Summer readin'

Several people have asked if I'll start writing again. I haven't been mentally earmarked things to write about so I feel a bit rusty, but one thing that's been on my mind is reading (which is like writing, but backwards). Or rather, my son reading. He's a good reader, despite his crappy grade in school, and loves to engage in a book. Especially Captain Underpants. Or Nate the Great. Or Super Diaper Baby. Well, you get the idea.

While Magic Tree House are sweet little chapter books, I was determined to read some classics together this summer. Selection so far has been driven by the books I preserved from my own childhood and used books I've come across.

An aside, or as Captain Underpants would say, "But before I can tell you that story, I have to tell you this story":

Many, many, many technology eons ago before Google, I made a catalogue of used bookstores and gave a "tour coupon" to my mom for mother's day. Using the Yellow Pages! Calling businesses to check for a heartbeat! And using my Thomas Guide to map routes! Good lord how did we get anything done? Long story short, I never made good on my bookstore tour (how pathetic!) Well this was the year to redeem old coupons and in 15 minutes with Yelp and GoogleMaps I had it all figured out. J

Our best, most charming, most enjoyable find was The Book Cellar in Lincoln. You can see in the pictures how awesome they look at Halloween! I bought stacks of books (warning… their inventory “system” is a bit antiquated…) including a few for my son, like Roald Dahl’s “James and the Giant Peach” – a favorite of mine, and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. The first book was a major success and Z stopped sticking his nose up at the idea of reading classics. After reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we Netflix’d the (original) movie, which is funny as hell now that I’m an adult. Z and I enjoyed comparing the book to the movie, sharing what we liked, noticing what was different, and ultimately enhancing the movie experience by reading the story. All in all, a superb experiment.

Did you know CatCF has a sequel, “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator”? Me neither. Did you know that Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay for the original movie? Me neither, until I watched the credits. I assumed that meant he invented and approved of the departures from the book, which I thought were excellent BTW, but according to Wikipedia, Roald Dahl abhorred the movie! He was so disgusted that he refused to allow a movie to be made for the sequel, which he authored after the WWatCF movie released. It’s no wonder people are clueless about the second book’s existence. Boy did he pass up an opportunity to make a lot of money; talk about sticking to your principles!

Anywho, next up is “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle.