36 By the Way ...
Ponte Vedra Recorder · October 15, 2015
What was on your summer reading list in 2015?
Grown-ups don’t have a summer
reading list, unless it’s self-imposed
because they belong to a reading
group and have choices—something
they might well enjoy. Not so with
kids. Some kids have to read a book
or two for school over the summer.
Usually around mid August panic sets
in. Time to read!
It was a rainy Sunday in August,
10 days before my family and I were
leaving for vacation. I headed to a
bookstore where I had a juicy gift
certificate and wanted to get books
the grandkids could read on the
plane, maybe on the beach, and on
the flight home.
I wouldn’t be buying anything for
the oldest, 18, going off to freshman
year at college. At orientation she’d
been handed Justice: What’s the Right
Thing to Do? — an important book by
Michael Sandal and by early August,
she’d only read half of it. The college
stressed that students were required
to read it … or else. “Hey!” I said,
“You need to read
the bloody book.
I do not want to
find out you’ve
been thrown out
of college on
your first day!” It
was futile for me
to buy her any
books. Onward.
Mims Cushing
The middle
By the Way...
one, 16, is my
reader. She asked
if I could find a few books in my
nearby library for her to read on the
trip. (Their library did not have them
on their shelves and neither did we.
They were hot books.)
I wasn’t thrilled with her choices.
One was Crank. I was afraid to ask
what crank stands for. (Crack?) It’s
written in free verse. On the back it
reads, “Kristina is the perfect daughter: gifted high-school junior, quiet,
never any trouble. (So far so good.
MC) “Then she meets the monster:
THEME: HALLOWEEN
crank. And what begins as a wild ride
turns into a struggle for her mind,
her soul — her life.” Well, teenage literature sure isn’t what it used to be.
But my theory is “If they are reading
anything, they are reading. Amen.”
Besides, Kirkus gave it a good review
calling it, “Hypnotically sad.” So I
found it for her at B&N.
She also wanted Speak by Laurie
Halse Anderson, whose book was
a National Book Award finalist, and
called it, “The groundbreaking novel
that changed everything.” Wow. I was
intrigued.
My youngest, 13, is also a great
reader. She recommends wonderful books for me (Out of My Mind
by Sharon Draper and Endangered
by Eliot Schrader.) I know her taste
in books. For her I found Peak by
Roland Smith, which Booklist starred
and called “A thrilling, multifaceted
adventure story … A winner at every
level.” It’s about a fourteen-year-old
boy, Peak, who travels to Everest
ACROSS
1. Medieval fiddle
6. College assessment test
9. Outgoing tide
action
13. Allergic reaction
to bee sting
14. ____ chi
15. Thresh about, as
in arms
16. Oddball’s attempt?
17. Pro baseball’s
“Master Melvin”
18. Starbucks’ serving
19. Status of being
a star
21. *Inhabited by
apparitions
23. Actor Stallone
24. Lord’s servant
25. Busy flyer
28. *Like a Halloween sensation
30. Wipe out
35. St. Louis team
37. Hair product
manufacturer
39. Red Sea nation
40. Black and white
treat
41. Frame job
43. Arnold Lobel’s
“Frog and ____”
44. Bread spreads
46. Kind of jerk
47. “The Sun ____
Rises”
48. ____ Beach, SC
50. Verdant
52. Even, to a poet
53. *Give me a treat,
or ____!
55. Excessively
57. *”Guess who?”
garb
61. *Spell-caster
65. Before editing
66. As opposed to
amateur
68. Bioweapon
69. Money under
mattress, e.g.
70. Black and white
sea bird
71. Rounded like
an egg
72. Politician’s barrelful
73. “To Kill a Mockingbird” author
74. Stitch again
with his father, having only known
New York City. When I told her I’d
bought it for her, she said, “Oh dear,
Grammie, you sent me that last year.”
Oops.
My daughter reads sporadically,
so I texted her, “Would you like The
Goldfinch?” She knows how long it is,
and texted back, “LOL.” That means
Laughing Out Loud, true, but also,
in this context, “Lots of Luck” getting
her to read it.
If anybody in Recorderland cares,
I bought The Boys in the Boat: Nine
Americans and Their Epic Quest for
Gold at the 1936 Olympics by Daniel
James Brown, and Erik Larson’s Dead
Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania. For me, reading and vacations
go together.
As for the others? They were jet
skiing or windsurfing the whole time.
Books and water sports don’t mix. I
don’t think they read a single word!
I still love them anyway.
SUDOKU
DOWN
1. Whistle blowers
2. Make changes
3. Between Phi and
Kappa
4. Middle Eastern
V.I.P.s
5. *Placed in a
pumpkin
6. Nucleus plus
electrons
7. *Witch’s sidekick
8. 10 percent to
charity, e.g.
9. Panache
10. Pieces of fabric
used for stuffing
11. *Vampire’s action
12. Iditarod ride
15. Hagrid’s dog in
“Harry Potter” series
20. Deed hearings
22. “We ____ Young”
by Fun
24. Opposite of
diastole
25. *Wicked ride
26. This bird gets
the worm
27. One of #4 Down,
alternate spelling
29. Paris streets
31. Greek salad
staple
32. Any detergent
plant
33. Cut it out
34. “____ ____ a
high note”
36. Coal residue
38. Spiral-horned
African antelope
42. Traditional Italian fare
45. Nancy Drew, e.g.
49. *Freddy’s street
51. *Halloween
movie genre
54. Part of a flower
56. Peace-meaning
branch
57. Point of a crescent moon
58. On top of
59. *Stitched makeup
60. Poacher’s trophy