The Lost Fairy Tale

My kids have never seen Shrek. In the first place, I honestly just didn't care for the movie. In the second, I want a real fairy tale. I want the princess to be beautiful.

My friend, Dr. Louis Markos, wrote, "To most modern viewers, the transformation of Fiona into an ogre is 'no big deal.' Many would even hail it as teaching children the 'valuable' egalitarian lesson that external beauty is unimportant, an elitist, 'bourgeois' hang-up that needlessly divides and engenders low self-esteem in girls who can't make the grade."

But the Ugly Duckling doesn't stay ugly. He turns into a swan. The Beast turns into a Prince, and Cinderella beats out the ugly sisters for the love of hers. That is how I like my fairy tales.

Dr. Markos continues, "More and more, we are doing the same for ugliness: enshrining it at the heart of our culture, while beauty is left to atrophy and decay."

I've been thinking about this lately because of a 2nd grade project my younger son must complete. He has to recreate a fairy tale character out of craft supplies and return it to school. The most popular character this year ... Shrek. I kept my mouth shut during the discussion (I am learning), but I was just sad.

M will be recreating Prince Charming. And not the Prince Charming of Shrek or Into the Woods. He will be recreating the Prince Charming of Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. He will be the hero who rescues the damsel in distress. He will be dashing and defeat the dragon. He will be faithful. He will not be an ogre.

New Year

Already. It is only November, but I have come up with a reading project for next year.

Each month of 2011, I will read that book. You know the one that you were supposed to read in high school or in college and that is referenced and referred to in other classic and modern works of literature, but that just somehow got away from you. Yeah, THAT book. Here are the 12 I have chosen:

Ulysses
Madame Bovary
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Mrs. Dalloway
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Absalom, Absalom!
Moby Dick
Vanity Fair
Invisible Man
Doctor Zhivago
Farewell to Arms

Most of these, by the way, are sitting on my library bookshelf. Two just arrived this week from Amazon.

All of these, except Doctor Zhivago, are on The Novel 100 list, but that is not why I picked them. Interesting to note however, that a number of books that I finished this year are also on the list including, Middlemarch, Great Expectations, Don Quixote, and War and Peace. Some are long time favorites including Huck Finn, Lolita and Pride and Prejudice.

Oh yes, lest I forget, my 11 yo son and I will also be reading The Hobbit. Yet another one that got away!

Hopefully, I will have time to throw in some lighter reading as well. You know, The Atlantic or The Bible? Please tell me you get the sarcasm.

He Can Tell a Story

As we work our way through our "at home" world history curriculum, J. and I are moving through the Middle Ages. We are making our way slowly, ever so slowly, to the Renaissance.

We flew through the Ancients. We loved the stories of the Egyptians and the Greeks and Romans. I haven't found quite as much to love in the stuffy English monarchs and the Plague.

Until this week. When we experienced Henry V.

I have read a little Shakespeare. A little. I remember when I was a girl, someone in my family gave me a beautifully illustrated children's version of some of his plays. His most famous comedies and his tragedies were all there. But there were no histories. There were none of the compelling and beautiful stories of the the great men of England.

So we jumped in this week. Anticipating this chapter and needing to add a little life into our study (the Greeks and Romans had tons of outside material to draw on, I haven't found as much for the Middle Ages), I purchased Henry V in comic book form for J.



and No Fear Shakespeare for myself.



We read them one afternoon, and the watched Kenneth Branagh in the title role in this film adaption.



I'll say it right now. I have missed out on a lot. It was wonderful. It was powerful. It was brilliant.

But we in it shall be remembered--
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
this day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

After we finished the movie last night, J. was pretty quiet. You know, it isn't very "cool" in 4th grade to be a fan of the Bard. Then he said before he went to sleep, "That guy really knows how to tell a story." Amen.

Bookbag - April

If you didn't notice, there was no "Bookbag" in March. I didn't read. I skied quite a bit, but I didn't read.

April has been an entirely different matter all together. I have read voraciously, probably to make up for lost time. And the things I have read - WOW have they made me think. Some have even begun to change my life.

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Have you been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? Shame on you if you haven't. If you have been watching it and want to take the next step in your personal food revolution, then this is the book for you. It will change the way you think about your meals. The first sentence of the book asks a fairly simple question - What should we have for dinner? He answers the question, but leaves us to ask and answer bigger questions about our food. This is the book that has changed my life. I'm a big thinker to begin with, but now I have added thinking about my food to the list. Thinking about my relationship with it, not just what it will taste like.

