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. 😉