Little Green

This is the book that Madison chose to get, of all the free books on the shelf at the library.  She didn't have as many choices as other kids that finished earlier, which is sort of disappointing, as the program isn't a race, and it kind of becomes one to get there early enough to get the best choices.  Still, this was an interesting choice of a book.  Madison chose it a few days ago as she completed her reading program.  She saw some words in Chinese translated at the beginning, and thought this might be something to learn from on the whole.

But upon reading it, there's something more to it of course.  This book is a story told from the viewpoint of a child growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.  It's written almost in a poetic way, and as you can imagine, isn't the happiest of stories.  Still, nevertheless, we've started reading a bit from this each night.  It's an important thing to talk about with China, something that really emphasizes how blessed and free we are here.  Of course, there are beautiful places to live all over the world.

But there's irony in the Tron movies we've just recently watched.  Madison wanted to watch those, about a world where red guards enforce compliance with a brutal efficiency.  It's easy to compare what's going on in this book to the world of Tron, as ridiculous as the comparison may seem.  And of course, the thing is that the events that took place in China are real.  And of course, they still happen to some extent, not just in China, but in many other countries around the world.

This book opens up all kinds of conversations about North Korea and other places in the world where freedom is certainly a lot different.  We don't read too much from this book each night, but just enough to get that taste of things, and how they were.

Fortunately, there are other books to be read, including the next book in the Inspector Flytrap series, which is significantly lighter reading material.

Speaking of "writing," Daddy is up against the clock with writing the latest devotional for KidPak, one that involves new LEGO characters Ole, Jamie Lynn, and Lily.  We were writing today, and writing quite a bit.  But also, there's prep for other things, like Summer Xtreme in Spartanburg.  It was decided, fortunately, that Daddy and a few others won't have to go this year, mainly because someone has to stay here to help with the kids we have here who are advancing to a new grade.  With vacations, open house at school, and of course Summer Xtreme, our workforce is pretty limited for that time, so Daddy is staying here to make sure things go well for the hundreds of kids that are in Gainesville.  Although part of me wants to go up to Spartanburg to say hello, it's good to stay here, especially to stay with Madison.  She's getting bigger, and these are the moments you cling to.

Back to writing... pretty busy here...