Some days I feel like I'm treading carefully through a minefield. Who knew that 8 years of age brings a level of maturity and dignity that must not be taken lightly (especially by moms)?! Our first example: this morning we were listening to the radio on the way to school when Cody Simpson came on. In a late-breaking news flash, I was notified that he is not on the verboten list. He joins Justin Bieber as an artist who must not be listened to in public. I switched to the XM Kids station while we were in line for the school drop-off. I haven't been allowed to listen to that station in some time as it was deemed "babyish" and fine for "when I was younger". We jammed to some sort of music by a gummy bear. (Don't ask.) Then, as we pulled to a stop, Alex said, "Turn the radio, don't let anyone hear that!" Who could hear it? The 5th graders who open the car doors. Apparently, I narrowly avoided social death by changing the station to The Bob Edwards Show.
Next case in point, tomorrow's Book & Blanket Day in Alex's classroom. Their class is counting down to the end of school by celebrating A to Z activities. (Today was Awesome Art Day, though Alex thought it was boring. He's a tough crowd.) The kids are supposed to bring a blanket and book from home to enjoy tomorrow afternoon. I was wondering if the blanket wasn't too childish for Alex. This morning I asked him what book he was going to take. "You Wouldn't Want to Be a Roman Gladiator." Okay, that was easy. Which of your blankets are you going to take? "I don't know yet, Mom, but it can't be any that are VALUABLE." So, Green Blankie is off the table. After a search through the closet this evening he found an acceptable small afghan I made him in turquoise and lime green. I guess he's not emotionally attached to it enough to make it "valuable"!
Last but not least is the baby boom in our neighborhood. We have two neighbors and a nearby friend who will have new babies in May, June and October. Yesterday Leslie (who is due in October) reminded Alex that he'd suggested Dragon for their first child. That morphed into Drake, and Alex has always been proud that he "named" Drake. Leslie told him that he needed to think of some more names for them to consider for the new baby. Since he thought outside of the box so well two-plus years ago, maybe he could pick another winner. His suggestions? John and Melissa. We all looked at him like he'd sprouted a second head. I thought about it for a while and realized maybe he thinks John and Melissa are exotic - I don't know of any kid in his school that is called either of those. They do have plenty whose given names are John, but they all go by Jack. Leslie and I told him to think on it for a while.
In the twenty-four hours since that conversation he has come up with a few things. Last night he suggested "Josh." I pointed out that Josh wasn't exactly an uncommon name. Alex just thought it would be funny to have Drake & Josh - like the Nickelodeon TV show about a pair of brothers. Leslie remembered that Bo was his girl suggestion last time. He said if Drake had been a girl they could now have Bo and Arrow (for the second child). I told him I didn't think that would fly. Now he's moved on to Greek mythology, his old standby. I'm not sure how Leslie and Dave are going to feel about Athena and Hermes, though.
In addition to all this emotional maturity, he's still growing like a weed. Alex now measures 53 inches, or 4 feet, 5 inches. I'm going to hold on to the last 13 inches I have over him for as long as possible!
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
Lost in Translation
The week of St. Patrick's Day, I worked in the school library one morning. My usual tasks are checking books in and out, reshelving and alphabetizing, and occasionally helping kids find books. I have a fairly low profile with the kids that come in for library time. I was organizing books while the awesome school librarian was reading an Irish folk tale to a class of third graders. Mrs. English is an amazing storyteller; she uses accents, different voices and gestures, and the kids (even the ultra-cool 5th graders) love it. I was half-listening to the story when the principal came in, towing a flushed looking kindergartner behind him. He stopped in front of me, then looked over at the reading group. I said, "I have a limited skill set here. I can't really do anything." Then he explained that the kindergartner needed to film a quick spot for the school news before he went home sick. They needed Mrs. English and they needed her immediately. We went over to the reading group and stared until she noticed us. Dr. W. explained the situation. He said, "Mrs. Holbrooks can take over here." Uh, what?
The 3rd graders took a vote, and decided to continue the story. One of their number was elected to read in Mrs. English's place. He made it through half a page before he was heckled over a mispronunciation. Then he quit, and they all looked at me. Tough crowd. I told them that I would read but that I couldn't do the accent like Mrs. English could. A kid in the front row said, "I can do the accent!" "Do you want to read?" "Uh, no," he replied.
I read the rest of the Tomie De Paola book to them. It was about a really lazy Irish man who has a pooka (a sort of spirit or ghost) help him clean until his wife comes home from a trip. Or, rather, until the last day before she comes home, when he accidentally sets the spirit free and he's stuck with a huge mess. It was a good story and no one booed. When I finished, I looked up to see them all staring at me. One kid clapped. The accent artist said, "It would have been better with the accent." Like I said, tough crowd!
That same week Alex's class had a special visitor for St. Patrick's Day. Jamie, Alex's friend who has been in multi-age with him for 3 years now, is half Irish. His dad is from Ireland and when the boys were in kindergarten the kids told me that Jamie's dad might be a leprechaun. (They said he definitely sounded like one.) He volunteers in their classroom and they look forward to seeing him in March for St. Patrick's Day. Since it fell on a weekend this year, I wasn't really thinking about it when I picked Alex up on the 18th. On the way home he launched into a spirited speech with several talking points about how Ireland was the best place to live. He told me about how beautiful it was, AND how it was the safest place on the planet. (He's not kissing the blarney stone, though, because he was concerned about germs. I told him it was okay - he already has the gift of blarney.) I was a bit puzzled about where all this came from until I remembered the date. "Did Jamie's dad visit your class today?" "Yes, yes, he did, and he read us a book about Ireland called, 'About Ireland.' It was great!" I told him that I didn't think we'd move to Ireland any time soon, but that I would love to visit it. It was Alex's favorite booth at the International Festival as well, but I think that might have something to do with Jamie's mom's yummy lemon cake and Irish soda bread.
