A few reasons why we read out loud everyday

For about an hour every evening, my husband and I read out loud to one of our children.  The Man and I swap them every night, heading to our chosen corners of the house, and we each have our own books that we are reading through.  Currently girl child and I are working our way through Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and Boy child and I are on the second book in a Minecraft fan series called The Elementia Chronicles by Sean Fay Wolfe.  It will take a month or two to read an entire novel with a child this way.

There are so many reasons to regularly read out loud to your children and the Internet has probably said all the super legit and adult reasons already, so I don't have to.

BUT, I do have a couple of highly personal and self-interested reasons to read out loud wonderful books that children fall in love with and ingrain in their psyche.  They may not be the main motivators, but I think they fall under the category of perks.

Such as: Nearly Immobile Children.

Children rarely sit still enough to be able to cuddle them and still sip a glass of wine.  I drink red and am a terrible laundress. Not spilling is a big issue for me.  Children rendered almost motionless as their fertile imaginations weave the story into stunning pictures in their heads while tucked under my book holding arm leaves another arm and its attached hand free for wine glass lifting. The better the book, the more likely wine will go on the inside of me instead of the outside.

Channeling Their Favorite Characters As A Motivator.

When I ask my daughter to do something, she sometimes does it.  When Hermione asks her, she just does it.  Hermione has more sway than I because Hermione is always right and look what happened to Harry when he didn't listen to her, right?  Being the actual 'voice' of a beloved character gives me the Power to make almost any request seem like it's coming from someone more sensible and lovable than me.  I make sure that my book character voices are distinct and consistent, enhancing my ability to instantly invoke their authority outside of story time.  Perhaps some may think of this as manipulative, but I prefer to think of it as bringing in reinforcements and avoid having to get all shouty.

(Though, sometimes I do feel a bit smug when girl child is all, 'Why you gotta bring Hermione into this, you know I can't resist?!' and do a little Vincent Price laugh in my head.)

Getting To Read All The Great Children's Books You Would Never Read On Your Own.

I know I missed a lot of great books when I was age appropriate for children's literature because I was so eager to get grown up.  Getting permission to take books out of the adult section was a hard won privilege at my local library and once I was allowed to leave the children's room, I never looked back. Until now.  Because, man, children's books are the best.  Like catching up with Watership Down and The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. But that's actually another topic.

What's just as great is reading contemporary children's literature that you may have never of even thought of reading.  Like the Bone graphic novels.  Reading graphic novels out loud, I admit, presents a particular challenge, but the boy and I actually worked out a pretty good system (though it cuts into my wine drinking somewhat).  I would never have the patience to read it on my own, but it turned out to be a great read with all sorts of interesting talking points (like, what is Thorn wearing now?!)  I also get to read stuff that may I want to read but couldn't really justify it since I have all sorts of 'adult' reading to do.  Like The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley or Adventure Time and Minecraft fan created literature which have given me great insights into the cultural worlds of my kids and happen to be pretty funny and entertaining.  In general, I may not read Kate DiCamillo in a coffee shop by myself, but I will happily read her out loud to my kids in that coffee shop (and I'm convinced that at least one or two adults around us being forced to listen in are also happy about it).

What are some of your personal reasons for reading out loud to your kids?

gloomy and creepy stories to read

In honour of a certain happening at the end of the month, I think it's time for another themed booklist. 

Around here we love a good gloomy story.  Creepy and fiendish are also welcome, although we do shy away from gore.  I've discovered the best horror writing to be in the children's literature section, mainly, I think, because children's literature can not rely on the hypnotic power of the standards in adult horror - sex and gore - and thus have to come up with an actual plot.

Here is an abbreviated tally of children's and young adult books that I have read and enjoyed over the past year or two and I think that you should read to somebody young and impressionable or older and appreciative of a good shiver.  Not all of them are strictly scary, although a few definitely are, but they all contain an acceptable level of creep and supernatural.  Loved them all.

