Despite being knee-deep in all things 6th grade, Jack and I discovered a most excellent group of novels with an absolutely unputdownable quality: Robert Muchamore’s CHERUB series. Muchamore’s books hit on the trifecta of tween interests: spies, international mystery, and, um, adolescent drama. Think of it as James Bond without all the double entendres. The British Security […]
It’s hard to beat the rush of reading a book that you don’t want to end…especially when that book is part of a series. You know there’s more goodness right around the corner just waiting for you. Once we discover an author he likes, Jack is a very loyal reader. Case in point? He plowed through […]
Wow, wow, WOW! Quiet Down There just received an incredible shout-out by the incredible literary blog, Musing, run by the incredible folks at Parnassus Books in Nashville! Jack and I are absolutely ecstatic! You may have noticed that we always provide a link for every book we mention; you may also have noticed that these links take […]
It’s summertime, y’all. Time to let loose and be carefree, right? Apparently, things were a little too loose and carefree around our house, so we decided to tangle with Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief. The grown-up here had read it awhile back and knew it was a deeply important story. Jack had seen The Book Thief on […]
We just wound up the best summer we’ve ever had. In addition to all the swimming, biking, playing, and laughing we could handle, we also were absolute reading fanatics. Jack plowed through over 20 books in just 10 weeks. Before we get to our run-down, we must give a huge shout out to Rob Buyea’s […]
Quiet Down There has definitely been a little…well, quiet down here lately. Now that the hubbub that is May has passed, we promise to get back to business reviewing books. Last week while we were at the beach, I picked up another book for Jack by Ungifted author, Gordon Korman. Jack devoured Swindle in less than […]
Stories about schools are always fascinating. Be it Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or the Welton Academy of The Dead Poet’s Society, there’s something intriguing (and voyeuristic) about encountering a school from some place other than one of its desks. Although he’s just a 4th grader, Jack already tends to agree. So when we found a story about […]
Hey grown-ups: remember this thing? Did your playground have some version of it tucked into a corner? I’m willing to bet it did; this faded, semi-rusted honeycomb of a potential law suit holds a special place in the memories of us 40-somethings. Many schoolyard problems were solved atop this wobbly contraption, and pow-wows often took […]
Way back in the dark ages–way before the advent of the iPhone, the iPad, or the iAnything–Scrabble was a popular pastime. Yes, we’re talking about the board game with its smooth little wooden rectangles of letters, pulled randomly from an opaque maroon velvet bag and used to spell out words crossword-style. Kids today know this […]
Welcome to Quiet Down There, the blog for young(ish) readers! Jack is a 4th grader; his mom, Laura, is a little bit older. Laura adores her book club (and she claims they actually do discuss the book; it’s not all about the wine). Jack plows through a few books a week and would love to […]
quiet down there! 