~ I read to the middle school kidlets last Thursday. As it turned out, I read to a class of 6th graders from The Neverending Story (the chapter that deals with the Swamp of Sadness and Atreyu's meeting with Morla the Aged One, into Atreyu's first encounter with Falkor and Ygramul the Many) and I read to 8th graders from The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (beginning shortly after Trisha realizes that she's lost, and going through her first night alone in the woods).
I think it went well. I didn't look up from the books too much, but when I did, most everyone seemed to be paying attention, and I distinctly recall that I didn't hear anyone chatting with their neighbor, which I took to also be a good sign. I did put one kid to sleep during Neverending Story. Must have been my dulcet tones ;)
After each session, a couple kids asked me again for the title of the book and the author, which, I admit, gave me warm fuzzies. Reading, yay!
~ Took the daughter of a family friend to see Monsters vs. Aliens last weekend. I had been looking forward to it, for some reason, but I didn't like it very much. The storytelling was really lacking, IMO. Although there were some fun visuals, they weren't enough to make the movie worth it. I'm pretty surprised by the 73% fresh rating on RottenTomatoes. Of course, I don't know why I continue to put any credence in the RT fresh ratings, given that Crank still has a 60% fresh rating on that site.
I think it went well. I didn't look up from the books too much, but when I did, most everyone seemed to be paying attention, and I distinctly recall that I didn't hear anyone chatting with their neighbor, which I took to also be a good sign. I did put one kid to sleep during Neverending Story. Must have been my dulcet tones ;)
After each session, a couple kids asked me again for the title of the book and the author, which, I admit, gave me warm fuzzies. Reading, yay!
~ Took the daughter of a family friend to see Monsters vs. Aliens last weekend. I had been looking forward to it, for some reason, but I didn't like it very much. The storytelling was really lacking, IMO. Although there were some fun visuals, they weren't enough to make the movie worth it. I'm pretty surprised by the 73% fresh rating on RottenTomatoes. Of course, I don't know why I continue to put any credence in the RT fresh ratings, given that Crank still has a 60% fresh rating on that site.