Food Rules by Michael Pollan
This is the book to read if you don't have time for Pollan's larger work. Pollan breaks eating down into 64 simple rules that can have you eating better than you ever have before in you life. Some of my personal favorites, "Eat only foods that will eventually rot," and "Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself." Simple easy solutions to our food crisis. My grandmother would be proud. Jamie Oliver would cheer.

The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges by David and Kay Scott
We are visiting Glacier this summer and Big Bend next year. Then we plan to hit Yellowstone, Yosemite and The Grand Canyon.

Brave Companions by David McCullough
This was my favorite book this month. It may rank as one of my favorite books of all time. I always learn from Mr. McCullough and this book is no exception. It is a collection of articles and pieces that came from his larger works and from speeches. He writes near the end, "there is nothing inevitable about history." I don't think it is a lesson we have quite learned as a country. He shows, so eloquently, that one man can make a difference and that we can be the change. I learned that the truisms are, well, true. Unfortunately, he has also added to my TBR pile. There may be 50 books he referenced that I must now read.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Chris Cleave's Little Bee was wonderful. Fiction has bored me lately. Most of the works I have picked up (especially some of the best-selling popular ones) have given me absolutely no reason to turn the page. So many have been the same story told with different words. I have found nothing original, until I picked this up at the bookstore the other day. One of my daily blog reads had done a small "chapbook" entry on it and I decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did. As much as I have travelled, I have never been to Africa, but I am connected to the continent one week a month while my husband is there on business. Often protected by bullet proof cars and men with machine guns as he is driven to work (yes, he is in the oil business), he looks out and sees the desperation and tragedy that is life over there. He has often said that I couldn't imagine what he sees and what life is like for the people of Nigeria or Angola. Yes, I can. Yes, I can.

I also participated in Girl Detective's 15 Books in 15 Days Challenge. Here are the links to those posts:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Time Pirate
Profiles in Courage
Nikon D90: Guide to Digital SLR Photography
The Emperor's Code
With The Old Breed
Mere Christianity
Touch the Dragon
Looking at Pictures
The Girl Who Threw Butterflies
Mudville
Ruined by Reading
The Mother Tongue
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
The LIttle Prince

Baseball, Book 2

Mudville is the second of the books I am reading as possible "Bookclub for Boys" summer reading books. I just don't know if I like this one or not. Well, I know that I didn't like it, but I wonder if my boys will like it. I used to be much, much better at picking out books for them.

There is enough about baseball. The main character is a boy. But there is almost too much about curses and girlfriends and dysfunctional families. It just isn't what I wanted.

What I want are some great recommendations for baseball books.

Baseball, Book 1

I am hosting a summer "Bookclub for Boys." I have great plans for this club. It is open to any boy at the elementary school my kids attend. There are no restriction on age or grade. I don't even care if they can read. Their parents can read to them.

We are going to read baseball books, watch baseball movies and learn to keep score. At the end of the summer we will all attend a game together and use our new baseball skills to really enjoy the game.

I saw this book and loved the title. The Girl Who Threw Butterflies. It just sounded like a good book. It sounded like a fun read. It was. Not to melodramatic. Enough plot to keep me going. Fun characters. People in a community coming together.

The problem. The main character is a girl. A girl who plays baseball mind you. But she is still a girl. While I will have my boys read it, I don't think it will make the book club list.

A Little Book for A Day with Little Time

I knew yesterday would be crazy. I subbed at the school for my favorite teacher (she also happens to have M. in her class so I got to spend the day with my son). And I chased boys from 7 AM (running club and choir) to well into the night (baseball practice). I picked up a slim volume that I knew would be easy, The Emperor's Code. This is Book 8 in the The 39 Clues series developed by Rick Riordan but with a different author for each book in the series.

The books are fine. J. loves them, but he also loves the on-line game aspect that comes with them. He likes collecting the cards and figuring out the clues. As a marketing plan the books are genius. As a series, they are just o.k.

To be honest, I expected more from the likes of Riordan, Gordan Korman, and Jude Watson. They have all produced better work.

I do like that they manage (if the kids care enough to check it out) to teach a little history, a little geography and a little of the liberal arts. I also like that the heros are kids ... a theme that always draws me to Children's and YA literature (i.e. Nick of Time and Percy Jackson).

Do you have a struggling reader? These would be great! Amazon says they are for kids ages 9-12. I think a twelve year-old would be bored, but a struggling 8 or 9 year-old would probably find them easy enough to get through but interesting enough to hold his (or her) attention. My advanced 7 year-old has no trouble with them.

