Photo Friday: Macro

I love taking macro shots. There is something about delving into the minute details of flowers and other objects that appeals to my very geeky nature. So one would think that last weeks Photo Friday Challenge would be right up my ally, and that I would have no troubles what so ever finding a shot that would fill the requirements. Alas, after countless hours of up close and personal photography, after many more hours of looking through old photographs to see which one I liked best, I finally settled on the first macro shot that I took with our new [now one year old] toy.

Choices.

Given the choice between training people who try hard, but who take a long, really long, did I say really long, time to grasp concepts, and sitting in front of a computer for two hours, twiddling thumbs waiting for a drawing to load up; I’ll take the students, any day, anytime, no matter how many times I have to explain how they can use the middle mouse button (no! not the left button, the middle one. M.I.D.D.L.E. one!!!) to spin the model.

[Sheesh. Can we say run on sentence. Must really learn to break thoughts up into snack-sized bites.]

Addlebrained

Not only did I manage to set off the alarm this morning as I entered the office, but in the process of trying to shut the bloody thing off, I managed to lock myself out of the office. All I can say is thank the gods for people who are early, who have cell phones so one may call the alarm company to tell them that truly it’s only a false alarm; “No, we really don’t need the police, honestly sir. No. This is not a robbery. Would I bother to call you if it was? Erm. Yes sir. Yes, I’m sure I belong here. Yes, that’s right, I’m the one you spoke to last week, when this happened, umm…” and who have keys to let you back into the office where all your worldly possession of note, your keys and identification are sitting, happily, on the desk where you left as you made a mad dash for the door. Mostly, thanks to those people, who after having witnessed you complete and utter stupidity, do not rub in the fact that you are quite addlebrained.

MT Alternatives

Just thought I'd post this link: link.

Shrek 2

Well, not to include any spoilers I will just state in short my feelings.

I felt it was too fast, with little plot aside from a `meet the parents' which did little to act as the basis for an interesting story in the same way that the first movie's `rescue the princess' did. The depth just wasn't there, the character development that we had with Farquaad in the first movie wasn't there with any of the characters in Shrek 2 with the possible exception of Puss. Even in Puss' case it wasn't character development that we experienced but rather just character.

In short, the plot was unfulfilling. The characters 2-dimensional and all in all unsatisfying.

my white legs...

..or why we should move to a warmer country.

*Click for supersize. Though please be warned, sunshades may be required

We spent a good part of the afternoon outside yesterday. The sun, despite the weather man's prediction of rain, and more rain, decided to grace us with its glorious presence and who are we, being but mere mortals, to argue with the sun. So out we went to relax and enjoy the soft caresses of the warm spring rays.

And, before you ask: Yes, the picture is real, yes it's unaltered, and yes my skin is that white. One may almost say, I glow in the dark…

Why?!?

Why is it that when you finally get a nice long weekend, after months and months of waiting for those happy summery weekends, that the weather suddenly decides that after a week of glorious sunshine, rain should be in the forecast? Why?!? [petulant pout]

MT Usage

The lovely people at Six Apart have asked movable type users to expound on how they use MT. So with out further ado…

We currently run the following blogs using Movable type:

1. Our main site: Hugin and Munin and our Photoblog: We also have a Blog that is used for archival purposes, in such it does not count towards the active blog clause, and a private unpublished blog that is used that we use for our own thoughts. Each of these has Hugin and myself listed as the authors.

2.We are currently also hosting 4 other blogs, with a total of 5 authors, for friends and family. Two of these are low traffic blogs, which appear on the public domain, and are open to all. The other two are private blogs for friends who are abroad, and are used as a way to keep in touch with their family and friends. These is a password protect, and do not appear on the public domain.

3. Occasionally I will set up a test blog, which I use to test out various schemes and plugins before implementing those changes into existing blogs.

4. Finally we are hoping to add a group blog with about 6-8 users for a bunch of friends in the near future.

Adding all of the above brings us up to a grand total of 8 blogs and 7 authors (9 blogs if you count the test blogs and a hell of a lot more authors if you count the number of times I add myself to a blog for config. purposes] with a possibility of 9 blogs and 15 users in the near future. All the sites listed above are personal sites and all are non-commercial, non-profit sites that do not make any money.

Looking at the current licensing scheme, this would mean that we would have to shell out $119.00 ($164.00 Canadian) minus the donation we have made in the past right now or $149.95 with a possibility of paying $169.95 ($232.98 Canadian) in the future if we set up the group blog.