The 3rd graders took a vote, and decided to continue the story. One of their number was elected to read in Mrs. English's place. He made it through half a page before he was heckled over a mispronunciation. Then he quit, and they all looked at me. Tough crowd. I told them that I would read but that I couldn't do the accent like Mrs. English could. A kid in the front row said, "I can do the accent!" "Do you want to read?" "Uh, no," he replied.
I read the rest of the Tomie De Paola book to them. It was about a really lazy Irish man who has a pooka (a sort of spirit or ghost) help him clean until his wife comes home from a trip. Or, rather, until the last day before she comes home, when he accidentally sets the spirit free and he's stuck with a huge mess. It was a good story and no one booed. When I finished, I looked up to see them all staring at me. One kid clapped. The accent artist said, "It would have been better with the accent." Like I said, tough crowd!
That same week Alex's class had a special visitor for St. Patrick's Day. Jamie, Alex's friend who has been in multi-age with him for 3 years now, is half Irish. His dad is from Ireland and when the boys were in kindergarten the kids told me that Jamie's dad might be a leprechaun. (They said he definitely sounded like one.) He volunteers in their classroom and they look forward to seeing him in March for St. Patrick's Day. Since it fell on a weekend this year, I wasn't really thinking about it when I picked Alex up on the 18th. On the way home he launched into a spirited speech with several talking points about how Ireland was the best place to live. He told me about how beautiful it was, AND how it was the safest place on the planet. (He's not kissing the blarney stone, though, because he was concerned about germs. I told him it was okay - he already has the gift of blarney.) I was a bit puzzled about where all this came from until I remembered the date. "Did Jamie's dad visit your class today?" "Yes, yes, he did, and he read us a book about Ireland called, 'About Ireland.' It was great!" I told him that I didn't think we'd move to Ireland any time soon, but that I would love to visit it. It was Alex's favorite booth at the International Festival as well, but I think that might have something to do with Jamie's mom's yummy lemon cake and Irish soda bread.
Monday, January 28, 2013
January Book List (8-16 of 2013)
Okay, if I'm going to keep this going for the whole year, I'm going to have to play catch-up from time to time. This is one of those times. Here are the books I've read this month, so far:
8) Amped by Daniel Wilson - This is the second book by the author and I absolutely loved his first, Robopocalypse, which tells how robots and computers take over the world in the not-so-distant future. That book was enough to make me a little nervous when I read about the cars in California that can drive themselves. Anyway, I had high hopes for this book but it wasn't as good as I'd hoped. It's also set a little ways in to the future when humans can receive brain implants to correct physical impairments or injuries. A politician stirs up opposition to the "amped" individuals, arguing that they have an unfair advantage. The main character was amped after a near-fatal accident. He becomes involved in the fight between amps and neuro-typicals. It's an interesting scenario.
9) A Bad Day for Mercy by Sophie Littlefield - The cover of this book caught my eye. It's a woman in a pretty sundress, shown from the shoulders down, smacking a hammer in her hand. The reviews on the cover compared it to Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books. I love those, so I decided to give it a try. It was okay but I won't be reading any more in the series. The main character is in her 40s and divorced after getting out of an abusive marriage. Between running her legitimate business and trying to choose between dating the sheriff and a local bar owner, she is a sort of enforcer who hunts down and punishes abusers of women and children, or convinces them to behave. This entry in the series departs from that formula to a little family intrigue, but there are several allusions to her "usual" work, and it was a little too close to torture for me, especially since it was handled so lightly - almost humorously.
10) Attack of the Growling Eyeballs by Lin Oliver - this was one of Alex's books that he read on his own. He says it was about a guy with a tiny brother but he doesn't remember much else. (The cover does show a boy with a "little" brother about an inch high.)
11), 12) and 13) Laurie R. King's Pirate King, Garment of Shadows, and The Art of Detection - I hate it when I find a series that I really love, and then race through them and hit the brick wall at the end. Please, oh, please, Laurie King, write faster! I found this author through an anthology of mystery stories a year or so ago. I've always like the Sherlock Holmes stories and TV series on PBS. In the Mary Russell series by King, she imagines that Sherlock Holmes retired to the English countryside, and took a teen aged female apprentice (quite by accident). There are 10 (I think) of the series and they span at least that many years during which (no spoiler here) Mary becomes Mrs. Sherlock Holmes, though she is never referred to that way. Mary is a very independent woman of the 1920's and an Oxford scholar. Together the couple solve mysteries, help friends and family, and travel the world. In one of the first books, in the author's note, King admitted that her Holmes is modeled on Jeremy Brett's interpretation of the role. I've kind of pictured home like that ever since. I can almost hear his voice speaking her dialogue. I don't know if anyone else would like the books as much as I do, but I think they are good. Just know that I'm fairly deeply involved in British books of the early 20th century at the moment, so I may not be a good judge.
