Jeffrey The Bear and Mama The Goat

So here we were this morning the last day of school for the kids, and after unloading their backpacks from yesterday which contained darn near everything they've done and needed for the year which they couldn't bring home, and after the kids and I had breakfast (Martha had already left for work, she starts early) I sat down and Sarah read me the story she'd written in her own book that she made and illustrated, complete with cover. She read to me from Mama the goat and I haven't had as much fun being read to in quite a while -- eight pages about a goat who sang and prayed when a tornado hit her area with a dedication to her teacher and even a biography!

I mentioned to someone this morning before work that Jeffrey advanced to Bear level in Cub Scouts -- I know my wording's wrong, but deal with it -- last night at his den's award ceremony and was asked whether Sarah was similarly involved in Girl Scouts and I replied no; for that matter, she's not much involved in any extracurricular out-of-school stuff so far. I was asked why not let her try some such things and I admitted I don't want to pressure her into it. But now that I think of it, she could be becoming a writer, and a quite good one too. Besides, it's a long summer ahead of us, I imagine the kids will BOTH be doing a lot!

I introduced myself to William Golding's debut novel Lord of the Flies (ISBN 0399501487) by watching the 1990 movie adaptation first ... wow, really a quarter-century ago? I got a copy uber-cheap along with quite a few other books at Ward County Public Library's book sale last week; actually, said library has it going all the time, but the prices were slashed for three days last week and I stopped in the first one. This tale of boys stranded on a tropical island who eventually divide into two tribes -- one headed by Ralph that wants to "follow the rules" in hope of eventual rescue and one by Jack who sees the chance to totally break convention -- reads like a junior Survivor.

The 1954 novel (and THAT date sticks in my head because one of my favorite books that I'm re-reading now, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, was published the previous year) is just not my cup of coffee. I read it, let's move on. Last week I also got done with Flight Explorer: Volume One (ISBN 9780345503138) with ten illustrated stories ranging from the life of an ancient Egyptian cat to a girl with her pet monster Jellaby in the snow and a fish saving the earth from a giant asteroid ... comes in the graphic novel section of your local library or bookstore, and I should read it again before I turn it in! Checked out four books from Ward last week and have only finished one so far ...

But there's just so much going on and only one life to read all I can, David