If I Was 13 and Artemis Fowl Was Real, I Would Totally Arm Wrestle My Daughter To Date Him

As usual, it's all thing Artemis Fowl over here at the house of th Book Bench. My ten year old daughter happily, happily, ecstatically got her hands on the newly released latest in the series, The Atlantis Complex. She is parcelling it out, just a few chapters a day to make it last longer. To fill in the gaps of non-Atlantis Complex time, she is reading the graphic novel version of the second book in the series, Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident. We have read the original novel and listened to it on CD and it is my favorite in the series. Hayden loves it because she loves the pixie villain, Opal Koboi who is deliciously evil. However, the graphic novel is like a thorn under her saddle because Opal does not look at all the way Hayden pictured her. That is irritating her no end. I'm worried that whenever the movie is made, she (we) will be disappointed

I do not have much time for "fun" books like the Artemis Fowl series because I am busily preparing for the classes I'll be teaching this fall. By the way, "this fall" means this Thursday as that's the day teachers report back to school. Anyhow, I did find a way to sneak a little Artemis in when I teach The Great Gatsby. I plan to do a lesson on Byronic heroes and have the students decide whether or not Jay Gatsby qualifies as one. Artemis is one of the many examples of contemporary Byronic heroes I will present to the class.

A Little Shakespeare on This Thursday

At a recent holiday party, the elementary school aged son of my school's principal asked one of the English teachers present to tell him a story. All she could come up with off the top of her head was Shakespeare's Hamlet. I believe she was in the middle of teaching it at school. She kept him happily entertained. I love that story. Actually, I love both stories- the one of the Christmas party and Hamlet. I do not love everything the Bard wrote, but I can see the influence of the storyteller. In the hands of a good storyteller (teacher, director, reader), it is easy to see why Shakespeare's works have stood the test of time. In the hands of a bad storyteller (ie the nun who taught my junior and senior years of high school English), studying Shakespeare's plays can make a student fall asleep, cry, or fantasize futilely about worse tortures. In the hands (or camera or mouth) of a good storyteller, Shakespeare's works can thrill and delight. For example, I read King Lear in high school and thought it was awful and boring and made little sense. Two years later in college it was taught to me by a professor visiting from England. He wore a big knitted scarf everyday, knew all of the play by heart it seemed, and loved it like it was a baby. I'll never forget him or how he made me see King Lear as a fabulous and heartbreaking family story. I've really liked the play ever since, although I haven't read it in about a dozen years. Then Gareth Hinds' graphic novel version came across my desk this week. I like King Lear even more now and would definitely use this book with my students if I ever have occasion to teach Lear in the future. First, I know that graphic novels can be a bridge, a way in, for many students. Secondly, the artwork is great and much of Shakespeare's language is kept. Finally, there is something about the way Hinds positions the characters on the page that makes the experience feel as much like viewing a dramatic production as it feels like reading a book. I am now curious to check out Gareth Hinds' version of The Merchant of Venice.

Too Busy to Read?!

This is a ridonculously (as the kids say) busy week in my house. In addition to the usual homework, sports, activities, laundry, and so on, we've got a few big holidays of the religious and ethnic variety, two birthdays, and a fourth grade poetry celebration. If we had tshirts printed for the week, they would read something like, "Happy Valentine's Day. I Cannot Tell a Lie. Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez. Happy Birthday Times Two. Poetry Rocks and To Dust You Shall Return."

How about that? Catchy, right?

In all of the madness, books are going unread around here. I've been trying to get in a chapter of How to Train Your Dragon (or as one seven year old I know likes to gigglingly call it, How to Drain Your Dragon) and the kids are completing their required minimums for homework, but that's about it.

