The Wall by Eve Bunting

Illustrated by Ronald Himler.
Published in 1990. 32 pages.


The principal of my son's elementary school is conducting a "Principal's Book of the Month" program this year. Each student is given a selected book to take home for one day during the month to share with his or her family and then return to school for another student. November's book is The Wall by Eve Bunting.

This beautiful picture book tells the touching story of a boy and his father who visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to find the name of the boy's grandfather. It's about remembering. It's also about the sorrow of war.

2008.69

The Girl's Like Spaghetti by Lynne Truss

Published in 2007.
Subtitled Why, You Can't Manage Without Apostrophes!
I wasn't too successful getting Sugar Bear to read with me for the Read Together project (although he has been reading some Pokemon as well as a few science things on his own). I did pick up Lynne Truss' new children's book for us when I saw it at the library, though, because earlier this year we read Eats, Shoots & Leaves - which shows pictures of the differences in two sentences simply depending on the use of commas - and loved it.

This book does the same thing with apostrophes. I really enjoyed this sort of play with language when I was a child - and, by the way, I'm about half was through reading the grown-up version of Eat, Shoots & Leaves - and I'm glad that Sugar Bear enjoys it too.

His favorite set of sentences in this book:

Look, it's behind.
Children are watching a turtle race
and pointing to the turtle in the back of the pack.

Look, its behind.
Children are looking at some horses,
one of which is facing away from them.
To see what other Read Together participants read this summer, click here.

Read Together

Jennifer at Snapshot is hosting a "reading together" program for parents and children this summer. When she invited me to join, I was all over the idea!

Sugar Plum (my 11yo) and I have already decided we are going to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Holes. We will most likely read these independently and then discuss them. I'm really looking forward to talking to her about these books, because she always has some great insights about the books she reads.

Jelly Bean (m 16yo) has to read one of a list of four books this summer in preparation for her English class this fall. One of the four is Frankenstein, which I have been meaning to read for many years, so I told her I'd read it too. She'll probably read three or four of the four - so I may as well. (The others are King Lear, Wuthering Heights, and Great Expectations.)

Sugar Bear (my 8yo) is not a big reader, so I'm hoping to find something that he and I can read together. Maybe we'll try Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but I don't really know yet.

If you'd like to read with your children this summer, head over to Snapshot and sign up!