Kim's Musings

About the Author: Renee Hand is a multi award-winning author and requested speaker on the topic of using fun fiction to teach science, geography and history. Let her show librarians, educators, and parents how using her books can not only challenge readers and the way they think about problems in real life, but she creates high interest topics that suck the reader into her stories encouraging them into wanting to know more about the settings, science, history, culture and people. Skills like reading comprehension, reasoning, deduction and observation come together in a myriad of ways.  In her Crypto-Caper Series children get to solve puzzles and cryptograms that are woven strategically inside of the story for the reader to find and solve inside of the books. Each book provides the reader with what they will need to solve the case, providing them with the knowledge and new skills that will help them succeed. About the Book: The elementary school at Acorn Valley holds ...

I marveled in the sunshine for the last few days, thinking Spring is here at last, but today, the wind began blowing in the cold air and now there is snow on the deck. What a week it has been and it is not over yet. Monday, I was out in the field program monitoring for my day job. It was so nice when I started my late lunch that I didn't want to go back to my office but I did. The sunshine warmed and tingled my skin as I sat in the car at a park with the windows down, breathing in the fresh air, eating lunch and reading a little of the 10th book in Jean Plaidy's Plantagenet series. Loving these books. See image to right. Tuesday was nice but not as nice as Monday until later in the day. And even earlier today, it was downright warm about 3 p.m. It was only an hour later that the wind began blowing in the cold air and by the time I left work, I was chilly in my thin, white jean jacket. The drive home was pretty scary with the threat of trees falling. As soon as I left the ...