Quick and Easy Dinners - Greek Pita Pizzas and Summertime Fresh Salsa Pizzas

On Sunday, I was feeling pretty good after uploading my blog post.

That lasted about 5 minutes, until I realized that the beef with barley soup I was planning on making and eating that night should have been started, oh, about two hours before.

Oops.

I did start it, and we ate it for dinner Monday and Tuesday nights, and it was yummy.

But back to Sunday night - I needed something quick but tasty for dinner, and decided to go with one of our tried and true favorites, Greek Pita Pizzas.

And since they are so easy to make, I am also including the recipe for another easy, different from the norm, pizza , the Summertime Fresh Salsa Pizza.

Greek Pita Pizzas

1/4 small red onion, chopped
4-6 pepperoncini peppers, sliced
1 sm can sliced black olives
1 package of small pitas (6 inch? you want the fat kind, not the thin kind - I used wheat, but white are okay, too)
1 container hummus (red pepper, garlic, original - up to you)
1 container feta cheese (can use regular or low-fat, chunk or crumbled)
1 container bacon bits (I use the real bacon kind, but the other would be fine, too)

Here are all my ingredients! 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put foil on a large baking sheet, and put four pitas on the baking sheet.  Spread hummus over pitas.  I usually use most of a container.

Chop up red onion.  Chop pepperoncini peppers (I bought the kind that was already chopped last time, and that makes this recipe even easier!).  Open can of black olives.

Put as little or as much red onion as you'd like on each pita.  Ditto for the pepperoncini peppers and black olives.  Sprinkle feta cheese on top (crumbling it if you have a block of cheese rather than the precrumbled).  Sprinkle bacon bits on top.

Cook for 10 minutes or so, until everything is hot.

And that is it!  SO easy, and so yummy.  My husband and I eat two each, which we probably shouldn't do, but they taste so good!

As for my second recipe, I don't have pictures, but it is just as easy as the first.  This recipe came from Cooking Light, although I can't find it on their website.  I have altered the recipe somewhat for our tastes!

Summertime Fresh Salsa Pizzas

1 package pitas (for these, the thinner, larger pitas work better, but again, white or wheat work fine)
1 can refried beans (I often use the refried black beans)
1 package taco seasoning (optional)
1 cup chicken (optional)
1 container fresh pico de gallo (sold in produce section of the grocery store or at farmers' markets), or homemade pico de gallo (you want chunky salsa, not runny)
2 cups cheese (cheddar, mexican, or pepperjack)
1 bag of shredded lettuce
sour cream (regular or low-fat)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cover large baking sheet with foil, and put four pitas on it.  Put them in oven while oven is preheating, flipping after a few minutes, to crisp the pitas.

Cook refried beans in small pot.  I usually add some taco seasoning (add some, stir well, taste, and repeat until you're happy) and sometimes some chicken, if I have some already cooked that was left over from another dish.  But the chicken and the taco seasoning are optional!

Once beans are warm and bubbly, the pitas ought to be crisp.  Spread beans over pitas.  Put pico de gallo on top of beans.  The amount of salsa on each can vary, depending on how spicy you want your pizza to be.  Add cheese on top - as much as you would like!

Cook for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and everything is good and hot.

Take pizzas out of oven, and put on plates.  Top with shredded lettuce and sour cream.  My husband sometimes adds more salsa to his.

One of these is more than enough to fill you up, unlike the first recipe, so we wrap up the other two in foil and enjoy them the next day.

So there you have it - my two favorite, easy, pita pizza recipes!  I hope you enjoy!

The Sweet Spot

It is Sunday afternoon, and as I think back on the week, I realize that we have hit our sweet spot with our son.  I am sure there will be other sweet spots in his life, but this is a pretty great one.

He is seven, and I swear is growing every night in his sleep.

In looking for Christmas gifts for him, I was reminded again and again that he is no longer a little kid.

But he is still very loving and kind, and he still talks to his parents about what is going on in his life.

Hence, the sweet spot...

