This & That
My Shakespeare Club is having a week of “camp”—four mornings of theater games and Taming of the Shrew scene rehearsals, gearing up for a performance next week. We are having a blast. Gosh I love this bunch of kids.
Afterward, when everyone goes out back to play for a while, I wonder if the rowdy fun is audible in the elementary-school classrooms on the other side of our back fence. And then I remember that twice a day, the school’s rowdy recess fun is extremely audible on our side of the fence…and in the room where the baby naps…and on the sidewalk in front of the house…and clear across the street. So I’m not worried.
I’m 2500 words into that Jane of Lantern Hill post and still can’t seem to wrap it up. (ETA: Finally gave up and posted it after yapping for almost 2700 words.) Ridiculous. And now: overhyped as well!
A friend asked for some book recommendations for his 12-year-old son. With Jane’s helped we assembled a stack of favorites, and since I know many of you agree with me that booklists are the next best thing to chocolate, I thought I’d share the titles here, just because. Okay, mainly because our friends took the trouble to write up a list of the books they borrowed, and I wouldn’t dream of passing up such an excellent opportunity to cut and paste.
The Sign of the Beaver
The Brendan Voyage (true story of modern attempt to recreate St Brendan the Navigator’s ocean journey)
Homer Price
The Daughter of Time (enthusiastically recommended here)
The King’s Fifth
The Dark Frigate
Otto of the Silver Hand
It’s a Jungle Out There
Where the Red Fern Grows (lump in my throat just thinking about it)
Rowan of Rin
Swallows and Amazons
Henry Reed, Inc.
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn
If All the Swords in England
I put those italics in all by myself, so never let it be said I’m not willing to go the extra mile for you. 😉
wendy says:
Oh, what a wonderful list! Thank you. I’m excited to pass this on to JM, my ten year old son.
On August 25, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Ellisa says:
I wanted to suggest Summer of the Monkeys for this list. It’s by the same author as Where the Red Fern Grows, but it’s a bit lighter and very funny in parts.
Also, thanks for recommending The Hunger Games in a previous post. I finished it last night and loved it! Can’t wait for the next.
On August 25, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Lisa says:
No BEARS OF BLUE RIVER?? Justin Morgan Had a Horse? Little Britches? Sherlock Holmes? Jules Verne? Phantom Toolbooth? Farmer Boy?
On August 26, 2009 at 8:44 am
Melissa Wiley says:
Lisa, LOL LOL LOL!!! The list I posted was just the list of *what they took*—I bombarded them with a much longer list of possibilities. However! I meant to mention Phantom Tollbooth (Scott’s suggestion, actually) and forgot. And your others weren’t on my list. Funny I forgot Sherlock when I did remember Father Brown & Bertie Wooster. 🙂 Would you believe I’ve never read Bears of Blue River? A TBR must, I take it?
On August 26, 2009 at 8:53 am
Jeanne says:
A few more:
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Bridge to Terabithia
The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (and the rest)
The Secret Garden
My Side of the Mountain (and the rest)
The Borrowers (and the rest)
Indian in the Cupboard (is that the first one? Is that title exactly right?)
Have to go work out – must stop!
On August 26, 2009 at 10:16 am
Joann says:
Freckles, Freckles Comes Home. We second the Little Britches series. My boys also like Roland Smith and Farley Mowat although sometimes they are a little risque. (Parental pre-reading advised)
And heavens, don’t exclude Gary Paulsen! My boys love his books.
On August 26, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Tamary says:
And don’t miss the rest of the Henry Reed series. They’re all great books (and very funny). I will never forget the scene where Henry has a nosebleed and dozes off by the river, then wakes up and is gone by the time the police come to investigate the “murder.” Or the trip to the Grand Canyon… I’ll have to go reread them now!
On August 29, 2009 at 9:01 pm