a brush with celebrity

liam's selection in the "what we're reading" sidebar on the right  hasn't changed at all in the past few months.  we discovered the Magic Tree House series last fall after hearing lots of friends with older children rave about them, and picked up the first book, dinosaurs before dark, at the library one rainy afternoon.  he could not put it down.  literally.  his eyes were glued to those pages all the way through the parking lot, in the car on the drive home, and for twenty minutes after we pulled into the driveway.  he sat in his car seat and finished the entire 60-page book before he even unbuckled himself to get out.  he was transfixed (and, suddenly, a dinosaur expert.)

since then, he's voraciously worked his way through about thirty more titles in the series.  mary pope osbourne, the author, keeps churning out more adventures of the brother and sister duo of jack and annie, as they magically travel through time in their tree house.  the author's sister has joined the family business and writes companion "research guides" that are non-fiction supplements to the stories for anyone who yearns to learn even more information than is contained in the novels.

with liam having been such an independent reader for a few years now, it's sometimes easy for me to forget that there's still a lot of benefit to me reading aloud to him.  so one night a few weeks ago, i picked up his current book and was immediately reminded of just how educational this series can be.  as i read, it made mention of william shakespeare, so i paused to explain to him who william shakespeare was.  "oh, i know him," liam interrupted.  "he was in book number twenty-five.  he wrote these plays in england a long time ago.  one of them had fairies in it and was about a dream or something."  [i'm a little rusty on brit lit, but i'm pretty sure he's referring to a midsummer night's dream, no?] 

so when one of our local bookstores hosted mary pope osborne and her sister for a book signing, i knew we had to be there.  it pains me to ever buy a book -- i'm an ardent believer in reading books FOR FREE through the library -- but this was one instance when i felt like my money was well-spent.  she entertained the crowd by explaining how she had come up with the whole idea, shared where jack and annie might be traveling next, and even solicited suggestions for future topics.  liam sat on the floor a few feet away absolutely mesmerized.  and then -- he could barely believe it -- he actually got to meet her (and her sister) face-to-face.  there will be days in his future when meeting a famous athlete, or actor, or musician will be one of the highlights of his life, but for now, i'm thankful that meeting an author thrills him so.

p.s.  isn't it refreshing that a woman who's sold close to 100 million books can still dress like she, well, hasn't sold close to 100 million books?  :)