lsmoore

Grandpa’s cranberry salad has been on holiday menus in my family for decades. It’s fresh, fruity, simple to throw together and delicious. It only takes a bit of planning. Make it on Wednesday and refridgerate it overnight to set the Jello. It’ll look gorgeous on your table! Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours! Laura

Grandpa’s Cranberry Salad

Plan to refrigerate overnight before serving

1 3oz package of cherry Jell-O
1 cup boiling water
1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs lemon juice
½ cup chopped pecans
1 cup raw cranberries
1 whole orange with peeling
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained well
1 cup celery
1 apple, cored

Coarsely chop and then pulse cranberries, orange, celery, and apple in food processor, (or finely chop by hand). Put mixture in a mixing bowl, add sugar and lemon juice, stir and let stand for 15 minutes. Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Add Jell-O and all remaining ingredients to the chopped mixture and stir well. Put the salad in your favorite serving dish. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serves 6-8.

I weep at the scarcity of Young Adult novels written from male characters’ points of view!

If you aren’t a teenaged boy, the parent of one, or maybe a savvy librarian, you probably haven’t noticed how underrepresented boys are in the teen section. Next time you peruse library or bookstore shelves, pay attention!

Don’t think teen boys read? Poppycock! My sons are avid readers. They had plenty of picture books and middle grade novels to choose from, but they burned through the YA section and had to move on to adult fiction long before I was comfortable with them doing so.

And I’m aware that YA is the ONLY category where women and girls dominate the shelves. But do we have to give girls the attention they deserve by underserving boys?

Don’t get me wrong, most boys enjoy a good adventure told from a smart, strong female point of view, but a guy likes to see himself as the star occasionally too. Right guys?

And a lot of teen girls enjoy a boy’s perspective now and then. Right girls?

But try finding a boy on the cover in the Young Adult section at the library or your local bookstore. Pink hearts, warrior princesses, and frilly fonts prevail.

Thank goodness there’s no sell-by date on a good book! There are plenty of great novels with boy protagonists if you go back through the decades.

So my mission, and yours if you choose to accept it, is to scour YA collections, old and new, and find every book out there with a male, teen protagonist so we can compile a handy list.