Shakespeare, big rivers

Okay, germs this time of year? Not. Cool. We have 3 1/2 more days of school, and my kids really need to be there! Some of them, I think, still have some tests to take care of. Half of them have colds, and one of them was really not feeling well today (no sore throat, but I keep asking, because he seems streppish otherwise). I took those who were feeling mostly okay (ie the ones who did not stay up all last night on a campout) to a Shakespeare performance in the park. The group is doing performances in a number of towns around here, but this one was in St. Anthony, which I've only ever driven through on the way to the sand dunes. The park--ai yai! It's built RIGHT on the Henry's Fork of the Snake River, and yikes, that is an awfully large and deep and cold and fast-moving river to have next to a park! People (even college students) have drowned in that river before. It's very scenic, though! The kids ended up just playing on the playground while I drew, because the river and the wind were too loud and you actually couldn't hear a word of the play. The actors seemed to know their lines and do a good job, from what we could see, though. Hopefully the rest of their performances will be heard (they are indoors from here on out, so I think they'll be okay). The fun thing, though, was that a kid crept over to watch what I was doing. His mom told him it was okay to speak up and ask me about it (he was shy), and it turned out that he also had a notebook and was drawing. He was about ten, and quite good. The funny thing was, his mom was one of the people we met at the university dinner the other night, one of the ones who had been in Germany when we were. So we had a nice time drawing and comparing notes on the difficulty of drawing moving, living, changing things.

All in all, a nice day, but we are very tired and I really, really, really hope that everyone wakes up feeling better than they did today!!

ETA: Here's someone's photo of the river as it runs along the park: http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/60393631.jpg

The Lion's Paw, by Robb White

I love this book. My mom used to read it to her students when she taught 4th and 5th grade (back in the 60s), and she actually had to replace her original copy because she read it so many times. When I was getting read to leave for college, I found that it was in print again, so I got a copy. I don't know if it is now or not, but I hope so, because it's such a lovely book. I'm reading it to my girls right now, and it's the perfect book to end on: full of action and exotic locales (well, unless you live in Florida!), but told in a soothing way. The perfect book to close your eyes to as you snuggle in the covers and let your imagination put you there.

The story: Penny (12) and her brother Nick (9) know that no one will ever adopt them. They're too old; people only ever adopt the babies at the orphanage, or eganahpro, as they call it, because being inside, they read the gate backwards. When Nick leaves for a trial run with a woman who wants him as a farm hand, the chance to escape suddenly becomes real. He runs away, comes back to let Penny out, and they head for the one place they've always longed for--the sea. They climb aboard the nicest boat in the harbor, and fall asleep in a pile of sails.

But someone finds them: 15-year-old Ben Sturges. The navy claims his father is dead, a casualty of the ongoing war in the Pacific (it's WWII). His uncle, who is his guardian, believes the navy. But Ben doesn't. He knows his father's missing, but he believes that when he finds a rare sea shell knows as a lion's paw, his father will return.

When Ben's uncle makes plans to sell Ben's father's boat (that Nick and Penny are hiding on), Ben snaps. His father is coming back, and the boat is not for sale. Which is how the three kids end up sailing away on the boat, searching for lion's paws and freedom.

The Lion's Paw is middle grade adventure at its best: tough kids who are still soft enough inside to love, some humor, plenty of challenges to face, excellent writing that doesn't talk down to kids, and heart. Some books don't age well, but this one...this one totally succeeds.