I love using movable type, and would be happy to pay for MT. But I find the current prices to be a little steep and, to put it frankly; I will not be able to afford them if we ever make the switch from 2.661 to 3.0.

[If asked what we would be willing to pay, we would be more then happy to shell out 50 to 60 USD, for unfettered use of movable type, or a licensing scheme that wasn't so restrictive or costly.[Something along the lines of 5$ for a blog and author]]

Irony...*

Life's full of little ironies... subtle and inconspicuous they pounce when least expected. Some days, they lightly nudge you as you walk down the sidewalk, a featherweight touch upon your shoulder; other days they slam into you, a Mac truck throttling full speed ahead, headlights blaring, tires screeching as they knock you onto your back.

just call me phlemy.

I have been babbling on, at top speed, for the past three days. Explaining concepts, software utility and methods of use to a group of eager students. My throat is raw, my voice is nasally, and I have the most uncomfortable stuffed sinus feeling that sits at the back of my throat and makes talking a chore. Is it just me or does everyone get the phlegmy, stuffed, nasally, frog stuck in the back of their throat feeling when they jabber consistently for days at a time?

Goddess

Da Goddess is celebrating her Birthday today. Wishing you an absolutely fabulous Birthday Sweetheart! Hoping that the day is filled with lots of love, laughter and delectable giggly moments. Wishing you many, many happy returns dear, and all the most wonderful things for the upcoming year.

Big squishes, hugs and kisses!
Lots o' love
us.

Now get over there y'all and give her lots of yummy birthday loving.

tea for two.

Some people have the strangest priorities: "I'd rather have a cup of tea than go to bed with someone - any day " - Boy George.

So how do you make the perfect cuppa?

Fields of Gold

It's definitely spring, when you pass fields of golden dandelions that cover the green grass in a warm glow.

Quite beautiful. Sure it's a bunch of weeds in the grass. But that's not how I see it.

Spring rising above us and beneath us in golden splendor.

piXar

Want to see this movie. I wanna see it. Wanna. Wanna. Wanna! Now please.

summer afternoon

Sun's finally out, the weather’s warm and smacks of summer. Fighting the urge to take the rest of the day off, to sit near a fountain, face upturned, quietly enjoying the sun soft rays as they dance of the water and caress my skin. [Contented sigh] Think I am going to succumb to the urge, too beautiful a day to be cooped up inside… In two more hours, if you need me, I’ll be the one near the fountain.

Photo Friday: Play

There is something very special about a father's relationship with their son. A connection unspoken, that mere words cannot describe and a picture can barely capture.

GiddyUp!

Perils of an unblocked bathtub.

The concierge, who is our bathtub plunging knight in shining armour; sorry love, you’re good, but he…my god, he managed to unclog our drain in forty-five minutes! A drain, I must add, that was clogged for a month. A month! Yes that would be 31 days and if you really want to be a stickler 31 days and some odd hours. A drain that stayed clogged no matter how much Draino we poured down its unwilling pipes. A drain that stayed blocked no matter how much you or I spent in attendance, on hands and knees, bent over groaning as we diligently pumped and pushed a rather frazzled plunger. But, last night, after only forty-five minutes, our bunged up duct was freed allowing the water to slosh in its carefree way down a drain that had for a month titillated it with evil impish glee.

This morning however, after having gotten used to water that rose with every drip of the showerhead, I waited for the water to rise to my ankles. My sign that it is time to vacant the porcelain white enclosure and face the rest of the world. Ten minutes past, that water stayed low. Fifteen minutes my toes are still in the air. Twenty minutes when I realized that that the drain, finally clear, was sucking down with great gusto my signal to leave. Late and late to work, the only explanation I could give was that my water signal had gone all decoct and that I had dallied a little too long getting ready in the morning.

The moral, my friends, is to never depend on a system that might one day be set free.

doughnut history.

It dawned on me yesterday, after a decade and a half, yes that’s 10 and 5 years, of munching on Tim Horton’s doughnuts and guzzling their coffee, that the hockey legend and the founder are the same. You’d think that I would have figured this out eons ago, being Canadian and all that jazz. But no. Blissfully unaware and unconcerned I would munch on my doughnuts, never curious as to why the name was so familiar. [Hangs head in shame] Well now I know, so if you’ll excuse me there’s an old fashioned plain calling my name.

toys!

I have this strong inexplicable desire to spend money on toys. My inner child is in full tantrum mode, beating its little fits upon the floor of illogical desire, and screaming impetuously for toys! Toys damn it. It wants toys, and it wants them now!

