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 "What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable?" - John Green -

Canadian Summer

Title: Canadian Summer

Author: Hilda van Stockum

Rating: ★★★★★

Age Category: Middle Grade

    Back Cover Synopsis: 

    The three children certainly presented a sorry sight. Patsy dripped water all over the floor. A water lily had got entangled in her hair and hung rakishly down one side of her face. Green weeds entwined themselves around her muddy legs, and her face, already disfigured by mud and tears, looked so woebegone that Grannie had difficulty restraining a laugh. The other two were neither cleaner nor prettier, though slightly drier and more cheerful. 

    "Look at that," cried Mother, trembling with anger. "We are in this house exactly one hour, just one hour, mind you, and already Catherine has almost broken her neck, Angela was bitten, and the three oldest nearly drowned. And look at their clothes! How am I to get them clean when there is no bath and the water has to come by teacupfuls out of a well? How am I to keep an eye on the little ones when they disappear completely in long grass the minute they set foot out of the house? How am I to feed them when no one can get near here with a car? What am I to do if they should get sick without even a neighbor to call for help? I don't mind discomfort, I don't mind hard work, but we'll never get out of this place alive. So I've decided I'm going to pack up and go back to Washington this minute."

    

    After such a dramatic beginning, what more could possibly happen? Plenty! The six Mitchell children, ever aided and abetted by Grannie, are once again more than ready to take on life as it comes and are happily rewarded with a truly unforgettable Canadian summer.

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“You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.” — Rick Warren —

Batter my heart, three-person'd God by John Donne

Batter my heart, three-person'd God

by John Donne

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you

As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;

That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend

Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

I, like an usurp'd town to another due,

Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;

Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,

But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.

Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,

But am betroth'd unto your enemy;

Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,

Take me to you, imprison me, for I,

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

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“If you wait for inspiration to write you’re not a writer, you’re a waiter.” — Dan Poynter —

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“Ideas are cheap. It’s the execution that is all important.” — George R.R. Martin —

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“Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.” - Robert T. Kiyosaki -