Cheating

FYI....I'm cheating on The Hunger Games with Brisingr (AUDIO)....if a book offers me a sword, a dragon, and a quest and I just can't say no.
Still married to Hunger, but dating Brisingr on the side.

The Hunger Games

My current read, recommended by Elli (my 12 year old)

      Every now and then, as we navigate our way through life, we read (or see, or are told about) a story which changes our view of the world.  We grow up...just a little bit.  When I was in 4th grade, I read a book called There are Two Kinds of Terrible by Peggy Mann.  The story centers around a boy who is finishing the school year, and heading in to summer baseball season, which, to him, is a little slice of heaven.  But, after school gets out, on the last day, he's running through the woods with his buddies to get to the baseball field, and he trips and falls.  He breaks his arm.  His mom comes and splints his arm with a rolled up newspaper, and does what moms do.  She takes care of her child.  But, he doesn't appreciate it.  He feels like it's the worst, MOST TERRIBLE, thing that could have ever happened to him.  From the eyes of a young kid, we understand that this seems like the end of his world.

     But....then something else happens.

     As he's spending his summer inside, bored, with his mother, he notices things.  She's weaker than he remembers, she's sleeping a lot more than he remembers.  She's sick.  A lot.  Then he finds out that she has cancer.  And, over the course of the summer he gets closer to his mom, but then he loses her.  And, the rest of the story centers around him learning to deal with this loss, while he watches his heartbroken father learn to deal with the loss as well.

     He learns that there are two kinds of terrible,

    

 the kind where your summer is ruined

 and

 the kind where you lose your mom

     This book changed my view of the world.  While I am now, and probably always will be, a ridiculous optimist, I learned to put things in perspective.  So, when I came home crying because some girl (who shall remain nameless) called me a snob and convinced everyone else they shouldn't talk to me, I knew, that it wasn't the worst thing that could happen, and I learned one of the most important lessons in life.  Resilience. 

     I still think about that book, when I need to put things in perspective.  When I can't see past whatever terrible thing that has happened, I remind myself that there are worse kinds of terrible.  And, typically, I count myself lucky.

    I'm about a quarter of the way into this book, but I have the feeling this could be one of those that stays with you.  The lesson is different, I think, but I understand, now, why my daughter told me to read it.  She said she needed to talk about this book.  So, she waits, impatiently, for her very slow-reading mom, to finish.....