Waiting for the worms.

Yes, I have decided to go with Pink Floyd song titles for awhile.  For no reason other than I have been in a Floyd mood for awhile and I am bored with this blog.  If I want to get goofy on you, as is my wont, there is no one to stop me..  One of the many joys of not having an editor, I suppose.

I have a few posts about children's books coming up but I wanted to mention this one, in particular - an adorable book The Other Kelli recommended:

Official Description: 
"Do Witches Make Fishes?" is the moral tale of a young boy who favors candy over his mother's outlandish but healthy dishes. When faced with an ultimatum from his mother, the boy has to make a difficult choice. What ensues is a series of extraordinary and fantastical events that will take the reader on a magical journey through the imagination of a child.

The Other Kelli mentioned "Do Witches Make Fishes?" by Jason Mayo and the fact the author is donating all profits to charity. It appears to be self-published for which I am a sucker (Dude, I totally heart the self-published.) Furthermore, I am always on the hunt for unusual children's books and as such, I willingly forked over my credit card info.  Did I mention the "for charity" part?  The book arrived just a few days later, we ripped it open and I proceeded to read it 3x in a row.  Gentle Reader, there would have been a 4th run-through, but I called "Uncle".  In short, Team Chaos LOVES this book.

The story is in verse and is quite catchy - gummy worms, chocolate yarn, ahoy!  I perform the witch's voice as well, which tickles Team Chaos.  I am not a huge fan of the illustration or color palette but no matter, this book is so much fun to read.  And that?  Is my  #1 criterion for whether a children's book gets to live in permanent residence in our house.  If I loathe reading a book?  It becomes something we get from the library.  This is not really a Halloween book (I have a post planned on that topic for next week!) but why not splurge on a witch-themed book anyway? 

The other book on my top shelf these days?

"Room" by Emma Donoghue!

Official Description: 
In many ways, Jack is a typical 5-year-old. He likes to read books, watch TV, and play games with his Ma. But Jack is different in a big way--he has lived his entire life in a single room, sharing the tiny space with only his mother and an unnerving nighttime visitor known as Old Nick. For Jack, Room is the only world he knows, but for Ma, it is a prison in which she has tried to craft a normal life for her son. When their insular world suddenly expands beyond the confines of their four walls, the consequences are piercing and extraordinary. Despite its profoundly disturbing premise, Emma Donoghue's Room is rife with moments of hope and beauty, and the dogged determination to live, even in the most desolate circumstances. A stunning and original novel of survival in captivity, readers who enter Room will leave staggered, as though, like Jack, they are seeing the world for the very first time.

Many, many thanks to Jennifer from The Mind of ~fer for alerting me to this book!  I picked this up yesterday and was immediately sucked in.  I am now anxiously awaiting my brief 1.5 hour window in the school schedule today where I hunker down at Starbucks with my iced green tea lemonade.  Jennifer Weiner has also written about this book and has a nice Q&A with the author (speaking of Weiner, she also has a nice piece about "professional" disdain for popular fiction, as well.)

What you are reading these days that is totally knocking your socks off??