Think for Yourself

TV turnoff week starts today. Can you do it? Can you turn off the T.V. and limit your non-work screen time? Can you get off Facebook and stop Twittering for a week?

I challenge you to keep the T.V. off for a whole week.

I dare you not to load Facebook for a week.

Turn it off.

Read a book. Even a bad one is probably better than T.V. (But if you are just going to read Twilight then you might as well just turn the T.V. back on.)

Do you feel lost without Facebook? Have lunch with a friend. Call your dad on the phone.

Play a board game.

Make pizza from scratch.

Go to a baseball game.

Thinking for yourself means finding yourself, finding your own reality. Here's the other problem with Facebook and Twitter and even The New York Times. When you expose yourself to those things, especially in the constant way that people do now--older people as well as younger people--you are continuously bombarding yourself with a stream of other people's thoughts....You are creating a cacophony in which it is impossible to hear your own voice.

William Dersiewicz in The American Scholar

Two For the Channel Islands

Did you even know there were Channel Islands? If you read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which I reviewed yesterday, you were introduced to them.

I have to admit I was ignorant of them until I read Ted Bell's first book for children, Nick of Time. I fell in love with the islands and all of the characters he created. The proud Lord Hawke (who happens to be the main character in Ted Bell's series of books for adults and I imagine is very good-looking), the curmudgeonly Gunner, and the courageous Nick McGiver were engaging and appealing. The story was exciting and interesting. The book was educational while being a great read. Best of all, I love that it shows how a 12 year-old can be a hero ... and so can his little sister.

Regardless of what you think of Glenn Beck, you have to appreciate his love for a great story. Here is his interview with Ted Bell:



Could the second book, The Time Pirate, compare to the first? Would Nick's Tempus Machina save him and the world again? I had one day to find out.

"Aye, Matey!" It was as good as the first. The murderous enemy Billy Blood was just as evil and tracherous. The people of the islands were more resolute in the defense of good. Nick McGiver ... well I won't tell. Not a word about what he does.

This book again takes us back to the Channel Islands during WWII; but, instead of going further back in time to help the British Lord Nelson, Nick finds himself face to face with George Washington. Will the British boy help out the American General? You'll have to read it to find out. I promise the journey with Nick will be worth it.

Just a note: one of our favorite ways to enjoy a good book is in the car as we rush from place to place. We have found some wonderful books on tape - it is how we were first introduced to Percy Jackson. I only managed to keep this book from the boys because I promised them we would listen to it together. Every time we get in the car we turn on The Time Pirate, even if it is just the 5 minute trip to school. The narrator of both this book and the first one, John Shea, masterfully brings the story to life. Tired of bad music and talk radio. Listen to this instead!

People Magazine and Captain Underpants

I don't read People Magazine. There, I said it.

I don't read it. I don't even pick it up in the doctor's office when I have finished my own reading material. I don't like the magazine. I don't care if Brad is with Jen or Angelina. I don't care who went into or came out of rehab. I think People Magazine is a colossal waste of my time.

I read The Atlantic. I read the Wall Street Journal. I read to engage my mind. Sometimes I read to drown out the world around me. People Magazine doesn't do either of those things for me. When I want something a little lighter, I read Bon Appetit or Backpacker.

If you want to read People Magazine, by all means, go ahead and enjoy it. You are not me. You might not care who Brad is with either, but you might enjoy the temporary break in you day. You might care about who Brad is with. Good for you. I won't judge you. I will just understand that we have different tastes.

I eat sushi and my husband doesn't. Different tastes. He likes his steak well-done and I prefer mine medium. Different tastes.

My kids don't read Captain Underpants or Junie B Jones. I think they are awful. As a matter of fact there are a few books other popular books that I would prefer my boys not pick up. I am not a fan of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. M. enjoys it, but J. thinks it is little to young for him. We own it, but we are not fans.

We are a reading family, and my two boys are avid readers. They will take any book you give them and give it a chance. I would say I am lucky to have kids who love to read, but I raised them to be that way. We have always read and we are always reading.

We love Percy Jackson. We are actually a bit obsessed. We can't wait for the next book by Ted Bell to be released. I rediscovered Call of the Wild in the fall when J. and I read it together. Such a beautiful book.

Now you tell me. If your child would read Call of the Wild, wouldn't you give that to him instead of Captain Underpants?

