Si, Se Puede--Yes, you can!

1. Seven more days of school left but who's counting? ME!!!! 2. Son went to mother-in-law's assistant living place to put together a photojournalism piece showing the life in the day of someone at one of these places. My favorite photos: **Penguin Teen sent me a few awesome books! 3. Finished reading the amazing BRAZEN. Teaser from my YA Books Central review:   Historicals are one of my all time favorite genres. I also love anything that deals with the Tudors. So when I found out there was a YA historical that took place in the 16th century around the time of King Henry VIII? I had to read it. My first read was TARNISH which tells the story of a young Anne Boleyn, before she was queen. I devoured the book in one setting. After that, I picked up GILT which tells the story of another young woman in King Henry's court. BRAZEN is the latest companion book in this series and it's just as amazing as the other two! What worked: Ohmigod, EVERYTHING. There

Yet another shooting. Each time I hear of one, I weep. This recent one though really hit home. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-isla-vista-shooting-suspect-feared-police-visit-would-foil-attack-20140524-story.html The shooter in question was the son of a film director. He planned the shooting after being 'rejected'. Apparently he posted some things on line. Here's one very chilling post from one of his videos: "I'm 22 years old and still a virgin, never even kissed a girl. And through college, 2 1/2 years, more than that actually, I'm still a virgin. It has been very torturous,” he said. "The popular kids, you never accepted me and now you will all pay for it. Girls, all I ever wanted was to love you, be loved by you. I wanted a girlfriend. I wanted sex, love, affection, adoration.” “"You forced me to suffer all my life, now I will make you all suffer,” he said. “All you girls who rejected me, looked down upon me, you know, trea

1. This week I've been scoring for a national educational firm and admit I've been 'bad' with my writing! But I plan to use the money to pay for writing classes/workshops and other things for my writing career. Still, will try to be better! 2. So someone from my past has come out and not in the good way. This person has been lying about what she's doing to the point of saying she is a psychologist when we know better. One part of me is trying to ignore this but another part is tempted to say something. She tried to get me to friend her on FB but I ignored the request. Hopefully nothing will come of it. Oh the joys of the internet! 3. In other more positive news: Got a package from Penguin books: OMG, I was so happy, I did my own dance: This is the companion novel that follows the Tudors. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Think CW's Reign only so much better! YA Books Central review coming soon! 4. Also picked up my copy of VAMPIRE ACADEMY! It's

1. This week son's been taking the CAASPP test, which is the 'new' California standardized test using Core Curriculum. My thoughts so far is that it will mean educators will have to go about teaching in a whole different way. I'm just glad it's over...for this year! 2. Got a big bag of books from Penguin! Loving this publisher! 3. Reading FIENDISH right now: So far loving the voice of this creepy YA! 4. Finished reading: This is a YA historical with paranormal elements. Intriguing concept of a girl who is told she's the illegitimate daughter of magician Houdini. Fans of Libba Bray's THE DIVINERS will really enjoy this series too! 5. If you've been watching the news, Southern Ca, especially San Diego area, has been a fire zone with not one but seven fires going on at the same time. I'm really worried about this fire season. I live by the foothills and in a fire zone. This is all bringing back memories of the 08 Santiago Fires

1. Ugh. Son won't be 13 until next month but already he's doing the whole teen thing with the 'tude and more. Thinking maybe I need to take one of those classes on how to communicate with your teen. OMG, did I actually just admit that? I've been trained to work with children up to age 12 but never really worked with teenagers. 2. Right now reading: Verdict so far? Loving this Bachelor meets dystopian world. Can't wait to see who America chooses. This is a very satisfying conclusion to an amazing series. 3. Finished reading this series: This is a perfect beach book filled with romance with a protagonist looking for the truth about herself in the lush Tuscany, Italy backdrop. 4. Book 2: This book follows Violeta and Luca after she finds a hint of who she might be. Here's my YA Books Central review: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yafiction/16834-kissing-in-italian Teaser: What worked: The Italian setting which is a character. The a

1. First off since the last couple days have been a call for diversity in children/YA literature, I went ahead and ordered one book that probably is a part of my own background. It's from Tu Books, a great imprint of Lee & Low that publishes diverse books. My own ancestor came over with Cortez, fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. He was a converso-a converted Jew. I found in my own research many that came over were fleeing Spain too for similar reasons. Only later, the Inquisition followed to the New World to become the bloodiest and longest purge of those of Jewish background like my own ancestor Alvaro Acuna. I was able to get the Inquisition papers from 1644 from Mexico City. One good thing about the Catholic priests of that time is that they made triplicates of everything. Sure enough in 1644 there is record of an Alvaro Acuna who was tried for crimes. There are other Acunas listed too. I swear, while reading the records, I could feel the pain. One publisher men

Today the first twitter hashtag will be at 2pm PST. I'm totally a huge advocate of diversity in literature. I'm kind of bummed as I might miss the first hashtag as I'll be at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf coffee house and with the recent 70mph winds? I might not get a connection. So for that reason I thought I'd share some of my own photos to call awareness to the lack of diversity in children and YA literature. Twelve-year-old son with one of his favorite MGs with diversity. Here's what he says: "We need diverse books because I want to read more stories with not just white people." I want more books that reflect my son and my Latino culture. I also want books that celebrate the rich Muslim heritage for my two adorable biracial nephews. I want more African-American books. More Asian books. More GLBT books too. One section of my library with multicultural books. I couldn't find a couple other books but other than that? This i