It’s odd, but the need for toys always seems to come when I have the least amount of cash available for frivolous expenditure. It is almost as if my psyche can’t cope with the notion that there is no money in the bank for toys, and thus, petulantly it pouts and demands the very thing it can’t get. So toys it wants, and toys I have been looking at. First through a link provided by the delectable delicious Da Goddess, and then because, well I am a geek at heart who loves her cubicle goodies, I ventured over to Thinkgeek.com, and salivated sulkily at the yummy toys in their repertoire.

So if anyone is feeling generous... cough there are 79 days left till my birthday cough ...these little gems will do me quite fine: a b c d e

Always wondered

I've always wondered when I type in asdf@asdf.com where those emails go. When I fill out applications for real player, or zone alarm or other, shall we say overly inquisitive software... I always use asdf@asdf.com. Well sometimes I use eiffel@tower.com or things like that just to keep it interesting, but now I know the truth.

Be set free.

Mothers.

I grew up with a mother who bunked convention at every turn. She never adhered to the traditional role of what a mother should be. The old age view that a mother should only be the caretaker of the family, the person who raises the children, a docile wife and the iron fisted ruler of the kitchen [not quite traditional that last one, but I couldn’t resist]. A mother, she would say, has more potential in the world then this. Instead, my mother was[and is to this day] an adventurer, a career woman, a world traveler, a photographer and architect, an artist, a friend and confident, a soother of ills, a protector, a nightmare banisher, the person who would comfort me when my world was falling apart, a single mother, a wife and iron fisted ruler of the kitchen ;o) She gave me a view of the world that is bigger then the walls of our home, and taught me that there is nothing that I could not accomplish.

Wishing our mothers and all the mothers out there a wonderful day. Thank you for all that you have given us. Thank you for the love. The laughter and the joy you have brought into our lives.

adventures in income tax.

Canadian Income taxes were due last week. April the 30th to be exact, and for the past week and a half, I have tried without success to mail in the required income tax returns. Everyday, upon leaving the house, a little thought bubble appears, hovering right above my left hemisphere, whispering urgently in my ear. ‘Mail in your tax returns, woman! Remember you must mail ‘em in!’ Everyday, I nod and say, ‘Yes. Must get that done today. Must remember to mail them in.’ And everyday, without fail, I forget my little promise to the thought bubble as soon as my foot touches the pavement outside our flat. In a puff it is gone and I go about my day oblivious to the promise I made to get the task done. Today seems to be no exception.

Ventured outside for an early morning stroll. The little thought bubble whispering imperatively in my ear, excited by the prospect of meeting the shiny red mailbox that inhabits the corner of a street a few blocks down. Nodding to it, I gathered my stuff and headed off in the direction of the mailbox. Five minutes later, the thought bubble and I, high on the euphoria of finally remembering to find a mailbox, approached it with glee. Yanking its lid open, I riffled through my bag to find that the returns were not there. Frantic I searched, only to remember that I had not placed them in my bag, but had left them on the front entry hall table. Having failed in our quest to finally mail those dagnabitbastardly income tax returns, the thought bubble and I, slunk home feeling quite dejected.

Hopefully we’ll have better luck next time.

Photo Friday: Natural

Last week's Photo Friday challenge, was the word “natural”. For the past week I have spent hours perusing old photos and wrecking little particles of brain matter to find an appropriate subject that is representative of the word natural. Alas, the French in me keeps going back to the phrase “au naturel”. So without further ado, here is our submission for last weeks challenge.

Au Naturel

cold weather and the leaky eye syndrom

Whenever the weather is cold and the winds kicks up, whipping frigid gusts of artic humidity into my face, without fail my eyes begin to leak. And by leak I do not mean a few dainty drops of moisture that cling alluringly to my eyelashes. No. When I say leak, I mean great big gobs of water seeping through squinted lids, dripping past lashes, running down the edge of my nose, tickling my cheeks as they rush towards my chin, where they finally plunge to the ground, splattering little children who carelessly skip by. Strangers in the street stop and stare. While other brave souls will venture close to offer some comfort, only to be told, ‘It’s the cold wind, kind sir/madame. It’s the cold wind.’

un cheveu sur la langue

Giving training in French this week. And though I am somewhat proficient in French, I always find that when I try and translate concepts from one language to the next I automatically lose the ability to convey what I mean in either language. My brain becomes tongue-tied, and my tongue trips all over itself. Gah!