I have been listening to Twilight on CD in my car. I figure it's necessary for my job as teacher since just about every teenage girl in America has read it and for my job as mom since sooner or later my own nine year old daughter is going to jump on that bandwagon. She even received some Twilight valentines in school this year. My opinion: it's okay, but not fantastic. It certainly is chock full of frequently tested SAT words. That's a plus. I can see why all of those girls love it though. Edward is dreamy, dangerous, brilliant and mature. He desires Bella but doesn't want to "violate" her. She is independent but doesn't mind being protected. It has all of the classic bodice ripper elements with no actual sex. I can't decide what I will say if my daughter wants to read it in the next year or so. Luckily, I don't have to decide for my son. He heard about five minutes of chapter nineteen in the car yesterday on the way to ice hockey practice and said, "No offense, but your book isn't very good."

You Learn Something New Everyday

Two weeks ago a good friend of mine and her husband were here from Ireland and spent an afternoon with me and the kids. My friends lovely Irish husband inquired about what nine year old daughter has been reading lately. She was happy to report that aside from her beloved Roald Dahl of course, her current favorite author is Eoin Colfer. She raved about the Artemis Fowl books and recommended The Legend of Spud Murphy for his young nephews. She and I kept pronouncing the author's name as if it is pronounced "Ian." When my daughter showed my friend's husband the books, he congratulated her on her wonderful taste in books and then informed her that Eoin is pronounced like "Owen." Who knew? Hayden politely thanked him for this information, but when he left, she told me that she "Ian" Colfer and so "Ian" is how she will continue to pronounce his name, at least as long as we are here in the United States. Then she went back to reading his The Supernaturalist. She has since finished and wants me to read it.

In other mother-daughter book news, I've finished Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, and I've been selling it to anyone with ears. My daughter took the bait, but asked me to check the print not CD version out of the library for her as she "can't imagine where she would find seven hours to listen to it." I did, but I think she will be missing out on Gaiman's fantastic reading. His voices and accents only enhance an already fabulous story.

It's cold out there today. At least it is here in New Jersey. I hope you can carve out some time to curl up with a good book in a cozy spot today.

Foodie Friday: Clementines Are Here!

I am soooo happy! Why, you ask. I'll tell you why. I am so happy because clementines, or as my children sometimes call them, clementimes, are n the groceries stores of the northeast once again. From now until January, I will have an easier time packing school lunches and I will feel better about my parenting. I will feel like a parent who dispenses citrus fruit rather than leftover candy as an after school snack. If we have company coming over, I throw a bunch of clementines in a bowl and tell myself I've created a Martha Stewartesque centerpiece. If I haven't really done that, please don't burst my bubble.

In honor of the return of the clementines, I have decided to mention Sara Pennypacker's Clementine books about a creative and challenging little girl named Clementine. These books are perfect for first through third graders. Despite the female protagonist, I've had success reading it with boys and girls. Like Junie B. Jones' voice, Clementine's voice takes a little getting used to, but it's worth it. Also worth mentioning are Marla Frazee's lively illustrations.

It Always Comes Back to T-Shirts

I'm up to my eyeballs in research on Edgar Allen Poe. I want to do a good job preparing these lessons because a) I've never taught Poe before and b) Some of my students have told me they are looking forward to reading his works, and I don't want to disappoint them. Of course I keep thinking of the awesome Simpson's version of "The Raven." While I can mention it and maybe even show it, I think I need more than that. I've found some great ideas and biographical information on Poe, which is good, but as is so often the case, I end up at cool t shirt websites.

I love this Nevermore Raven, but I can't quite justify purchasing it to wear for only one school day a year.

I guess I'll just have to come up with a gangbuster lesson plan instead.

Misc. Items

I want to write about a variety of book related topics that have occurred to me this week, but I feel I must begin with the title of this post. I wrote "Misc." on the chalkboard at school this week and more than one student asked me what it meant. I explained that it was an abbreviation for miscellaneous and I was asked twice why I didn't bother spelling that word out. That struck me as highly ironic since so many of my students write in such a way that I can tell they are of the texting generation. Their papers are filled with "&," "b/c," "w/" and "LOL." Yes, "LOL" on an essay. I spoke with another teacher who told me to brace myself for the emoticons that are sure to come, as in "It was sad when Romeo and Juliet died at the end of the play :(" I didn't see that when I was last teaching high school students almost ten years ago.

