Too Much Information?

Yesterday morning, the thermometer outside our house read zero degress Fahrenheit. The temperature inside the house was not much warmer as our furnace had broken during the night. Man, was it cold! Eventually, the kids all piled into bed with me and my husband, supposedly to keep warm, but mostly they just annoyed each other. We had a few good minutes of conversation before it all broke down into shouts of, "Get off my arm!" and ""Quit poking me with your elbow!" In those few good minutes, I shared with the kids a dilemma I had faced in the early hours of the morning. I had lain in bed with an achingly full bladder, but unwilling to face the frigid air, tile floor, and toilet seat of the bathroom. Two children quoted me a fact from Susan E. Goodman's The Truth About Poop. Wealthy people in the ancient Roman city of Ephesus used to send their slaves to the public bathrooms to warm up the cold marble toilet seats for them. I favorably reviewed that book here, but I am still surprised at how often it pops up in our conversations!
There is a happy ending to this story, and it's not just that my kids have good factual recall. My sister-in-law Trish, who, like her Roman ancestors, appreciates a hot shower, toasty bathroom , and warm house, invited us over to use hers until our furnace was repaired in the afternoon. Grazie!

Black Swan Green

Who said New Year's Resolutions are difficult? I resolved to read and blog more about books appropriate for teenagers, and boy, did I strike gold with this one. David Mitchell's Black Swan Green is a gorgeously written, truly funny and achingly sad coming of age story. It follows one year, 1982, in the life of thirteen-year old Jason Taylor. Jason is an eloquent tour guide of his English village. Although only us lucky readers get to appreciate his hilarious and often profound observations about his family, neighbors, and classmates. Actually, readers of the poems he sends in to the local parish paper, under the pen name of Eliot Bolivar, get to appreciate his way with words as well. In daily life, Jason struggles from a stammer and has to constantly check what he says aloud in order to avoid the very bottom of the social pecking order. His depictions of the cruelty of adolescents to one another are painful to read. At the same time, it is a pleasure to peek in on his relationship with his brilliant older sister Julia. Unfortunately, Julia heads off to university, leaving Jason alone with his parents and their disintegrating marriage. Mitchell's recreation of Margaret Thatcher's England and of an anxious, thoughtful boy's struggles and joys growing up is a real treat. Although I finished Black Swan Green several weeks ago, I cannot get sweet, courageous Jason Taylor out of my mind.

Foodie Friday on an Empty Stomach

If you came in search of a Foodie Friday suggestion, I've got nothing for you. It's been a hectic week around here. The precious little time I've had to devote to picture books has been spent selecting something to read as Guest Reader in my daughter's third grade classroom this afternoon. It was very nice of her teacher to invite me, but I only had a few days' heads up. What to read? What to read? I decided to go presidential with the Inauguration just days away. I chose Jean Fritz's Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln and Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin's Duck for President. Most of today was spent running errands and dashing through the frigid air here in the northeast. Four degrees Fahrenheit this morning! What is that? Anyway, I forgot to eat lunch. I have a friend whose husband tells her it takes a "special kind of stupid" to forget to eat a meal. He's right, and the growlings of my gut as I read to the third graders proved it. Fortunately, or mercifully, they laughed harder at Duck than they did at my stomach's musical stylings. I hope to have a great Foodie Friday book to share next week. See you then!

What I've Been Reading Today

They've got words on them. That counts as reading. And, yes, I know it's only January 15!

The Last Straw Has Arrived!

There is a funny scene early in the new Adam Sandler movie, "Bedtime Stories." Adam Sandler is babysitting his niece and nephew, and the kids want him to read them a story before bed. He grabs a few books from the shelf, books we can assume his liberal, earthy crunchy sister purchased. The first two are titled Rainbow Alligator Saves the Wetlands and Organic Squirrel Gets a Bike Helmet. Sandler's character declares that he can't read these communist books and tells the kids his own bedtime story.
Jeff Kinney's latest installment in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, The Last Straw is no communist book. It doesn't have a lesson, touchy feely moments, or a whole lot of political correctness. It does have a lot of laughs and massive appeal for kids, especially boys between the ages of eight and thirteen. Wimpy, manipulative, self-centered Greg Heffley is back in this third Wimpy Kid book released yesterday.
There has been a high level of anticipation for this book in my house, and across the country if last week's NY Times, numerous websites, and my local Borders bookstore are to be believed. I purchased a copy for my two older kids who love the series. When my nine year old son arrived home from school yesterday and spied it on the table, it was almost painful to watch, he was so torn between beginning The Last Straw and finishing the twenty or so pages he has left in the second 39 Clues book. I think that's what they call an embarrassment of riches. My eight year old daughter solved his dilemma by picking up The Last Straw and guaranteeing she'll have it finished by the time he shuts the cover on 39 Clues. I'm sure she will too by the way she is furiously chuckling her way through it. Her latest giggle at the bus stop this morning came from page 110, when Greg writes, "I've heard that when you do good deeds, you're supposed to be all private about it, but that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to ME. If I start hiding my good deeds, I'm sure I'll just regret it later on." I'm going to have to get on line behind my son to read it too.

What I Just Finished Reading While Wearing an Outdoor Performance Fleece and Sipping a Latte

What do indie music, New Balance shoes, Mos Def, and expensive strollers have in common? They're all things white people like, according to Christian Lander, author of the very funny book Stuff White People Like. Speaking of books, they're also in this "definitive guide to the unique taste of millions." According to Lander, "The role of books in white culture is perhaps as important as organic food- essential for survival. However, understand that this is not about literacy or reading, but about the physical object of the book....Just as hunters will mount the heads of their kill, white people need to let people know that they have made their way through hundreds or even thousands of books. After all, what's the point of reading a book if people don't know you've read it?" So, combine that with the fact that I used to work as a high school English teacher (highly revered by white people), I love hardwood floors and Arrested Development, enjoy eating outside and appreciate the idea of soccer, and it's clear that I am a stereotype. All I need is a Toyota Prius and my face could be on the cover.

Stuff White People Like grew out of Lander's immensely popular blog, http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/ . I understand that the title might ruffle some feathers, but the satire is more about class and generation, poking fun at affluent, well educated left wingers, than it is about race. And it's pretty hilarious. Who can resist a sentence like this about #49 Vintage, "The love affair between white people and old stuff goes back literally hundreds of years." Moreover, the complex hierarchy of t-shirts is not to be missed.

Imagine If...

As you may have surmised, we are currently reading Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking over here at Casa Book Bench. When we finished a chapter several nights ago, one of the kids asked, "Can you imagine if Mary Poppins met Pippi?" My daughter and I initially felt Mary would quite disapprove of Pippi's lifestyle, but my older son convinced us that they have a lot in common. They both enjoy an adventure, have good imaginations, and neither is afraid of hard work.

We had some fun imagining the meetings between characters of other books. Ethan suggested that Mary Pope Osborne's Jack and Annie would never get back to their Magic Treehouse if stuck with Barbara Park's Junie B. Jones character. We all laughingly agreed. We all wondered if Despereaux Tilling would get along with Stuart Little. Or with Geronimo Stilton? Perhaps not. Really all they have in common is being mice. And we all would love to be there for the mayhem when Fred and George Weasley from the Harry Potter books meet Harold and George from Captain Underpants.