Old enough to dress himself, but not so old that he refuses to wear a coat to school.

Old enough to reason with, but not so old that he doesn't admit when Mom was right and thank me for it.

Old enough to help us rake leaves on a sunny Saturday, but not so old that he sees it as a chore, rather than a fun activity.

Old enough to play complex board games, but not so old he would rather play with his friends than his parents.

The perfect example this week: on Tuesday, he woke up with a cold and cough.  He didn't feel great on Tuesday, but woke up Wednesday feeling worse.  I debated about keeping him home from school, but he didn't have a fever, so I decided he didn't feel bad enough to justify missing school (by the way, I think this is the hardest part of being a parent, the choosing of what exactly is bad enough to stay home from school, and what just has to be endured).  But Wednesday night, I told him he had to take cold medication.

I will do a commercial for Mucinex Kids Multi-Symptom Cold, because that is our wonder drug for him.  It doesn't have any pain medication, but it decongests his nose, and has both the expectorant and cough suppressant.

My little guy HATES to take medicine.  In the past, we have had to hold him down and use a dosing syringe, squirting it at the inside of his cheek.  In the more recent past, I've held the dosing cup and "helped" him pour it in his mouth, and watched it dribble out the sides of his mouth and all over his PJs (argh).

This is a kid who doesn't like the taste of juice, or sugary/chewy candy with artificial flavors.  So the fact that the box advertises it is "Triple Berry Flavor" or "Bubble Gum Flavor" does nothing for him.

But this time, he picked up the cup, and drank it, without spilling it.  Then he went to bed.  I went into his room the next morning, and he greeted me with,

"Mom, I slept GREAT!  That medicine really helped."

Wow.

How great was that???  I felt like a superstar mom.  I went around all day telling people what he had said.

I know that in just a few years, he will not be as willing to acknowledge that his mom was right about something.  I know that probably by the end of the week, I will make a mistake, and he will be right there to tell me about it.

But for one shining moment, I was the mom who had gotten it right, and had the son singing my praises to prove it.

Recipe Wednesday - Chicken Fried Rice

I got busy this week, so my Recipe Wednesday has turned into Recipe Thursday.  But that's okay!

Any A Christmas Story fans out there?  Don't you love that they go eat Chinese food for Christmas dinner when the dogs eat the turkey?  Because, let's face it, turkey and all the fixings are good, but sometimes a good stir fry is even better.

This recipe for Chicken Fried Rice is amazing.  It really tastes as good as, or better than, restaurant versions.  The tricks are to use the right kind of rice, fresh veggies, and sriracha hot sauce to add a bit of a kick!  The recipe is from Southern Living, and will feed 6-8 people (depending on how hungry everyone is).  In our house, since my son won't eat it, we make 1/2 the recipe for two nights in a row.  It is not bad reheated, but tastes better if it is freshly made.

Chicken Fried Rice

3 TB vegetable oil, divided
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 c diced onion (1 small onion)
3/4 c diced red (or green) bell pepper (1 small pepper)
1 lb green beans, trimmed and cut in 1 1/2 inch pieces (thin are best, but any fresh beans will do - the thicker ones just need to cook awhile longer)
2 c chopped cooked chicken (I use rotisserie chicken as a time saver)
4 c cooked basmati rice
1/3 c soy sauce
2-3 tsp chili sauce (sriracha hot sauce)
sliced green onions and/or sliced almonds (toasted if you want), optional

Chop up veggies.  As you can see from the picture, this time I added some sliced mushrooms because I had them in the fridge.  I love mushrooms, so they were a great addition.

Cook the rice per package instructions.

Heat 1 TB oil in skillet over medium-high heat for one minute; add eggs and cook, gently stirring, 1-2 mins or until softly scrambled.  Remove eggs and chop.  Put aside.

Heat 2 TB oil in skillet; add onion, bell pepper and green beans, and stir fry 3-4 minutes (longer if you don't have thin green beans), or until crisp-tender.  How do you know they're ready? The onions will be slightly translucent, the green peppers will be softening, and the green beans will still be crunchy, but will be hot all the way through and taste good.

