Great Success!

I have attained several goals recently,

1. TV is less important to my children
2. I got to the library
3. We are back into reading chapter books together

 Caroline watched no TV today while Will was at school and when we got home from school pick-up, the kids did not ask to watch TV. Instead, on the car ride, they planned to play a secret game involving a witch and a Star Wars commander.

They are apparently experts at this game because it was on almost before we got in the door.  However, they switched roles so that Will could be the witch, and Caroline got to choose between being a commander and an at-at pilot.  I have no idea what that is, but it's on the box of Legos we got for a friend's upcoming birthday. P.S. Sorry Jack, the box is  a little (lot) crunched, and a little open.  We love that box of Legos and badly wish it were ours.

Also, I finally got to the library today.  Here's what I got for myself:

Stacked by Susan Seligson  a book about boobs
Under the Black Flag: the Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates   By David Cordingly
Near Death on the High Seas: True Stories of Disaster and Survival  edited by Cecil Kuhne
2-at-a-time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes
Favorite Socks:25 Timeless Designs from Interweave 
Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution by Caroline Weber

(Why do all books have such long subtitles these days?  Kind of like the Most Excellent and  Lamentable Tragedie.... except that's a surtitle. Am I supposed to put in the subtitle when discussing these books?  I need to check a style guide).

This list of books makes me think that maybe I have some sort of bizarre mental disorder. I can't even begin to surmise what it says about me other than the fact that I was only able to browse in the non-fiction section because of an impatient four-year-old so I grabbed everything that caught my eye. Breasts! Shipwrecks! and Knitting your own socks!  What could be better?

I also got a bunch of kid books, most notably Book 1 of the Spiderwick Chronicles.  Will and I read one and a half chapters tonight.  I think it's going to be a pretty good one.  All I know of this series is that it is  magicky, very popular and was made into a movie.  Last week at Media Center, Will checked out a Spiderwick from later in the series so it was impenetrable to him.  Today, I got Book One at my library and he got an illustrated Field Guide at his. We are set.

Also, we have been reading and LOVING  The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by  Kate DiCamillo.  We loved Despereaux even though my kids were maybe five and three when we read it.  It takes a lot of stopping and explaining words, concepts and plot, but somehow my kids are mesmerized my Ms. DiCamillo's stories. There is alot of talk of love in these books, and the value of it, and feeling it; and about  looking for love and how it it the truest and most important feeling.  Despereaux Tilling is a mouse with strong feelings for honor and courtly love, while Edward Tulane is a china rabbit who is learning about love and what's important on his long and incredible journey. These stories have so much in them, strong characters, vivid descriptions, a recognisable, but slightly magical setting,  talk about the important things in life,  I think it all rings really true to my kids.

Ms. DiCamillo mixes in fairy tale and minor magic with perfect prose and pacing. She won the Newbery Medal for The Tale of Despereaux, and she has won numerous other notable awards, which she deserves.  I love her very much.