• Anything by Edward Gorey, although The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Evil Garden and The Beastly Baby are particularly worrisome.
• Lisa Wheeler's Spinster Goose: Twisted Rhymes for Naughty Children is delightfully dark, with the added thrill of being illustrated by fabulous Sophie Blackall.
• Adam Gidwitz's A Tale Dark and Grim is, admittedly, an exception to the generalization I made about gore being absent in children's horror writing.
• Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book by Terry Jones is not strictly scary, but there is something delightfully nasty about squishing the fair folk.
• Neil Gaiman's Coraline and The Graveyard Book are two of my all time favorites.
• The Humming Room by Ellen Potter is more of a mystery, but it has some chilling moments.
• P.J. Bracegirdle's The Joy of Spooking series is also good mysterious fun.
• Doll Bones and The Coldest Girl in Cold Town by Spiderwick Chronicles co-writer Holly Black.
• The Books of Elsewhere by Jacqueline West, with its creepy cellar and odd art.
• Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull, along the Spiderwick Chronicles vein of frightening and nasty fairyland creatures.
• The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney are another exception to the lack of gore rule, and has super creepy illustrations.  Honestly, girl child won't even let me read the books around here.  I've had a nightmare or two myself.
• Christopher Edge's Twelve Minutes to Midnight, suitably populated by insane asylum inmates, also a good mystery read.
• The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier had me seriously worried while I was reading it.

I know you all have some recommendations of your own.  Please share in the comments so we can all check them out.

crows

When we first moved to our house just over three years ago, every evening a procession of crows would trickle right over top of our house on their way to their roosting trees. The crows would literally be flying in a haphazard line overhead for two hours every sunset. I grew quite charmed of this way of marking time.

The year after the crows seemed to have picked a new path a block or two over so I missed out at home. But the crow trail did go alongside the road that I drove several times a week to go to derby practice. At stop lights I could watch the crows fly past.

This summer, I've been left completely bereft of the evening procession. The crows have been infrequent visitors, while the magpies (and skunks!) have taken over the trees outside my windows.  Hardly a crow to see.

Until this week.

I'm not terribly familiar with crow behavior but they do indeed seem to be doing some seasonal gathering about the neighborhood.

There are murders.  Everywhere. 

Perhaps because the babies are about grown, they are reforming social groups?  I don't know but I did take out a couple books from the library and plan to find out more tonight.

While I was outside today, reading Rise of the Huntress, Joseph Delaney's seventh book in his creepy The Last Apprentice series, I'm marveling, a bit worriedly, about the massing of crows about me, when I turn the page to this chapter heading illustration:

I love it when my landscapes, inside and out, conspire to agree.

I failed, however, to get a picture of the larger murders, they being tricky and ever moving.  The crows definitely seem restless and ever moving.  I will be stalking them as the week progresses, though.  I do, in fact, know where they sleep.  

In the meanwhile, I set out some crow friendly foodstuff (but no battlefield fodder, I don't want to give the neighbors a reason to call in the bylaw officers), in the hopes that a crow might take notice of me and want to train me to fetch a ball for it or serve it expensive water, if I show willing and sufficient intelligence.   

And now I finish my book.

babydoll fleshie

This past week I decided to try a more traditional doll pattern from a book I found at my local library, Storybook Toys by Jill Hamor.

Don't worry, I won't leave the poor doll nekkid, embellishment is coming.  Although, not necessarily by me.  Details to come sometime soon...

(I love being all mysterious.)

I did very much enjoy this Hamor's pattern and the instructions were clear enough.  I would recommend you to check out Hamor's book, if you are inclined to make dolls.

In the meanwhile, I have several other mysterious projects to get a move on this week.  See you again soon!

Absurd adventures to read

For a few months last year I kept lists of what I was reading and posted those lists every month, specifically, January, February, March, April, May and June of 2013.  And then I stopped typing out the lists, mostly because I'm a bit lazy and maybe a little bit because when I made a misattribution error, somebody actually noticed and pointed it out to me.  Making mistakes doesn't bother me, however, for a variety of reasons, having to confront the reality that authors are actually really real people makes me feel a bit squicky.  But we can delve into that particular psychological spider's den another day.