Add chicken, and stir fry 2 mins. Add rice, soy sauce, and chili sauce; stir fry 3-4 mins or until thoroughly heated and mixed together. (At this point, if we're not quite ready to eat yet, I will turn the burner on its lowest setting, and just let the stir fry sit, stirring occasionally.)

If you want green onions, slice them (I use both the white and green parts).  If you want almonds, either open the package and pour them into a small serving bowl, or get out a little skillet and toast them.  I am certain they taste better toasted, but it tastes great even without the toasting.  Or you can add neither of these things, and it will still be great!

Right before you're ready to serve, stir in egg.  Put on plates, or in a large bowl if you're serving it family style.  Add toppings on plates, or put toppings out for everyone to choose from.  We also put the soy sauce and sriracha hot sauce on the table, and add a bit of both to make the dish more tangy!

Here's what it looks like on your plate - yummy!

Food Wars

Before I had my son, I watched other parents fight the Food Wars.  They threatened, they bargained, they made separate meals.

And I said, that will never be me.  MY child will eat what is on the table, or not at all!

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Every young child realizes that one of the few things they can truly control is what goes in their mouths, and when.  Children are little dictators, and so they are completely willing to fight trying a new food (or even eating a food they used to like, but now have decided they despise).  Hence, the Food Wars.  But what we do as parents can either sustain that war, or defuse the situation.

The bottom line is that what works for one child might not work for another, even in the same family. You can spend your meal time fighting, or you can find a compromise that works.  And our compromise is probably more radical that most.

Yes, I make my son his own meal almost every night.  Actually, it is every third night or so, because I make enough to last for three nights.  So how did this happen?

In our case, there are some mitigating factors that not everyone sees, which is why I think it is important to share why we chose the path we did.

1. My son has Sensory Processing Disorder.  New foods mean new textures.  From an early age, certain foods have made him gag or choke.  He seems to be outgrowing this, but I as a parent need to understand that it is not just him exerting control when he doesn't want to try a new food.  That food may have a strange look, or smell, or feel, that makes his brain send out signals that say, "DANGER!"  Even if your child doesn't have sensory issues, they still might have an aversion to certain smells and tastes and textures.
   
2. He eats healthier than we do.  So what does he eat every night?  I cook a chicken breast in olive oil and a spice mix every third night (frozen breasts, individually wrapped from BJ's Warehouse, that are already trimmed).  I cook a steam-in-the-bag veggie mix that includes broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, or cook a can of carrots with a little brown sugar and cinnamon.  He also has eaten canned green beans and green peas in the past, but really prefers the steamed veggies.
   
3. The opposite side of the coin of #2 - what he doesn't like isn't exactly food I should be pushing him to eat on a regular basis.  He doesn't eat cheese, pasta, hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza or any kind of dipping sauce.  He eats raw carrots by themselves.  Should I push him to dip them in fat-drenched dressings just to expand his food repertoire? And he doesn't like juice, either.  Should I make him drink juice, rather than the much more healthy water and milk he does consume?
   A few months ago, we were attending a sacraments workshop at church with our son, and the pastor was talking about communion.  He passed around the bread, and each kid took some bread.  Then he passed around the grape juice cups.  My son said, very politely, "No thank you," and passed the juice cups on.  Yes, my child is the only kid who takes communion without the juice.  But hey, at least he was polite!
   
4. Cheese may or may not give him migraines.  We are pretty sure he had migraines when he was a baby (6-18 months).  They stopped after we stopped giving him Zantac for acid reflux, but one migraine incident happened after he ate some cheddar cheese.  Cheddar cheese is a known trigger for migraines, so do you think I am EVER going to push my child to eat cheddar cheese?
   
5. My husband and I get to eat what we enjoy (at home, at least).  We are never worried that something we pick isn't going to be something he will eat.

