Rocks in My Dryer...plus an unrelated story

I'm really enjoying this mom-blogger/writer. Her site has so many things to look at, click on, read, explore, ponder and laugh at, you may never return to sit with the Contemplative Mom!

Meanwhile, an unrelated story:

One of my girls said, "You know how some people can't wait for the weekend and don't want it to end?"

"Yes?"

"Not me! I want to hurry up and rush through it so we can start next week at school!"

"Really? Why? What's happening next week?"

"Book Buddies!"

Each student in my daughter's third-grade class pairs up with a first-grader for Book Buddies, when they sprawl out on the floor and read to them. My daughter loves this opportunity to share her love of books with her reading partner.

From what I can tell, my daughter's been given very little direction on book selection. Several times, having forgotten to pack an age-appropriate book to read to her buddy, she simply pulls out from her backpack a collection of Calvin and Hobbes that she's been re-reading for the fifteenth time. She figured the little first-grader would enjoy the comic-book style.

A few weeks ago, when I heard that she was reading from C&H, I suggested, "Maybe you should pick something else for Book Buddies. I mean, some of the words are big, and some of the jokes would be hard for a first-grader to understand."

"Okay, I'll take something else."

She pulled several picture books from our shelves and stuffed them in her backpack, only to find out that she was off-schedule. She removed those books and replaced them with C&H for her own free-reading pleasure, intending to pop the stack of first-grade books into her backpack the following week. Unfortunately, the next Book Buddies took her by surprise, and the picture books were left at home stacked up on a table. All she had was C&H. She read it yet again.

"Does she laugh at them?" I asked.

"No, not really. Well, sometimes. A little. But not very much. This time she asked me how Calvin jumped out of his skin. I didn't know what to say, so I just told her it was a made up story and not to worry about it."

Hmmm. . .something about this comment made me wonder. I asked her to show it to me. Calvin was shown literally jumping out of his skin: a creepy, Calvin-shaped skull and upper-body skeleton bursting out of skin that was peeling away and falling to the floor.

"You read her that?"

She laughed nervously. "Yes."

"Oh, my. You cannot take in Calvin and Hobbes any longer!"

"Okay, but it's not our copy. It's the school library's."

"It is?"

"Yes, so anyone can check it out. But it's okay. Next time I'll just take in The Butterly Collector."

"Good idea. It sounds better for a first-grader."

"It is. I've read it. It's just about a guy who goes around catching butterflies."

I hope so.

Regarding Calvin's skeleton: my daughter and I talked briefly about idioms--we'd discussed them last year, so she knew what they were. "Oh! I get it! It's an idiom that he's doing literally, but the joke comes after that, when he says, 'Now I'll see if Mom will jump out of her skin!' Then it's back to being...uh...."

"Figurative."

"Figurative! Now it's even funnier. I didn't totally get it before."

And I'm sure the poor, haunted first-grader didn't get it, either.

I should probably confiscate our copies of Calvin and Hobbes from her backpack and require them to stay at home.

I should probably preview The Butterfly Collector.

I should probably phone the mom.