Over the summer I re-discovered my local bookstore.
I have to admit, big daddy & I usually end up at Chapters/Indigo (Barns & Noble of Canada) to get most of our books.
But there is something about shopping at a nice small neighbourhood bookstore.
Now it's the only place I buy my books.
Everything is edited down for you and you start to get to know the staff that works there.
They also don't mind if you camp out and check out the books before buying and are really enthusiastic about recommendations (all of which have been bang on)
I've managed to find some great reads there this summer and I even decided to go with the masses and pick up a copy of Twilight.
I am a big vampire genre fan, so when I saw this book it caught my eye.
I have to admit, I felt a bit hesitant buying it, because it's considered a young adult book.
But after just finish reading a bunch of heavy stuff (Gargoyle) I felt like something fun.
I really enjoyed it and found I could not put it down. This is a really great book with real emotions all wrapped up in a vampire story, a young woman's story of having to grow up faster then she maybe should have because of her parents, and also dealing with all the issues surrounding adolescence. All in all, a great book, glad I decided to overlook the age description and "sink my teeth into it" ;
Speaking of sinking teeth...
Lulu's first week of school went really well, with the exception of a nice big bite mark on her arm.
When I went to pick her up the teacher assured me that it was a pretty common occurrence....ummm hellllo-not for me!
I tried to be calm and not freak Lulu out, but I was pretty upset.
She has never been the type of kid to hoard toys or get into conflict.
She's fairly gentle and quite generous and really good at sharing- or at least as generous as a three year old can be.
They told me that fortunately the skin wasn't broken and they iced it so the swelling wasn't too bad, it happened really fast and that the parents of this little biter had been notified.
I fully expected a phone call from them to reassure me that A. it had never happened before and B. that they talked to their little vampire and explained that biting is NOT acceptable.
But I never got the call, and apparently they have been through a few different nanny's and are not very pro-active when it comes to their three boys. I asked around.
grrreat.
Anyhow, Lulu is okay which is the most important thing and she's not really bothered by the whole incident.
I think Big daddy & I were more distraught that she was.
My advice was to not go near him anymore and big daddy told her to karate chop him if he tried again.
ah...not exactly the approach I was thinking..I think (hope) he was kidding.
Anyhow it's a new week and I got a chance to check him out this morning and he's smaller than Lulu and I'm pretty sure that if push came to shove or in this case push came to "bite" I think she could easily take him.
HIYAH!!!
So back to the books.
In addition to my teen lit. here's a bunch of other stuff I just finished reading.
All excellent and worth checking out.
I'm currently reading Late Nights On Air by Elizabeth Hay which is good so far.
Though I have to admit that I am anxious to read the sequel to Twilight- New Moon.
I'm sooo like 16.
8 comments:
Perfect timing with this post!! I just picked up a new book today but have been having a difficult time lately coming up with new ones... and strangely enough, have been going back and forth on trying out Twilight. Just couldn't get over the whole "young adult" catagory as well... glad to hear that it was good - I'll definitely check it out.
Sorry to hear about Lulu!! Biting is terrible... we had an old neighbor who loved to bite Jack - and did so three times!! Once on his cheek. It was terrible. I feel your pain - sure it's a stage, whatever, but you still can't help but want to strangle the kid!
I got Twilight in a blog book swap last year and I must tell you that I crinkled my nose when I opened the package....totally not my usual read. I LOVED IT! I only recently picked up New Moon and I love it too.
As for the biting...I would be pissed to. I know that it happens but when your kid is the recipient it's harder to accept that. I think Big Daddy outta go and have a word with that boy....
I finished all 4 books in one week in August and I have a "Team Edward" t shirt...can you say crazy!!
I love anything vampire...have you heard of this series called "The Southern Vampires"? I think that's what they're called..
Am reading The Gargoyle now...love it so far.
My Nan always told me to bite/fight back, much to the chagrin of my parents. Even though I never really did, just her saying that made me feel so much better. I guess I was far too much of a 'delicate flower' to really follow through...
I've been resisting the Twilight books despite the masses of people who have loved them and my tendency to read teen lit because I'm not that into vampires or romance, and it sounds like that's the bulk of the thematic material, there. But LOVED that Sandra Gulland trilogy on Josephine. LOVED.
And yeah, biting IS common, though usually in younger kids, like 2-year-olds. I don't know anyone who has ever received a phone call - I'm not sure that they tell the parents WHO their child bit, and I think they aren't actually supposed to tell you who did the biting, either, though with older kids, the kid will just tell you, so the professionalism aspect there is a bit of a formality! I think, though, that the idea is not to create a *thing* between two sets of parents or children, just to let each set of parents know about the incident so that they can talk about it with their own children. Pumpkinpie totally got bitten once, and my sister was a biter, but as I say, that was in younger days for both of them.
Interesting...Tommy was bitten on his first day of school last week as well. It was stressful and I try not to worry about it every time I drop him off. Take the kid down, Lulu! ha!
Delurking to give you the other side of the story...
My son - just turned three - bit a kid in his second week of preschool (Montessori). He's never bitten before. I was shocked. Horrified. Embarrassed.
I was not told who he bit. I asked the teacher if I could call or write a note to the parents to apologize for the incident but was told that that wasn't necessary. I'm now totally paranoid that the child's parents think I'm an unfit parent and that my child is a monster.
The day it happened the teacher discussed it with me in a very serious, concerned manner. I was asked to talk to my child and explain to him that biting is never acceptable and if he needs help, he should ask the teacher.
I brought the incident up with his teacher again the next day. I was concerned that maybe the program was too advanced for him and asked whether I should withdraw him from the school. At that point when she saw how distressed I was about the incident, she assured me that these things happen from time to time especially early in the year. Her assessment was that he had a bad day. He was probably tired - he's not used to being in organized care and was "testing the limits" of what is allowed and what isn't.
I can't speak for what happened to your daughter but I just wanted to let you know that there's a good chance the other parents felt awful about what happened. At least I did.
Kelley
If you liked "Love Walked In" I recommend the follow-up, "Belong To Me". Same characters, next chapter in Cornelia's life. I found both to be halfway between chick lit and true lit which is a happy, relaxing place to be!
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