Literary Variety

Jan 29, 2012 Posted in Book Reviews, Books, Something to Share, That's Life | 3 comments

With eight children, we have a wide range of interests when it comes to reading material. Not only do areas of interest vary but we cover the spectrum of reading ability.

As I was requesting books for our history readings, I remembered a book that I enjoyed as a young child. I recalled memories of reading it to my two oldest children. Had I ever shared this literary treasure with my current little ones? I didn’t think so. This situation had to be remedied!

The Monster at the End of This Book…ok, so it isn’t exactly a literary masterpiece and some would consider it pure twaddle. However, I can’t read it without smiling and laughing. It must be read with much emotion and drama. I love this book!

And guess what? By page 2, everyone around the dinner table was loving this book. It is just a cute, fun read that makes you smile. I loved after dinner listening to my 6 year old read it with great dramatic flair.

Variety is a good thing so from twaddle to reality we go…

What had everyone gather around (and on) the table?

What the World Eats takes you on a tour of what different families around the world eat. From California to Africa to Asia….from middle class families to refugee camps…pictures, graphs and more about what people eat and how it compares in cost in American dollars.

(I almost caught her!)

The children learned so much about how blessed with are with the food we have available to us. To see the family at the refugee camp with so little….we truly are so blessed! They also decided that they didn’t really want to visit the area that had cow stomachs or roasted guinea pigs.

I was pleased to see them searching for the areas that had lots of fruits and vegetables. I will admit that we would get a bit excited to recognize a Snickers bar in a foreign language! We were also shocked at how much packaged food one country had. From the 2 year old and up, someone is constantly flipping through this book. I didn’t think it would be that big of a hit!