What’s The Eight-Year-Old reading this week?
Really I should call this post “What’s The Eight-Year-Old chomping at the bit to read this week,” because that’s what this post is actually about. The Eight-Year-Old has been eagerly anticipating the release of the new YA mystery Southern Gothic ever since the author, Bridgette Alexander, visited The Eight-Year-Old’s second grade class last year to read…
Read articleWhat’s The Eight-Year-Old reading this week?
This week, The Eight-Year-Old pulls the A to Z Mysteries and The Littles from her classroom library, shares a very special book, Tales Told in Holland, with her Gran.
Read articleWhat’s The Eight-Year-Old reading this week?
Our once-again-mostly-weekly survey of the tidbits that cross The Eight-Year-Old’s desk. This week, The Eight-Year-Old reads several of Betty MacDonald’s Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books and buries my inbox in animal stories.
Read articleShala reads books and starts counting OSHA violations: The Bones for Barnum Brown Edition
Regular readers know that I’ve been looking for a copy of Roland T. Bird’s 1944 essay, “Did Brontosaurus ever walk on land?” since 2011, when I had to rely on J.A. Wilson’s second-hand account of it while researching the answer to the pressing question: “Could sauropods swim?” A few weeks ago, I discovered that I could acquire Roland T. Bird’s memoir, Bones for Barnum Brown: Adventures of a Dinosaur Hunter, through the Northern California Interlibrary Loan Service. So of course I did.
Read article50 States of Public Art: Gators on the Geaux in Lake Charles, Louisiana
Public art is everywhere, and in some parts of the country you can even still go out and enjoy it. (Sorry, snow-packed Northerners, the public art portion of this blog is headed south for the winter.) This week on Caterpickles, we meet an eleven-year-old boy in Lake Charles, Louisiana who is nearly as excited about his town’s gators as my daughter was about the Dedham Massachusetts bunnies.
Read articleHow can you keep kids in the loop when you visit a sick relative without them?
My father has been having a few health issues lately, which have resulted in my flying down to Texas a couple of times to help out with this and that. My daughter, being the curious and caring sort, has had all sorts of questions about what’s going on with Grandpa. Respecting both my father’s need for privacy and my daughter’s desire for answers has been challenging at times. On my last trip, I accidentally hit upon a good solution. I thought I’d share it with you in case you also wanted to try it.
Read articleBook Review: Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia & Kate #1)
Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia & Kate #1) By Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer Harcourt, 2004 Age Range: Middle Grade and up The events in Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot play out over a series of letters between two cousins in Regency…
Read articleWhat’s so important about fostering curiosity anyway?
I’ve been doing a fair amount of reading and thinking about curiosity lately. One of the first articles I came across was by Daisy Yuhas of the Hechinger Report. In it, she talks about a set of studies that demonstrate that curious people are happier in their jobs, better at social interactions, and enjoy greater academic success. Reader, I had questions.
Read article4 books that share well with middle-schoolers
I’m always on the look out for books that The Eleven-Year-Old and I can read (and talk about) together. Here are four of our favorites from Family Book Club this past year. https://caterpickles.com/2018/12/13/4-books-for-family-book-club
Read article“So, Mommyo, what are you going to do about Caterpickles, now that I’m in middle school?”
Years ago, when I started this blog, neither my daughter nor her friends read on their own. They were never online, which gave me considerable freedom when it came to posting funny stuff my daughter said. But now that my daughter is 11, the potential fallout from telling funny stories from her day is much greater. What’s a curious mommy blogger to do?
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