Thursday, September 25, 2008

New season, new books

Well, the boys and I finished The Dragon in the Sock Drawer last night. It was a great read the whole way through. We even went to the accompanying website that the cousins visited in the story. I am hoping there will be another book in this series.

Eliza and I have read Jamie Lee Curtis' new book (her 8th actually) a few times. Big Words for Little People is an adorable rhyming story about a huge family who encounters big words in their daily life. Words like privacy, considerate, perseverance are all explained in a child-like way.

Tonight we read the first chapter of Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter. So far so good. The fact that all three kids moaned when I closed the book is a good sign...they wanted more.

Tonight I am starting We Are All the Same by Jim Wooten as this is our pick for our adult book club. Loni picked this one and was moved deeply by it.

Jim has just gone for a quick run and my knitting is calling me so I shall sign off...

Monday, September 1, 2008

Mixed Feelings about Labour Day

I am sure there are many of us that feel the same way about Labour Day. While the lazy days of summer with our lack of routine, later bedtimes and long days at the beach are over, we can rejoice in the fact that the kids will be back at school with their friends (old and new) and some sort of schedule will be incorporated back into our homes. Whether we like it or not, we are all creatures of habit and schedules are a part of our life that help us to get where we are going.

A habit that our family (and most families that I know) have come to enjoy is the reading of a great story before bedtime. This habit does not take a break over the summer but some nights the boys had to choose between Drake and Josh and whatever book we were reading at that time. As expected, some nights Drake and Josh and their slapstick humour won out!

However yesterday on the way to our cottage, the boys insisted on finishing Max-a-Million: The Movie Director. At points, I thought maybe the story was a little old for the boys considering there was a lawsuit taking place but it only made them ask more questions than usual...something I didn't know was humanly possible. The Max-a-Million series is written by Trina Wiebe (a Canadian author) and follows the adventures of Maximillion Wigglesworth III. Max is a young boy who is forever looking for ways to make easy money. It's a great series for children aged 6-10.

Now we have moved on to a brand new book called The Dragon in the Sock Drawer. Although we only read the first chapter tonight, it sure caught the boys' attention. Even Daniel, who is not a huge fan of fantasy books, was intrigued by the idea of a dragon hatching from a thunder egg.

I am heading to bed now in hopes that I will finish my young adult novel, Paper Towns by John Green. It is a strange book that has kept my interest and now has me dying to know what has happened to Margo Roth Spiegelman. The dual cover treatment is something I have never seen and will surely catch the eye of teenage readers.

Read on...
Mary Ann