Pirate King is the next-to-last in the series and takes place as a silent film company tries to film a convoluted movie inspired by Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance." Mary goes undercover to find out if the producers are criminals as several of their other films hid crimes that were reflected in the movies' plots. It travels from England to Portugal, then Morocco.
Garment of Shadows begins just days after Pirate King ends, still in Morocco. I think it tells how attached I am to the characters to say that I was deeply disturbed for the first section of the book. Mary has amnesia and Sherlock is searching for her with a Moroccan civil war about to erupt. I can't wait to see what happens next, and where they will go from there.
The Art of Detection is not a part of the Mary Russell series. King also writes the Kate Martinelli series and this is one of those books. I picked it up because one of the Mary Russell books mentions that you can find a story about her time in San Francisco in this book. That perplexed me because Kate Martinelli is a current day detective in America. Mary Russell is half American and Locked Rooms takes place in San Francisco as Mary finds out more about her background and family. I couldn't figure out where the two would fit together but it was interesting. Detective Martinelli is assigned a case in which a "Sherlockian" is murdered. It delves into the world of the Baker Street Irregulars and Sherlock Holmes fan clubs. One of the Holmes devotees is murdered and it may have been because of a short story that he unearthed at a book fair. It becomes plain to readers of the Mary Russell series that Holmes solved a case while they were in San Francisco many years before, and wrote an account of it. The case was interesting but I'm going to stick with my favorite series and not jump to this one.
14) The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson - I heard of this book on an episode of the radio show "This American Life." It detailed the Hare Checklist that is used by psychiatrists to determine if someone is a psychopath or not. In the book Ronson meets a man in a mental institution in Britain. He pretended to be insane to avoid prison, and is then unable to prove he is sane. The man spends several more years in the institution than he would have served in prison without the ruse. This sets Ronson off to research what psychopath means, how it is diagnosed and who is to say the diagnosis is right or wrong. I was a bit worried that Ronson was the author who wrote Men Who Stare at Goats (the movie was a bit weird) but I really enjoyed the book. It's now on my list of gift ideas for a couple of people who are more than passingly familiar with the DSM.
These next two books may prove that I will read just about anything to keep from being bored. I got them from the library on my iPhone and read them while I waited for things (mainly Alex).
15) Not Quite a Bride by Kirsten Sawyer - this would make such an unbelievable romantic comedy that no one would go see it. I did have to finish it, though, because it was such a train wreck. A 30ish woman is sick of seeing all of her friends getting married and having babies. The combination of her younger married sister announcing her pregnancy and her best (male) friend announcing his engagement to an incredibly annoying woman sends her over the edge. She decides (and who wouldn't?!) to use a "wedding trust fund" left to her by her grandmother to hire a male escort to be her boyfriend, then fiancee', go through all of the pre-wedding hoopla, then leave her at the altar. She plans on getting to do all the "fun" wedding planning and then just moving on with her life. I will give the author this, she does not allow her to fall in love with the escort. He's gay. She does seem to think that everyone would be okay with her keeping all the shower and wedding gifts, though. I didn't think that was the way wedding etiquette went, but I'm not going to look it up now. Anyway, train wreck, I just had to read to see how it ended. Spoiler: happy ending!
16) Dying to Read by Lorena McCourtney - so-so mystery about a novice private investigator who stumbles upon a maybe-murder while doing a routine background check. I was interested in finding out whodunit, but still was a bit confused by some of the secondary plot points. About midway through I became really worried about where the title came from, then eventually remembered that the murder occurred as several characters gathered for a mystery book club meeting.
This may be all I have for January but I think there are a couple of more lurking around the house that I need to finish and return to the library. So far, so good on this little reading project. At least I'm getting something done!
8) Amped by Daniel Wilson - This is the second book by the author and I absolutely loved his first, Robopocalypse, which tells how robots and computers take over the world in the not-so-distant future. That book was enough to make me a little nervous when I read about the cars in California that can drive themselves. Anyway, I had high hopes for this book but it wasn't as good as I'd hoped. It's also set a little ways in to the future when humans can receive brain implants to correct physical impairments or injuries. A politician stirs up opposition to the "amped" individuals, arguing that they have an unfair advantage. The main character was amped after a near-fatal accident. He becomes involved in the fight between amps and neuro-typicals. It's an interesting scenario.
9) A Bad Day for Mercy by Sophie Littlefield - The cover of this book caught my eye. It's a woman in a pretty sundress, shown from the shoulders down, smacking a hammer in her hand. The reviews on the cover compared it to Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books. I love those, so I decided to give it a try. It was okay but I won't be reading any more in the series. The main character is in her 40s and divorced after getting out of an abusive marriage. Between running her legitimate business and trying to choose between dating the sheriff and a local bar owner, she is a sort of enforcer who hunts down and punishes abusers of women and children, or convinces them to behave. This entry in the series departs from that formula to a little family intrigue, but there are several allusions to her "usual" work, and it was a little too close to torture for me, especially since it was handled so lightly - almost humorously.
10) Attack of the Growling Eyeballs by Lin Oliver - this was one of Alex's books that he read on his own. He says it was about a guy with a tiny brother but he doesn't remember much else. (The cover does show a boy with a "little" brother about an inch high.)