On a positive note, this week I had one of my best book conversations in the classroom ever. I was discussing Benjamin Franklin's autobiography and his "Speech in the Convention." I asked the kids what they think he valued based on their reading and was met with blank stares. Someone said he might have valued the Philadelphia Eagles because (b/c?) he lived in Philly. After we went over the fact that football was not played in the colonies nor was there an NFL, I asked if it had been played then, what position did they think old Ben would have played based on what they read by him. They warmed to the topic so quickly. I then asked if he was dropped into our society today, what sport would he enjoy the most based on what they read. The answers were brilliant and I left work happy that day.


Speaking of leaving work, I have something to listen to now on my drive home. A friend just lent me the audio book of Spencer Quinn's Dog On It, I've been told that it's a humorous whodunit with a canine narrator. Chet the dog and his owner, a down on his luck private investigator, solve a crime and have some adventures in this story that I have been assured I will enjoy greatly. While I'm in no hurry for Monday to get here, I am less cranky about my long commute now that I've got Dog On It to look forward to.

Oh Books, How I've Missed You!

Here's a bit of irony for you: I've been so busy working as a high school English teacher that I've been unable to read a book all week. Actually, I've been busy teaching high school and having three children who are all playing soccer this season, who all like to eat dinner, and who all want someone to check their homework. It's taking a toll on my reading for pleasure. I haven't even read a newspaper this week. Don't worry, I am all caught up with my Newsweek and Entertainment Weekly magazines. A girl does have to stay current after all. But I miss my books. It's a heartache walking past my night table and seeing that yummy looking stack gathering dust.

Luckily for me, I happened to ask the more than one hundred sophomores that I teach to write about the most memorable book they ever read. I only asked for two or three sentences from each. Every single kid found at least one book he or she could write about. Some told me it was to hard to narrow it down. Some gave me eight, nine, ten sentences about books they found memorable for either good or bad reasons. What fun I had reading their responses. So many of the girls named Twilight (one of the books on my to-read list), but there were Harry Potters, Holes, Unfortunate Events, Wayside Schools, Nancy Drews, Boxcar Children, The Outsiders, and more. It was like walking through a doughnut shop on a diet. It was tantalizing but also satisfying just to sniff the air, so to speak. I am more determined than ever to carve out a little book time in my schedule. 4 a.m. maybe?

Are You Down? I'm Down

I've got a great, light summer read for adults and older teens out there, Mishna Wolff's I'm Down A Memoir. It's hard to believe that a book which concerns itself with race, poverty, divorce, and identity issues can manage to be a light summer read, but this one does. Without being exploitative, Wolff, a white woman, tells her experience of being raised in a poor urban black neighborhood by her white father who believed he was black. She writes of him, "He strutted around with a short perm, a Cosby-esque sweater, gold chains, and a Kangol-telling jokes like Redd Foxx and giving advice like Jesse Jackson. You couldn't tell my father he was white. Believe me, I tried."
Wolff's entire childhood seemed to be her father trying to make her down. Much of the humor and sadness in this memoir lie in how she fell short of that goal. Being down came much more easily to her younger sister Anora. Both lived with their father when their parents divorced, but eventually the author moved in with her mother and attended an academically rigorous and predominantly white school. This led to further identity conflict. While her situation is certainly unique, Wolff's central story of a girl wanting to belong and to please her parents is universal. For that reason, I think it's a good book to give to a teenager looking for something to read this summer. Plus, it's funny.

Trifecta!

My book club selected David Benioff's novel City of Thieves for this month's reading. I am feeling lucky because

1. Although it is available in paperback in bookstores, I was able to obtain a copy from my library and save even more money.

