Fiction at Ten

One has been reading a lot - as usual - this spring. Now that he has an allowance, he's enjoying the purchase of a book on a whim, as in "Mom, I brought some money with me. Can we stop at the bookstore on the way home so I can pick something out?" He's still content to read what I buy him as well. I do wonder when that will stop, but I plan on taking full advantage of it while I still can. Some of his favorite fiction reads this spring have been:

The Red Pyramid, by Rick Riordan. He went through this one twice already, and he purchased it on Monday. That says everything, does it not?

Goodbye, Mr. Chips. A quick read. "Pretty good" says One.

Two more Ralph Moody's: Man of the Family and The Home Ranch. One doesn't know if he'll continue the series or not, but he liked the first three.

The Switherby Pilgrims, by Eleanor Spence - an adventure set in 1800's Australia.

Linda Buckley-Archer's Gideon Trilogy. "Excellent" says our reviewer.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin. He hasn't asked for any more of the Earthsea books yet. I read the first three in middle school; maybe they're more appealing then.

Holes by Louis Sachar.

Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor. A little hard to read (subject-matter wise, anyway), but One enjoyed it all the same.

The House of 60 Fathers and The Wheel on the School, by Meindert Dejong. Great classics.

All Sail Set, by Armstrong Sperry.

The Saturdays, by Elizabeth Enright. "Okay."

Red Planet for the first time on his own - this was a favorite read-aloud about 18 months ago, and he loved it on his own as well. Who can dislike Heinlein?

Eragon and Eldest, by Christopher Paolini. He's looking forward to reading the final one, Brisingr.

Tales of the Greek Heroes, by Roger Lancelyn Green. A good follow-on to the D'Aulaires' book of Greek Myths.

The London Eye Mystery, by Siobhan Dowd. I read this one as well and really liked it. The narrator is a young boy with high functioning autism, and he gives the book a great voice.

One and Husband still read aloud every evening before bed. Right now they are buried in The Count of Monte Cristo. Earlier in the spring they adored To Kill a Mockingbird (prompting me to read it again and fall in love with again, too) and also read and enjoyed All Quiet on the Western Front and Fahrenheit 451.

I think we'd all recommend all of these books - some with more enthusiasm than others, but recommend them all the same. Happy reading!

Star Wars

Two is utterly and completely obsessed with Star Wars. He talks about it every minute he can, he begs to watch one of the movies every day, and he plays only Star Wars games on the playground at school. And so Husband sings, quite frequently, a la Bill Murray:

"Staaaaaar Wars! Those crazy creatures from Star Waaaaaars!"

And Two crossly sings back "those crazy creatures in Daaaaaaad's head."

Meet Hiccup

Two's class had a book character day on Friday, and he decided to be Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, from Clarissa Cowell's fantastic book (and series) How to Train Your Dragon. Here is the little Viking in his mommy-made costume:

Talking to the Mirror

My mother is in town, and listening to her is like listening to someone talking to the mirror. You know what I mean? Almost every sentence begins with "And then I said" or "So I told them", or some such variation. It's like she's being interviewed by Fox News in her head - a one-on-one hagiography about the life of an influential person. She is full of stories about her own importance in the world, and loves to recount how others come to her for wisdom - mostly of the Biblical and political variety - or how someone was so wrongheaded and she said just the right thing to put them in their place. The latter she calls "speaking the truth in love", but it more or less amounts to her spouting her opinion whether or not it makes sense or has any effect on the person she's speaking to, who might or might not be listening.

This trip she's mostly focused on the wisdom she brings to children - how my cousin and her husband are so grateful for all the wonderful things she teaches their younger son, how overwhelmingly happy her Sunday school students' parents are that she is "teaching their children to really be in the Word, and not just about religion", and so on and so forth. Most of this is a jab at me, as I am, of course, teaching my children "religion" by taking them to Orthodox church. Her dissertation this morning at the table (as I tried to work on the computer and drown out the sound of her voice with my typing) focused on all the Bible verses she's taught her students, and included a long speech on how they have all learned through her that the only wisdom that matters is is the Bible, and not in all those other books - I can only assume she means the books on the 9 large bookshelves in this house, since she owns none herself.

You would think that in some way, someone so completely focused on themself wouldn't be so tiring to be around. After all, all her energy is taken up in thinking about herself, and how can that be so demanding to listen to? But it is, oh, how it is! Holding the mirror in which she preens and talks to herself is a very exhausting job; if it fell to me to do it more than twice a year I don't think I could take it.

It will be over on Monday, and I will be fortified for the finish line on Sunday by the Liturgy at church. And then we'll move back to normal life, and she won't trouble us again until November. Thank God for small mercies, and 1500 miles of blessed distance.

Mise en Place

Two really, really wanted warm milk tonight for bedtime, so he transformed into a sous chef and set everything up for me:


He's not allowed to turn the burner on, or he would have done that as well.

Who can say no to a seven year old who knows the importance of mise en place? I know I can't.

Secrets

Two invited me under the covers tonight after I finished reading to him: "Come on Mom, we need to have a secret conversation."

What about? Well, once we were tucked firmly under the blankets, Two revealed all:

"We need to have a serious talk about Dad's craziness. What do you think is causing it?"

We worked out that Dad is the only person who is crazy in the house, and Dad is the only person who eats jalapenos. Ergo, jalapenos cause craziness. I suggested that his Dad was born "crazy", or that he inherited it from his own father, but Two thought the jalapeno explanation made much more sense. Maybe that's because it was his idea.

We came out from under the covers, caught our breath, and then dived back in.

Two: "And now, Mom, I need to know. What causes mustaches?"

Oy vey. Can your father answer this question?

How Two Sees the World: the Camera

Two has been in love with his digital camera since he received it on Christmas Day. I finally sat down today and downloaded all the pictures he's taken and movies he's made with it. Here are two of my favorites:

Self-portrait of a young artist:


Capturing One's existential angst:


I know, blurry, I know. But even Two's blurry images look like he meant them to be that way. I think he sees something through the digital camera screen that most of us don't. That's likely an exaggeration, but looking at his pictures tonight I felt like I did when One started bringing home his first really good chalk sketches. There's a sense of recognition: neither of them may be actual artists, but this is how they see things best - this is their particular language.

Right now, he's filming himself sleeping. Oh Mr. Warhol, what will you think of next?!

I'll be there when the Bluebonnets Bloom

Or at least, right afterwards. HT to Robert Earl Keen, of course.

We made a Spring pilgrimage to Hill Country last weekend, stopping at the Wizard Academy and the Salt Lick in Driftwood, and then winding our way down to Wimberley. The day was perfect in the extreme; the weather was glorious and everyone just about behaved himself (or herself - yes, I was mostly good). We ended up in Luling, stopping at Bucee's before driving down I10 towards home. You can't go home without fudge.

Here are a few pictures of the wonderful day. More are at my Flickr page. Enjoy.