Slice of Life - book flaps

Me - "How's your new book series?  The one we got over the weekend."

B - "It's great!"

Me - "What makes it great?"

B - "It's fantasy."

Silence. (I'm not getting anything more easily, I think.)

Me - "What makes it fantasy, is there magic, what are the characters doing?"

B - "You know how the book is hardback?"

Me - "Yes, just the first one."

B - "I love when books have the paper cover because then you can use the front flap for a bookmark and then when you get further in the book, you can use the back flap as a bookmark.  It's GREAT for when you can't find a bookmark to use, like me right now."

Interesting.  (I'm thinking, at least she has no plans to dog-ear the pages.)


All day I've been pondering this conversation. I didn't get much of a book conversation going.  I learned she likes the book.  She likes it because it's fantasy.  I saw her reading it yesterday, so she's sticking with it.  We don't buy a lot of hardback books but the book flap as a bookmark is an interesting feature.  It's also interesting because for many years prior to this the book jackets always came/come off of books because she didn't like them.  They got in the way.  Now that she sees a purpose beside the given purpose, book jackets are GREAT!  

Kids are so interesting.  Sometimes we have to set aside our own agendas and let them lead a conversation to discover something unique or special or enjoyable to them.  I can't wait to make the time this fall to find interesting nuggets with my new readers.

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