School’s out and we’d rather be outside. While that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped reading, it does mean I don’t want to spend a lot of time reviewing. Naturally, I feel guilty about that, so I’m going to give you three quick hits on books that we’ve enjoyed over the years, rather than one long review.

George’s Secret Key to the Universe
By Lucy & Stephen Hawking
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, 2007

The Five-Year-Old and her father love this book. I’m not as sold on it, mostly because The Five-Year-Old makes me skip all the scary bits. My thought is, if there’s bits that are too scary, the book needs to wait. On the other hand, The Five-Year-Old’s totally obsessed with all things cosmological, largely thanks to this book and its sequels. So there’s that.

Little Quack
By Lauren Thompson
Illustrated by Derek Anderson
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, 2003

Super cute. The Five-Year-Old loves the pictures. A good book for kids who are just starting to learn to add, as it has some elementary math (1+1=2, 1+1+1=3, etc) built into the story line.

The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies
By Beatrix Potter
Warne, 2002 (First published 1909)

You know, I remain somewhat surprised at the casual violence in these classic stories. In The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Mrs. Rabbit mentions that Mrs. McGregor put Peter’s dad into a pie. In the The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, Mrs. McGregor plans to skin the young Flopsies to make a coat. Both seem tame, though, when compared to The Fierce Bad Rabbit. I love these books, but every time I read them I am reminded that childhood is more sugar-coated now than it used to be.

Related articles

• The Tale of Peter Rabbit (lettersofnote.com)
• Illustrator Beatrix Potter (scribology.wordpress.com)
• Quick Thoughts: “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” (thecheapreader.wordpress.com)

Cross-posted on Caterpickles.