I made a decision a long time ago, even before I had kids, that I would surround them with good books. I thought that if the only choices in the house were classics then they would learn to love them. I was right. They do love the classics; but more importantly, they just love to read. They enjoy being taken away to different worlds and different times. They enjoy telling me about what they learned. I love to hear about it.

Stop with the, "You are a dictator" speech even before it gets our of your mouth. I do let them choose what to read. We take turns. The boys choose a book and I choose a book. (They have never chosen Captain Underpants by the way.)

They are also only required to read 50 pages of each book I choose for them. They have to give every book a try. The smartest man I ever knew once told me that there were too many good books out there to waste time on the ones you don't like. I have taught my kids that as well. When they are reading for pleasure and not for a school assignment, they can quit if they don't like the book. They just have to give it a chance.

Look, I won't judge you if you and your child love Captain Underpants. I get that some kids don't like to read, and I agree that a child who is reading is better than a child who isn't.

We have different issues and different tastes.

Sometimes My Kids Teach Me

For books that Geisel wrote and others illustrated, he used the pen name "Theo. LeSieg" (Geisel spelled backwards).

I did not know this ... J. pointed it out this morning.

Bookbag - February

Emma by Jane Austen (audio book)

So this is why people don't like the classics. Pride and Prejudice, which I finished last year, was so much better. I wish I had been reading the hard copy of Emma so I could have skipped Mrs. Bates and Mrs. Elton.

The 39 Clues, books 1-7

I like to know what the boys are reading so I can keep up with their conversations in the car.

The Bone Box by Bob Hostetler

A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer

There has been much talk in my circle of friends about the books our kids will be reading in middle school. I thought I would get a head start on those books while I have some time. I can't believe I haven't read this one. Heart-wrenching and inspirational. Will my then 12 year old be ready to read it? We'll see when we get there.

Helping Your Gifted Child Soar by Carol Ann Strip and Gretchen Hirsch

Nothing I hadn't already figured out by myself.

Books for Boys - revisited

I have read a number of articles lately about the dearth of books for boys, like this one in Education Week.

Authors Share Tips on How to Hook Boys on Books

Sorry, but I think these articles are missing the point.

There are some wonderful books for boys out there. Books with wonderful male main characters. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and Nick McIver to name a few. We just finished The Call of The Wild and are quickly moving through Robinson Crusoe. The books for boys are out there. I will admit they are not as numerous as books for girls, but part of me says, "Thank goodness." I don't need a boy's version of Twilight or How to Be Popular or The Summer I Turned Pretty.

In my opinion the problem is not that the books aren't out there. I think the problem is that we expect less of the boys and they meet those expectations. I will never forget the day my son came home with a choice from the library, selected just for him by the librarian ... Captain Underpants. This for a boy who had already finished The Chronicles of Narnia (in their original order he likes to say). I personally returned that book to the library and suggested if the librarian needed help in the library during my son's library time, I would be more than happy to come and volunteer (she never did call).

Why aren't we reading to our boys like we read to our girls? Why can't we send our boys off with adventure classics and show them that classic does not mean boring? Why don't we have mother/son book clubs just like we have mother/daughter book clubs? Why don't you take your son to a book signing?

I don't think the problem is a lack of books for boys. (But go ahead and bring them on ... if they are good we will read them.) I think the problem is that we read less with our boys and expect less of them. Let's be honest, the problem starts at home.

Are you in need of some great "Books for Boys" resources? Check out the side bar with some of my choices from Library Thing or follow these links ...

Boys Rule Boys Read!
Guys Read
Book Club 4 Boys

Books for Boys

I have read a number of articles lately about the dearth of books for boys, like this one in Education Week.

Authors Share Tips on How to Hook Boys on Books

Sorry, but I think these articles are missing the point.

There are some wonderful books for boys out there. Books with wonderful male main characters. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and Nick McIver to name a few. We just finished The Call of The Wild and are quickly moving through Robinson Crusoe. The books for boys are out there. I will admit they are not as numerous as books for girls, but part of me says, "Thank goodness." I don't need a boy's version of Twilight or How to Be Popular or The Summer I Turned Pretty.

In my opinion the problem is not that the books aren't out there. I think the problem is that we expect less of the boys and they meet those expectations. I will never forget the day my son came home with a choice from the library, selected just for him by the librarian ... Captain Underpants. This for a boy who had already finished The Chronicles of Narnia (in their original order he likes to say). I personally returned that book to the library and suggested if the librarian needed help in the library during my son's library time, I would be more than happy to come and volunteer (she never did call).

