3 Willows

I've taken a little break from ND. The public library here does not have all the ND books like Ellis library on campus, so it is sometimes a slow process to get the books I want to read, so I am reading other books while I wait.
I just read 3 Willows The Sisterhood Continues It's by the same author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants except this was about 3 friends who have grown apart. You see, when I go to the library, I head immediately to the "young adult" section. I have come to terms with this. I enjoy reading about high school things. And I feel I am justified in choosing from the Juvinile and Young Adult section because 1) I am a high school teacher, so I have to keep up with the times and 2) I didn't read growing up, so I've got to make up for lost time.

I'm hoping I'll get a chance to report on ND sometime soon.

Best part about today: My "to do list" includes watching Grey's Anatomy!

i dream of nancy

last night i dreamed i found a box full of nancy drew books at some version of a goodwill or estate sale. it had #36, which is the one that i am to read next. there was a HUGE pile of them, but it was weird, they were greasy. so i was getting all greasy sorting through these ND books, but i didn't care, i was just so excited to get my hands on all the NDs for so little money.

the hidden window mystery

gee whiz, this one took me a while.
but, something fun about it was it was an ORIGINAL copy. This means, no editing has been done to the story or characters unlike the other books I've been reading. This one was published in 1956. The originals are longer than the edited versions (approx 180 pages).
Here are some differences that I noticed:
Nancy is BLOND (in the edited version she is titian (red-blond))
Hannah Gruen is 'colored' and illiterate.
Nancy was 3 when her mom died (never specifically mentioned in the edited, however, it is hinted at that she was around 7 or 8)

Also, the wording and descriptions are much more uninhibited in this one, which is part of the reason why they were edited in the first place. To make Nancy less independent and to try to decrease the labeling and stereotyping of non-white people. ex. Hannah Gruen. Words such as "hussy" and "colored" and "slave" are definitely not mentioned in the newer versions.


Okay, that was exciting. I felt so honored to be reading an original copy. Cool thing: my grandma has some ND's and she has The Secret of the Old Clock(the very first one) which was made in like 1930!!!!! BAH. I'm going to look at it next time I go home.

Okay, so here is the premise of the story:
Nancy is reading the Continental Magazine and sees a want ad to find a missing stained glass window---reward money is involved. So naturally, Nancy wants to search for this in order to give the money to the local hospital charity. This mystery involves peacocks, old mansions, and even a ghost. I thought it was a nice story. Something this story was lacking, however, was a 'high speed' car chase and Nancy getting mugged. Maybe it will happen in the next story, The Haunted Showboat

habla espanol

one of my students wrote the following on the chalkboard:

yamame ms. ebberts

student: do you know what this says?
me: you do know that should be a double 'l' instead of a 'y', right?

Not only do my students think I'm 27, but they also think I'm really good at Spanish. I've got them fooled like nobody's business :)

first bodily function quote of the year!

"i really like to poop. yeah, i usually come home an take a dump."

i overheard one of my students say this while i was making my 'rounds' in the room. while he was saying that sentence, i was approaching their group, not because i was wanting to hear this, it just happened. i got to their group right as he finished the word "dump." i then proceeded to walk away and ask the next group how they were doing.