I have to confess that I have a pretty bad history of reading outloud to my children. I cannot stand reading a book I don’t personally like, or reading a book over and over and over (something which Camila still enjoys). Mike doesn’t mind it as much, so he’s been in charge of reading to our kids (and putting them to bed) for a number of years now. I do, however, like the closeness that comes with sharing a book with my daughters so I’ve been trying to find books that I can actually enjoy reading to them. This is much easier with Mika, who is almost 9 years old and has pretty catholic literary tastes. Camila still likes picture books.
I got Classics to Read Aloud to Your Children
This book includes selections from classic novels and poems specifically chosen for parents to read to their children. Stories are divided into 3 levels (for kids 5, 8 and 11 and up) based on the complexity of the language and the emotional maturity required to understand the story. The stories are as originally written – these are not children’s versions -, which means that they include old fashioned vocabulary, syntax and motifs. The author believes that children’s oral understanding is much greater than their written one, so that while kids would probably not be able to read the stories themselves they will grasp them when/if read by their parents. I think the stories are pretty challenging, and I really like that about it.
So far the book is working well for Mika but not for Camila. Camila loudly objects to the fact that the book has no pictures at all (not even the occasional black and white drawing). She rebels against the book and is very disinclined to give it a chance. A few days ago somehow we cajoled her into listening to The Ugly Duckling (in a translation different from the one I linked to) and, at the end, she said she enjoyed this story more than the other versions we’d told her, apparently because it’s more complex. She didn’t seem to mind/notice the part about the ducks being shot, but it’s there, so you are warned. But she refused to hear a story from the book today.
Mike read to Mika and I the selection from Tom Sawyers about the painting of the fence. I enjoyed the chapter thoroughly. I remembered it so fondly from my childhood and this was actually the first time I experienced it in English. Twain’s use of language is masterful. Alas, it was a little bit too difficult for Mika – but she enjoyed it in retrospect and I think she’ll be willing to have me read her the chapter again.
Today, I read her The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry. This is a story about two would-be-kidnappers who abduct a child that terrorizes them. It’s very funny and good natured, and while the language was a bit complex for Mika, she enjoyed it, as did I.
Then I started reading the selection from Black Beauty, which is actually in the section for kids 5 years and older, and while Camila was quickly bored (no pictures) Mika was fascinated by this story told from the point of view of a horse. We didn’t finish the chapter, but she wants me to get her the book š
The book also contains selections from Shakespeare, Jack London, Stephen Crane, Hawthorn and the Greeks. There is a lot of poetry as well as holiday readings (including a selection from the Bible). I am looking forward to continue reading it.
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I just had Camila’s 6th birthday party at the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Hayward, CA, and I thought I’d report back for those thinking of throwing birthday parties there. She had a lot of fun and I think it was a good birthday experience. Wouldn’t be my first choice to do it again, but it’s so easy and painless that I wouldn’t fight it either.
We decided to hold Camila’s party at Chuck E. Cheese because she’d gone to a party there and she really wanted it. I was a bit concerned that it was too cheesy (pun intended) and could get expensive, but it worked out very well – probably because we had a very small party (total of 8 kids and 6 adults). I think any more than that and it could get a little crazy. The kids had a lot of fun and Camila was happy. I also only ended up spending about $150, which is probably what I would have spent if I’d had the party at home (though I’d probably had invited more kids). You can do it a bit cheaper than that, but not much.
Chuck-e-Cheese has a couple of different party packages, though they mostly vary on what goodies the birthday child gets. Offerings and prices also vary by location, apparently in other parts of the country they are much cheaper than here. Here, the cheapest package was $14 per kid and it included a reserved table, plastic crown & medallion for the birthday kid, as well as 30 seconds in their “ticket blaster” (a machine that drops tickets on the kid, which the kid can then try to pick up, and 2 small slices of pizza per kid and a drink. That’s it. No cake or anything else. They have a minimum of 4 kids per party, and I saw no reason to make reservations for more than 4 kids – as I’d have to pay $14 for the other kids just to get two measly pieces of pizza. So I just reserved for 4 kids and 8 adults, and ordered items not in the party package for the rest of the kids and adults. That worked out very well. If you sign up for their mailing list, they’ll give you a coupon for a large 1-topping pizza, 4 drinks and 40 tokens for $20, and you can use the same coupon 3 times. A couple of pizzas were enough for all the adults & extra kids, and they brought us extra cups.
The party was in every other way painless. We got there, were taken to our table (at the back of the room, where the party tables are) and met our hostess. We placed all our orders with her (she’ll take the coupons), and she brought everything we needed, from tokens to napkins. We got a birthday cake ($16 for 1/4 sheet) and a piƱata ($20), and she dealt with that too (lightening the candles, cutting the cake, setting out the pinata, etc.). In other words, I didn’t have to do anything.
The food was pretty good, Chuck-e-cheese’s pizza is definitely edible and the cake wasn’t worse that most supermarket cakes.
Now, we had our party on a Sunday at 1:30 PM. Chuck-e-cheese was super crowded at the time. By 3:30-4, when we left, the place was pretty empty. So I’d say to go with a mid-afternoon party if you can. Doing it on Sunday and reserving online gives you 100 free tokens!
Over a year ago I wrote about Swap Tree (now just called Swap.com, a website that allows you to trade books with other users. I enjoyed it for the few months I was in it, but soon enough all my desirable books were gone and I wasn’t getting any more requests. I finally quit a few months ago when they instituted a fee-per-trade (50c to $1). So for many months I’ve been keeping my used books at home, planning to take them to the library (for their sale) sometime.
Apparently, I may not need to do that. My friend Cynthia introduced me to Paperbackswap.com and, so far, it’s worked for me quite well. Paperbackswap has similar mechanics to Swap.com – you enter the books you have, you are given a list of books you can get -, but it’s much more flexible and gives you access to many more books (about 5 million currently). It’s also free. While Swap.com works by linking you to someone who has a book who you want, who in turn wants a book from a third person who wants the book that you have, Paperbackswap gives you access to all the books posted by all their members. Every time you mail a book to anyone you get a point, which you get to spend on any book they have listed. Unlike Swap.com you can “bank” your points, so if you don’t see anything you want now, you can wait until it comes about. You can put things in your waiting lists and so forth. My take is that people who have popular books have a better chance to get what they want in Swap.com, but if your books are not that popular you have a better chance of getting rid of them at Paperbackswap. Indeed, I’ve been surprised at the obscure titles I’ve gotten off my hands (e.g. I sent Spiritual Friendship
If you are interested in joining Paperback Swap, please give my e-mail address (marga@lacabe.com) as a referral when you do. If you post 10 books, I’ll get 1 free credit (and you’ll get 2!).
My personal bookshelf of books I have for trading is here. If you are local and want any of the books, please let me know and I’ll hold it for you (otherwise join paperbackswap :-).
I got the Zeus on the Loose
The game basically includes number cards and a few “Greek God” cards that have special characteristics (e.g. round the Mount Olympus amount to the nearest multiple of 10, subtract 10, etc.). Each player puts a card in Mount Olympus and announces how high the Mount is – the previous amount plus the amount of the card he’s putting in. If he gets to a multiple of 10 he steals the little Zeus plastic figurine that comes with the game. The first person who gets Mount Olympus to 100 and has the figurine, wins the game. Sounds boring, but it’s not too bad – and, as I said, the kids loved it.
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