Right now, what's important is that while I stopped posting my monthly reading lists, I did not stop writing down titles as I read them. Though I miss a few titles now and again, I have a relatively complete list of every book I've read over the past year and half, excluding diet and fitness books (because, you know, blah) and picture/non-fiction books read to the childs.

Looking over my lists the other day, I thought maybe I could recommend a few books that I very much enjoyed in a thematic format.  And then you can add your own recommendations in the comments (or you can email me and I can add them).  And then we can all gore ourselves on good books this summer.

(I know Goodreads does this, but I can't remember anymore accounts and passwords.  I have to wait until I let my email or Facebook go before I'll have room to belong to another online community. I'm only human.  Plus, I have a lot of stuff to read.)

You know what I kind of story I enjoy?  An absurd one.  I love when a book takes a good adventure story and filters it through a fun house mirror.  Arcane and strange journeys, where the truth turns out to be that there is no truth, resonate deeply with me.  My favorite absurdist writers (using the term loosely) are Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, David Sedaris, Lewis Carroll, Tom Robbins, Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler), and some more but I can't go on and on like this and still have y'all reading along with me.

So then, without anymore delay, (except to apologize in advance for any spelling errors, misattributions and general mucking up, since I am typing from my notes and, as previously noted, I am a bit of a sloppy handwriter, and also to say that I tried really hard to be selective and finite, but categorizing stories neatly is nearly impossible and all of the books below are not necessarily completely absurdist or even an adventure in the strictest sense, they were all pretty good in their own right and I stand by it when I say,)

Absurd and funny adventures I read and liked, and think you should read:

Childrens/Young Adult Fiction

Bushman Lives! and The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater
Nurse Matilda by Christianna Brand
Eddie Dickon's trilogy by Philip Ardagh
Unlikely Exploits trilogy by Philip Ardagh
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
A Tale Dark and Grim by Adam Gidwitz
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her own Making by Catherynne Valente
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book by Terry Jones
Howl's Moving Castle and House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
Skellig and My Name is Mina by David Almond
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Adult Fiction

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut
Alice in Tumblr-land by Tim Manley
The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes

Adult Non-Fiction

Cinderella Jump Rope Rhymes by Cabinet Des Fies 
Let's Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
I'm Down by Mishna Wolff
Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

Tell me more!  Anyone have titles to some absurd adventures to share?

Max: Where The Wild Things Are

I pulled out the unfinished project box today.  It's a scary place. 

But.  I managed to spend the five minutes it took to finish one entire project. 

Max from Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are has a felt body and painted face.  The face shaped was formed by heavily starching linen over a doll's head to make a face shape.   I think next time I'm going to try white glue and water mix rather than starch. 

But, hey, done project.  Go me.

Doctor, horrifying blister and the Eerie Dearies

We've finally reached a critical mass of people who needed to see a doctor today and took ourselves off to the physicians. Girl child and I have raging strep infections and the boy managed to get a pine needle stuck in the bottom of his foot, which festered and then developed a blister over top that wrapped itself through his toes and creeped up to the topside. The doctor called it a riddle inside of an enigma. I will spare you the details of the fix (though it does involve frightfully expensive medication to try to avoid sepsis) but I can consider boy child suitably chastened about walking around outside without shoes on.  

On a brighter note, we've been entertaining ourselves with books as we convalescence and discovered this little gem.  Eerie Dearies: 26 Ways to Miss School is Rebecca Chaperon's beautifully illustrated alphabet book reminiscent of Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies.  Chaperon has taken book covers and pages and enhanced them with her illustrations.

Here is one of my favorites.

