Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

When I picked up Treaties, Trenches, Mud, And Blood–the 4th of Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales–I couldn’t figure out how he was going to make a book about WWI anything but depressing.  Trench warfare was ugly, the casualties were awful, and all in all, it was a fairly pointless war.  I have to say, though–the man came through.  He uses different animals to represent the nations/empires/etc. involved; bears for Russia, bulldogs for Britain, otters for the Ottoman Empire…

(Sounds of a 37-year-old mom giggling.)

It was a perfect strategy–it totally worked.  This is a exceptional installment in Hale’s series–it’s fascinating, humorous, and packed to the gills with information.  Please get these books for your kiddos, if you haven’t already…especially your reluctant readers.

They are SO worth it.

I generally take the time to go through the books I stick on my almost-10-year-old’s shelf.  I’m not actually worried about most of them being inappropriate (although occasionally I find one that seems a little old for her); I read through them because a)I pick what looks good and why not read through it while it’s in my house? and b)I want the books I’m providing for her to be worth reading.  I’ve never censored anything she’s picked, but I have, on occasion, read through a book I thought looked good for her and thought–life’s too short to bother giving her that.  There are too many excellent books in the world for me to waste time bringing mediocre ones to her notice.

Now, I generally don’t review the books I skim through, because I don’t feel I’ve fully read them; on the other hand, some of them still ought to be brought to your attention.  Without further ado, then, here is my first ‘Books That Made the Cut’ list.  I’m sure it won’t be the last!

1)Chasing Vermeer, The Wright 3, and (presumably) the books that follow.  Blue Balliett’s philosophical bent works, in part because there is also emotional depth, plenty of action, and a dose of mysticism.

2)Operation Bunny, The Three Pickled Herrings, and (presumably!) the rest of the Wings & Co. series.  Hilarious, but (again) with emotional depth and some extraordinary creativity.

3)Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, Detectives Extraordinaire, and its sequel.  Polly Horvath has done herself proud–oh, how I laughed!

4)Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains.  This is a bit of an odd mix of a plot, but it works.  Laurel Snyder has some excellent picture books as well.

5)Upside-Down Magic.  This first in a new series has three authors, and there’s quite a lot of depth here considering that it’s definitely aimed at the younger side of the JF spectrum.

Give any or all of these a try–or give them to your elementary-age daughters!

I am beat, probably because the BYU/Arizona game started (and therefore ended) so frustratingly LATE last night.  (It was a nail-biter at the end, too, but the win–by brand-spanking-new coach Kalani Sitake–was satisfying.)  Add that to early church and a fussy 1-year-old (she’s got a cold, the poor love), and all I want to do is crawl into bed.  Until next time, folks!

No, I didn’t get involved in a land war in Asia.  (I’m not actually THAT stupid.)  I did, however, go grocery shopping hungry.

Twice.

To be fair, it was my son who begged for the Spicy Dill Kettle Cooked Potato Chips at Trader Joe’s–thanks to my sister, he’s hooked–but I can’t remember exactly how many weird flavors of chips I bought to try.  In addition, I now have lemon curd, pickled beets (that are weirdly sweet but still pretty good), cookie butter (because oh, the pumpkin spice puppy chow!), Honey Mustard and Onion pretzel pieces (those things are amazing)…SO.  MANY.  THINGS.

I’ll keep you posted about the weird chips.  In the meantime, although the Swedish Fish Oreos were the worst Oreos I have ever put in my mouth, someone posted a pic on FB of Nutella Oreos…those are bound to be better, right?

I have problems.