Beowulf

I'm reading Beowulf with my 10-year-old daughter, the Seamus Heaney edition. What a great adventure story. This edition has the Old English on one side of the double-page spread and Heaney's translation/interpretation on the opposite page. We've been reading aloud the Old English and trying to recognize words from the Heaney text. Try it -- it's more fun than it sounds. Beowulf would be a good read if you are new to "classic" literature or have to read something "good for you" and aren't very excited. Plus it's short!

First posting!

I'm new to blogging. I want to try this new way of communicating, and use this as a journal about the books I'm reading, what I'm thinking about kids and reading. All (school) year I've watched students in our library posting to xanga.com and other blog sites, and watched them reading each other's postings. I'm interested in the benefits and disadvantages of communicating without talking -- besides the obvious ability to circumvent the "no talking in the library" rule :-)
As for books, I've just finished reading Kevin Brooks' Kissing the Rain. He's known for hard-edged, dreary settings and characters and I was curious about this style which is so popular with teens. The book is very powerful. It's about Moo, who is fat and constantly gets taunted, teased by fellow high schoolers -- he calls it "rain." Moo witnesses a murder and then gets caught between a detective who wants to do the wrong thing for the right reason and a very bad crook who wants to do the right thing for the wrong reason. Moo holds the lives of several people in his hands. Don't read this book if you want a happy ending, but do read it for a story that challenges the reader to think about "right" and "wrong" in a whole new way. I couldn't put it down, and went right out to buy more of Brooks' books: Lucas and Martyn Pig.