Here’s the scoop. We are two sisters who love books. It runs in the family- as kids we even spent part of one family reunion doing a tour of the local library with our cousins. Really, who spends their family reunion at the library? This love affair with books has been a tradition for several generations and we just wanted to pass it on to the next generation– online.
Our blog focuses on children and adolescent literature (even though we do read a broad range of books) because we are still young at heart.
Cari & Holly
More About Holly
One of my favorite memories is laying at the end of the bed to catch the hall light so I could stay up late and read. Of course I was always jealous that my sister could read faster than me (she still can). Sharing a room, we also shared the responsibility of ‘look-out’. Most nights when my parents thought I was fast asleep as they checked on me, they would probably have found a Nancy Drew mystery under my pillow and the sequel under my sister’s.
Now that I’m a parent, I know I wasn’t fooling anybody. But, I’m sure it made reading a mystery all that more intense wondering if I would be caught and have my book taken away before I knew who did it! My love of reading has followed me through college, working, and now staying home with children. Reading is one of the greatest enjoyments for me.
I graduated from college with a B.S. in Business Finance. I honestly never liked math growing up , so why did I major in something so math-y? Well, I figured that I would never give up art or reading, so since I was paying for school, I probably should learn something I wouldn’t otherwise learn. I’m a big fan of do-it-yourself books and projects and have found that I can learn to do almost anything if I have the right book or teacher to teach me. Suffice it to say, my favorite college courses were Business English and Business Leadership. After working as a Graduate Scholarship Coordinator and a License Compliance and Billing manager, I decided to stay home with my kids and delve back into the literary world I love so much. Perhaps I will someday write a book about money but right now, my real love is making up stories for my kids that help them think differently about the world around them. I hope to become a regularly published author someday (hopefully soon) and fulfill one of my life dreams!
More about Cari
Many people have a weakness for buying clothes or shoes or new computer gadgets. Can you guess mine? It’s buying and reading good books. I absolutely adore books. Reading is like a basic need for me (I seriously don’t know what if I would do without books) and I always have at least one book by the side of my bed. I frequently begin conversations with “oh I read this book about . . . you should read it!”
I also taught middle school history for 5 years and I love teaching. So I guess you could say that the three loves of my life are my family, reading and teaching. I am currently working as a literacy coach at a local middle school after taking some time off to care for my two smart and adorable little girls (I’m not biased by any sense of the word) and literacy is one of my soap boxes.
In fact I just graduated with a master’s degree in reading (and no I didn’t get the degree just for reading books). I am what you would call a Secondary Reading Specialist – I help kids read and work with teachers to use literacy in their classrooms across content areas. The reason why I decided to get a master’s in reading was because the number one thing my students struggled with was reading. I was shocked at how many students struggled some of whom would be classified as functionally illiterate.
I too am working on several writing projects and with my sister’s and my husband’s encouragement I hope to publish a book for middle grade readers.
Bookscoops 