Vices

It has been my experience that those with no vices have very few virtues. - Abraham Lincoln.

I am a woman of few vices. I don't smoke, rarely binge, but what I lack in quantity I hope I make up for in quality:

Dark chocolate fondues. Spicy toddies on a cold winter's day. Hot chocolate laced with baileys. Black leather boots, pulled up to the knee. Strappy leather sandals. Books, magazine and doodles on paper. Late night movies and sappy romance stories. Bubble baths. Long hot showers. Water sluicing down bodies, caught up in humid steamy moments.

Sex. Or for the romantics out there, making love. Almost made the list. But, frankly I don’t see it as being a vice, sinful as some may consider that to be.

And you, what are your vices?

more books.

Fuzziness of spirit, the weariness of mind, leaves the tongue bewitched. Silent. Slumbering in the dark cave known as the mouth. The fingers left to their own devices, dance along the keyboards, searching. Vacant eyes staring, flash occasionally with mild amusement. The quest for actual content continues… Until found, books.

Top 100 Sci-Fi Books
Rank Author/Editor Title Year
1 Herbert, Frank Dune 1965
2 Card, Orson Scott Ender's Game [S1] 1985
3 Asimov, Isaac Foundation [S1-3] 1951
4 Adams, Douglas The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy [S1] 1979
5 Orwell, George Nineteen Eighty-Four 1949
6 Heinlein, Robert A The Moon is a Harsh Mistress 1966
7 Simmons, Dan Hyperion 1989
8 Heinlein, Robert A Stranger in a Strange Land 1961
9 Gibson, William Neuromancer 1984
10 Le Guin, Ursula K The Left Hand of Darkness 1969
11 Card, Orson Scott Speaker for the Dead [S2] 1986
12 Niven, Larry Ringworld 1970
13 Asimov, Isaac [C] I, Robot 1950
14 Zelazny, Roger Lord of Light 1967
15 Brin, David Startide Rising [S2] 1983
16 Miller, Walter M A Canticle for Leibowitz 1959
17 Clarke, Arthur C Rendezvous With Rama 1973
18 Haldeman, Joe The Forever War 1974
19 Bradbury, Ray [C] The Martian Chronicles 1950
20 Clarke, Arthur C Childhood's End 1954
21 Niven & Pournelle The Mote in God's Eye 1975
22 Pohl, Frederik Gateway 1977
23 Heinlein, Robert A Starship Troopers 1959
24 Stephenson, Neal Snow Crash 1992
25 Le Guin, Ursula K The Dispossessed 1974
26 Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451 1954
27 Bester, Alfred The Stars My Destination 1956
28 Clarke, Arthur C 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
29 Vinge, Vernor A Fire Upon the Deep 1991
30 Bester, Alfred The Demolished Man 1953
31 Brunner, John Stand on Zanzibar 1969
32 Brin, David The Uplift War [S3] 1987
33 Wolfe, Gene The Shadow of the Torturer [S1] 1980
34 Keyes, Daniel Flowers for Algernon 1966
35 Sturgeon, Theodore More Than Human 1953
36 Wells, H G The Time Machine 1895
37 Huxley, Aldous Brave New World 1932
38 Simak, Clifford Way Station 1963
39 Asimov, Isaac The Caves of Steel 1954
40 Dick, Philip K Ubik 1969
41 Dick, Philip K Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1968
42 Robinson, Kim Stanley Red Mars 1992
43 Dick, Philip K The Man in the High Castle 1962
44 Wells, H G The War of the Worlds 1898
45 Asimov, Isaac The Gods Themselves 1972
46 Cherryh, C J Downbelow Station 1981
47 Banks, Iain M Player Of Games 1988
48 Stephenson, Neal The Diamond Age 1995
49 Niven & Pournelle Lucifer's Hammer 1977
50 Bujold, Lois McMaster Barrayar 1991
51 Simak, Clifford [C] City 1952
52 Farmer, Philip Jose To Your Scattered Bodies Go 1971
53 Willis, Connie Doomsday Book 1992
54 Heinlein, Robert A Time Enough For Love 1973
55 Forward, Robert L Dragon's Egg 1980
56 Wyndham, John The Day of the Triffids 1951
57 Dick, Philip K The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch 1964
58 Heinlein, Robert A Have Space-Suit - Will Travel 1958
59 Burroughs, Edgar Rice A Princess of Mars [S1] 1912
60 Clarke, Arthur C The City and the Stars 1956
61 Clarke, Arthur C The Fountains of Paradise 1979
62 Anderson, Poul Tau Zero 1970
63 Silverberg, Robert Dying Inside 1972
64 Powers, Tim The Anubis Gates 1983
65 Smith, E E 'Doc' Grey Lensman [S4] 1951
66 Vonnegut, Kurt Slaughterhouse Five 1969
67 Heinlein, Robert A The Puppet Masters 1951
68 Heinlein, Robert A Citizen Of the Galaxy 1957
69 Verne, Jules 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 1870
70 Lem, Stanislaw Solaris 1961
71 Bear, Greg Blood Music 1985
72 Harrison, Harry The Stainless Steel Rat [S1] 1961
73 Varley, John Titan 1979
74 Heinlein, Robert A The Door Into Summer 1956
75 Cherryh, C J Cyteen: The Betrayal [S1] 1988
76 Pohl & Kornbluth The Space Merchants 1953
77 Asimov, Isaac The End Of Eternity 1955
78 Benford, Gregory Timescape 1980
79 Cherryh, C J Cuckoo's Egg 1985
80 Wyndham, John The Chrysalids 1955
81 Burgess, Anthony A Clockwork Orange 1962
82 Verne, Jules Journey to the Center of the Earth 1864
83 Delany, Samuel R Dhalgren 1975
84 Schmitz, James H The Witches Of Karres 1966
85 Blish, James [C] Earthman, Come Home 1955
86 Vonnegut, Kurt Cat's Cradle 1963
87 Bear, Greg Eon 1985
88 Ellison, Harlan [ed] [A] Dangerous Visions 1967
89 Ellison, Harlan [C] Deathbird Stories 1975
90 Gibson, William [C] Burning Chrome 1986
91 Brunner, John The Sheep Look Up 1972
92 Banks, Iain M Use of Weapons 1990
93 Dickson, Gordon Dorsai (vt The Genetic General) 1960
94 Wells, H G The Invisible Man 1897
95 Niven, Larry [C] Neutron Star 1968
96 Blish, James A Case of Conscience 1958
97 Strugatsky, Arkady & Boris Roadside Picnic 1972
98 Shelley, Mary Frankenstein 1818
99 Delany, Samuel R Babel-17 1966
100 van Vogt, A E The World of Null-A 1948

