Monday, September 23, 2013

Ivan, Mary Poppins, and A Book Thief

Last night, Molly snuggled into bed with me so we could read. I read aloud to her every night, sometimes it just takes a few minutes before I look over to her and ask her if she is awake and I receive no reply, and sometimes we read for over half an hour. So last night before reading, Molly asked me if I knew when the book fair was in DC. Her school librarian on Friday had told her that it was coming up.

"Mama, do you know when the DC book fair is? Katherine Applegate is going to be there and I really want to meet her. Remember after I read The One and Only Ivan I sent her an email but she never replied. I would love to meet her in person."

My heart soared and sank at the same time if that's possible. You see, Molly is my only true lover of books. My other three are readers, but it is because I am always in search of trying to find that just right book for each of them. But Molly has the love of books on her own. When I talk with Molly about books, it isn't as a mother trying to get her to read, "Here, I found this book, I think you might like it, it's about_______." Kid with blank stare looking back at me thinking, "I just finished my book, won't she give me a break?" When I talk with Molly about books, we have conversations between two readers. 

"Molly, I found this book, I think you might like it, it's about _______"

"Thanks Mom, this reminds me of [insert title]. Remember when we read that book together. I loved the part  when________. And it was so sad when________. Even now thinking about it makes me sad."

So, back to my soaring and sinking heart. My heart soared because I have a kid that loves to read so much that she wants to spend a weekend day going into DC to a book fair with her mama. My heart sank because we had missed it. For so many years now, we have had many, and I mean many, sports on Saturdays. I always knew that the book fair was in September, but I was never able to go because of our game schedule. But this year, the boys decided not to play a fall sport. They decided to do some open gyms for basketball to get ready for the winter season but that is about it. Our Saturdays are free. I read somewhere online that the DC book fair was this weekend. I thought to myself, "I need to look at the schedule because if it's a nice day. Maybe we could go." And then the thought never came back. Well, not until I read a tweet about it and realized we had missed it. When I told her that we missed it and I was so sorry, she looked so sad but then said, "It's okay, Mama, I was going to tell you on Friday and I forgot too...we both forgot, maybe next year."






This past weekend, we went to the movies. We saw a trailer for Saving Mr. Banks. It is the story about how Walt Disney tried to convince P.L. Teavers, the author of Mary Poppins, to sell the rights to the book so that he could make the movie. 



So I think Molly and I have our next read aloud. We bought this copy of Mary Poppins when Molly and I went to NYC to see the play on Broadway. Now is the time to read the book.



May 2011
Molly was in first grade.


We went to the stage door after the show and got some autographs. This was Jane and Michael.



Molly with Mrs. Banks.


Burt


And there is Mary Poppins herself. We had so much fun that day.

The other book I'm reading right now is The Book Thief. I'm about two-thirds through and it is a wonderful story of the best and worse of humanity rolled into one. It makes your heart sink and soar at the same time. On Saturday at the movies, Molly and I saw this picture for The Book Thief. It is coming out in November.


 The book has been in my "to be read" pile for a while. I was going to read it this summer but never got around to it. Molly saw the poster of the girl holding a book. She looked at me and said, "We have to go see that! If you're going to be a thief, a book is worth stealing." I searched to see what the movie rating is, but couldn't find anything. I'll have to wait and see if she can watch it. It definitely would be an opportunity to teach a little bit of history.



My favorite quote so far:

"Once, words had rendered Liesel useless, but now, when she sat on the floor, with the mayor's wife at her husband's desk, she felt an innate sense of power. It happened every time she deciphered a new word or pieced together a sentence."

So that's what I've been reading. How about you?



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