But I admit, there are downfalls to this, too.  Eating out is a pain.  Most children's menus are almost entirely made up of food he doesn't eat - pizza, mac and cheese, cheese quesadillas, hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches.  The one thing he will eat are chicken fingers and fries, which is not the most healthy choice (not that any of the other choices are all that healthy, either).  And some restaurants plop down the most unappetizing chicken nuggets that obviously have come from a bag in the freezer.  That does not make us want to come back!

My husband and I love Mexican, Thai, Chinese and Italian foods.  Our little guy doesn't like rice (it chokes him), beans, pasta or spicy foods.  That pretty much rules out our favorite things that we would LOVE to share with him.  That is really frustrating as a parent!

My biggest concern is that I want him to be able to go to a sleepover at a friend's house and not have to pack his own dinner.  I do not want to ask friends to cook a special meal for him.  I want him to go to parties and choose to eat one slice of pizza or a few bites of a hamburger (even if it isn't what he would choose to eat otherwise).  I want him to to be able to go into any restaurant and find something that he will eat.

But I also have to recognize that trying new foods is truly a scary experience for him.  That doesn't mean that he should always avoid them, but rather that he needs to set the pace.  No one wins in the Food Wars if every meal is a battle.

And that is true for any family, regardless of whether your child has sensory issues, or is just a picky eater, or is stubborn as a mule (or all three).  If all your child will eat is mac and cheese, then sneak some veggies in there.  If they only like chicken nuggets, then tell them that the store is out and they get grilled chicken strips instead.  What worked for us was telling him we were going to Disney World, and that Disney didn't serve nuggets for dinner.  He tried baked chicken, and has eaten ever since.  I know The Greatest Place on Earth probably would have served him nuggets (even if it wasn't on the menu), but, hey, it worked, and I am not going to feel bad about that!

In general, I agree with the principle of putting food on the table (making sure there is at least one thing your children will eat) and saying, this is dinner, eat or don't eat, but we're not going to whine about it or cry, or argue.  If your child truly has issues (like mine) then you probably have to take a gentler approach, and introduce foods more slowly.  But any time that all of your energy is focused on a child who isn't eating, and not on your own plate, is a losing proposition.

I have been told by parents with older children that he will eventually outgrow some of the sensory issues that have plagued him.  I can really see progress in the last couple of years (he ate a bite of rice without gagging! He eats deviled eggs!  He ate the crust off the slice of pizza!), which gives me hope that one day, when he is a teenager eating me out of house and home, I will look back fondly on the days he had his own meal and left ours alone!

Recipe Wednesday - A Healthy, Yummy Salad!

My husband came to me on Sunday, and said he'd heard this great recipe on The Splendid Table for Farro-Chickpea Salad with Sunflower Seeds.  I tease him for listening to this show (and NPR in general).  It's not that I don't listen to NPR, but not with the same fervor as my husband.

However, we are always looking for new recipes to try, and we are fairly adventurous souls, so I said, sure!  We did have to substitute several items.  The original recipe says that farro is available in most Italian grocery stores.  Those are pretty scare in the small(ish) NC town I live in.  I also could not find ricotta salata, or sunflower oil.  Luckily, there are easy substitutes for all of these!  I took one bite, before the flavors had even had time to mix, and swooned.  I texted my husband immediately and told him he had picked a winner!

This recipe makes enough for a potluck supper, or a larger family than ours!  My son is not an adventurous eater; he actually eats much the same thing every night (and the fact that we make him a separate meal is a subject for another blog post in the future).  So it was just my husband and I, eating large servings for lunch and dinner. The next time I make it just for us, I will probably half the recipe.

So here's my lower-brow version of the salad.  The recipe's origins are below the recipe - I want to give credit where credit is due.

