My boy's eighth reading year

When my little one turned six, I posted a list of his favorite books of the year. I'd wish I'd done it the next year, but I didn't...it was his year of the Wimpy Kid, and so not that interesting anyway. More interestingly, he met Odd and the Frost Giant that year too; it's a book he still loves (me too).

So anyway, he turns eight tomorrow. He started his eighth year of reading with the Magic Treehouse books...but happily moved on to richer things. This was his year of meeting Harry Potter, and spending hours and hours in a row reading books 1-4 almost straight through. We've agreed he should wait a bit before book 5; I think he'll enjoy it more when he's a bit older. Another favorite series was Roddy Doyle's books--The Giggler Treatment, the Meanwhile Adventures, and Rover Saves Christmas. And this was the year that I read him the Hobbit.

Here are the books he's getting for his birthday: Long Tail Kitty, by Lark Pien (cause it looked really cute and fun), and Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection, by Matt Dembicki (because he thinks of himself as the trickster type. "I'm a lot like Loki, aren't I, Mama," he says. To which I answer, "Not so's you'd notice.") I like to give my boys graphic novels as presents, by the way. It's a much better bet they'll like them--chapter books are so darn hit and miss, and it is so sad to give them a chapter book, watch them read it for a few chapters, put it down, and never finish it).

So tomorrow his ninth year of fun with books will begin...and we'll be playing host to a total of 8 little boys. My plan is to attach the hose to the rain barrel, and let them flood the garden. Making streams and dams is fun, and nothing is planted yet.

Which leads me to my final thought for the day--why is it that May, the one month where I want to work in my garden to the exclusion of all else, is so richly packed with so many other things???? February was really boring.