2. That library copy is a LARGE PRINT EDITION. Listen, I'm not getting any younger, folks, and neither are my eyes. They really appreciate large type when I am reading around midnight.

3. I was reading this book around midnight because it is so good! It is so entertaining in fact that I purchased a copy for someone for a Father's Day gift and plan to recommend it to high school students looking for outside reading suggestions.

City of Thieves opens with a frame story device. A screenwriter named David visits his retired grandparents in Florida, curious about their experiences in Russia during World War II. When David asks his grandfather to clear up some some holes in the story, points of confusion, his grandfather tells him, "You're a writer. Make it up." From there, readers are treated to the story of 17 year old Lev Beniov, living in Leningrad ("Piter" to its inhabitants) during the Nazi siege of 1942. Lev must join forces with Kolya, a charismatic Russian soldier, on a dangerous and darkly comic quest. City of Thieves is so full of grim details, action, and humor that I had great difficulty putting it down. As I said, it was a win, win, win reading experience!

The Storm In The Barn

I've just had the good fortune to read an advance reading copy of Matt Phelan's soon to be released graphic novel The Storm In The Barn. I believe I've mentioned here before that I'm not a huge fan of graphic novels, but this one really drew me in with its subject matter, pacing, and high level of suspense. Set in Kansas in 1937, The Storm In The Barn tells the story of eleven year old Jack Clark who hasn't known rain in years as his family is struggling with the effects of the Dust Bowl. With a clumsy nature and no family farm to contribute to, Jack feels he is a failure to his father. Tensions run high in his town, and Jack is often the victim of bullies. Is he also a victim of "dust dementia" when he sees a sinister rain-like figure in a neighbor's abandoned barn? The historical details, from the clothing and cars in the illustrations, to the references to the Oz books popular in the 1930s give The Storm in the Barn a feeling of authenticity.
While it is a strong book to be read on its own by 9 to 13 year olds, I think it would be a great resource to accompany study of the Dust Bowl Days or a reading of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. It is a timely topic of study as reckless, market-driven farming practices were in large part responsible for the devastation. For readers thirsty for more on the topic after reading The Storm In The Barn, I recommend Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Sherman Alexie's young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, has been out and winning awards for several years now, but I just finally got around to reading it this week. On the one hand, I feel badly about that. I have loved Sherman Alexie's writing ever since reading The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (for my money, the best book title ever crafted) back in the early 1990s. I really should have gotten to this semi autobiographical book, his first for young adults, sooner. On the other hand, I'm glad I waited. It made several long waits I had this week go much more enjoyably, and it will be fresh in my head when the sequel, The Magic and Tragic Year of My Broken Thumb, soon comes out.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian tells the story of Arnold "Junior" Spirit, a Spokane Indian living on a reservation in Washington State. Arnold wants to be a cartoonist and escape the alcoholism, poverty, and hopelessness on the reservation. His first step is to leave the reservation high school and enroll at an all-white high school in a nearby farming town, joining the school's mascot as the only other Indian. Alexie, through Arnold's diary, broke my heart and made me laugh several times over in this fantastic book. Ellen Forney provides artwork in the form of Arnold's cartoons which add to the humor of the book. This is really a great one for teenagers.

There's Chalk Dust in My Veins Still

I believe I've mentioned that I've been selectively sending out my resume, hoping to go back to teaching in September. That seems to have put me in a lesson planning state of my mind. Everything I read in the paper or see on the news gets me going. The things I could do with swine flu! Think Canterbury Tales. And oh to be teaching American Lit. with our current economy! The connections are begging to be made. Somehow, the books I've been reading for pleasure lately all have to do with teachers. Coincidence? One wonders. I'll tell you about two of them that I've particularly enjoyed.