Barley-Chickpea Salad with Sunflower Seeds

• 2 cups pearled barley
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas or one 15-ounce can, drained and rinsed
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
• 1 small red onion, cut into small dice
• 1 cup (5 ounces) sunflower seeds, toasted (I used roasted sunflower seeds, so I didn't toast them again)
• 1/2 cup chopped Kalamata olives
• 2 cups (8 ounces) crumbled feta
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup chiffonade of fresh basil or 1 TB dried basil
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Place the barley and 1 teaspoon salt in a large saucepan and add enough cold water to cover by 4 inches. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water. Transfer to a serving bowl large enough to hold the remaining ingredients.  (I would make sure to get Pearled Barley, not Quick Cooking Barley. I think the quick cooking kind would get mushy, and you don't want mushy).

 

 2. While the barley is simmering, cook the asparagus in a pot of boiling water with 1 tablespoon salt for 2 minutes. Drain well, rinse in cold water, and add to the cooled barley.

3. Add the remaining ingredients and toss. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  

 

4. Keep the salad at a cool room temperature for 1 hour or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature at least 1 hour before serving.

Excerpted from In A Nutshell: Cooking and Baking with Nuts and Seeds by Cara Tannenbaum and Andrea Tutunjian. Copyright © 2014 by Cara Tannenbaum and Andrea Tutunjian. 

This would be a great side dish to bring to a holiday party or family dinner.  It tastes fresh, and a little tangy, but is not something that would overpower the main dishes.  Other than the cheese, it is even vegan!  Or you can be like us and enjoy it as a main dish.

My husband prefers his cold, straight from the fridge.  I like mine heated in the microwave! I served it with a toasted sunflower bread, but I think any crusty, strong bread would work.

Enjoy!

Big Time Sports

I am a proud graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill. But I am not proud of what I learned in the last few years about how members of the UNC faculty, staff and sports personnel put sports above academics.

However, I can't say that I am surprised that some members of our illustrious sports teams were not able to keep their GPAs high enough to participate without (a lot) of extra help.

I entered UNC in 1992, right before all of this allegedly began.  I remember many conversations the next year about an athlete who was retaking his SAT to get his score high enough to meet the minimum standard.  The score he had received previously was less than many people I knew had made when they had taken the SAT in middle school for the Duke TIP program.  So I definitely wondered how he was going to succeed in the classes I was taking if he couldn't even make the SAT score many UNC attendees made in middle school.

I think we all were complicit in not questioning these things more.  There is nothing better than going to a game, cheering on your team, and watching them win. Revenue sports bring in alumni money and support from other donors, money from TV broadcasts, sponsorships and licensing deals.  That money builds beautiful stadiums and arenas, as well as supporting the rest of the school with scholarships and money used to entice the best professors.  And for too long, we looked the other way when it came to academics.

I think even if you go back to much earlier eras, you would find athletes that were not quite up to par academically at UNC and many other schools.  They probably had tutors and extra help, and were steered towards classes that weren't as academically challenging.  The quote below from the Wainstein Report says it best:

Academically elite universities like Chapel Hill often feel a tension between their high academic standards and the effort to build a strong athletic program. One symptom of this tension is that academically selective schools often feel it necessary to admit academically under-prepared athletes in order to field competitive teams. They do so with the expectation that the inclusion of such student-athletes will be a mutually enriching experience; the university benefits from having the student-athletes’ special talents and the student-athletes benefit from getting access to an excellent education.

This is a perfectly legitimate and laudable approach to admissions, and it has resulted in countless success stories where such student-athletes have excelled both on the field and in the classroom. At the same time, the admission of under-prepared student-athletes presents universities with difficult challenges, as many require intensive academic support and remedial instruction, and even with this assistance some continue to struggle when confronting the demanding academic curriculum of an academically elite university. 

But in the end, some at UNC crossed the line between legitimate help and illegitimate acts whose sole purpose was to keep athletes academically eligible.

One of things I find most interesting is an aspect that not every media outlet has covered: the fact that not only athletes benefited from these "paper" classes.  Some people inadvertently took the classes, and worked hard on their papers.  Others were steered there by school advisers or friends, having been told that the classes required nothing more than writing a paper at the end.  Some of those people even knew the paper's actual content had little to do with the grade assigned.  Others just knew it was an easy way to bring up your GPA, or lessen your load during a semester when you were taking challenging classes.