11), 12) and 13) Laurie R. King's Pirate King, Garment of Shadows, and The Art of Detection - I hate it when I find a series that I really love, and then race through them and hit the brick wall at the end. Please, oh, please, Laurie King, write faster! I found this author through an anthology of mystery stories a year or so ago. I've always like the Sherlock Holmes stories and TV series on PBS. In the Mary Russell series by King, she imagines that Sherlock Holmes retired to the English countryside, and took a teen aged female apprentice (quite by accident). There are 10 (I think) of the series and they span at least that many years during which (no spoiler here) Mary becomes Mrs. Sherlock Holmes, though she is never referred to that way. Mary is a very independent woman of the 1920's and an Oxford scholar. Together the couple solve mysteries, help friends and family, and travel the world. In one of the first books, in the author's note, King admitted that her Holmes is modeled on Jeremy Brett's interpretation of the role. I've kind of pictured home like that ever since. I can almost hear his voice speaking her dialogue. I don't know if anyone else would like the books as much as I do, but I think they are good. Just know that I'm fairly deeply involved in British books of the early 20th century at the moment, so I may not be a good judge.
Pirate King is the next-to-last in the series and takes place as a silent film company tries to film a convoluted movie inspired by Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance." Mary goes undercover to find out if the producers are criminals as several of their other films hid crimes that were reflected in the movies' plots. It travels from England to Portugal, then Morocco.
Garment of Shadows begins just days after Pirate King ends, still in Morocco. I think it tells how attached I am to the characters to say that I was deeply disturbed for the first section of the book. Mary has amnesia and Sherlock is searching for her with a Moroccan civil war about to erupt. I can't wait to see what happens next, and where they will go from there.
The Art of Detection is not a part of the Mary Russell series. King also writes the Kate Martinelli series and this is one of those books. I picked it up because one of the Mary Russell books mentions that you can find a story about her time in San Francisco in this book. That perplexed me because Kate Martinelli is a current day detective in America. Mary Russell is half American and Locked Rooms takes place in San Francisco as Mary finds out more about her background and family. I couldn't figure out where the two would fit together but it was interesting. Detective Martinelli is assigned a case in which a "Sherlockian" is murdered. It delves into the world of the Baker Street Irregulars and Sherlock Holmes fan clubs. One of the Holmes devotees is murdered and it may have been because of a short story that he unearthed at a book fair. It becomes plain to readers of the Mary Russell series that Holmes solved a case while they were in San Francisco many years before, and wrote an account of it. The case was interesting but I'm going to stick with my favorite series and not jump to this one.
14) The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson - I heard of this book on an episode of the radio show "This American Life." It detailed the Hare Checklist that is used by psychiatrists to determine if someone is a psychopath or not. In the book Ronson meets a man in a mental institution in Britain. He pretended to be insane to avoid prison, and is then unable to prove he is sane. The man spends several more years in the institution than he would have served in prison without the ruse. This sets Ronson off to research what psychopath means, how it is diagnosed and who is to say the diagnosis is right or wrong. I was a bit worried that Ronson was the author who wrote Men Who Stare at Goats (the movie was a bit weird) but I really enjoyed the book. It's now on my list of gift ideas for a couple of people who are more than passingly familiar with the DSM.
These next two books may prove that I will read just about anything to keep from being bored. I got them from the library on my iPhone and read them while I waited for things (mainly Alex).
15) Not Quite a Bride by Kirsten Sawyer - this would make such an unbelievable romantic comedy that no one would go see it. I did have to finish it, though, because it was such a train wreck. A 30ish woman is sick of seeing all of her friends getting married and having babies. The combination of her younger married sister announcing her pregnancy and her best (male) friend announcing his engagement to an incredibly annoying woman sends her over the edge. She decides (and who wouldn't?!) to use a "wedding trust fund" left to her by her grandmother to hire a male escort to be her boyfriend, then fiancee', go through all of the pre-wedding hoopla, then leave her at the altar. She plans on getting to do all the "fun" wedding planning and then just moving on with her life. I will give the author this, she does not allow her to fall in love with the escort. He's gay. She does seem to think that everyone would be okay with her keeping all the shower and wedding gifts, though. I didn't think that was the way wedding etiquette went, but I'm not going to look it up now. Anyway, train wreck, I just had to read to see how it ended. Spoiler: happy ending!
16) Dying to Read by Lorena McCourtney - so-so mystery about a novice private investigator who stumbles upon a maybe-murder while doing a routine background check. I was interested in finding out whodunit, but still was a bit confused by some of the secondary plot points. About midway through I became really worried about where the title came from, then eventually remembered that the murder occurred as several characters gathered for a mystery book club meeting.
This may be all I have for January but I think there are a couple of more lurking around the house that I need to finish and return to the library. So far, so good on this little reading project. At least I'm getting something done!
Alex's Review of Books (3-7 of 2013)
3) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney
Reviewed by Alex: Book 6 in the series. Well, it's just a normal December day, just a few days away from Christmas. And then, one day snow just starts piling up in their yard. It gets higher and higher. It keeps on going for several days. When the main character (Greg)'s dad is going to a meeting a long way from his house he notices that there's a blizzard coming to their house. He was at a hotel. One picture showed him sitting in a jacuzzi, watching TV. [Alex thinks this sounds like a good life.] They even closed down school. The lights started flickering then all the power went off. They weren't allowed to go outside. They couldn't even get their car started and the snow was higher than their door.
Greg's little brother Manny actually accidentally crushed his mom's glasses. They had to help her go everywhere.
