Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Tonight I finished reading Don’t Feed the Boy aloud to my 13-year-old, in two sessions no less. She’s a solid animal lover and has been persistent in making time for us to read this one; I liked the book fine, but I enjoyed having her so excited about reading together more. It was an interesting story, certainly–a boy who grows up living at the zoo, since both of his parents work there, befriends a girl who sits and draws the birds. Their friendship is his first real connection outside the zoo, and while she opens up the world for him, he wants desperately to help her find a way out of a bad home situation. That situation drives the action and shows Whit all kinds of things about his zoo life he hasn’t really understood; on the other hand, parts of it felt unreal to me. Not that bad things don’t happen–I know they do–but the tone of the book, and especially the illustrations, contrasted oddly with some of the events. (I’m not going to give away any more than that, but I’d be interested to know what you guys think; my girlie really liked it.) In the meantime, my son woke me up at 4 am because HE woke up and wiggled a loose tooth until it popped out and so he wanted me to help him look for it; I put him off until a more normal hour, but neither one of us fell solidly back asleep again, and I am tired. A good night to you all!