During my first semester at UNC, I realized that my high school had truly prepared me for college, but that not all people were so lucky.  It is not just athletes who get to UNC, then struggle to keep up. There are a lot of students, that for various reasons, get to college and realize that they don't have the writing skills, study skills, or basic knowledge in math and science to take the entry level college courses.  Then they have to find the resources at their school and talk to their professors (some who are not very approachable) about extra help, all of this while they are adjusting to being away from home and being a (somewhat) responsible adult for the first time.  Some find the resources they need, and make it through; others drop out.

I love that my son's elementary school talks about college readiness with the children and the parents. They know that you don't start getting ready for college your junior year of high school.  You have to start laying the foundation early, or you're already behind.

The sad fact is, some athletes are taught from an early age to focus on their sport, and not worry about academics.  Their sports prowess is seen as their "golden ticket" and everyone, from their parents to their teachers to their peers, help them slide through school with the minimum amount of work.  But that is cheating them out of the opportunity to be a great student, and not just a great athlete.  Moreover, what good does that do for the student who has a career-ending injury?  How does that help if he or she doesn't become a professional athlete, and "goes pro in something other than sports," as the NCAA proudly advertises?

I don't have the answers.  The problem is more systemic than just colleges and universities, because this emphasis on sports begins in elementary school, and kids are entering Kindergarten already behind their peers in reading and math readiness, vocabulary and social skills.  But that is a whole other blog topic...

On the college level, one possibility is to take away the athletic scholarship and only admit those who are academically eligible to attend your school.  This probably will never happen, because college sports is too much of a cash cow for schools.

More moderately, we could reduce the amount of "special circumstance admissions," which is what schools like UNC use to admit athletes that do not have the scores and grades to get in otherwise.  Would our teams suffer on the field or court? Possibly, but if every school did the same, and leveled the playing field, it would be okay, eventually.  And we would feel better about ourselves, our university, and feel we were not exploiting our athletes.  There are athletes out there that are both academically smart as well as smart on the football field or basketball court, and we need to be enrolling and playing them.

Going hand in hand with this would have to be a more robust development league for pro sports.  If your life skill really is that you are great with a football, basketball, baseball or puck, and academics aren't your thing, then there is no reason for you to pretend to be a student.  I would hope that these athletes would have a backup plan, in case things don't work out the way they expect, but maybe that is a life lesson we all have to learn.

Colleges and universities also need to do a better job of helping all students succeed.  It is too easy to slip through the cracks, especially at a big school,  Every school has resources, such as a Writing Center, tutoring programs, and advisers.  They should be advertised early and often to incoming students.  And students need to take the responsibility of seeking help before it is too late, and not relying on the easy way out.

There are no easy answers, and I hate that it was my school that brought all of this to light.  I hope other schools can learn from our experience.  And, of course, I hate that we might have to forfeit games and championships because of this.  But in the end, I hope UNC athletics will come out of this with the emphasis back on being a student first, then an athlete.

I Love YA Fiction (and I'm Not Afraid to Admit It)

I love to read.  My mom used to get frustrated with me when I spent my mornings reading the back of the cereal box instead of actually eating breakfast.

Now that I am an adult, I can read at the table (although I do realize how rude I am being to my family, so I usually don't).  But I read everywhere else - while I'm drying my hair and putting on makeup, while standing in line, while waiting to pick my son up from school, while he is watching TV, before bed... I could go on.

Reading is my escape, my pleasure, my sanity-saver.

A few months ago, Ruth Graham wrote an article for Slate called "Against YA," saying that adults should be embarrassed if what they are reading was meant for children.  I disagree.

Young adult, or even children's literature, can be just as interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking as "adult" literature.  I've never bought into the belief that "good" books have to be impenetrable to the casual reader.

I actually love to read all genres.  My library bag usually has a mix of mysteries, thrillers, contemporary fiction, chick lit, fantasy and classics.  About the only thing I don't love is horror.  I am too empathetic.  When I read, I tend to live the characters' lives, and horror scares me too much.