None of our reasons for missing school were listed in Chaperon's book, but we stockpiled some responses for the next time girl child is asked why she isn't in school during school hours.

when the crafty gets sidelined because we are too busy living

There has been a bit of time since my last post.  It's funny, but having a blog about doing stuff, specifically crafty stuff, means that when I get busy and really creative, I have even less time or even material to post about.

Not that I am producing any physical projects worthy of note.  Unless you consider the continued survival and even, dare I say, occasional flourishing of my children?  That's creative enough for any parent, I figure.

The childs have been busy.  Girl child, in particular, just had a series of big deal solo performances.  She did the Jabberwocky poem in Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, which, if you are not familiar with the piece, is a few verses of largely nonsense words that happen to include the beast-icide of one aforementioned Jabberwocky.

Girl child performed Jabberwocky for her drama class showcase, the local performing arts festival and then was invited to perform again for the arts festival showcase.  Because she's so awesome and rocked that bizarre Carroll nonsense!

Girl child, with vorpal sword in hand, in her (career total) forty-eighth public performance:

(Why am I counting her public performances?  I don't know.  Is that crazy?)

Boy child, still mainly unsuccessful in sitting still and quiet through dramatic performances (especially without loud, weary sighs of abject boredom) has discovered at least one benefit of having a sister in the performing arts: post performance receptions.  With cupcakes!

In related theatre news, I do have a costume assignment for the upcoming youth theatre production of Sweeney Todd.  Yes, youth production of Sweeney Todd, the butcher barber.  You did read that right.  I'm very curious to see the show and probably won't take my own kids. I have no pictures of costumes or even the Sweeney Todd poster, though, so I present this random peeled mango instead.

See gory, but still appropriate for youth?

I will also show you this moth.  Because signs of spring are so exciting I have to share every one. 

Speaking of signs of spring, I also managed to sunburn my legs today, but you do not get a picture of them.  Have a crow instead.



The childs and I have been delving deeper into what can only be described as homeschooling lifestyle.  That's the point, I think, when every member of the house consider themselves to be homeschool students and everyday is a grand adventure in learning, no matter what we do.  (Even when we watch Adventure Time.  Someone is always learning something from that show.  Good and bad.)

I love learning along with the kids and have started using my downtime to read some classic literature.  Last week I read Thoreau's Walden and this week I've just started Cervantes Don Quixote.  Which should take a few weeks to wander through (I swear, hefting the book up put my back out - all the more time to read while I convalesce I suppose). 

Not every moment is a homeschooling treasure to hold but we are certainly finding our confidence and style.  Our style sometimes includes all day pajama wear.  Don't judge us too harshly.



As for pictures of homeschool, however, you basically get a boring bunch of photos of the childs reading stuff or writing stuff or doing things that are quite ordinary like playing board games, riding bikes and staring into space.

Boy child's book favorites this week in which delightful chaos happens and no one has to sigh wearily at theatre performances.  Because, according to boy child, being civilized is desperately tiring work.

I did get a pic of an experiment in progress though.  It's been several days and no one has accidentally drank the salt water experiment yet.  I consider that a successful project, no matter what else happens.

Despite outwards ordinary appearances, you can be assured that sparks of learning are growing into ed-u-ma-cation fireworks in their brains.

At least, I hope so.  In my brain, anyway.  (I loved Walden - why did I wait so long to read it?)

Now, my own personal tendency is to try to keep my maudlin posts about my kids off this blog (which I have failed at several dozen times, I know) but I haven't quite made the personal rule yet about whether I am going to excessively post about our homeschooling or not.  I think I can handle some feedback on this particular topic, if you like.  On one side, our homeschool and children's development it is a bit private.  On the other, I have deep gratitude to all the bloggers who have shared their own homeschooling/unschooling journeys for, without them, I would be lost. 

To help you help me make a decision, here is some pictures of girl child with auntie trying out some bee keeping gear she will be wearing in her role as beekeeping assistant.  The bees arrive next weekend.

Who wants to hear about bees?  And assorted topics of interest regarding children learning stuff?