books and more books.

Plucked from the web of Steve.
Copy this list, highlight the texts you've read, and pat yourself on the back.

Author - Title
-- Beowulf
Achebe, Chinua - Things Fall Apart
Agee, James - A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice I have read Sense and Sensibility, but alas not Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin, James - Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel - Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul - The Adventures of Augie March
Bronte, Charlotte - Jane Eyre Skimmed through the book, will have to sit down one day and actually read it.
Bronte, Emily - Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert - The Stranger
Cather, Willa - Death Comes for the Archbishop
Chaucer, Geoffrey - The Canterbury Tales
Chekhov, Anton - The Cherry Orchard
Chopin, Kate - The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore - The Last of the Mohicans
Crane, Stephen - The Red Badge of Courage
Dante - Inferno
de Cervantes, Miguel - Don Quixote Started and stopped.
Defoe, Daniel - Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles - A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore - An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre - The Three Musketeers
Eliot, George - The Mill on the Floss
Ellison, Ralph - Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo - Selected Essays
Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William - The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry - Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave - Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox - The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von - Faust
Golding, William - Lord of the Flies
Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Scarlet Letter
Heller, Joseph - Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest - A Farewell to Arms
Homer - The Iliad
Homer - The Odyssey
Hugo, Victor - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale - Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik - A Doll's House
James, Henry - The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry - The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz - The Metamorphosis
Kingston, Maxine Hong - The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper - To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair - Babbitt
London, Jack - The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas - The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia - One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman - Bartleby the Scrivener
Melville, Herman - Moby Dick
Miller, Arthur - The Crucible
Morrison, Toni - Beloved
O'Connor, Flannery - A Good Man is Hard to Find
O'Neill, Eugene - Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George - Animal Farm
Pasternak, Boris - Doctor Zhivago
Plath, Sylvia - The Bell Jar
Poe, Edgar Allan - Selected Tales
Proust, Marcel - Swann's Way
Pynchon, Thomas - The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria - All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond - Cyrano de Bergerac
Roth, Henry - Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D. - The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare, William - Hamlet
Shakespeare, William - Macbeth
Shakespeare, William - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare, William - Romeo and Juliet
Shaw, George Bernard - Pygmalion
Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie Marmon - Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles - Antigone
Sophocles - Oedipus Rex
Steinbeck, John - The Grapes of Wrath
Stevenson, Robert Louis - Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher - Uncle Tom's Cabin
Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels
Thackeray, William - Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David - Walden
Tolstoy, Leo - War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan - Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Voltaire – Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. - Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice - The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith - The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora - Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt - Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Williams, Tennessee - The Glass Menagerie. Started reading, and then somehow it got misplaced. Will have to finish it one day.
Woolf, Virginia - To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard - Native Son

