Uncategorized 
Comments Off on Greetings From the House of the Sick Greetings From the House of the Sick
Seriously. My 4-year-old started on Friday–fever, exhaustion, lack of appetite, sore throat, and an incredibly gunky-sounding cough–and my 13-year-old followed suit on Saturday. The 10-year-old started mildly on Sunday night but fell hard by Monday evening, so I took her in to see if it was influenza.
Nope.
Apparently there’s an influenza copycat out there at the moment–similar symptoms, but the sore throat is worse while the fever not quite so high. Which is TOTALLY us. My last hope is that my son will somehow escape, but that’s feeling less and less likely. Ah, parenthood!
Anyway. If you also have sick kids, here’s a book recommendation to cheer you up. 24 Hours in Nowhere is by the same author as Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, which my older girls and I all loved. (Granted, my 13-year-old is inexplicably incapable of saying the title and keeps calling it Insignificant Lives in the Event of a Cactus, but she loved it all the same.) I wasn’t sure about 24 Hours in Nowhere initially–the main characters’ life situations aren’t exactly warm and fuzzy–but it didn’t take long for it to win me over (and then some!). Gus’s quest for gold in an abandoned mine leads to an unexpected overnight adventure, and Dusti Bowling’s blend of hardship, friendship, humor, pathos, and adventure is pitch-perfect. (The entire book is improbable, I suppose, but who cares? It’s just so blasted good.) I found this every bit as enjoyable as Insignificant Events, and that’s saying something. If you want a satisfying book with heart to spare, look no further. (The heat of the desert setting might even warm you up a little.)
I might actually have to own this one.