But anyway, in the middle of the night the snow started melting a little bit and their whole basement was flooded with water. In one picture it showed Greg's brother Rodrick sleeping in his bed in the basement and the water was almost to him. Greg said if he didn't wake him up he wouldn't have woken up until the water had floated his bed up the stairway and out of the house. Most of his house was flooded and they get the water out. It turns out that everyone else had power. Greg told it to his mom and they looked at the power box. He did and all of the rooms were checked off except for Manny's. The whole family rushed into Manny's room. He had a heater on, he had doughnuts and sodas everywhere. The rest of the family didn't have any food but Manny was having a tea party with stuffed-up animals. His mom said, "Why did you do that?" He said it was because no one ever taught him how to tie his shoes.
Once they went to a restaurant and they had a kids' zone. It was just like for 3-year-olds and everything. Once Manny got stuck in one of the tubes and one way was the slide and he didn't want to leave and his mom & dad were waiting for him there but the other way someone threw up so he was trapped. He was banging on the glass and yelling "Help!" [Alex thinks this was very funny.] Then they told Greg to go up and get him, then he went up and then he got stuck. He yelled "Help!" like Manny. One of the bosses of the restaurant came up and grabbed them both and got them out.
Christmas didn't happen like they thought. Greg looked and there was nothing under the Christmas tree but his mom came downstairs and said "Oh, he didn't put the presents there, he put them in the garage in a garbage bag with your names on it." It all worked out.
Alex's verdict: "It's a pretty good book and I would recommend it and all of the Jeff Kinney books."
4) The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
Reviewed by Alex and Mom (I get to help with this one because I read it to him aloud): This is the eighth Rick Riordan book we have read. This is the 3rd book in the Heroes of Olympus series (we previously read the five books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which has several of the same characters). I have to thank Caitlin Holmes again for recommending these books. We had seen The Lightning Thief movie, and liked it, but Caitlin said we really had to read the books. She said they were much better than the film. We love them! Now that we've finished this one we are sad because the new one doesn't come out until fall.
Percy Jackson is a demigod - his mother is a mortal and his father is Poseidon. He has had several adventures involving Greek (and with the new series, Roman) gods and mythological creatures. In this book Percy and his friends are traveling across the United States, then across the Atlantic and Mediterranean Oceans to Rome. I particularly liked that they stopped in Atlanta and Charleston. Alex remembered our trip to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, and a critical scene is set there.
Alex says, "I recommend this book because Rick Riordan is one of my favorite authors. I love the book, and I think you would, too."
5) My Life Among the Aliens by Gail Gauthier
This book is a series of short stories about 9-year-old Will and his younger brother Bob who are visited by different aliens in each story. I think Alex liked that the aliens showed up in such a normal setting and the kids were the only ones who noticed, or knew what they were.
Alex says, "Well, in every chapter there is a different alien and Will's mom thinks it is just his imagination. But, it is not. She finds out that it's real on the last chapter, which is chapter 8. I recommend this book because it is a mix of science fiction and fiction. It's comedy and a little bit of adventure."
6) Jack and the Seven Deadly Giants by Sam Swope
I picked this book up in the school library while I was reshelving a couple of weeks ago. It's a take-off on Jack and the Beanstalk and the seven deadly sins. The sins take the form of giants who have that particular failing. Jack is a clever orphan (who may not be orphaned) who fights the giants and finds a home.
Alex says, "I think that lots of people would like it because it's fake and I think that everybody likes fiction. In every chapter it's a different giant and in the last one it's the queen of the giants."
Shelley says, "We don't want to give away the end, do we?"
Alex replies, "Noooo."
7) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney
Alex says, "It's all new, well, kind of new. It's been out a few months now. I think all of Jeff Kinney's books are good but in our last report on Cabin Fever, that is the book before this. I like it because all of his books go together. It's really funny. It's about Greg in February. The seasons match up because it's almost Valentine's Day, and this is about Valentine's Day. It's about Greg Heffley, and you can tell by the title, he is wimpy. This is the 7th book in this series. Greg is trying to get a date for the Valentine's dance at school. There are less girls than boys in their school and they said that everyone is going to have a partner, and boys are desparate to get a date. They might get paired up with another boy if they don't. That is weird. Greg tried to get a date but his friend Rowley stole her. Greg thought Rowley had chicken pox but it turned out to be pimples. He thought his girlfriend had chicken pox and he screamed in the middle of their dance and Rowley stole her. Even though no one had chicken pox, Greg got chicken pox. If you read Cabin Fever you would know this, their uncle moved in with them. Even he had good luck, he won the lottery."
Alex read this book alone, so I can't vouch for it. He did tell me about his progress each night while reading it. He told me that Greg had to find a date for the dance, and that he had one but he didn't know her. I said, "Oh, so it's a blind date." Alex looked puzzled, "No, she's not blind!" I tried to explain but I'm not sure the concept made it across.
Reviewed by Alex: Book 6 in the series. Well, it's just a normal December day, just a few days away from Christmas. And then, one day snow just starts piling up in their yard. It gets higher and higher. It keeps on going for several days. When the main character (Greg)'s dad is going to a meeting a long way from his house he notices that there's a blizzard coming to their house. He was at a hotel. One picture showed him sitting in a jacuzzi, watching TV. [Alex thinks this sounds like a good life.] They even closed down school. The lights started flickering then all the power went off. They weren't allowed to go outside. They couldn't even get their car started and the snow was higher than their door.
Greg's little brother Manny actually accidentally crushed his mom's glasses. They had to help her go everywhere.
