Monday, May 19, 2014

Ideas Lyra Has When She Can't Sleep

Since we can't get a puppy, let's get a talking donkey! I will be so nice to him and give him candy so he won't be gloomy.

The moon should learn to change color for the seasons like leaves so that when you wake up and it's dark you know what season it is in case you forget.

If I had a bakery I would have a sign that said Free Carrots. And then kids would say, "Look, mama! I can eat a carrot that is healthy!" And then their mamas would take them to my bakery and be so happy they ate something healthy and so then they would buy them a cookie.

If astronauts wore glasses made out of atmosphere it wouldn't be so dark. Because even when the sun shines in space it's dark. And what if they're afraid of the dark?

Friday, January 03, 2014

This might be a personality trait I should be taking advantage of

“Can I read American Gods?” Adriana asked.

“What? No. That’s a grownup book.”

“What about Neverwhere?”

I finally looked up my reading. “What are you doing?”

“I finished my book. So I looked to see what Neil Gaiman you had on here.”

I had given her my Kindle to read one of her Junie B. Jones books, while I read my own e-book on the app on my phone. But I had no idea she knew how to navigate the Kindle well enough to search for a specific author. I told her I didn’t think I had any of Gaiman’s children’s books on my Kindle, but she continued to scroll through the titles. Finally she asked about Odd and The Frost Giants.

I hesitated. She’s a strong reader, but I was pretty sure the book would be too hard for her. I downloaded it a year ago in part because I wanted to read it myself, but also because I was screening it to possibly read to her. I had decided that she wasn’t quite ready for it yet and not mentioned it to her. But since it had been a while since I’ve read it, I couldn’t quite remember why I’d decided to wait.

“That one is a kids book, but it’s for slightly older kids. How about I read it to you? We haven’t read a new chapter book together in a long time.” I figured I could re-screen it as we read, and assess her understanding for myself. Plus, I do miss reading to her.

“Or I could just read it myself.”

That’s when I explained that I thought the book would be too hard for her. She gave me a Look, so I shrugged. “Give it a try.”

That was five days ago. Tonight when I went into her room at nine to tell her it was lights out, she handed me back my Kindle and flopped back onto her bed in exhaustion. I peeked to see where she was and found that’s she’s finished three chapters. Part of me thinks she’s reading it because I told her it was too hard and she wants to prove me wrong.

I’m okay with that.