What we're reading (and doing)

It's Robot Week. While not exactly a robot book, The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan has some interesting contraptions and has been a favorite in our house since Grandma & Grandpa K sent it our way. The Lost Thing is a story about noticing (or missing) the out-of-the-ordinary. The text is fun to read aloud and the illustrations are detailed and unusual. The oldest young gent likes to take it to bed at night and study the details. We'd love to see this book as a movie. We'll be looking for more of Tan's books at the library.

Another robot favorite? Benjamin McFadden and the Robot Babysitter, a story about the night Benjamin McFadden reprograms his robot babysitter for a night of FUN! The fine young gents love this book. Looks like it's out of print, but you might be able to find it at the library.

We made our own robots. It was great fun rummaging through the recycle box to find pieces. We've got a robot made from a paper towel roll with clothespin legs, a water bottle robot with golf tees for antennae, and a robot made from a box with a yogurt container head and Odwalla smoothie bottles for arms and legs. I found the coolest robot coloring pages. The guys had fun looking at them and imagining what a dolphin robot might do.

The lovely ladies are reading away too, as always. The oldest is working her way down her summer reading list, reading through the last chapters of The Shining Company by Rosemary Sutcliff. Rosemary Sutcliff was a prolific author of historical fiction for children. (Oooooo, prolific is fun to say. Prolific, prolific, prolific...it'll help get "curmudgeon with a bludgeon" out of my head. Thanks a lot, Mom.) At any rate, our introduction to Sutcliff's writing was last fall when I chose Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad to read out loud. We were enthralled. Riveted. Sutcliff's retelling of The Iliad is vivid, compelling, fascinating. It was a pleasure to read aloud. Since then, other Sutcliff books made it onto this lovely lady's independent reading list: The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey, and The Eagle of the Ninth. She was excited to see a Sutcliff book on her summer reading list. What better recommendation do we need?

Lovely lady number two is still reading Betsy-Tacy series, with a new book waiting in the wings: Julep O'Toole: Confessions of a Middle Child, a birthday treat she chose with a gift certificate. It remains to be seen whether Julep can hold her own against my daughter's current reading obsessions, but the outlook is good. Julep has an older sister and an annoying younger brother, and she desperately wants to be popular, themes that this lovely young lady seems to identify with. We'll see if she starts spouting Julep-isms over the next few weeks.

My fabulous husband is reading another golf book. I told him if he ever reads about, well, just about anything but golf, I'd be happy to blog his books too. I'm sure it was a struggle for him to contain his enthusiasm at the idea. Or maybe he was trying not to laugh because I just used the word blog as a verb. I'll bet he's gleefully browsing online bookstores right now, looking for the right book to read.

Or not.

I'm reading a book on the Reformation. I'm sure that you're all as riveted by the topic as I am. If you want to know a bit more, click here for an overview. I am only 200 pages into the nearly 700 page book (not counting the appendices). In a few moments, I plan to go read the book instead of writing about reading it.

What are you reading?