But anyway, in the middle of the night the snow started melting a little bit and their whole basement was flooded with water. In one picture it showed Greg's brother Rodrick sleeping in his bed in the basement and the water was almost to him. Greg said if he didn't wake him up he wouldn't have woken up until the water had floated his bed up the stairway and out of the house. Most of his house was flooded and they get the water out. It turns out that everyone else had power. Greg told it to his mom and they looked at the power box. He did and all of the rooms were checked off except for Manny's. The whole family rushed into Manny's room. He had a heater on, he had doughnuts and sodas everywhere. The rest of the family didn't have any food but Manny was having a tea party with stuffed-up animals. His mom said, "Why did you do that?" He said it was because no one ever taught him how to tie his shoes.
Once they went to a restaurant and they had a kids' zone. It was just like for 3-year-olds and everything. Once Manny got stuck in one of the tubes and one way was the slide and he didn't want to leave and his mom & dad were waiting for him there but the other way someone threw up so he was trapped. He was banging on the glass and yelling "Help!" [Alex thinks this was very funny.] Then they told Greg to go up and get him, then he went up and then he got stuck. He yelled "Help!" like Manny. One of the bosses of the restaurant came up and grabbed them both and got them out.
Christmas didn't happen like they thought. Greg looked and there was nothing under the Christmas tree but his mom came downstairs and said "Oh, he didn't put the presents there, he put them in the garage in a garbage bag with your names on it." It all worked out.
Alex's verdict: "It's a pretty good book and I would recommend it and all of the Jeff Kinney books."
4) The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
Reviewed by Alex and Mom (I get to help with this one because I read it to him aloud): This is the eighth Rick Riordan book we have read. This is the 3rd book in the Heroes of Olympus series (we previously read the five books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which has several of the same characters). I have to thank Caitlin Holmes again for recommending these books. We had seen The Lightning Thief movie, and liked it, but Caitlin said we really had to read the books. She said they were much better than the film. We love them! Now that we've finished this one we are sad because the new one doesn't come out until fall.
Percy Jackson is a demigod - his mother is a mortal and his father is Poseidon. He has had several adventures involving Greek (and with the new series, Roman) gods and mythological creatures. In this book Percy and his friends are traveling across the United States, then across the Atlantic and Mediterranean Oceans to Rome. I particularly liked that they stopped in Atlanta and Charleston. Alex remembered our trip to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, and a critical scene is set there.
Alex says, "I recommend this book because Rick Riordan is one of my favorite authors. I love the book, and I think you would, too."
5) My Life Among the Aliens by Gail Gauthier
This book is a series of short stories about 9-year-old Will and his younger brother Bob who are visited by different aliens in each story. I think Alex liked that the aliens showed up in such a normal setting and the kids were the only ones who noticed, or knew what they were.
Alex says, "Well, in every chapter there is a different alien and Will's mom thinks it is just his imagination. But, it is not. She finds out that it's real on the last chapter, which is chapter 8. I recommend this book because it is a mix of science fiction and fiction. It's comedy and a little bit of adventure."
6) Jack and the Seven Deadly Giants by Sam Swope
I picked this book up in the school library while I was reshelving a couple of weeks ago. It's a take-off on Jack and the Beanstalk and the seven deadly sins. The sins take the form of giants who have that particular failing. Jack is a clever orphan (who may not be orphaned) who fights the giants and finds a home.
Alex says, "I think that lots of people would like it because it's fake and I think that everybody likes fiction. In every chapter it's a different giant and in the last one it's the queen of the giants."
Shelley says, "We don't want to give away the end, do we?"
Alex replies, "Noooo."
7) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney
Alex says, "It's all new, well, kind of new. It's been out a few months now. I think all of Jeff Kinney's books are good but in our last report on Cabin Fever, that is the book before this. I like it because all of his books go together. It's really funny. It's about Greg in February. The seasons match up because it's almost Valentine's Day, and this is about Valentine's Day. It's about Greg Heffley, and you can tell by the title, he is wimpy. This is the 7th book in this series. Greg is trying to get a date for the Valentine's dance at school. There are less girls than boys in their school and they said that everyone is going to have a partner, and boys are desparate to get a date. They might get paired up with another boy if they don't. That is weird. Greg tried to get a date but his friend Rowley stole her. Greg thought Rowley had chicken pox but it turned out to be pimples. He thought his girlfriend had chicken pox and he screamed in the middle of their dance and Rowley stole her. Even though no one had chicken pox, Greg got chicken pox. If you read Cabin Fever you would know this, their uncle moved in with them. Even he had good luck, he won the lottery."
Alex read this book alone, so I can't vouch for it. He did tell me about his progress each night while reading it. He told me that Greg had to find a date for the dance, and that he had one but he didn't know her. I said, "Oh, so it's a blind date." Alex looked puzzled, "No, she's not blind!" I tried to explain but I'm not sure the concept made it across.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Slow Start on Monday
I'm having a foggy day. It's rainy and yucky but this is mostly mental fog. I've got some kind of sinus thing going on and I had to take a decongestant last night so I could breathe. Unfortunately it lets me breathe but I don't sleep too well. I made it to 2 am or so when I woke up to go to the bathroom. After that I tossed and turned, contemplating all sorts of important (ha) stuff and singing "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" by the Scissor Sisters in my head.
When I made it to the shower a little after 6, I was trying to wake myself up by repeating "This is Monday. Today is the 14th." (Which I really hope it is because its too late to change mantras now.)
