Hello Book Bums families!
Did you ever notice that the sept root in September means seven even though September is our ninth month? In the Ancient Roman calendar there were only ten months, and September was seventh as its name indicates. When new calendars came into use they added January and February, so September got bumped to ninth without changing its name. If you check the roots, you'll notice the same thing happened to the rest of the fall months (oct=eight, novem=nine, and deca=ten).
This week in the newsletter we think about some more word roots along with book recommendations and Dr. Christy shares her experience taking some long, local walks.
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Word of the Week
intrigue (in-treeg) verb/action word -to arouse curiosity or interest
I was intrigued by the unusual setting of the book and looked up videos and articles about it after reading.
OR noun/person, place or thing - a mysterious quality or secret planning
The spy novels my father-in-law enjoys are full of intrigue.
* When intrigue is a verb the stress is on the second syllable, and when it's used as a noun the stress is on the first syllable.
Literary Calendar
• September is Read a New Book Month!
• If you have school age kiddos who will be reading new novels and non-fiction at school, consider getting your own copy and reading along.
• Looking for even more titles? Try a book recommendation podcast like The Perks of Being a Booklover. Two Louisville book friends share good conversation and book ideas.
From our Bookshelves
The Well-Lived Life; A 103-Year-Old Doctor’s Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age
This one was an impulse buy; the cover called to me from the bookshelf—and it was truly a delightful read. The author, Dr. Gladys McGarey, was born in India to two medical professionals serving as missionaries from the Reformed Presbyterian Church. After completing medical school herself, Dr. Gladys, interned at the Deaconess Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was the lone female among male interns, but she followed her father’s advice to never give up. She married in Cincinnati, had six children, and served her community with a focus on enhancing life rather than simply killing diseases. Doctor McGarey integrated holistic practices with traditional practices—and sometimes that involved hugs.
All did not go well in this beautiful woman’s life, and you might have some differences of opinion, but you’ll certainly be delighted and inspired to live your life well as you read her story.
I don’t recall reading this in the book, but while researching I learned that Dr. McGarey, her husband William, Evarts Loomis, Gerald Looney, and C. Norm Shealy co-founded the American Holistic Medical Association in 1978; and McGarey served as its vice president and president. The group decided to spell holistic with an "h" rather than a "w" because the Anglo-Saxon world "hal" was the root word for "holy," "health" and "healing".
I like that, don’t you?
Wordology Workshop
In the reviews for Dr. Gladys McGarey’s book, some refer to her as a centenarian. The Latin root cent comes from the Latin centum meaning hundred. A US penny is valued at one cent, which is one hundredth of a dollar.
When teaching younger students about percentages, it’s helpful to point out that 50% is the same as saying 50 out of 100. Note that the two “o’s” in % could stand for “out of” and the / (or – ) looks like a tilted 1 (for 100).
Words like centimeter, centipede, centigrade, centennial, centurion and century all hold to the root meaning hundred. But what about words like center, central, egocentric, centrifugal, and concentrate? Do those words have anything to do with one hundred?
It turns out that there’s another Latin root centr that means center. This can be really tricky for kids so it’s worth noting together.
Did you realize that the number of Americans who live to become centenarians jumped from 2,300 in 1950 to well over 53,000 in the 2010 census, and there were 89,739 centenarians living in the United States in 2021?
Can you believe that the oldest living person in the US, Edith Ceccarelli, recently died at the age of 116?!* (FYI-The oldest age ever attained is 122.)
*The interrobang is a question mark paired with an exclamation point and it expresses incredulity and disbelief.
Tips for Families
Long ago, my husband and I listened to the book Twelve Hour Walk; Invest One Day, Conquer Your Mind, and Unlock Your Best Life by Colin O’Brady. The book talks about taking a transformative one-day journey to unlock life’s possibilities. O’Brady invites readers to take one day to 1) walk at his or her own pace, 2) in silence, 3) for twelve hours (rest stops are encouraged).
Though we were intrigued by the challenge, the logistics made a feat like this one feel nearly impossible for folks like us living in the greater Cincinnati area. We weren’t even sure we had trails that could take 12 hours—that is, unless we walked around in circles all day.
We still have not completed O’Brady’s challenge, but we’ve begun doing a lot of walking. We’re doing it together, and we’re not silent, but we are feeling great about our new hobby. Maybe we’ll try the silent part, but not yet.
Here’s where we’ve walked:
Cherokee Park - This is a lovely trail that we entered off Lesourdsville-West Chester Road near Cherokee Elementary School with creeks to be explored. (We walked about 3 miles.)
Great Miami River Trail - Rentschler Forest to Joyce Park, this was our first long walk that involved taking two vehicles: one to the end point and one back to the starting point. It was very interesting, starting and ending at lovely parks and lots of cool sights in between (We walked about 8 miles.)
Miami Erie Canal -We began at the Bilstein Boulevard entrance in Hamilton and turned around at the Star Lounge and Bar on 747. There are cool points of interest, and we saw cormorants and egrets. (We walked about 7.5 miles.)
Roberts Park -We enter off Butler Warren Road and walk through the park and neighborhoods. (We usually walk about 3 miles.)
Chrisholm -This is an unpaved trail in Trenton, along the Miami River, just down the street from the beautiful Chrisholm homestead with restored home, play area, gardens, and the first “green” outhouse built in Ohio. (We walked about 2 miles.)
Do you have some long walking trails you’d recommend? Please reply to this email and let us know!
Tips for Readers and Writers
I’ve shared that Ohio is finally requiring districts to move toward science-proven curricula, and while I’m optimistic about the improvements, I’m wary of folks who are just learning about the science and are sharing dos and don’ts without a deep understanding of which practices are beneficial and which are not.
I read the following list from a back-to-school article a friend shared with me, and I was disappointed with what I saw. Let’s see if you can determine which of the following recommended activities is an absolute no-no.
The center recommends the following activities to help with your child's early literacy development:
1. Read together, taking turns with your child reading parts of a book. Ask your child, in open-ended questions, what they think about the story and how they might connect to it.
2. Sing nursery rhymes.
3. Play audiobooks or read aloud. This increases the amount of language your child is exposed to.
4. Label objects in your home.
5. Talk about everyday experiences and tell stories to help your child build background knowledge on various topics.
Do you know which is the no-no?
It’s number four. Do not label items in your home. This practice encourages kids to remember whole words. If no one is explicitly teaching the letter-sound correspondences, kids can begin to see words as pictures to be “remembered” rather than words to be decoded; making the sounds represented by those letters and recognizing the words when sliding those sounds together.
The words “Science of Reading” don’t ensure evidence-based practices. We’re on the right road. If only we could hear an audible prompt and experience “rerouting” when we begin moving off course.
News from Book Bums
Great news! Another Ohio school district is purchasing our Foundations for Literacy curriculum to use with their students! Word is spreading about the fast and fun phonics lessons we share with our students at Book Bums and with the underserved Lakota students who participate in The Faith Alliance Summer Literacy and After-school programs.
Practical Grammar
Dived and dove are both correct past tense forms of the word dive. Dove is more common in North America, while dived is more prevalent among British English speakers.
He dived into the icy cold water.
He dove into the icy cold water.
Just for Fun
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