Sarah's Summer part 4

Episode 4

We're continuing our Sarah's World summer series, finishing up "Sarah and Pcee" this week. For links to the other parts of this series, look to the right sidebar under Sarah's World posts.

Sarah and Pcee
A whole week went by ...

and Pcee was still sleeping in her special shell. Sarah missed holding her and watching her eat. A few days later, though, something different started happening. Pcee’s shell wasn’t green anymore. It was turning clear, and Sarah got excited. She was hoping she would soon see her friend again.

    Then Pcee started trying to get out of her shell, just like a baby chick breaks out of its egg. When she did come out of her shell, Sarah could not believe her eyes! It didn’t even look like Pcee at all.
    She called for her mother to come. “Look, Mom, Pcee has changed! She doesn't look like a caterpillar anymore. She’s a butterfly! I always thought Pcee was pretty, but now she is beautiful. I can’t keep her in this aquarium any more. She needs to be outside so she can fly.”

Sarah took the top off the aquarium, and right away Pcee flew out and began flittering around the room. Then she went to the window and opened it. “You need to fly out the window, Pcee, so you can see how pretty things are outside. I think you’ll like the flowers all around the house.”

  Pcee flew to the window and landed on the ledge. Sarah said, “Go ahead, Pcee, go outside. You’ll like it.” Instead of flying out the window, though, she turned around to look at Sarah and flew over to her. As she held out her hand, Pcee landed on it, fluttering her wings.

This was Pcee’s way of saying, “Thank you, you’ve been so good to me.” Then she flew out the window to go see all the pretty flowers Sarah had talked about.

Following her to the window, Sarah looked out and said, “Bye, Pcee, we’ll see each other when I go outside to play!”

And whenever Sarah did go outside, Pcee would come to see her. The two of them would play and have lots of fun among the flowers where they first met.

Come back next week for more ~

copyright © 2012 by NoeandCindy

Goodreads review: Funny Face at the Window

Noe's review:


Funny Face at the Window by Sara Asheron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars 

We got this book years ago for our little boy and I probably read the book to him every day for months. He couldn't even really talk very well, he'd just excitedly ask me to read "funny face at window" over and over again, and I loved it. One of the cool things about this book is that it's about a monkey that acts like a monkey -- he doesn't talk, he's just silly & funny. Our son loved it so much, and there's nothing more enjoyable for a parent than to read a book to their child and watch them laugh and laugh.

I think the book is out of print, and if so, that's a real shame because many, many little kids would love it.

View all my reviews

Note: Goodreads rating is as follows:
 did not like it
 it was okay
 liked it
 really liked it
 it was amazing

Sarah's Summer part 3

Episode 3

We're continuing our Sarah's World summer series with another "Sarah and Pcee" chapter. For links to the other parts of this series, look to the right sidebar under Sarah's World posts.

Sarah and Pcee

The next morning ...

Sarah found that Pcee had eaten all the leaves and was growing. She went back to the bush where she had found her and picked more leaves. When she dropped them in, Pcee started eating. “You are really hungry for being so small,” Sarah said. She watched her eat one leaf after another till she stopped and was still.

     “So, are you finally full and need to take a nap?” Sarah asked. But Pcee was not going to take a nap. Before Sarah’s eyes, Pcee seemed to walk right out of her skin, leaving behind her old skin. Then she crawled to the nearest leaf and started eating again!

     Sarah ran to get her mother, and pulling her by the hand, she told her what had happened. “See her old skin right there?” she asked. They sat watching together as Pcee continued to eat and eat and eat.

     “All she does is eat,” said Sarah. “I thought she was eating so much she was going to pop, and then she walked out of her skin. So I guess Pcee did pop -- she popped right out of her skin!” 
     Now that Pcee was bigger, Sarah wanted to know what it would feel like to have her crawl around on her hand, so she picked her and the leaf she was on up. It did feel funny to have Pcee’s little feet moving all over her hand. Sarah giggled, because her little feet tickled as she moved. She thought she could even hear Pcee chewing! Then she said “You might be a boy, because only boys could eat this much!” That made Sarah laugh and laugh.

     Over the next two days, Pcee did not stop eating, and she also walked out of her skin again. She really liked crawling onto Sarah’s hand and eating the leaves as she held them. Sometimes when she was holding her, Pcee would stop eating just to look up at Sarah. She would pet her and Pcee liked that a lot.

Sarah was very happy with her new friend, and every night before she got ready for bed, she would tap on the aquarium and say, “Goodnight, Pcee.”

Two days had gone by ...

and Pcee was very big now and had walked out of her skin once again. Sarah picked her up to give her another leaf, but this time she didn’t want to eat. So she just petted her and said, “It took a long time for you to get full.” Now Pcee looked like she wanted to rest, so Sarah put her back in her home.

     The bridge stick was in the middle of the aquarium, and right away Pcee crawled up on it. When she got about halfway, she moved to the bottom side of the stick and hung upside down! Then she curled up so her body looked like the letter J. Sarah was watching her and said, “That’s a funny way to go to sleep, Pcee. It doesn’t look very comfortable.” But since Pcee was going to sleep, Sarah thought she would take a nap too.

When she woke up from her nap, Sarah thought Pcee would probably be awake too, but she wasn’t. She was still hanging upside down in the shape of a J. That night when it was time for Sarah to go to bed, she was surprised to see that Pcee was still sleeping.

     “It looks like you are going to sleep as much as you ate!” Sarah said. So at night she did not tap on the aquarium to say goodnight, because she didn’t want to wake Pcee up.

