, turning the white stone over and over in my hand. I wished everything was as perfect as the stone. I wished that Papa and Caleb and I were perfect for Sarah. I wished we had a sea of our own." In 2009 I set out to read and review as many American award winning books as I could. A few of these titles had made it across 'the pond,' and all the way to the island of Cyprus, which is where I grew up. However, there were so many books that I had never even heard of. One of these books was a slender little volume, a chapter book with an ..read more

" I discovered that one could write one's own story,  which is something that very few people even consider." In 1998 I built the first rendition of Through the Looking Glass Book Reviews, and I did it myself, so you can imagine what it looked like! Back then I had no idea what TTLG would become in the years ahead. By 1999 I had got to know quite a few publicists in the publishing houses, and was getting review copies on a regular basis. One of the books I received was The Library, which was created by a husband and wife team. I fell in love with David Small's art ..read more

  From School People edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins  This week we are celebrating libraries and the wonderful people who work in them. April is also poetry month, so today I am bringing you a book of poetry that just happens to be all about libraries, librarians, and the people who discover that libraries truly are magical places.  The late and much loved children’s writer and educator Lee Bennett Hopkins was a devoted promoter of poetry for children. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and lived with his mother and siblings in a low-income housing project in N ..read more

  I read my first Richard Peck novel, the one reviewed below, in 2000, and I have been a fan of his work ever since. This novel A Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories is the first book in a trilogy featuring, among others, the unstoppable Mrs. Dowel. It is the kind of story both young readers and adults will enjoy. Indeed, many of Richard Peck's mid-grade and young adult novels will appeal to adults because their themes are so universal and so pertinent for people of all ages and backgrounds. I strongly urge to get a copy of this book. You will love it. Richard Peck was an inc ..read more