The Scene:
Isaac is playing with a (purple) bow. Of the bow-and-arrow, not hair decoration, variety. The arrows (mercifully) are missing.
Samantha: “No, Isaac! You can’t shoot people.” Pause. “UNLESS they’re sleep darts. I’m OK with sleep darts.”
Anyone know where I could get some of those?
While playing with Legos:
Me: Wow, my hands feel so big and clumsy.
Isaac: Yeah.
I was looking for sympathy, son, not agreement.
On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer Berne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Beautiful and inspiring. A great introduction to the life of Albert Einstein with lovely illustrations. Totally engaging for my 5- and 7-year-old, and led to more detailed questions from my 9-year-old. Hard topics – his work being used for nuclear missile research, for example – are relegated to the author’s notes at the end. I love that this book challenges young readers to carry on the questioning and imagining that led Einstein to many of his discoveries.
There’s a Wolf at the Door by Zoe B. Alley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Repeat, repeat, repeat library check-out for us. I really should buy this book. (Christmas! Hint! Hint!) Some of the comic-book style dialogue gets annoying to read out loud, but these reworkings of five classic wolf-centered fairy tales are funny for kids and adults alike. And I’m a sucker for R. W. Alley’s artwork. Just too much fun.
The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs by William Joyce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This story had some dark moments for my taste in picture books, but the illustrations were fantastic, my kids loved the plot line, and it came full-circle beautifully. Three cheers for Louisiana authors!
Miss Nelson Is Missing! by Harry Allard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
My girls thought this was fantastic. They loved the lightbulb-turning-on feeling when they got the twist in the story.
Lucy and her friend were practicing multiplication tables this morning (not my idea – I love having extra kids around sometimes!) and they decided it would be fun to make it into a Go Fish! game. So they did. And spent half an hour or so playing 6 Times Table Go Fish.
Just caught Clare explaining to another friend about how difficult it was for Michelangelo to carve David (“and if he made a tiny mistake, just this big, the whole thing would be ruined!”) and retelling the story of The Library Mouse. Narration? Done.
And as I type, Isaac is trying to put an apple slice in my pocket. Earlier he was working on building train tracks.
In other news, I should be putting my first children’s book manuscript in the mail in the next couple of days. Pray hard! Asking St. Therese of Lisieux for special help, since it is about her, after all. (And if you want a preview, let me know and I’ll send the text along.)
Thomas: “Penguins aren’t poisonous!”
Agreed.
Lucy: (not in the same conversation) “I think college just slows you down.”
In her defense: they were playing The Game of Life. Not sure they’ve ever made it far enough to see the difference between the pay scale for the lawyer vs. the mechanic. Anyway.