Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Last week my 5th grade teacher, childhood next door neighbor, surrogate grandmother–I could go on, but last week, Jean Beattie Bernard slipped into the next life, and so my sister and I went to RI for her funeral. The viewing was hardest for me, the graveside for her, but we spent time with the Beattie/Bernard clan and other friends from our childhood, we ate some seafood and some Italian food, we walked along the Cliff Walk–and then we left and came home. My hubby and my kiddos held down the fort in my absence (although the kiddos could definitely have done more after school), and since I’ve been back I’ve been trying to catch up on all the things that need doing. I ran the dishwasher twice in the first 24 hours, I’ve unpacked my carryon and switched out my travel purse (cleaning out my regular purse in the process, because it only made sense), I helped with the last bit of Teacher Appreciation week, saw my 15-year-old’s dance concert, and went to the district art show with my oldest to see her two honorable mention pieces, and so on, and so on…

Anyway. On my last night in my hotel room, I decided to go ahead and finish–as in, read the lion’s share of–Dragonbreath #5: No Such Thing as Ghosts, which has been sitting on my shelf for an embarrassingly long time. (Truly a case of so many books and so little time.) I read reviews saying it was scary and not for younger readers, and maybe that’s true; my youngest read the first few ‘Dragonbreath’ books a couple of years ago, I think, and this might have freaked her out a bit then. At 10, however, she should do just fine, and Ursula Vernon’s trademark humor is still plenty evident. Danny and Wendell end up trick-or-treating with their sort-of friend Christiana (who once brought a sheep brain to school, which was cool, but is so skeptical she doesn’t believe Danny is a dragon), and when the school bully goads them into knocking on the door of a haunted house, well–everybody gets more than they bargain for. Readers who struggle with scary stories might want to skip this one, but it’s totally worth everyone else’s time!