11/11/2009

Mystery on Outer Island

Just read a decent book to the boys called Mystery on Outer Island by Foster Kennedy. Its original title was The Disappearance of Mr. Allan and it is juvenile fiction. It's probably not in print, but there are used copies on Amazon for 20 cents, I'm sure. It reminded me a little bit of Nathan Wilson's book Leepike Ridge in that it involved mystery and archaeological discoveries. In the book, four friends who live on an island near St. Augustine, FL find a vault buried in the sand while camping, tell their teacher, Mr. Allan, about it, and then Mr. Allan disappears. Some shady characters show up in a fancy yacht, the vault is empty, they make more discoveries, etc. It is not the best book ever written, but it will hold the attention of normal kids from 3rd grade on. I enjoyed reading about kids who grow up near the ocean, take swimming at night for granted, eat a lot of seafood, and go camping together.

I just started reading Great Expectations to them last night and so far it is going okay. I don't know if all of them are listening to it; the prose is a bit old fashioned, but the writing is so funny and lively. Hopefully they are enjoying it. It is impossible to find a book that will appeal to a 5 year old all the way up to a 13 year old, but you just kind of have to push on, I guess.

Last night, we got to the part in Exodus where Moses is worried the people won't listen to him and so God gives him the ability to perform a sign where he throws down his staff and it turns into a snake. I just noticed tonight that the sign is for Moses's fellow Israelites and not for the Egyptians. How I missed that all this time, I'll never know. Anyway, really interesting detail.

Well, gotta run. The grindstone never rests.