Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

While I love that my 12-year-old still wants read-aloud time with me, most of our reads are fiction; our tastes intersect well enough that we never hurt for options there. She tends NOT to love my preferences in non-fiction–she thinks most of them are too sad–but we’ve occasionally managed, say, one of Sy Montgomery’s animal books together. On the other hand, I’ve had Christina Soontornvat’s All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team checked out ever since it became a Newbery Honor book, because I tend not to have the brain power for non-fiction at the time of day when I can read, uninterrupted, by myself. It finally occurred to me that since all thirteen were rescued, she might be up for it; I showed it to her and asked, she assented, and off we went to Thailand of an evening.

I have to say, it made an even better read aloud with her than I could have hoped for.* She never wanted to stop when we did, and by the time the dangerous rescue was ready to begin, I ended up having to read aloud for at least 45 minutes to get to an acceptable spot in which to pause. (I was just as caught up in the story as she was, but that’s hard on the vocal chords!) Yesterday, while my littles played with friends, we got the rest of the team out of the cave so that they wouldn’t be stuck in there when she goes to Oakcrest (a church camp for girls going into 8th grade), and let me tell you, we were both fascinated. The fact that the boys were sedated and their wrists and ankles secured with zipties so they wouldn’t drag and scrape–in my 12-year-old’s words, “it makes sense, but it’s still creepy!” The dangers involved made for quite the tale, but we also both loved seeing how many people worked together to help the Wild Boars, and in how many ways. (It’s nice to give your faith in humanity a boost.) I wasn’t particularly aware of the situation at the time–my youngest was still as much toddler as preschooler, and we were at a family reunion for much of the actual rescue–and that made reading about it even more fascinating. Don’t miss this one!

*Apart from all of those Thai names. I’m sure I butchered about 99% of them.