My book club is reading Lloyd Jones's Mister Pip this month. It is the story of a girl named Matilda on a tropical island during war, who is introduced to Charles Dickens's Great Expectations by Mr. Watts. Mr. Watts, an object of ridicule and curiosity, is the only white person to remain on the island. Mister Pip is an interesting story about the power of story in all of our lives. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and has deservedly won several awards for books for young adults.

Another book I just finished reading and am pressing on anyone with an open hand is Richard Peck's The Teacher's Funeral. I just loved experiencing this one. It is set in rural Indiana in the early 1900s just as motorcars are making an appearance, and it has a one room schoolhouse. One room schoolhouses, like homeschooling, fascinate me. I love to read about them, but would rather shoot myself in the foot than teach in one. When Russell's teacher dies, he believes the Hominy Ridge School will be shut down and he can follow his dream of lighting out for the Dakotas to work as a harvester. Alas, his dream is really crushed when his 17 year old sister Tansy is hired as the new schoolteacher. It is a sweet, nostalgic, and laugh out loud funny book I can't recommend enough. Tansy is now up there on my list of favorite teachers from books along with Jo March, Professor McGonagall, and Mr. Ratburn.

Fascinating Nonfiction

I just completed a very satisfying read of Atul Gawande's fascinating book, Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. Medicine may be imperfect, but this book is pretty near flawless. It's not surprising it was a finalist for the 2002 National Book Award for nonfiction. Gawande combines his experience as a surgical resident with his easy, informative writing talents in this book of essays which examine the fallibility of doctors and the challenges and mysteries of working with the human body. Rather than creating a sensationalized account of the mistakes doctors make, Gawande presents the variety of challenges they face along with the philosophy, science, ethics, and even economics involved in practicing medicine today. I am so glad I gave this one to my sister for her birthday back in January (insert evil genius laugh here). I knew it would make it back to my night table eventually.

Speaking of putting nonfiction reading in the hands of others, I have been selectively sending out my resume hoping to go back to teaching in the fall, and my ten year old son got hold of my resume. I've never seen him so intrigued by anything in his life. He even requested a copy of his own. He seems fascinated by and skeptical of any experiences I had before his birth. Moreover, he had never really thought about the fact that grownups have to work to find work. So I guess that's a good thing, but it's kind of weird at the same time.

Grayson

I like a lot of books. Some I recommend to friends and family, some I give as gifts, and a very few make me act positively evangelical. Lynne Cox's Grayson is just such a book. I was telling people to read it before I had even finished it. I've started counting how many copies I ought to buy for upcoming birthdays. In church this morning I saw a teenaged neighbor who I chat with about books at our lake during the summer. I thought about lending her my copy. I can't wait to start reading it aloud to my kids, although I know my third and fourth graders could probably handle reading it on their own.Grayson is a marvelous and endearing memoir which recounts an encounter the author had when she was a teenager with a baby whale while swimming off the coast of California. It's a story about courage and adventure as Cox swims with the baby whale for hours, helping him find his mother and avoid dying either from collapsed lungs on the shore or of starvation and dehydration in the water. The story is told simply and beautifully. At the same time, Cox describes her experience so clearly that I felt I was in the water with her. I'm no huge nature lover and I certainly hate exercising to the point of tired, much less exhaustion, and yet I was completely charmed by this story of both. Only 153 pages long, it is an easy and enjoyable read that I plan to press on anyone who will listen to me.

Procrastination Does NOT Pay!

Last night I dropped two of my children off at basketball. My kind parents agreed to watch the game and drive the kids home afterward, leaving me free to drive my third child to his ice hockey practice. Once he was on the ice, I had an hour to myself to work on reading for my book club which would meet in less than 48 hours. Unfortunately, the book, Barry Unsworth's Land of Marvels, set in Iraq just before the outbreak of World War I, is not holding my interest. Truth be told, it never even caught my interest. So I told myself I would read just a little of Newsweek magazine and then right back to the book. Mistake!

