What we are reading

Robotson and I finished The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White. Very cute! Do NOT under any circumstances rent the movie. It's awful. That was his book club book so we are now moving on to George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War by Thomas Allen. I chose this in honor of Independence Day. I don't expect it to catch his complete attention but it's a nice, short introduction to that time period. He also wants to read Swiss Family Robsinson and we still haven't read George's Secret Key again, yet. My list to read to him is ever-growing at this point.

Super-fantastic, mega-huge news!!!!

Robotson read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein to us tonight! I had not expected this to happen as it's not a book that we read frequently and he has been claiming for a while now that he can not read. Obviously he is full of bologna. He asked me to read the longer pages but I only did that to encourage him to keep going. I have no doubt he can do it since he read the rest with amazing accuracy. He wants to read it to the playgroup on Tuesday, how cute is that? At one point during the book he says to me, "Why is the man doing that to the tree? That's mean." I am proud of him for picking up on the fact that that's not how you treat other living things.

I only got halfway through Freethinkers and had to return it. I have since gotten a copy of my own but I have not finished it. I have also not finished Fabric of the Cosmos. I did, however, start and finish Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion by Dale McGowan. It's another I would recommend and I've lent it to a friend. I want to type up a review but it will have to wait a little bit, maybe next week as we have weekend plans. I am currently reading Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I'm not far into it yet but it's pretty good so far. I've come to realize a couple of things.

1. My kids aren't so different from kids on the other side of the world. Kids of every kind talk back, break things, can't sit still, annoy strangers, mimic, and play tricks on each other.

2. Female circumcism is the most barbaric thing that can be done to a woman in the name of religion. I am sickened. I never really understood what it was and now I wish I didn't know.

I've just gone back to read what I wrote about it being pretty good so far. The story she has to tell is awful. I can't imagine growing up the way she did. It's totally alien and infuriating to read, but I very much like the way she writes.