died and gone to young adult novel heaven

Steve's brother, a school librarian, very generously brought me -- count them -- thirty books for my classroom library. And since I am not gainfully-employed, at least not in a financially-gainful way -- I've got plenty of little badass volunteer things going on -- I've been doing a lot of porch-sitting and reading.

I don't think I'm going to read all thirty of them (Well, some of them are repeats, which is sweet since students steal books.), but would appreciate any guidance my blog-reader(s) could give.

Here's what I've got:
Slam by Nick Hornby
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi (read this one already)
Bone by Bone by Tony Johnston (this one, too)
Game by Walter Dean Myers
Peak by Roland Smith
Dream Factory by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler
Red Glass by Laura Resau
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox
Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
Coraline by Neil Gaiman (actually, this is the graphic novel of it, done by P. Craig Russell)
The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Blood is Thicker by Paul Langan and D.M. Blackwell (of the Bluford Series)
Search for Safety by John Langan (also Bluford Series)
Someone to Love Me by Anne Schraff (also Bluford Series)
Genius Squad by Catherine Jinks
Noman by William Nicholson
Tough Boy Sonatas by Curtis L. Chrisler (poetry about Gary, Indiana)
Big Fat Manifesto by Susan Vaught
Exodus by Julie Bertagna
Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers
The Viper Within by Sam Mills
The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Completely unrelated, I've noticed that I've stopped, for the most part, actually writing on this blog. I mostly just post stuff. I mean, before, I was actually busy. Now, I'm just busying myself with things like ten mile walks to look for new jeans. Although I now have two new pairs of jeans, purchased for a total cost of twenty-five dollars, I know that jeans-buying is not a productive hobby. Especially when compared to rambling on a blog for ALL THE WORLD (i.e. Mom) to read. So expect a higher level of commitment to this-here blog from now on. It's basically all I've got going.

best email I've received this week

Here's a closer look (click to enlarge):

post 100!

Going through the mounds of paperwork I've collected over the past few months, I found my copy of this new version of The Pledge (on the right) that Steve from the Y wrote with his friend Joan and brought to a meeting a few weeks or so ago. Me likey.

And speaking of thinking people from the Y are sweet, how funny is Amy? (She's writing to let me know that there are some letters to donors that I need to come in and sign so that she can send them out.):