Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Yes, I should have posted last night, but December, you know?  At any rate.  Tonight I finished Martin Sandler’s Island of Hope:  The Story of  Ellis Island and the Journey to America.

Alone.

I started out reading it to my girls, but my highly emotionally intuitive 9-year-old didn’t like the sadness implicit in even the most successful stories, and my mystery-loving 11-year-old (she’s 12 now, but she wasn’t when we started it together!) wasn’t engaged, possibly because it’s a series of grouped experiences covering different parts of the immigrant journey instead of a conventional plot.  At any rate, reading it together was becoming a negative experience instead of a positive one, and so we bailed as a group and started something else instead.  I sure wasn’t going to bail on it individually, however, and so I’ve been snatching a few pages at a time, here and there, because (again) December.  Tonight I snatched the last few, and so here we are.

Here’s the thing.  I found the experiences (and the photographs!) fascinating, but I’m passionate about that part of history anyway; as a straight-through read, it’s probably best for kids who have an interest in the topic already.  (It would be a great research tool, though.)  It’s well done overall, although Russell Freedman is a better writer for the audience, but it’s not going to be captivating for everyone.  Bottom line?  I’m glad I read it, and interested kids should enjoy it, but it’s not the sort of book that’s going to win converts among the unenthused.  Do with that what you will!

Oh, and in case you hadn’t guessed from today’s title–I’m taking a break until after Christmas.  Don’t we all have miles to go before we sleep at the moment?