Search Results for: winter
Pearly white crystals flutter gently around the buildings and houses, covering the town in a delicate sheet of snow. The soothing silvery color of the snowflakes contrasts beautifully with the somber blues and greens of the busy streets and malls. Pedestrians scramble across the streets in bustling pods to grab last-minute Christmas presents. Giant evergreen trees, decorated ever so carefully, light up the concrete pathways with multi-colored ornaments, making it almost impossible to feel anything but joy. Cars and buses…
Rain, to Gracie, had always seemed like the tears of hope. Instead of closing all the windows and playing board games, she walks half a mile to the nearest park. Running away from home was simple now. She had gotten used to it. Most of it was to the park, and most of it was in the rain. The two things just clicked. When Gracie arrived at the park, it was almost always empty. Occasionally there would be a lone…
“We should have known better,” Garu grated angrily. The sparrow perched high in the apple tree, watching helplessly as the gray cat below devoured her kill. “Let’s leave. This is no place for the clan.” His fierce gaze flicked over his now small group: his trusted friend Baklan, Baklan’s mate Teekeh, their grown daughter Kila, and his own son, Liru. Liru looked up to him with imploring eyes. “Where? Where is there?” The sharpness in Garu’s voice changed to weariness….
On a cold winter morning The lake breathes out steam Like a giant tea kettle. Two ducks in the middle As still as a painting. Why haven’t they gone south? A bird hangs up in the air. Let’s sit on the shore And soak in the quiet. Instead, we zoom by And join in the traffic. Mina Alexandra Oates, 7Pinson, Alabama
Road to Tater Hill, by Edith M. Hemingway; Delacorte Books for Young Readers: New York, 2009; $16.99 It was a delightful coincidence to find a book in the library that was set where I live! Road to Tater Hill is a heartwarming and fulfilling story of friendship, family, hope, home, and the bumpy road through grief. As eleven-year-old Annie Winters spends another summer at her grandparents’ house in the mountains of North Carolina, I could imagine every sight and smell…
Slept Away, by Julie Kraut; Delacorte Books for Young Readers: New York, 2009; $8.99. When I first picked up Slept Away at the bookstore, I expected it to be a fun, entertaining story, and it’s that plus more. In addition to being amusing and lighthearted, this book holds a meaningful message about society, and particularly popularity. All Laney Parker knows is New York City. It’s her home, where she’s lived all of her fifteen years. Summer’s approaching, and she’s looking…
It wasn’t the first shooting star I saw but it was the most special one Thousands of twinkling and glittering stars lit up the black night sky. It’s so beautiful, I thought as I gazed up at the sky. I wish I could stay here forever, but I couldn’t. Heather and I were slowly walking up the street towards my cottage. It was like we did every summer night after we said goodbye to our other friends, but tonight was…
Nothing mattered. Leah was leaving It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. Leah shook her head in disbelief, not accepting that she could be moving away from her beloved home in Chardon, Ohio. Sure, she’d known the possibility had been there, but she didn’t believe something this awful could happen to her. The news had been broken in such a gruff and unfeeling manner. Didn’t her parents care? Didn’t they understand how hard this was? Nobody moved in the middle of…
She put the blanket into the basket and set them next to Fern Mom gently shook me. “Honey, your father is home.” “What? Oh! Yay!” I cried, already out of bed. “Dad, how did your hunting trip go? Was Fern good?” “Fabulous!” my tall father said. “She treed this one!” He held up a large silver coon. “You trained her well.” “Thanks, Dad.” I looked up at him. “But where is Fern now?” “She ran off. Probably chasing after a…
Her family had done nothing wrong, why was she so angry? Sherry had not returned to her home country in years. In a way, it was no longer her home country. What had been home is now the past. Father was the one who had insisted on the trip. She had been indifferent at first, but her father had persisted. China had changed; no longer a third-world country, it was now a Mecca of wealth. Yet once in a while,…
