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Yes, a young adult book. And yes, I did read
The Spiderwick Chronicles Book 1: The Field Guide to Willow, but I am counting it anyway as it fits my parameters of my 2008 challenge.
Andrew and I first saw the preview for the Spiderwick Chronicles movie back in December when we saw The Golden Compass and both of us were intrigued by it as we are always looking for movies for Willow. However, we both thought that this movie might be a little scary for her. My solution? I told her we would read the book together and if she wasn't scared by the book we would go see the movie.
Well, it took us all of three days to read the book aloud. And we went out and got the second book today.
We loved it! I loved that there was the odd illustration to puncuate part of the story. I loved how the kids seemed real - squabbling, a little messed up by their parents' divorce, and wanting to help each other and hide things from their mother. The three Grace children - thirteen year old Mallory and her twin nine-year old brothers Jared and Simon have moved with their mother to their great-aunt's delapidated Victorian house after their parents' divorce. They all seemed to have been traumatized by the event and have manifested this in different ways. From the moment they step into the house, something seems odd and the three of them set out to find out what is going on and stumble onto something they could not have imagined before.
We can't wait to get started on book number two! And incidentally, as an adult, from the moment I read on page 1 that Jared imagined his sister Mallory would grow up to be "either...an Olympic fencer or in jail for stabbing someone with a sword" had me laughing out loud and I knew it would be a book that Willow and I would enjoy on separate but equally enjoyable levels. We heartily recommend this book - and it is well-suited to reading aloud.
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And just for those of you who thought I was getting just a bit too proficient in my cat-pic-taking, may I present the fastest cat in the East?
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Can't let me get too cocky here.