I was better after the shower but in the way to school Alex starts asking me questions. He's been big on origins lately. I think he wants to know who, exactly, to blame. So, in the drop-off line at school he asks, "Who invented school?" I told him it was probably a cave mom who wanted to get the kids out of the cave so she could clean. He thought that was funny. "Yeah, I bet they went to Caveman Elementary BC - it was BC, right?"
Yes, that would be BC, I told him.
"Mom, what does BC stand for?"
Again the fog was closing in on my brain. I don't need this before 8 am and before I've taken in any kind of caffeine. But I was a history major so I launched into BC, AD, what they stood for and then moved on to Common Era and BCE. I think Alex glazed over around the CE point. Thankfully we reached the front of the line and he had to get out.
So much for trying to convince myself that Coca-Cola is not a breakfast drink.
When I made it to the shower a little after 6, I was trying to wake myself up by repeating "This is Monday. Today is the 14th." (Which I really hope it is because its too late to change mantras now.)
I was better after the shower but in the way to school Alex starts asking me questions. He's been big on origins lately. I think he wants to know who, exactly, to blame. So, in the drop-off line at school he asks, "Who invented school?" I told him it was probably a cave mom who wanted to get the kids out of the cave so she could clean. He thought that was funny. "Yeah, I bet they went to Caveman Elementary BC - it was BC, right?"
Yes, that would be BC, I told him.
"Mom, what does BC stand for?"
Again the fog was closing in on my brain. I don't need this before 8 am and before I've taken in any kind of caffeine. But I was a history major so I launched into BC, AD, what they stood for and then moved on to Common Era and BCE. I think Alex glazed over around the CE point. Thankfully we reached the front of the line and he had to get out.
So much for trying to convince myself that Coca-Cola is not a breakfast drink.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Book 2 of 2013 - Defending Jacob
I'm really excited about all these books we're reading. I just wish I had more time. I saw something on Facebook last week that said, "So many books, so little time." I totally understand the sentiment.
Defending Jacob by William Landay popped up on a couple of "Best of 2012 Books" lists. The one that made me get it was Stephen King's. I may not read any of his books anymore, but I trust his taste in books, music, movies and TV (at least as communicated in Entertainment Weekly). Art got a Nook for Christmas and it came pre-loaded on it but Art doesn't read much in the way of fiction. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't let me borrow his new Nook but I lucked out and found it on the library's website and read it on my phone. I'd never tried that before, but it was very handy to have something with me all the time that I could read while waiting in line on various errands. Of course, there were thousands of little screens to flick through before the book was done, but it was a great book.
Defending Jacob reminded me of Scott Turow at his best. The main character is an assistant district attorney with a teenage son named Jacob. When another teenager in their small town is killed, the father is the lead attorney during the preliminary investigation. Things take a turn when evidence shows his son may be involved. A large portion of the book examines what happens when one of your loved ones is accused of a horrible crime. Do you believe them or the evidence? How would your neighbors react if they thought you harbored a criminal, or were one yourself? I remember how I couldn't put Presumed Innocent down years ago until I found out "whodunit." This book was the same. I felt compelled to read around the clock until I finished it. (By the way, I don't actually recommend doing that on a tiny phone screen - severe eye strain!)
Defending Jacob by William Landay popped up on a couple of "Best of 2012 Books" lists. The one that made me get it was Stephen King's. I may not read any of his books anymore, but I trust his taste in books, music, movies and TV (at least as communicated in Entertainment Weekly). Art got a Nook for Christmas and it came pre-loaded on it but Art doesn't read much in the way of fiction. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't let me borrow his new Nook but I lucked out and found it on the library's website and read it on my phone. I'd never tried that before, but it was very handy to have something with me all the time that I could read while waiting in line on various errands. Of course, there were thousands of little screens to flick through before the book was done, but it was a great book.
Defending Jacob reminded me of Scott Turow at his best. The main character is an assistant district attorney with a teenage son named Jacob. When another teenager in their small town is killed, the father is the lead attorney during the preliminary investigation. Things take a turn when evidence shows his son may be involved. A large portion of the book examines what happens when one of your loved ones is accused of a horrible crime. Do you believe them or the evidence? How would your neighbors react if they thought you harbored a criminal, or were one yourself? I remember how I couldn't put Presumed Innocent down years ago until I found out "whodunit." This book was the same. I felt compelled to read around the clock until I finished it. (By the way, I don't actually recommend doing that on a tiny phone screen - severe eye strain!)
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
All About (Alex's) Verbs
Alex's class is learning about parts of speech this year. I don't remember being that detailed in second grade but I can't swear that I remember much about second grade. I know what school I was at, and that Mrs. Letlow was my teacher. That's about it. Hmm, maybe we were learning about past, present and future tense.
Last night's homework was a booklet called "All About Nouns." Alex had to identify nouns, whether they were common or proper, how to make them plural, and so on. Tonight he brought home "All About Verbs," but announced that he had it finished so we didn't need to go over it. I should have known this was a red flag. I decided to check his work, you know, just in case. (And in the case of Alex, "just in case" can encompass many things.)
I'll give the kid this: he did have most of his work done. My first inkling of a correction that needed to be made was on a page of conjugations. They had a three column table in which they had to name a verb and give its past, present and future tense. No big deal, right? Except they let 8-year-old boys think of their own verbs. Alex didn't understand why I wouldn't allow him to turn in a paper with "fart," "farted" and "will fart" on it. (You have no idea how much it annoys me to type that last sentence.) I asked him if he really thought that was acceptable. His answer? "I guess I shouldn't have asked for suggestions from the table." I guess not. I didn't ask but I'm assuming no little girls suggested that word.