Why aren't we reading to our boys like we read to our girls? Why can't we send our boys off with adventure classics and show them that classic does not mean boring? Why don't we have mother/son book clubs just like we have mother/daughter book clubs? Why don't you take your son to a book signing?

I don't think the problem is a lack of books for boys. (But go ahead and bring them on ... if they are good we will read them.) I think the problem is that we read less with our boys and expect less of them. Let's be honest, the problem starts at home.

Are you in need of some great "Books for Boys" resources? Check out the side bar with some of my choices from Library Thing or follow these links ...

Boys Rule Boys Read!
Guys Read
Book Club 4 Boys

Life in the Words

I have been bored by my books lately. Bored. Tired. Turned-off. I haven't found anything to peak my interest or excite my mind in a few months. Friends have suggested books. Blogs have suggested choices. Nothing.

Until this weekend.

Whoever you are out there in the "blogosphere" that recommended my Memorial Day reads ... thank you, thank you, thank you. First, allow me to apologize for my bad habit. I write down the books that people recommend, but I don't write down who recommended them. Often I click straight from one website directly to my library page and put the book on hold. I can't thank the person who suggested these books and I am sorry.

I loved them.

I was entranced.

I was inspired.

I was happy reading again.

These books each deserve their own post, but I read them back to back and they are intertwined in my mind so I will write about them both here. They are about the same thing, but so very different. Each book is about one person's life in books and life with words.

The first book I read was Lynne Sharon Schwartz's Ruined by Reading: A Life in Books. She starts with the same questions that have been plaguing me for months,

What is it all about? What am I doing it for? And the classic addict's question, What is it doing for me?

Her answers challenged me to face my reading demons. What is it about reading that I love and need? I am past trying to prove something to other people. I don't really care what they read. I don't care if they know what I read or that I read.

It started -- my reading, that is-- innocently enough, and then it infiltrated. It didn't replace living; it infused it, till the two became inextricable, like molecules of hydrogen and oxygen in a bead of water.

Exactly. Reading is as much a part of my life as eating or sleeping. I realized that I have been searching much too hard. There is no reason for reading in my life. It is just a part of my life and always has been. Reading is not my life, but it is necessary to it.

How are we to spend our lives, anyway? That is the real question. We read to seek the answer, and the search itself -- the task of a lifetime -- becomes the answer.

Like the bodies of dancers or athletes, the minds of readers are genuinely happy and self-possessed only when cavorting around, doing their stretches and leaps and jumps to the tune of words.

And really, why do I care so much about books? Why do I care that, above all else in school, my children learn to read.

For in the end, even if all my books were to vanish, I would still have them somewhere, if I had read them attentively enough. Maybe the words on the page are not even the true book, in the end, only a gateway to the book that recreates itself in the mind and lasts as long as we do.

I am glad I read Schwatrz's book first this weekend. It freed me from the need to know why I was reading a book and allowed me to throughly enjoy the next slim volume I picked up, Donald Hall's Unpacking the Boxes.

I put down my note taking pencil and put away my mini-sticky notes. I read. I immersed myself in Hall's life and lived along with this former Poet Laureate of the United States as he found and followed his passion. I laughed and I cried and I vowed to read every single book he has ever written. I wish I could pick out passages for you from his memoir. I wish I could share the words here, but I can't. I think this book should be taken as a whole. His father's dreams for him can not be separated from his life at Harvard or his friends and family. They are who he is. And, WOW, what a life.

I have included these book in the same post, but many will say they are nothing alike. That may be true; but the first allowed me to enjoy the second, and the second allowed me to appreciate the first.

Read these books.

More from Rick Riordan

Mr. Riordan is posting all week at Letter Blocks, Barnes & Noble's blog for bookish parents. He is kicking off their summer reading program ... check it out.

Hard Work and Imagination Were Partners

A few weeks ago, I finished listening to Walter Issacson's biography, Einstein: His Life and Universe and throughly enjoyed it. Here is the story of a genius who combined hard work and imagination to achieve great things. His story is compelling and the book is very well-written. I enjoyed learning about Einstein's life, but the biggest lessons I pulled from the book relate to the state of education today. Einstein and I have the same opinions ... you know what they say, "Great minds ..."

As we move to the end of the school year, I will write here what I would like to send to the teachers my boys will have next year. The words are Einstein's:

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Remember this when Boy-oneder wants to tell you about a book he read and how he would have changed the ending to make it better. Remember this when Sonshine writes about his imaginary friend in his journal.

