Jonathan and the Big Blue Boat, a review.

Jonathan and the Big Blue Boat by Philip Christian Stead

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Having viewed the trailer (over and over), for which Mr. Stead also composed the music, I so wanted to fall in love with this story. I laughed out loud over the item bartered for, enjoyed the clever ways animals participate in this cumulative tale, but overall I didn't connect as much as I'd hoped. That said, the art is some of the best I've seen. Brilliant, vibrant, detailed, and whimsical, it demonstrates the creator's passion for all things nautical. All in all, I loved this story enough to gift it to a Jonathan who entered the world last week. May Mr. Stead produce more amazing art, and soon. I can't think of any better gift than that.



View all my reviews

Hurry! 25 page crit up for grabs!

You have one hour left for a chance at the 25 page manuscript critique. It closes at 4 PM EST.

But there are many other exciting auctions going on at author Carrie Harris' blog (like a chance to win a Kindle). I just won a picture book critique myself, so I'm spreading my luck to you!

All donations to benefit the University of Michigan C. S. Mott Children's Hospital's giving library.

*A big thanks to Carrie for masterminding, Corey for alerting me, and Jean for participating. Looking forward.

I love peanut butter and a few other things.

Five things I love right now. Plus, a recipe, because I want your thighs to look like mine.

1. Peanut butter. Amen.

2. Cream cheese.

3. My sun-kissed, freckled children - especially when they are asleep. It's amazing how sweet they look.

4. My new insulated to-go tumbler. Isn't it the cutest thing ever? Almost as cute as my sleeping kids.

5. Dear Genius, The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom. It's no secret (see goodreads) I started this book on December 24, 2010. I have been savoring it. It sits on my nightstand, travels in my suitcase, has been splashed upon at the pool. I read a few letters a day. I don't want it to end. I have laughed. Cried. Snorted. Re-read pages. In short, I adore this sassy, brilliant woman, the editor of books I grew up on. I want to be her when I grow up. Or at the very least, name the next canine my husband (whom I also love) better not bring home after her.

I think she'd be okay with that.

The recipe.

Peanut! Butter! Cupcakes!

1 box your favorite brownie mix

1 bag Reese's peanut butter cups

Grease or paper-line two mini muffin trays. Fill 2/3rds full with brownie batter, made according to package directions. Push one peanut butter cup into each muffin cup, until batter touches top edges of candy. Bake according to brownie directions, about 15-18 minutes until set.

Remove from tray to wire rack to cool. Frost with peanut butter cream cheese frosting. Garnish with salted peanuts.

Peanut! Butter! Cream! Cheese! Frosting!

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2-3 Tablespoons milk or cream

Blend until smooth. I double dog dare you not to lick the bowl.

Xoxo,

Kristin

Eureka! (And help.)

I have quite possibly my best idea to date.

But I don't know what to do with it.

Waaa.

How do you brainstorm plots?

Do you make a pros/cons list? Just start writing? Phone a friend?

Don't say eat ice cream straight from the carton, I've already tried.

And more importantly, if you have a spare second, please vote for Heartline, friends in Haiti. They have a chance to win a $50,000 grant to build a maternity center for struggling babies and moms. All they need is more votes.

Thanks.

I'm Back. Haiti, Part 1

I wrote this before midnight Saturday to share with my church back home. More pictures and thoughts to come. ~Kristin

*****

We visited the Rose-Mina Orphan house in Haiti today.

I was prepared for the dust, the filth, the partially clothed children. I’d seen pictures. Not here.

But others.

I’ve sat in church. Seen slide shows.

Read National Geographic, Voice of Martyrs. Perused albums of other trips on Facebook.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the environment.

Exposed electrical wires dangling from dank hallways.

Rusting metal stairs steeper than the highest intensity stair master back home. And these tykes climb these.

All the time.

Their playground is the ROOF. A flat concrete slab with the occasional tricky step or exposed steel and not a single guardrail.

Oh, and the boys’ bunkroom is directly off of it. Where Jonathan, a timid 16-year-old boy surprised us all with his rendition of I Surrender All on a borrowed keyboard. Did I mention he is blind?

He sits in a creaking folding chair at roof center or on the floor in his room, back pressed to the wall, too scared to take a step.

Can you blame him?

Babies, yes babies, sleeping in and on metal bunk beds.

All infants and tots wearing soiled adult diapers.

Two women workers present, and one Spanish-speaking man, God bless their souls. How do they keep up with roughly 95 children?

How to keep them fed, clothed, clean, medicated, and schooled?

I don’t have an answer.

But God does. He has a purpose, a plan, for each of them. I don’t know (or could even begin to pronounce) their names, but He knows their innermost being.

Even in conditions as this, He cares.

"For you created

my inmost being;

you knit me together

in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am

fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well."

~Psalm 139:13,14