About a month ago, I won a box set of a kids' book series – 39 Clues – on a friend's blog. I hadn't heard of it before, but I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring because it sounded like a cool series. About a week after it arrived, M mentioned that some friends at school were reading books in the series. I said, "Did you know that we have all 10 books sitting in the living room?"
Here they are:
M was VERY excited and immediately started reading Book 1. She has now made it up to book 5. It seems like a pretty advanced series, but she is buoyed along by the fact that her classmates are reading it too. So she feels compelled to keep up with them, and also enjoys discussing the books with them at school. (I see a book blog in her future!).
A decided over the weekend that SHE also wants to read 39 Clues, and she started book 1 and is already up to page 50! She read for a few hours yesterday, which is really great because sometimes we have to remind her to read. We are so proud of her! Last night she sat on the couch reading for a full hour while M and I worked on homework. And we love hearing the girls talk about the book.
M and I spent a long time on homework last night because she is now working on the same hero project that A worked on last week. M's hero is Katherine Dunham, who is a famous dancer who founded a dance company in the 1940s and incorporated African and Carribbean dance forms into her works. M's teacher picked her out for M, and it is a great fit. Last night, we read through a lot of internet research about Katherine Dunham, and then wrote out a worksheet about her accomplishments and influences, as well as important dates in her life. It took a long time, but M slogged through and did a great job. Tonight and tomorrow night, she needs to do the Katherine Dunham timeline.
Something funny – this morning on the way to school, A asked me how many days were left in January. I said, "Today's the last day of January – the 31st." She shouted, "SUCKER, JANUARY!!" We were all laughing really hard.
And in other news, our den is done! YAY! The builtins were installed yesterday, and now we can start moving back in. They look great!