     In the morning Sarah went over to see if Pcee was awake, but she still wasn't. Something did start happening, though. It looked like Pcee was coming out of her skin again. This time her new skin was a different color. She was a bright green!

     Sarah said, “Pcee, you have such pretty new skin.” But it wasn’t just new skin. It became like a shell for her to keep sleeping in. Sarah told her, “Pcee, you really are going to sleep as much as you ate. And now you have your own special bed." 

Come back next week for more ~

copyright © 2012 by NoeandCindy

Goodreads giveaway winners!

Winners were chosen by Goodreads

We had a giveaway going through June for two copies of our book: 

The Sun Also Shines for me.

(winners receive book only)

Congratulations to the two winners!

Connie from Iowa

Susan from Texas

Winners are not required by Goodreads to give a review, but we sure do hope to hear from our two winners ... let us know if you like it or not!

We mailed out the packages today, 

you should receive them in a day or two.

And thank you so much to all those who signed up for the giveaway! 
We hope the sun is shining on all of you ~

Noe and Cindy

Thank you for reading what noeandcindy.write !

Sarah's Summer

Episode 2

Noe and I wrote a children's book a couple of years ago that is special to both of us and are delighted to share it with you. The story is not fantasy-based, rather it highlights the fun that children can have in their own world of imagination and adventure.

So for the next few weeks, we'll be posting a chapter or two for you to share with your kids ... you are invited to come into the second installment of Sarah's World. We hope you enjoy it!

Sarah and Pcee

The next day ...

     Sarah was in her backyard picking flowers for her mother. Seeing a very pretty one growing by the fence, she went over to look at it. As she was walking that way, Sarah noticed something moving on a leaf. She jumped back in surprise and then saw it was a colorful caterpillar! It was moving slowly, but then it caught sight of Sarah and stopped. The caterpillar raised itself up and looked at her and she looked at it. She thought it was so pretty, she held out her hand and the caterpillar crawled onto it.

     
     Sarah carried it inside the house into her room, looking for a good place to keep it. Since there was no water in her aquarium, she put it in there.

     Now, Sarah really wanted the caterpillar to feel as if it was still out in the yard, so she brought dirt and leaves in for the aquarium. Her mother, seeing her coming in and out of the house many times, asked what she was doing.

     "I'm making a home for my caterpillar." Mom wanted to see what she was talking about, so Sarah took her to her room.

     "See, I'm putting dirt and things in the aquarium so the caterpillar can make a home." Mom told her when an aquarium is used like that, it is called a terrarium. But for Sarah, it was much easier to say it was an aquarium with dirt.

     After she had gathered enough dirt, leaves and twigs, Sarah started to arrange everything so it would look pretty and be a pleasant home for her caterpillar. She found a good sturdy stick that looked like a bridge and thought her new friend would have fun climbing it. Now it was time to see what it would think of its new home.

     The caterpillar did like it, but Sarah still thought something was missing. Then her eyes got bright and she rushed outside. In the yard, she found some things she liked, then ran back to her room. Opening the lid to the aquarium, she placed several shiny rocks inside and said, "Now it's perfect! My caterpillar has a pretty new home!"

     Sarah was excited to show her mother, so she called her to come see how it looked. When Mom saw it, she told Sarah it was the best caterpillar home she had ever seen and that the caterpillar would love living there.

     Later that day, Sarah was looking at this squirmy little thing and decided she should give it a name. She thought, "I could call you Shawn or Gus ... but maybe you're a girl, so your name should be Mary or Irene. I think you must be a girl, because you're so pretty." As she put her face closer to the aquarium, she said, But I need to find the best name for a pretty caterpillar like you."

     Sarah kept saying to it, "What can I call you, my pretty caterpillar?" She sat looking at it and then came up with a great idea: "I know! I can call you P.C. for Pretty Caterpillar." After saying P.C. a few times out loud, she started saying Pcee, which was the same thing, but faster.

     "That sounds like a perfect name for a pretty caterpillar like you!" she said. And before she went to bed that night, she tapped on the aquarium and said, "Good night, Pcee."

Come back next week for more! And for links to the other parts of this series, look to the right sidebar under Sarah's World posts. ~

copyright © 2012 by NoeandCindy

Goodreads review: The Sun Also Rises

Noe's review:


The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
My rating: 1 of 5 stars 

Well, I tried—I really did. This was the fourth time I attempted to read Ernest Hemingway's “The Sun Also Rises.” Twice I tried audio versions, and twice I tried reading it. I told myself on this last effort, I’m going to push through and read this all the way, because Hemingway is supposed to be a great writer and I must be missing something, both as a reader and as an author.

But it was like trying to eat cardboard. The writing is insipid, uninspired, colorless, uninteresting, boring, tedious—in other words, it offered nothing stimulating enough to give any reason for reading the next page. I did manage to get to chapter five, then I flipped several chapters to see if it would get any better; it never did.

How did he become such a big deal, I have to ask? Surely there were hundreds, if not thousands, of lackluster authors in his day, and somehow it was his nothingness that became something to clamor about. Was he randomly chosen in some sort of author’s lottery, and as the winner, his publishers would promote his works as being outstanding? Is this book “The Emperor’s New Clothes” in paper and ink? Or do people have to have more mojitos (said to be one of his favorite drinks) than someone should have before reading it?

I also read “The Old Man and the Sea” in its entirety with the same impression. I chose to try “The Sun Also Rises” because, in the opinion of some, this was his best work. Maybe it is, but I will not waste another second trying to read it.

View all my reviews

Note: Goodreads rating is as follows:
 did not like it
 it was okay
 liked it
 really liked it
 it was amazing