Got school supplies this year

[conuly]

Spent $200 and I didn't even get that much. I bought an awful lot of pens - I want this year to be the year where I don't buy any pens until July. Bought extra pencils too, including two boxes of "X-tra fun!" pencils where the paint and the wood are different bright colors. I don't know who Bic thinks they're fooling with that label, but they're bright for those dismal days, anyway.

The kid I pick up got a last minute transfer to a new school with a different summer reading list, and I was able to snag both books used for his mother, plus the graph paper she'd had inordinate trouble finding. So that's good. He's not going to finish these books by Wednesday, though. (Also, not to malign the brilliant Zilpha Keatley Snyder, but if I had to pick two books for incoming sixth graders to read, I would not have gone with Freak the Mighty and The Egypt Game. I absolutely love Egypt Game, and loved it as a kid, but... not much happens in it. Which is a strange thing to say about a book with a serial child killer, but there you go. It's a lot of character development and personal growth, and not much action. And it's a good 50 years old. It's not the easiest sell for reluctant readers, and many of their students will be reluctant readers. I would've picked something more recent, and never worried about awards.)

Comments

[adafrog]

They're reading a book about a child serial killer?

[conuly]

You've never read The Egypt Game? It's not about a serial child killer, it's about personal growth, but there IS a serial killer in it, who kills one girl, has killed another before the start of the book, and nearly kills a protagonist.

[adafrog]

Ah.
No, never heard of it.

[conuly]

You've never heard of one of the Newberry-winning classics of children's literature?

[adafrog]

Nope. But I don't read based on medals. ;) Also, it's been a long time since I read child lit.

[altamira16]

Tell me more about your pens.

[magnetic_pole]

$200?!? Yikes. Things get more expensive every year. Hope her year gets off to a good start! M.

[conuly]

Well, you ought to remedy the latter! Kidlit is, page for page, a heck of a lot cheaper than lit for adults.

[conuly]

There's a lot of them.

[sallymn]

Stationary is expensive... and seductive. I can easily spend $50-50 without even meaning to in an office supplies shop...

[conuly]

In this case, I was focusing on loss leaders. I bought a few nice notebooks as a treat, those "fun" pencils, and a pretty calculator for Eva. (And a sketchbook which proved so popular that I'm buying three more for general usage next weekend.)

[agoodwinsmith]

Oh yes. Yummy stationery stores. :)

[fred_mouse]

I would be interested in knowing which Zilpha Keatley Snyder you would recommend. My catalogue tells me I have 'A witch in the family' and 'The witches of Worm', but I have no memory of reading either of them.

[conuly]

In general? Pretty much all of them. But not for mandatory summer reading.

[fred_mouse]

Ah. I'll put her on my 'whatever I find' list then.