Perhaps your name has to be Timmy to appreciate this story: The first “book report” I ever wrote was on Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight, when I was around 8 or 9 years old. The report was part of a letter I mailed to
my late grandmother, who we called Nanny, when she spent a month or so vacationing
in Monterrey, Mexico. She got me the
book before she left on her trip; I’ve
been reading, and often “reporting,” ever since. Note: in the book the kid’s name was Joe, when it was made into a television series is when his name was switched to Timmy. Lassie, a collie, will eternally be Lassie.
With that tale as a preface, one of my neighbors has an 8
year-old daughter. I’m
always buying her books, trying to get her hooked on reading. My campaign got off to a slow start though;
she was decidedly unimpressed with Lassie (she has a cat). However, I have discovered that she’s totally into graphic books. This is not my genre, but at this point I
believe getting her to be excited about reading is way more important than what
she reads. And, I seem to have hit the jackpot with
these graphic books, especially those by author Raina Telgemeier (Sisters, and
Smile). I always read the books
before I give them to her, and then verbally test her when she’s finished
reading them. She scores well on my interrogations. I’m excited (latent teacher syndrome).
Okay, sorry for that long winded introduction. I recently gave her the graphic book Audubon: On the Wings of the World, a biography of John J. Audubon (her grandmother is into bird watching). She loves it, even though parts of the
narrative/graphics are rather dark, like when Audubon slips into hallucinations
during a long bout with “the fever.” The
illustrations are impressive -- a must considering the topic -- and the
narrative is on target. And did I
mention that I loved the book?
Recommendation: When
next you are looking for a gift for an 8 or 9 year old child, or for an old guy
going through his second (third, fourth) childhood – it’s a winner.
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