Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Okay, not any more, but my delightful niece, along with her boyfriend and his cousin/her good friend, came to dinner tonight and helped me turn the strawberries I bought at Ream’s on Saturday into freezer jam.  (Not that my freezer is currently working at the moment–I don’t want to talk about it.)  Which is why I didn’t get on the treadmill until after 10:30 and I’m only now sitting down to write this blog post.

At 11:39.

SO, here’s the Reader’s Digest condensed version of Sid Fleischman’s The 13th Floor:  A Ghost Story.  Imagine a mashup of the Goonies, Treasure Island, Back to the Future, and The Witch of Blackbird Pond.  Now imagine that the mashup is also first cousins with The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, and you’ve more or less got it; it’s a fast-moving, adventurous, and funny tale of pirates, time travel, and old New England.  If your elementary school-er likes any of those things, this ought to be a good fit; it should also be good for reluctant readers.  (I quite enjoyed it as well.)  Check it out!