Happy Caturday! This is one of my two current foster kittens — she is about 4 or 5 weeks old, and she and her brother are from my local humane society. Soon they‘ll be big enough to go back for their spay and neuter surgeries, and then off to their forever homes! I named her Dinah, but she doesn‘t really seem like a Dinah. How about Ophelia, for the main character in this book?

A friend of mine recently toured the Crayola factory with her young son, and it reminded me of the Mister Rogers episode where he visits the same place — it was my favorite! Even though I don‘t have any little kids, I had to have this book. It is lovely, vibrant, and a great story. Meanwhile, after our bookstore visit, this is the scene at our dinner out together... Note the prom people at a nearby table. I think we are having more fun!

This is kind of a very sad book — I had to keep reminding myself, “when you know better, you do better”, but clearly we have a long ways to go when it comes to knowing better. This book might be a cautionary tale — about the pitfalls that are inherent in running a zoo, the willy-nilly style of many non-profits, and the incompetence of the USDA. There are several grammatical errors and missteps throughout the book as well, which was frustrating.

“I was so sick of the cold, I couldn‘t stand it.”

Reading this book before the movie is released (next year?) in the car pool line at school...

After spending the morning shoveling snow, I am sore — and ready to soothe those muscles with a little heat — while I finish reading this story about a young girl stuck miles from shore, struggling with her own sore and frozen muscles.