Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

That seems to be my new thing, folks, and so I think I’ll embrace it for the moment! In the meantime, we just got home from my son’s second basketball game, and I am SO proud of him. His team didn’t win–in fact, they lost 24-12–but it was 11-0 before they made any points at all, and it was a beautiful thing to see them learn and adapt and improve on the court, as they were playing. I’m also a fan of his coach, who is positive and encouraging while also getting down to business and up front about what the kids need to be told (including “you need to be listening while I’m talking”, because 4th grade boys). I am NOT a fan of 8:30 in the morning games that involve him being there at 8, but they rotate–last week was 9:30 and I think next week is 10:30, so it is what it is. It was worse this morning for two reasons–the first being that my poor hubby is sick and his level of coughing just before 5 this morning meant we were BOTH wide awake then, and the second being my recent even-poorer-than-usual bedtime choices, because I am SERIOUSLY struggling in this regard.

The best thing that can be said for last night’s post-midnight bedtime, perhaps, is that I stayed up 10 minutes or so past when I told myself I would because I was SO very close to finishing Kyle’s Little Sister, and ANY graphic novel I can pass on to my 12-year-old makes her day. (And her day could use some making, because she’s still down in the dumps over this coming week being distance learning because of Covid numbers. Not only does she hate, loathe, despise, and abominate distance learning, but it’s also the first week of the new quarter, which means brand new classes starting virtually instead of in person, INCLUDING HER DANCE CLASS.) I went ahead and finished it, of course, because I was just too close NOT to, and overall it was a solid middle grade graphic novel. The art wasn’t my favorite, trending toward manga style when I’m more of a Telgemeier/Jamieson kind of girl, but Grace’s sibling and friend struggles are relatable, and while it takes her longer than I would have liked to step up and do the right thing in one particular situation, the book deals with that in a realistic, growth-y kind of way. (Yeah, not a word, don’t care today.) Kyle’s Little Sister focuses on the kind of relationship struggles (sibling and friend) that affect middle graders everywhere, so it’s solidly worth your time. We’ll see how much my 12-year-old loves it!

One thing, as an afterthought–I did find the directed bubbles vs. non-directed speech bubbles vs. complete lack of speech bubbles a bit confusing. The last was probably thoughts, but that wasn’t clear to me at first, and as for the rest, I wasn’t always sure. Let me know how much it bothers you…