'sports and recreation'

As you’re lacing up your shoes, ready to go outside and enjoy the sunny day, you see a bright flash and then – one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi – hear the low rumble of thunder. Rain? Today?! What a bummer! Lucky for you, your grown-up has just come back from the library and has a whole bunch of books they promise will keep you busy. Let’s see what they have, shall we?

Bigfoot: Spotted At World-Famous Landmarks by D.L. Miller (Easy 001.944 MILLER) You take a peek inside this book. Oh!  Look at the detailed pictures! And you have to find a teeny tiny Bigfoot hidden in each picture! These are just like mom’s falling apart, old Where’s Waldo books, but cooler and new. You could spend hours looking for Bigfoot, footprints, tour guides, and more. As you turn the page, you see that there’s facts, history, and real pictures of each world-famous landmark that Bigfoot visits. Did you know that the Statue of Liberty’s index finger is 8 feet long?

After you’ve found all of the Bigfoots, you turn to a goofy looking chapter book: Your Very Own Robot Goes Cuckoo-Bananas! by R.A. Montgomery (Junior MONTGOMERY) Hmm…The first page says “Read this first!!! Watch out! This book is different than every book you’ve ever read. YOU get to choose what happens next—and even how the story will end.” You like this idea. Nobody ever lets you choose anything. So you start reading about a whacky robot and his faithful kid until two things happen at the same time. Do you a. run toward the sound of a braking car? or b. go to Robot Cloning classes? For A. go to page 8, for B. page 10. You get to choose what happens through the whole book! You can even go back and re-read to see what COULD have happened. This is cool!

Okay, those were neat, but you’re getting a little antsy since you had to sit still for SO LONG. Your grown-up grabs Locomotion: March, Hop, Skip, Gallop, Run by Michael Dahl, illustrated by Beth Hughes (Easy 612.78 DAHL) and queues up some music from the book on their phone! You can read AND move along with the book!  

When you’ve made it through the whole book, your heart is racing. Your grown-up suggests that you try out Unicorn Yoga by Gina Cascone & Bryony Williams Sheppard, illustrated by Jennifer Sattler (Easy 613.7 CASCONE) to cool you off. Cat pose, cow pose, tiger and plank, there’s even one especially for you: child’s pose!

Whew! That was hard work. Good thing it’s time for lunch! You’re famished. You pull out Fish and Fowl: Easy and Awesome Sandwiches for Kids by Alison Deering and Bob Lentz (Easy 641.84 DEERING) and start paging through. Lox? EW! Tuna melt? Maybe. Chicken and waffles! YES! Your grown-up helps you gather ingredients and uses the oven to heat up the chicken. You toast the waffles, add some cheese, honey mustard and lettuce and then put it all together. YUM.

Now that you’ve refueled, you want to do something hands-on. You pull the last book out of the library tote bag. The Secret Files of Professor L. Otto Funn: Or Stop Being a Slug, Open This Book, and Make Your Brain Happy (745.5 GORS). This looks like fun, or should you say FUNN? You look through the projects and choose three to do: The Crayon Rock Cycle, Create Your Own Masterpiece, and Minotaur Mask. Your grown-up asks if you deliberately chose the messiest projects. (You did). You creates new things from old things and learn about earth science, painting, and mythology along the way.

The next thing you know, it’s time to clean up for supper. Where did the time go? You ask your grown-up about the forecast for tomorrow. Will there be rain again? 

Extra Rainy Day Book Suggestions:

• The Dangerous Book for Boys by Hal Iggulden (031.02 IGGULDEN)
• C.R.A.F.T.: Creating Really Awesome Free Things by Jamie Dorobek (745.5 DOROBEK)
• Knights and Castles by Christopher Gravett and Andrew Langely, Photographyed by Geoff Brightling and Geoff Dann (940.1 GRA)
• The Haunted Sanatorium: A Chilling Interactive Adventure by Matt Doeden and Mari Bolte (133.1 DOEDEN)