A Doll Comes To Visit

You are a fifth-grade girl who comes home from school to find a doll on your front porch. The doll looks like you, is dressed like you, and there is something about the eyes. Who left it? Why is it here? And what makes this doll so special?

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With a Little Help From My Friend

Jim Jenkins is an ace detective who solves the most difficult crimes. Yet he always works alone. Or does he?

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The Boy Who Could Wiggle His Ears

Learning how to wiggle your ears is really hard. But you can do it if you keep trying. And if you learn to keep trying, no problem is too big. So if you can wiggle your ears, you can do anything!

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How To Put Your Life Back Together

This is another interesting book I’ve heard about, but haven’t read.  So, for what it’s worth… “Susan Burton’s world changed in an instant when her five-year-old son was killed by a van driving down their street. Consumed by grief and without access to professional help, Susan self-medicated, becoming addicted first to cocaine, then crack. As

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Just What Were the 1960s, Anyway?

When I was growing up in the 1960s, there was some speculation as to how that era would be remembered.  Would it be the Nuclear Age or the Space Age? Now it’s become pretty clear it was actually the Transistor And Birth-Control-Pill Age. I was reminded of this because we’ve recently passed two milestones, according

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What Our Meat Is Thinking

I love to eat meat.  But having been raised on a farm, I’m acutely aware that we are feasting on fellow mammals. If you feel as I do, you probably won’t want to read this.  There is a new book entitled Personalities on the Plate: The Lives & Minds of Animals We Eat by Barbara J. King.

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Have You Ever Heard of the Easter Panda?

There’s an unusual way to celebrate Easter in the Washington, D.C. area.  The National Zoo hosts a major annual event on Easter Monday, which is an unofficial holiday celebrated by African Americans in D.C. since the 1890s.  This event is believed to have started because black housekeepers had to work on Easter Sunday, so they

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For Anyone Who Loves Science

For anyone out there who loves science, especially astronomy, and is fascinated by the size and diversity of the universe (like I am), Astronomy magazine has released the “27 Best Hubble images on its 27th birthday”  (http://astronomy.com/news/2017/04/best-of-hubble-images?spMailingID=28849033&spUserID=NDYyNDk0Mjk0MTgxS0&spJobID=1024146748&spReportId=MTAyNDE0Njc0OAS2). Recall the Hubble space telescope was launched into low Earth orbit on April 24, 1990.  With a 2.4-meter

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At The Dayton Book Expo

Today was the 2017 Dayton [OH] Book Expo at Sinclair Community College.  The publishing business has changed lightyears since I entered it in 1990.  Today anyone can get published, so this show was a fascinating assortment of (near as I could tell)  about 80 local, self-published authors.  There were also seminars on such subjects as

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