The other page of his homework that raised a flag, I decided to let stand. We've passed the midpoint of the year so I think his teachers know what they are dealing with now. Alex's sentence to illustrate the future tense was: "I will kidnap Opra and take over her show." I made him capitalize Opra but decided to let the rest of it go, along with his misspelling. You have to pick your battles.
We also started the week with the third 3-ring binder of the year. The first two didn't make it through. I spent a crazy amount of money on one that has a school-year guarantee. We'll see. If it doesn't make it, I'm going to try to hire Alex out for product testing at office supply companies.
I hope you all were, are and will be doing well. Good night from the madhouse.
Last night's homework was a booklet called "All About Nouns." Alex had to identify nouns, whether they were common or proper, how to make them plural, and so on. Tonight he brought home "All About Verbs," but announced that he had it finished so we didn't need to go over it. I should have known this was a red flag. I decided to check his work, you know, just in case. (And in the case of Alex, "just in case" can encompass many things.)
I'll give the kid this: he did have most of his work done. My first inkling of a correction that needed to be made was on a page of conjugations. They had a three column table in which they had to name a verb and give its past, present and future tense. No big deal, right? Except they let 8-year-old boys think of their own verbs. Alex didn't understand why I wouldn't allow him to turn in a paper with "fart," "farted" and "will fart" on it. (You have no idea how much it annoys me to type that last sentence.) I asked him if he really thought that was acceptable. His answer? "I guess I shouldn't have asked for suggestions from the table." I guess not. I didn't ask but I'm assuming no little girls suggested that word.
The other page of his homework that raised a flag, I decided to let stand. We've passed the midpoint of the year so I think his teachers know what they are dealing with now. Alex's sentence to illustrate the future tense was: "I will kidnap Opra and take over her show." I made him capitalize Opra but decided to let the rest of it go, along with his misspelling. You have to pick your battles.
We also started the week with the third 3-ring binder of the year. The first two didn't make it through. I spent a crazy amount of money on one that has a school-year guarantee. We'll see. If it doesn't make it, I'm going to try to hire Alex out for product testing at office supply companies.
I hope you all were, are and will be doing well. Good night from the madhouse.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Dear Little Wolf (Book 1 of 2013)
I was inspired this week by an article on slate.com. The columnist made a resolution to finish 365 books last year. Not always one a day, but he made it to 365 before year end. Some were audiobooks, some were graphic novels or collections of comics, but a lot were books. He had two guiding principles: choose shorter books and the reading shouldn't get in the way of real life with his family and friends.
I would love to be able to read as much as I want. I sometimes think I would be perfectly happy sitting in a hammock and reading for most of the day. Maybe I could throw in meals and occasional naps to break the time up. It's a goal, anyway.
So, in the spirit of 365 books in a year, we are starting with our first one today: Dear Little Wolf by Ian Whybrow. Little Wolf stars in a series of books that are very popular with Alex. (He started with Little Wolf's Book of Badness at the beginning of the school year.) Here is Alex's review, in his own words - I just took dictation:
"This book is about Little Wolf. Little Wolf is a wolf that goes on adventures. He can't stick with one school, he just changes them. He makes schools. He made an adventure academy, he made a scaring hall school, well, thousands, not thousands of others, a lot. In this book Little Wolf is a writer in a newspaper in Beastshire. Beastshire is a country that only animals live in. It's one of those books where all of the people are animals. Little Wolf helps people out. (Shelley: he is an advice columnist.) He calls himself the "agony nephew." One letter was for babysitting a little kid. Little Wolf said if they wet their knickers, the babysitter should, too, so they won't feel sad. Little Wolf is not a reliable guy. It's always not good advice."
Me: "Would you recommend this book?"
Alex: "Yes, because it's really, really funny. I think they would like it if they like funny things."
So, there you have it, our first review of the year. Happy New Year and hope you are reading something good!
I would love to be able to read as much as I want. I sometimes think I would be perfectly happy sitting in a hammock and reading for most of the day. Maybe I could throw in meals and occasional naps to break the time up. It's a goal, anyway.
So, in the spirit of 365 books in a year, we are starting with our first one today: Dear Little Wolf by Ian Whybrow. Little Wolf stars in a series of books that are very popular with Alex. (He started with Little Wolf's Book of Badness at the beginning of the school year.) Here is Alex's review, in his own words - I just took dictation:
"This book is about Little Wolf. Little Wolf is a wolf that goes on adventures. He can't stick with one school, he just changes them. He makes schools. He made an adventure academy, he made a scaring hall school, well, thousands, not thousands of others, a lot. In this book Little Wolf is a writer in a newspaper in Beastshire. Beastshire is a country that only animals live in. It's one of those books where all of the people are animals. Little Wolf helps people out. (Shelley: he is an advice columnist.) He calls himself the "agony nephew." One letter was for babysitting a little kid. Little Wolf said if they wet their knickers, the babysitter should, too, so they won't feel sad. Little Wolf is not a reliable guy. It's always not good advice."
Me: "Would you recommend this book?"
Alex: "Yes, because it's really, really funny. I think they would like it if they like funny things."
So, there you have it, our first review of the year. Happy New Year and hope you are reading something good!
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