The first article I read, "The Curse of Cursive" by Jessica Bennett, scared me. I was scared my fourth grade son would find it. Bennett argues in favor of letting penmanship, cursive writing, joined up letters, script, whatever you call it, die out. In this modern world of computers and Blackberries, it has lost its purpose she argues. She cites the 2006 SAT where just 15 percent of the test takers used cursive on the written section. Clearly my son's elementary school didn't get the memo and supporting him through his penmanship homework was like the glory days of Gitmo: torture. It is crucial that he not find this article as it shoots down all of the lame arguments I used to get him to complete the assignments.

Foolishly, I left Land of Marvels in my handbag and moved onto another article, this one on "sexting." Sexting?! The title of this heart warming piece is "Teens, Nude Photos, and the Law." It's written by Dahlia Lithwick and is sure to make parents nauseous. Sexting is the name for sending a nude or semi nude photo of oneself via cell phone. Let me quote from the article here to tell you that "One teenager in five reported having sent or posted naked photos of themselves" according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. One in five! (I apologize for all of the exclamation points but Holy Christmas!) Some people argue that kids have always been this stupid and this epidemic is only occurring due to the availability of technology. I disagree. Cavegirls had the technology to paint on the walls but you don't see many cave paintings of them flashing their boobs and grabbing their crotches. Can you imagine Shirley Temple or Judy Garland pulling a Miley Cyrus? And let me tell you, back in the 80s, my girlfriends and I never went to the pool or beach without a great big butt covering Tshirt that was only removed just before going in the water and immediately replaced upon coming out. Even if, through some miracle of time travel, we had gotten hold of cell phones, MySpace accounts and Facebook pages, there was no possible way we would photograph and forward our (perceived) flawed figures, especially not to boys we liked! No, I blame the times, Bratz dolls, thong underwear sold in little girl's size 6, and those hot pink toddler sweatpants that say "Sassy" and "Flirt" across the bottom. Whatever the reason for such gross stupidity on the part of these teens, here's the really scary bit: the senders and receivers are being charged with child pornography. Think about that as a parent. Not only do you have to face having a kid so dumb he or she sent naked self portraits by cell phone, but if convicted, you're the parent of a soon to be registered sex offender.

Obviously, I shut Newsweek like it was on fire, watched my sweet, innocent, boy with passable penmanship play a little hockey. Then I started back in on my book. You know, it really started to get better about 150 pages in. Maybe that's just in light of the alternative reading...

Tween Girls and "The Period Talk"- Gotcha Covered!

Here comes a cliche: I sure wish this book had been around when I was a tween. Of course the word "tween" wasn't around when I was a tween. In preparation for my period, the filmstrip I watched in school mostly featured an illustration of a uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries that seen from a distance (the back of the classroom) looked a lot like a longhorn steer to me. The pamphlets I was given were overly scientific and did not answer the questions my girlfriends and I had about what it was really going to be like. Gotcha Covered! Everything You Need to Know About Your Period by Lisa McGuinness and Chris Boral is a great resource for today's tweens and their parents. It is written for a nine to twelve year old reader. While talking respectfully to girls, the authors still have a casual tone. Couple that with matter of fact information about what to expect and how to handle embarrassing situations, and you'll end up with a prepared girl not a scared or confused one. The book is short, only 34 pages which is ideal. I think it will inform without overwhelming. It even provides a few laughs, such as in these section titles. "A New Kind of Shopping Spree" and "Did My Jeans Shrink a Size?" That last one is about bloating, and is, in fact, a question I ask myself monthly, decades after I was a tween. While I'm not necessarily looking forward to having this talk with my own daughter someday, Gotcha Covered! will make it easier.

