Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

On Wednesday I promised my 10-year-old that we’d read together Thursday, since Wednesday got crazy. She reminded me while she was working on dinner–everyone else was already done, because she’s that child in our house–and so we read; I would have stopped sooner, since my throat was trending toward sore, except that we were so close to the end it wasn’t worth it. And so we finished Renee Watson’s (pretend there’s an accent on that middle “e”!) Ways to Share Joy, the third of her ‘Ryan Hart’ books.

My daughter loves them.

For those of you unfamiliar, Ryan is a latter elementary schooler who loves to bake, has an older brother and a baby sister, and who moved into a new (old) house relatively recently because her dad’s job situation changed. Thankfully, she has a loving grandma close by and some solid friends, but life still isn’t smooth sailing; money is tight, there’s a kid who teases her at school, and she and her brother sometimes clash. In other words? She’s eminently relatable. She’s also accessible for 1st or 2nd graders on, depending on their reading ability; the books are easy for my 5th grader, but there’s plenty of emotional depth for her to absorb, and that’s a nice thing. (It’s also lovely that church is a significant part of Ryan’s family’s life–you see that in fewer books nowadays, but it’s something else my girlie can relate to.) If you’ve got a girl in elementary school who’s up for books of 150 pages or more, don’t miss this series.

In the meantime, our membership drive officially ends today, and we have more than 150 PTA members, which is nice. Have a great Labor Day weekend, folks!