Brevity

Appetizer - Stuffed Mushrooms

Main Dish - Chicken Avocado Salad

Featured Book - Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse

Spoonful Rating - 5 spoons

Dessert - Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Beverage - Pomegranate & Cranberry Cocktail

I am reminded of a conversation I recently held with my 10-year-old daughter, Jordan, where she quotes her mother saying, "A book does not have to be long to be powerful." How true!

Sharing the experience of reading together with my daughter has given me two (2) wonderful lessons thus far --- 1) re-igniting the passion to read and read (especially together w/ a companion); and, 2) the shear joy of knowing we share a special bond that I pray will last forever --- the love of reading and sharing our experiences of a book, time, memory or just thoughts together. This is the case for the novel, "Out of the Dust."

Reading Out of the Dust reminds one to treasure the small, precious moments in life. Taking placing during the Great Depression, the era of poverty but hope, brings out the humane and decent desires in life --- food, shelter, family, love, and self-worth. When the reader is challenged to choose, the question arises, "what will yield more value, and can one deal with the unknown circumstances that surround the ultimate decision?"

"Often our lives are so crowded, we need to hold to what is essential and weed out what is not...historical fiction [gives] us a safe place in which we can grow, transform, transcend. It helps us understand that sometimes the questions are too hard, that sometimes there are no answers, that sometimes there is only forgiveness." --- Out of the Dust

If you are 14-years-old, the answer bears great sacrifice despite the limited life lessons experienced. But, the reader cannot help but grow attached to the character's desire to empower herself and bridge the gap between the generations that separate her world from the loneliness she becomes accustomed to living in the mid-west during the 1920s. If you are 14 going on 29, does it matter that love takes on the form in the least expected way, or you pull towards family strain you, causing you to make drastic changes.

"The way I see it, hard times aren't only about money, or drought, or dust. Hard times are about losing spirit, and hope, and what happens when dreams dry up." --- excerpt from Out of the Dust, 1997

Well, as my daughter cautioned me in our follow up discussion, "Mom, you give too much of the book away!", so I will learn this lesson and encourage you to share the tug-a-war of emotions from the eyes of a 14-year-old heroine, who has hope for breakfast and a destiny unfulfilled for lunch and dinner daily. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and plunge forward, and reading the Newberry Award Winning novel, "Out of the Dust" captivates the inner desire to want more even with less.

Bon Appetit!

Chicken Avocado Salad
4-6 oz. of chicken breast
1 head of red leaf lettuce
1 ripe vine tomato
1/2 red onion (sliced)
1/2 cucumber (diced)
1-2 oz. red/green grapes
3-4 sm. sweet peppers (orange/red/yellow)
1 bunch carrots (julienne)
1 hard boiled egg (sliced)
1 -2 avocado(s)
feta cheese
handful of cranberries

Prepare salad as listed. Combine ingredients in order and top with your favorite honey mustard vinaigrette dressing. Serve chilled.