The Good Thief

I am feeling empty and rather purposeless this morning. I finished reading Hannah Tinti's amazing novel The Good Thief last night, and now I don't have it to look forward to as I did the last few nights. It was the best adventure I've been on since I don't know when. The Good Thief tells the story of Ren, a scrappy twelve year old orphan missing his left hand. He is plucked from the St. Anthony's orphanage by Benjamin Nab, a charming, clever con man, horse thief, grave robber, and friend. Ren accompanies Benjamin and Tom, his alcoholic partner in crime, on a furiously paced series of adventures through New England farms, whaling villages, and factory towns. This plot driven novel introduces Ren and the readers to a cast of colorful characters including, but not limited to, a roof dwelling dwarf, a gigantic hit man, a crazed bosslike mousetrap factory owner, and a deaf landlady. Each night this week, I've put off reading The Good Thief until my kids were asleep so I could savor it uninterrupted, and I had to force myself to put it down each night. Ren's adventures, frightening and thrilling, make this page turner an exciting read, but Ren's desire for a family and efforts to create one make it a tender read as well.

There is a high school English department head somewhere who's very lucky I am currently a stay at home mom. Otherwise, he or she would be spending the next few weeks being pestered to purchase a class set of The Good Thief immediately. I'm already looking forward to giving it to my own children when they are teenagers.

Everyone in the Pool!

I have a wonderful twelve year old niece who is an all around great athlete. One of the sports at which she excels is swimming. Every year for her birthday and Christmas, I want very much to buy her a good book about competitive swimming, like a Matt Christopher sports book but for a girl audience. I've had very little luck. A few years ago I recommended the fantastic picture book America's Champion Swimmer about Gertrude Ederle, but I didn't give it as a gift because she was a bit old for picture books. I did give her Liz Kessler's chapter book The Tail of Emily Windsnap, but that's more a book about a seventh grade girl who goes to a swim class and finds out she's a mermaid. It's a good read, but not quite what I wanted to give her. A few months ago I found a book that would have been ideal to give my niece back when she was in first, second or third grade. It is Swimming with Sharks by Betty Hicks, one of her Gym Shorts series. It's a fun and easy to read chapter book about a girl and her friends who swim competitively. My own eight year old daughter read and enjoyed it. It got us talking about why kids choose different sports and how they deal with difficulties.

Even more recently, I finished a fantastic book which tells of a teenage boy's experiences swimming the butterfly on his summer swim team. It is warm hearted and hilarious, but not quite appropriate for my twelve year old niece. If, however, you are looking to get a high school boy a book he will enjoy, even if he's not into swimming, Don Calame's Swim the Fly is a great first choice. Fifteen year-old Matt and his best friends Sean and Coop get themselves into a number of awkward but very funny situations as they try to achieve their summer goal of seeing a real live naked girl. There is plenty of gross out humor and crude nicknames, but also a lot of loyalty, and persistence, and sweetness too. I think somebody out to hurry up and make a movie out of this before Michael Cera gets too old to play Matt.

So my quest for the perfect swimming themed book for a sixth grade girl continues. Please tell me if you know of a good one!

My Struggle with Six-Word Writing

Smith, the online magazine, has issued another six word memoir book. This one, Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak is out just in time for Valentine's Day. It is inexpensive and easy to read with a good 500 six-word memoirs on affairs of the heart. Two of my favorites:

Not always perfect, but so worthwhile.

and

We were our own Springer episode.

I've been thinking about these six-word memoirs a lot lately. I thought it would be fun to write one about my husband and/or marriage as a Valentine's gift, but that turns out to be impossible. He's great. The marriage is wonderful, but I just keep coming up empty. I am consoling myself on this failure by saying that he and I are too complex and our love too large to pin down in six words. I have, however, composed a few about motherhood. They came. They cried. They captivated and Loud, sticky, hectic, overwhelming, fuzzy bliss.

After that little exercise, I tried penning a six-word summary of the book I most recently finished reading, the superfun YA Book, Swim the Fly by Don Calame. It goes like this: Some swimming. Much teenage boy hilarity.

If you are inspired to write your own six-word composition, I would love to read it in the comments section.