Are there bad YA books? Sure, just like there are bad adult books.  And what is bad and what is good is subjective.  I had this conversation with another mom just a couple of weeks ago.  She saw the book I was reading, and said her daughter had tried it, and just couldn't get into it.  I finished it, and liked it a lot.

So here is my list that I would recommend.  I don't have The Fault in Our Stars, or the Divergent or Hunger Games series on here; everyone knows about those.  But these might have slipped under the radar and are worth a look!

The Last Dragonslayer and The Song of the Quarkbeast - Jasper Fforde: I love this author.  He also has written some fantastic adult books.  He creates alternate realities you want to live in.  This series is about a young woman who is running a company who has magicians for rent, in a time when magic is drying up, and she may be the only hope to bring back Big Magic.  There are kings, dragons, quarkbeasts (aren't you curious about what they are???), and a lot of humor that adults will appreciate as much as children.

A Corner of White and The Cracks in the Kingdom - Jaclyn Moriarty: If you like Jasper Fforde, you will love these books, too.  Both Jaclyn and Jasper have a quirky sense of humor and create alternate realities that seem like they could be real.  This series is about a young girl in our world who finds a way to communicate with a boy in the world of Cello.  This kind of communication is forbidden in Cello, but why?  And can they send more than just a slip of paper, or can they find a way to solve the mystery that is occurring in both of their worlds?

Revolution - Deborah Wiles: This book about Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964.  Children (and even adults) who weren't alive during that time cannot fathom this world. [As an aside, I am not saying racism does not still exist.  But there aren't governors physically blocking students from entering a school, police using tear gas and fire hoses to subdue a peaceful protest and towns closing public pools so they don't have to integrate.]  This story is written from the viewpoint of children, and includes wonderful photos, quotes and song lyrics from the time.  It would be a great place to start the conversation about race and our country's history of treating others as less than human.

The Glass Sentence - S.E. Grove: I just finished this one a few weeks ago.  Again, this falls into the fantasy/alternative reality genre.  A young lady whose parents disappeared when she is young is being raised by her uncle, who is a cartographer extraordinaire in a world where different areas of the world are in different time periods.  Maps help people navigate from country to country, but also time period to time period, and when her uncle is kidnapped, she will stop at nothing to get him back and figure out the map he left her and why it is important.

The Mysterious Benedict Society Series - Trenton Lee Stewart: This one is really aimed at even younger audiences, probably the late elementary school crowd, and I cannot wait for my son to be old enough to enjoy them!  They are about some young children (all orphans of some sort) who are recruited to go on a secret mission only they can complete.  You cheer for the children, gasp at the villains, and like that the happy endings are a little different than you might expect!

Code Name Verity: Elizabeth Wein: This book is set during World War II, and tells the story of what some extraordinary women did to help the war effort, sacrificing so much to serve their country.  A great one to foster conversations about war, propaganda, and world history.

The Ring and the Crown - Melissa de la Cruz: This is a story about two young girls, one who is destined to become queen, and one who is to be her magician (which is how her family has kept their power over the Franco-British Empire).  Not only is the storytelling wonderful, and the characters real, but the ending isn't what you expect.  A book that surprises you is one worth reading.

The Finishing School Series - Gail Carriger: These are just fun reads.  You have young ladies living on a dirigible, learning how to be proper and make a good match... and also learning how to throw a knife, poisoning and the other finer arts of espionage.  Steampunk at its finest!

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes - Chris Crutcher:  We read this in my book club, and really started me reading young adult fiction again.  Eric and Sarah are friends, and outcasts in their high school, because Eric is fat and Sarah was badly burned as a child.  But as Eric starts swimming and shedding pounds, and Sarah tries to deal with her past, everything changes.  This book is another great conversation-starter that I am sure I will use when my son is older to talk about friendship, how to treat others with respect, and how important it is to stand up for what is right.


Now it is your turn.  Any books I should add to my list?