It’s been a surreal week here at Teenreads.com. The heavy storms in the Northeast flooded towns near mine on Sunday and Monday, and the steady wind and rains were horrific. But all that seemed trivial when we got word of the shooting at Virginia Tech on Monday. We, like all of you, were thrown into a state of shock and disbelief. My son is a junior in high school, and we have spent a lot of time these past few months looking at colleges. This week I found myself thinking about those colleges in a whole new way. Instead of which would be the best academic match, I focused on which would be the safest. Very sad times...

Given the cool weather of April, I think I have an exciting scientific discovery to share. If it's unseasonably warm in January, it will be unseasonably cold in April. I think there are a set number of hot and cold days in the year and they just get distributed in different ways each year. Seriously. It's the same theory I have about gaining and losing weight. I think there are a set number of pounds in this world and when someone gains or loses, someone else does the opposite. Full disclosure here: I never got an A in science and I always got A's in English, but I do think this is definitely a real possibility. Maybe I should write a book about this.

Mother’s Day is May 13th. In honor of this special day, FaithfulReader.com has compiled a list of books that celebrates the joys and pays tribute to the struggles of motherhood, with everything from faith-nurturing devotionals, unique prayer suggestions and reflections on strong women from history and Scripture, to fun and inspirational fiction.