Nicholas, At Home in her Tomb, ice cream cake, boa constrictors in woolly suits

I know I have mentioned the Nicholas series before, when my eldest boy was reading them, but my ten year old has just started and I was reminded how great they are. This one below, was our first and purchased purely because of its lovely clothbound cover. The hardcovers are more expensive, needless to say, so our series is a bit of both. Anyway, he loves them all. Here they are.

Next, At Home in her Tomb, an expensive, award winning, really great quality non fiction book that sadly, made my son gag when he saw it. I've got a lot of different reactions from my boys when I show them new books, but this was a first!

It was one of the "surprises" in his 13th birthday pile but anyways, he has yet to read it. The problem was the photo of the amazingly preserved two thousand year old body of Lady Dai. If only her tongue wasn't poking out. So, its fascinating but I don't know when it will be opened.

Luckily, he loved his cake. It was a real chore to make. Not. I smushed two vienettas, one mint aero and a punnet of raspberries into a lined loaf tin and left it in the freezer for an hour. We could turn it out then and stick the candles on top. By then the birthday boy has his appetite back.

And by the by, I've mentioned these two books before, because they're great, but last night I read them back to back. And only noticed then that they are both about boa constrictors whose owners knit them their own suits. Now we love them even more!

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

and Crictor.