Miranda Phipps

Miss P has a reading problem.  Namely, she doesn’t like to read.

This greatly distresses her Mama, a veritable reading freak. 

Luckily, Miss P has an excellent first grade teacher who recommended books on CD!  (Part of our theory is that Miss P likes to be Very Good at the things she does, and so she abandons reading whenever it begins to feel daunting.  Reading the book along with the CD helps her to get through those tough words that would otherwise hang her up.)

This recommendation has been sheer genius–not just because Miss P now likes to read, but because it has brought about an introduction to Skippyjon Jones, the Siamese cat who thinks he’s a chihuahua.  Yes, really.

Judy Schachner’s Skippjon books are just fantastic, and her readings are excellent.  (They rival Neil Gaiman’s recordings in my mind.)

Her love of (and dexterity with) wordplay and rhythm are really exceptional, and I would recommend checking these out if there are any little people in your life.  She’s also, and this part really makes me jealous, a brilliant illustrator.

I’ve been saving the best for last in this little blog post and that is an excerpt from the book.  Don’t you just love these opening lines?  (BTW, the reference to “box” is a reference to Skippyjon’s litter box.)

Skippyjon Jones did his very best thinking outside the box.  And this twisted his mamma’s whiskers tighter than a Texas tornado.

Enjoy!

I had a bunch of things to take care of on Friday afternoon, including school applications and recording my time for purposes of the old secret life.  I’ve been excited to watch the Firefly series again.  I watched it the first time around over a year ago, but distinctly remember falling asleep during a bunch of episodes.  (Such are the pitfalls of late night TV viewing at our house.)

Watching the episode Shindig again, I noticed that there was a Jane Espenson commentary on the DVD, so I chose that version.  (The costume designer and the actress who plays Inara also participated.)  I loves me some Jane Espenson as previously mentioned here, so you can’t imagine how excited I was to hear her give a nod to Pride and Prejudice when she described writing the dance scene which is one of the central scenes of the episode.  I also learned the following Cool Fact: Kaylee wore the crinoline from the original King and I under her dress. 

I watched the latest episode of Dollhouse last night, too, but I have to admit that I’m still a bit on the fence about the show.  It somehow lacks the other-worldy charisma of Whedon’s other concepts.  I have faith, however, so I will stick with it.