Granted the list is somewhat arbitrary, and probably does not contain all the books that some would consider to be absolute must-reads. However, if I had to choose a list of books to read as many books as possible from I think I’d choose the following list.

1. Harry Potter (series) by J. K. Rowling
2. Goosebumps (series) by R. L. Stine
3. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
4. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
5. Arthur (series) by Marc Brown
6. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
7. Shiloh (trilogy) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
8. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
9. Holes by Louis Sachar
10. The Giver by Lois Lowry
11. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
12. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (series) by Judy Blume
13. Sideways Stories from Wayside School (series) by Louis Sachar
14. The BFG by Roald Dahl
15. The Boxcar Children (series) by Gertrude Chandler Warner
16. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
17. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (series) by Beverly Cleary
18. Pokemon (series) by Tracey West, Maria S. Barbo
19. The Babysitters Club (series) by Ann M. Martin
20. Ralph S. Mouse (series) by Beverly Cleary
21. Little House on the Prairie (series) by Laura Ingalls Wilder
22. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
23. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
24. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
25. Clifford the Big Red Dog (series) by Norman Bridwell
26. Stuart Little by E. B. White
27. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
28. The Adventures of Captain Underpants (series) by Dav Pilkey
29. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
30. The Berenstain Bears (series) by Jan and Stan Berenstain
*31. Animorphs (series) by K. A. Applegate
32. The Witches by Roald Dahl
33. Nancy Drew Mystery Stories by Carolyn Keene
34. The Hobbit (series) by J. R. R. Tolkien
35. American Girls (series) by Susan Adler, Valerie Tripp, Connie Porter, Janet Shaw, et al
36. Matilda by Roald Dahl
37. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
38. The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
39. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
40. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
41. Junie B. Jones (series) by Barbara Park
42. Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
43. Falling Up by Shel Silverstein
44. A Wrinkle in Time (series) by Madeleine L'Engle
45. Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen
46. Amber Brown (series) by Paula Danziger
47. The North Star by Peter H. Reynolds
48. Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks by Mick Foley (Mankind)
49. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
50. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Chicken Soup for the Soul (series) by various authors
53. Curious George (series) by Margret and Hans Augusto Rey
54. The Teacher from the Black Lagoon (series) by Mike Thaler
55. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
56. The Bailey School Kids (series) by Debbie Dadey, et al
57. The Hardy Boys (series) by Franklin W. Dixon
58. The Mitten by Jan Brett
59. Amelia Bedelia (series) by Peggy Parish
60. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
61. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
62. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
63. Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
64. The River by Gary Paulsen
65. Magic Tree House (series) by Mary Pope Osborne
66. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by John Scieszka
67. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
68. Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
69. The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
70. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
71. Redwall by Brian Jacques
72. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
73. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
74. Wringer by Jerry Spinelli
75. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
76. Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
77. Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
*78. Sweet Valley High (series) by Francine Pascal
*79. The Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley (series) by Judy Katschke, Cathy Dobowski, Lisa Eisenberg, Nancy E. Krulik, Nina Alexander, Frances Lin Lantz, et al
80. Garfield (series) by Jim Davis
81. Magic School Bus (series) by Joanna Cole
82. Math Curse by John Scieszka
83. White Fang by Jack London
84. I Spy (series) by Walter Wick, Jean Marzollo, Diana Noonan, et al
85. Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
86. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
87. The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
88. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
89. Draw 50 Airplanes, Aircraft and Spacecraft (series) by Lee J. Ames
90. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
91. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
92. The Rock Says by Dwayne Johnson (The Rock)
93. Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
94. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
95. All About Sam by Lois Lowry
96. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
97. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
98. Hank the Cow Dog (series) by John R. Erickson
99. Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini
100. Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

Note: This list was tabulated from an online survey that ran at this web site from November 1, 1999 through February 1, 2000. The results leave no doubt that America's kids LOVE to read. You might want to compare this with Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children.

*These books. No these books you'll never catch me reading.