JediBoy is taking an unexpected afternoon nap. He decided to come into the bedroom with me while I listened and talked back to one of my learn-Spanish cds. He burrowed under the covers and played and wriggled under there until he just fell asleep.
I’m taking a bit of my free time to write about our library books, inspired by Nina at Painted Rainbows and Chamomile Tea. JediBoy still doesn’t have the kid-in-a-candy-shop glee that I get from being in the library: let’s get this! and this! and this! He would rather pick out one book at a time, have a good long look at it on his own, and then have the entire book read to him right then and there. If, after that reading, I tell him we still have more time at the library, he will hunt out a second book and repeat the process. Sometimes I bring him a book, or a pile of books, that I’d love for him to see, but it is rare that we come home with more than five books for him. He likes to read those books over and over for about a week, and then return to the library for some new choices.
Today, he was interested in using the computer to choose books. Unfortunately, the first word he picked to search for was “ghost,” which brought up almost exclusively Halloween books. Then he asked for “turkey,” and we wound up at Thanksgiving. So he asked for “animals,” and we moved into the 591 section of the stacks. I read the titles of some of the books from the top shelf for him, and he stopped me at Where Are the Night Animals? by Mary Ann Fraser.
Where are the Night Animals? is in the Let’s-Read-And-Find-Out Science series and is about nocturnal animals. He liked it because he’s been on his Animal Genius kick and, having hermit crabs and mice for pets, he’s always been more interested in nocturnal animals. I liked reading this one because there was a subtle weaving from one animal to the next: the raccoon fishes in the pond, where he spooks a tree frog, who leaps onto an oak tree, where a little brown bat darts through the branches, and so on.
I pulled out a pile’s worth of books on animals, but JediBoy was already wandering down the aisle. He stopped when a book in the 629 section caught his eye, and immediately sat down to explore Mission to Mars by Franklyn Branley.
Mission to Mars is also in the Let’s-Read-And-Find-Out series and talks directly to the young reader, imagining that (s)he will one day be a scientist on Mars. There are detailed drawings and explanations of the different vehicles and living spaces, as well as the different types of rocks and features a Mars-dwelling astronaut would investigate. I think JediBoy felt empowered by the direction of the text: “You will dig wells to recover the water. It will be one of your first jobs, because the crew needs a lot of water.” He was nodding his head right along, as if he understood the gravity of his mission. (erm, no pun intended)
Next, he asked for a book on King Arthur. We’d already read many of the selections, but I came across Sir Gawain and the Loathly Damsel illustrated by Joanna Troughton, and JediBoy was interested in that one. The illustrations are very rich and have a wood-cut feel to them. This one is from 1972 and I can’t find a decent Library Thing or Amazon entry to share with you. In this story, King Arthur and Sir Gawain set off across the land to find the answer to the question: “What is it in all the world that women most desire?” in order to save King Arthur from being killed by the tongue-tripping Gromer Somer Joure.
After that, we separated for a bit. I looked over the new releases, but couldn’t entice him to a new book on knights or the new book about Tut’s tomb. I did find the enormous Masterpieces Up Close: Western Painting from the 14th to 20th Centuries by Claire d’Harcourt, though, and he liked that one right away.
Masterpieces Up Close is a Where’s Waldo for the MoMA crowd. It has more than 20 works of art, each reproduced across a large two-page spread with five or six details, in side bubbles, waiting to be found. The book encourages a closer look at these great works, and JediBoy likes it for its Hidden Pictures appeal. He didn’t want for me to put it down long enough to find two novels for myself, but eventually he let me go.
When I came back, he was waiting for me with Amelia Bedelia, Rocket Scientist? by Herman Parish. Of course we had to read it right away!
Amelia Bedelia, Rocket Scientist? is another in the continuing saga of the confused housekeeper. They make JediBoy squeal with laughter, and that’s enough for me.
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