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Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life
AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
Dear Reader,
Every year Flat Stanley comes for a visit. He arrived yesterday. Exhausted from his trip, I sent him to the spa to get a massage. I bet it's a first for him.
Will, a student in Ms. Anderson's second grade class at North Liberty Elementary School, sent Flat Stanley to live with my husband and me for two weeks. Our assignment is to take Will's Flat Stanley paper doll along with us wherever we go. Flat Stanley's in for a treat this year, because any day now, Hadley Elizabeth Beecher, our new granddaughter will be born. Hadley's two brothers, Paul (5 years old) and James (3 years old) will be staying at our house for a couple of days, too. So Flat Stanley will have playmates. Fishing, painting pictures, baking cookies and sewing a pillow, Paul has Flat Stanley's vacation all planned.
If you've never been introduced to Flat Stanley, he's the main character in Jeff Brown's book Flat Stanley. Stanley Lambchop becomes as flat as a piece of paper when the bulletin board in his room falls on him in the middle of the night. But just as in every day life, if you look real hard--even in the midst of something bad, like being smished by a bulletin board--something good is tucked away inside. When you're a flat guy, flat as a piece of paper, the good news is you can easily slide into an envelope and travel First Class to anywhere in the country, for only 45 cents!
Flat Stanley is an annual project for Ms. Anderson's second grade class, and this is the fifth year my husband and I have invited Flat Stanley to stay with us. We take him everywhere we go: to the market (he rides in the child seat in the cart, safely secured by the seat belt), the library, Farmer's Market, and he's a hard working gardener--even willing to pull weeds.
Of course Flat Stanley is child's play and make believe, but I must admit I get emotionally attached to the little fellow when he visits. Will, our new second grade pal sent along a letter, too. "Hello! My name is Will. I am your new Flat Stanley buddy. Ms. Anderson told me all about you. I like you already!!! Please take care of Flat Stanley, he's a great guy."
Not to worry, Will, my husband and I will take good care of your Flat Stanley. Thanks for sending him to us.
A paper doll, colored with crayons by a second grader, yet Flat Stanley makes me smile. Ah, the wonder of make-believe!
(Yes, I'll take photos and share them in a future column.)
Congratulations to the winners of this month's Chocolate Chip Cookie Contest: Russ Ruda, Don Wirth, Cheryl Baker and Dalene McDonald.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
www.muffinsandmayhem.com
* This month's Penguin Classics book is THE TUNNEL by Ernesto Sabato. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin totebag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/Sept12Classics
AUTHORBUZZ: LOVE'S RECKONING (Fiction) by Laura Frantz
Lovely but tough as nails, Lael Click is the daughter of a celebrated frontiersman. Lael comes of age in the fragile Kentucky settlement her father founded. Though she faces the loss of a childhood love, a dangerous family feud, and the affection of a Shawnee warrior, Lael draws strength from the rugged land she calls home, and from Ma Horn, a distant relative who shows her the healing ways of herbs and roots found in the hills. But the arrival of an outlander doctor threatens her view of the world, God, and herself--and the power of grace and redemption.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on LOVE'S RECKONING to read more and to email author Laura Frantz, you'll get a reply.
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