A smiling adult voice narrates the story. This could be patronizing, but rather is understanding and warm. Ramona didn’t mean to be a pest, she wanted to be good. The narrator has tremendous insight into a child’s psyche, using everyday, even mundane experiences that might seem (to an adult) out of proportion, but are...
You know you're a kiddie lit geek when you're arguing with an eight-year-old over who gets to read the library books first. St. Nick snagged this one, I sneaked it while he was playing his Nintendo DS, and he sneaked it back later. I, gracefully I think, allowed him to finish it...
Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat, 1957.
Singsong rhyme and controlled vocabulary are great for beginning readers. The story is incredibly imaginative, with the twist that the cat is the “child” who tears up the house and makes a mess, while the children are the...
We have a new family member, as of today. His name is Fisher and he's about 90lbs, three years old, and the sweetest BIG guy ever!!
A little background: eight years ago, before kids, we thought of getting a dog. An Old English Sheepdog would be perfect, we thought. So we found a rescue organization, and who would know, they had a dog needing adoption! We drove across the state...
Here's a fellow we met this morning, him and three companions. That stretch of asphalt is our driveway.
Most distinctive for its magnificent plotting, Holes is the adventure story of the unlikely hero, Stanley. He’s been falsely convicted of a crime and sent to a work camp for boys in the Texas desert. There he and the other boys dig holes, only he quickly begins to suspect...
Halfway into first hour at coop this morning the director knocked on the door. She had St. Nick beside her, and neither of them was happy. He was being kicked out of class for his first time ever. Kicked out! Sent to the office! Sent to sit in the hallway! Whatever that horrible thing was that happened to the bad kids in school, but never...
That's what I haven't had for a while now. Homeschool coop has been going better. Fish loves it, Pie doesn't know that she has a choice, and St. Nick is under strict orders to put up with it or else. He may well find out what "or else" means before it's said and done, however. I guess I should put some thought into what "or else" means, eh?
So, I'm sitting here at Biggby sipping...
Red Sails to Capri was published in '52, won a Newbery Honor, and I guess that's why it ended up in St. Nick's curriculum. Or maybe the sheer drudgery made it adequate school reading?
But I'm being unfair. It's a book for younger readers, so it can't be too breath-holding...
