Theme Thursday: Barns

Hi all, today is that day again. In other words it's Thursday. This Thursday's theme is barns, and I wish I could just send y'all a photo of my house, but I wasn't sure I could convey the message. Well anyway, here are some REAL barns...

(I took these out the window of the passenger seat of our mini van on our way from our home school partnership with my mom's camera.)

That Paul...

Today I was doing my math when Paul said, "Lizzy, you shouldn't tip in your chair"

Me: you shouldn't tip in your chair.
Paul: I'm not!
Me: You will. At lunch and dinner.
Paul: I don't tip in my chair at lunch.

The Black Stallion by Walter Farley

Well, you see, I once decided that I would read all of the horse books in existence, (meanwhile writing a few as well) and I happened to stumble upon The Black Stallion. As soon as I opened the front cover I was delighted to see that Walter Farley had written a whole series of Black Stallion books! In fact it was so big a series there were twenty one of them! So I checked them all out, only to find that I loved the first one, liked the second, was OK with the third, and didn't even read the rest. You know the saying: "First time's funny, second time's silly, and third time's a spanking." So, if you're like me, and you want to read all of the sappy horse books in history, I'll save you the trouble: If it's a series, only read the first ones.

In the book, young Alexander Ramsey is shipwrecked on an inhabited island with a wild stallion. The way the author writes takes you inside Alec's mind without going into the first person. In almost all the books you can find, the first words are boring, and they encourage you to stop reading. Well, that is if you don't read The Black Stallion. It's entertaining from the very start, introducing the characters without being bland, witch is a pattern I see in a lot of books.

So again, if you like horses and you happen to be a kid, I highly recommend The Black Stallion.