Saturday morning here..

None of my kids wanted to go for a walk today, but they coped well with the trauma of leaving the house on this sunny afternoon. After we finally got them to the park, and were on the way home, surprise, surprise, none of them wanted to go to the library either. But my late fees were on my conscience, so we all trooped in.

Anyway after all that complaining, lo and behold, everyone chose a book.
For our nine year old..Pirate Penguin Vs Ninja Chicken.

This is the third, or maybe even fourth time this book has been taken out on one of our library cards. My nine and eleven year olds love it. In fact, I could have bought it for the amount I paid in late fees. Oh well. And for the same boy...Ottoline goes to School. He read the first in this series a fortnight ago and loved it.

 

For our teenager....Moone Boy the blunder years.

I never watched this series, nor did my son. And it really grates on my nerves when people who are famous for other stuff elbow into the book world. However, Chris O'Dowd seems nice enough and the book is co-written by Nick V. Murphy, who I never heard of. (He co-wrote the television series with O'Dowd.) More importantly, my thirteen year sloped into the library, picked this off a shelf and for the next fifteen minutes sat reading it crouched on one of those tiny childrens chairs. Without giving me any agonized "how much longer?" looks. And when I picked it up when we got home (still thinking about damn greedy celebrities), I read the line 

"She then picked up her buttery toast and wrapped her snack-happy jaws around her sixth slice of the morning."

Anyone who spent their teenage years in Ireland in the 1980's will know what a massive part buttered toast played in our everyday life. Mothers never bought biscuits then, and if they did they were hoovered up by ravenous brothers long before the shopping was put away. Chocolate was for Easter and there were never, ever special offers on giant Cadburys bars like there is now. Not that any mothers would have been tempted. They were far too busy choosing root vegetables (turnips!)for that. 

So toast was our snack food. We had it when we were on homework breaks /on the phone /having breakfast /having supper /home from the disco. Slice after slice after slice. Anyway, once that line hooked me in, I read a few more pages. Its very funny. I'll definitely nab it when my son is finished.

My eleven year old chose Danger is Everywhere (good, he says) and my four year old got The Lego Annual 2015, which is currently on special offer for €6.85. It would be a great one to produce from a bag if you were on a long flight/train trip.

And..playdough plus garlic press = five minutes peace, should you need it.