Books.

You might notice that the book we're reading in the sidebar over there to the left has changed. We actually never made it all the way through Stuart Little. When I started it I didn't remember Stuart being such a stuffy little thing and I was honestly relieved when Henry grew bored of it and wanted to go back to "stories" and lay off the chapter books for a while. It has been a few weeks and we were ready to get back to it, so last night we found the copy of The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks that my mom sent Henry and dug in to the first chapter. So far, so good. Some of the vocabulary is above Henry's level so we are having fun stopping and talking about new words, but the story is interesting enough to keep his attention through the stops and starts.

Henry did get a few new books for his birthday. My favorite "story" that he got was Hepcat by William Brandhall. It is about a hipster cat who has lost his "groove" because of nerves before a big concert. He gets a tip from four "beatles" rocking out under the stage's floorboards and goes on a musical journey to get his groove back before the big performance. We love it.

He also got Matthew Reinhart's Star Wars: A Pop Up Guide to the Galaxy, which is absolutely amazing. The language is way over Henry's head (and mine, once they get into all the details of the Star Wars universe) but he has spent hours pouring over the pictures and pop ups, which are just INSANE! I don't want to ruin the "ahhhhhh" moment for any of you who might also have little Star Wars freaks and might buy the book, but I had to throw a picture on of the very first page.



Each page has a main pop up in the middle and then several flaps along the sides of smaller characters, planets, and ships that also contain smaller pop ups. The whole thing is crazy amazing and I think it is one of those books that will keep his interest for a long, long time.