After I finished the Codex Alera Series (I loved it!), I decided to take out something more practical. I ended up with "Talking with your baby," a practical howto about why and how to talk to your baby. The advice was practical and easy to read. The authors did not belabor a point or justify their wisdom. The examples seemed easy to follow and fun. So I tried a few of them, like making my own toys, and describing actions as they happened. I think the baby is definitely happier, but most important of all, I found more opportunities to talk to him and communicate.  He's growing so big now!

Wow, the first book "Furies of Calderon" is a rush to read.  The idea of elemental furies and having powers to control them is an interesting one. I really enjoyed the depiction of this alter world where the characters can survive by their knowledge of furycrafting. The main character, Tavi, is an excellent protagonist. He possesses the values of truth, humility, and courage that all of us aspire to. The interesting part is that Tavi is furyless, yet he manages to do more than those with furies. Butcher's world seems realistic and fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed thinking about the constraints and strengths of the different furies. The intrigue is good, but the character development is what makes the book shine. I really couldn't put it down at the end because I wanted to see how different people would wield their furies. The details of how people perform tasks (such as navigating an unfamiliar wood, or drawing a bow) are very well researched and explained with clarity so that one learns a bit about the engineering behind the actions. I think I'm onto another great series.

I just read Vivian Paley's excellent book on Sociodramatic Play by kindergarteners. It was a fascinating read into the way the under-5s use storytelling and dramatic play to understand the world by recreating and retelling stories. They use the dramatic play to experiment with roles and behaviors, and relate to the world that is too big for them. For example, they might play act the world trade center bombings, and retell it so that they can visualize the victims as floating to safety or perhaps recast themselves as older or younger heroes so that they can explore the social relationships at different ages (e.g. cinderella as a baby was treated nicely, a daddy can have wolf teeth but be a superhero for little red riding hood). The depth of the stories reported in the book is astounding, and the writing draws clear parallels between sociocultural values and fantasy play. For example, children become nicer to each other and can reform bad behavior when there is sociodramatic play than without. I would not be surprised if  creativity and ingeniuty are correlated with a history of sociodramatic play. It seems that the relationships and abstraction that forms from fantasy play could be very useful for dealing with multiple viewpoints and collaborative problem solving. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in children's education.

I recently was taking some time to relax,and picked up Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card. It is historical fiction about the beginning of America. There are some great stories about folklore and little charms and hexes people do, also some ideas about freedom and doing what you're meant to do. I really enjoyed the book, because the main character, Alvin Miller Jr. is so curious and smart. His seemingly childish thoughts are very intriguing, and lead to very serious  consequences.  Its a good tale about growing up and trying to be good, and also about figuring out what you know and what you don't know, and trying to always do your best. The adventures in the book are interesting to read, making good enough for reading over a short time, but the characters are what really shine. My favorite parts are Alvin trying to puzzle out his view of the way things work, and also his teasing with his siblings.  4.5 out of 5 stars.

I picked this up because it had been nearby as I was resting. It was an interesting read, but not for little kids. The subject matter is quite disturbing, and there is a dark humor through the book. I found it sad overall, and I was glad to finish the book. This is an example of someone being raised in a broken home (where the father is an alcoholic and mean, and that pretty much is the source of all the problems in the family).  Francie, the main character, has a skewed logic where he fixates on people or ideas that are unrelated or trivial, imagining some perceived harm that most people would not even think about and would ignore. The story is written in a stream of consciousness style, that conveys how confused or obsessed Francie was about the things happening around him, and his lack of access to a mentor who tried to help him understand his feelings and fears. His inability to understand another's sympathy, the passage of time, or relate to other people in an open (honest) way (he always felt they were dishonest with him), mirrors his own attitudes toward people. He quite imagined that they were thinking the same things he was, that they were openly deceiving him, and mocking him for the sake of abusing him.  In truth, the other characters were just trying to be good and polite, in Francie's mind he saw that as an attack or abuse. This is interesting because he largely ignores the abuse that happens in his home, and sees that as "normal" and sees the normal people as "abnormal".  Francie grows up to be paranoid, psychotic, and delusional-- and he rationalizes all the awful things he did, such as lashing out at people who are trying to help him, and being self absorbed and abusive in his treatment of others.
 The book showed an inside perspective on the unfortunate result of an unhappy home, and the desperate spiral for help that was ignored by the good townsfolk because they were unable to get this child into a happy home early enough, or fix his perception about himself. It is clear that the main character loathes himself, and wishes he were able to be like other people. Unfortunately, he is unable to get past the traumatic events of his life and look forward to new opportunities, instead he is always dwelling on the past and living in the anger of imagined hurts. Francie was exposed to violence and abuse early/long enough that it damaged him mentally and emotionally, and made him into a psychopath. Readers follow the trail of this descent from the internal dialogue, and its interesting because it shows just how bad society is at communicating and reaching across to crazy, mentally retarded, people.  There are no answers in the book, only the events that transpire as witnessed by Francie. The reader is left with an implicit critique on society and perhaps musings on how to reach out to people who might be trapped in dire domestic situations. I rate it **** for its unique perspective and turns of events. The book does not really have a plot, but provides a different view of mental illness and provokes sympathy for the situation.