What I've been reading lately...

I try to be a good mom.  I don't reach the mark very often, but I try.  I know that I can't control everything that goes into my boys' minds, so I do my best to be aware of what does.  So my reading, as of late, has been ruled by the books my boys read.  (aside from my daily Bible reading, which I've been doing a good job of keeping up with, I'm only 1 day behind!)  I like to order lots of books from the scholastic order forms that come home.  Here are a few that I have read:

Goosebumps: we got a box set and I read them all.  Entertaining, but very formulaic.  I like that he feels free to make the story wildly outlandish instead of trying to think of reasonable explanations.  I don't like that the parents are seen as unreasonable and uncaring to the children and the children are disobedient and bratty and obnoxious.  Oh well, they find it entertaining and it gets them to read.

Rascal: this is an oldie about a boy and a baby racoon that he takes and raises for about a year, set during The War.  It's autobiographical.  I LOVED THIS BOOK.  I want my boys to read this, I want them to love it as much as I did.  I want them to want to be as creative and industrious as the boy was.  (I want a racoon now)

Sounder: while this book is named after a dog, and the main character is a boy, it is NOT a book about a boy and his dog.  It is about a sharecropper family who hit upon hard times, harder than usual.  It is also a true story.  It is a beautiful book.  A beautiful book.  Not a beautiful story.  It's sad and depressing and tough, hopeful and hopeless.  I cried.  I want my boys to read this, but I don't think they could even come close to comprehending what it's about.  This is a book that came in a pack of Newbury Award winning books that I ordered and it was just sitting on the shelf.  Until we rented Old Yeller at the video store and the lady told us about the Sounder video, starring Cicily Tyson.  We haven't rented the video yet.  I'm debating whether they should read the book first.  That's usually my requirement.  But I wonder if the movie would provide the images they need to have in their minds to visualize while they are reading...

Peter and the Starcatchers:  this is the book I'm currently reading.  I'm pretty wild about it.  It's a nice thick book, part of a trilogy.  It's the prequel to Peter Pan.  Co-authored by Dave Barry.  It's an easy read, very fast paced and impossible to put down.  It's full of action and pirates (note my pirate on the side! isn't he cute!) and violence.  But the violence is not detailed.  For example, the British sailors embark the pirate ship to engage in battle and all the book says is that a few minutes into a bloody battle the captain realizes that they would never win.  So, you have the action without the gory detail.  Perfect for this mom.  I'm sure if a movie would be made of this book, it would be wraught with gore.  The book has no cursing - yes!  Even with hard core pirates.  Idjit is the worst I've read yet.  We bought this book Friday and Jake is on page 300-something!  This is very exciting to me.  He loves to read, but it's usually non-fiction.  I'm glad to know that he can follow a long story and not just bites of trivia.

And since there are 3 of us trying to read this book at the same time, I have a backup read.  Our National Geographic is here.  I'm on an article about the other Mexican border.   I know, most people reading it would be thinking about border policies and getting all riled up about politics and migrant workers and illegal immigrants.  Blech.  I don't think like that.  I hate politics.  I'm thinking about their plight and mission work and my heart reaches out to them.