Critical comments by students should be taken in a friendly spirit.

No offense is meant, but he does know more about Greek mythology and animals than you do. Those are his passions. You are a generalist and he is a specialist.

Accumulation of material should not stifle the student's independence. A society's competitive advantage will come not from how well the schools teach the multiplication and periodic tables, but from how well they stimulate imagination and creativity.

No one will care in 15 or 20 years that these kids passed the TAKS test. They will care that they can write a coherent sentence and use their imaginations to solve real-world problems. My kids can read a textbook on their own ... bring creativity into their classrooms. We would not be fixing the Hubble telescope if someone hadn't dreamed we could get to the moon.

An appreciation for the methods of science is a useful asset for a responsible citizenry.

I take my kids to church so that they can develop a deeper understanding of the Bible and God's amazing creation. If you tell my 4th grade student that Darwin was wrong, he will ask you to prove your theory. He understands the scientific process. So do I. Leave matters of Faith to me.

Read to Your Kids

and have them read aloud to you.

This New York Times piece extolls the virtue of using everyting - your very breath - to read. It is a whole new experience.

You can easily make the argument that reading silently is an economic artifact, a sign of a new prosperity beginning in the early 19th century and a new cheapness in books. The same argument applies to listening to books on your iPhone. But what I would suggest is that our idea of reading is incomplete, impoverished, unless we are also taking the time to read aloud.

I agree.

Our First Encounter with the Bard of Avon

started out as a disaster.

I guess I should begin with my good intentions. After years of reading in one of my daily go-to blogs (Mental-multivitamin) about the joy of sharing Shakespeare with kids, I decided to take the first step. Houston's wonderful Miller Outdoor Theatre and Houston Grand Opera's Opera To Go program were presenting an adapted version of Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet. School in May after TAKS tests are out of the way is a joke ... I knew this would be a better opportunity to learn than being in the classroom. Besides it was a beautiful day. We would sleep in, drive downtown to see the show, eat lunch at the zoo and make our way home.

Except J doesn't sleep in and was very grouchy in the morning. M didn't want to miss PE that day. My lovely husband kept asking (over and over) why I thought this was more important than school. And I was out of all breakfast making material.

By 8:30 everyone was in a bad mood. Especially me. I tend to get a little testy when the reality doesn't meet my expectation. After 14 years of marriage and 2 boys, one would think I might have gotten over that. I haven't. We were all a little tired from a VERY busy week and we were all hungry. I finally gave up on getting anyone in any of the clothes I would have liked them to wear and decided a nice leisurely breakfast at Starbucks with a steaming chai was out of the question.

M had on his favorite green and orange plaid pants and his best red, white, and blue striped shirt while J sported the jean shorts and moldy T-shirt look. We went through the What-A-Burger drive through. I put the audio version of The Last Olympian on my iPod, hooked it up to the radio, and drove to the theater in peace and quiet.

Thankfully, the reality got a lot closer to my vision as the day went on. I had prepared well for this excursion. J had an abridged version of Romeo and Juliet to read and M had a Romeo and Juliet word search to work on while we waited. The production was fun and lighthearted and only 45-minutes. We all enjoyed the performance and J said he would like to see the whole thing, even if it is three hours long.

I don't think my boys developed a life-long love of Shakespeare from the day, but at least they know who he is.

The Last Olympian

Rick Riordan's final book in the Percy Jackson series does not disappoint. The Last Olympianis a tour de force of battles, intrigue, love and ???

Don't worry, no spoilers here.

As he has done in his other books in the series, Mr. Riordan combines his knowledge of Greek mythology with a fine understanding of young people to create a book that will draw you in, hold your attention to the last and leave you begging for more.

Percy again battles the forces of the ancient Lord Kronos along with his friends from past adventures. For a time, enemies become allies; and, just like in any "mortal" family, everyone must work together to bring the story to its satisfying conclusion.

J's favorite character is Tyson. M's favorite is Mrs. O'Leary. As always, I am drawn to Annabeth. However, all of the characters are so well drawn as to seem real in the moment. Riordan's writing makes them jump off the page straight into our imaginations. He made me laugh out loud. He made us cheer. And the best part is: There's more to come!

Go buy this book. Buy lots of them and give them to every kid you know. That recommendation that says this is for ages 10 and up ... phooey. Give them to everyone. Read them with your kids. Give them to libraries. Read them with other peoples' kids. ENJOY!



Until you grace us with your writing again, Mr. Riordan. Thank you!