My Mission Statement

I write to serve, to unite, to educate. I write to share literature and flesh out ideas that may be of interest to others. I write to document an emotion, experience, or a blip in time. My mission is to write in such a way that the reader is reminded that we can find humor in all situations. It's one of the great blessings of life.


Thursday, August 7, 2008

Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen

I just finished LAWN BOY by Gary Paulsen. It's a great example of a chapter book, a new genre, in my opinion. While there have been some very good chapter books over the years, there's not been nearly enough, especially for boys. (except series, but that's another topic) At any rate, I've thought a great deal about writing this length story, so this one seemed like a good one to check out.

It was interesting. The premise was great--a kid gets an old riding mower and builds a huge business. But the interesting thing about this story is the awesome lesson in economics. It's like Econ 101 I had in college. I could see teaching an entire high school economics class around this book. Does anyone remember the whole WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? and RAVING FANS epidemic of business books? Well, this would fit right in. Except it's a book for kids. I could see some mathematically minded young people really getting into that aspect of the book as well. If anyone is even considering 1. starting your own business 2. investing your money or 3. managing a boxer??, this book is for you.

Did I mention that I enjoyed it? The grandmother is a particularly hilarious character. Her conversation tic is that she always says two unrelated sentences back to back. Very funny. And his stockbroker is a hippy. Anyway, good characters, fun premise, surprisingly good layers for an 84 page book. Check it out, and let me know what you think.

On another note, I finally understand why you periodically see these old ladies with facial hair. They can't stop it. I'm like Teen Wolf over here with wild black hairs sprouting out all over my neck. It's freaking me out. I'll pull them out (shudder, shudder), and an hour later there are more. I'm afraid if I don't pull them out, I'll have a full beard by Tuesday, but pulling them out is becoming a full time job. I've got tweezers in my car, my purse, my bathroom, even my kitchen. Did anyone see Evan Almighty? Well, that's gonna be me. Can anyone say HORMONES? This is crap. I did not sign up for this.

6 comments:

Diane said...

I've read that book and so has my son. We both loved it. I know what you mean about hair cropping up in places that have never seen hair before. You don't even wanna know what's been sprouting on my big toes!

Dorothy said...

What a great book to teach young kids about money. This needs to be done more so they don't grow up like my husband and I did, never being told about compound interest and the merits of socking away just a little in stocks on a regular basis. Yes, I'm afraid I'm rabid on teaching kids about money before they reach 45, still spending everything they make and paying only the interest on their credit cards.

Donna, I have a good idea. Why don't you use the Lawn boy book to teach (volunteering of course) your kids' classes about money?

Next step: You can show them how to invest in stocks and let them play the market with their pretend money/stock choices. The teacher can call it math.

Dorothy said...

P.S.
Did Gary Paulson ever write anything bad? He's a great storyteller.

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Isabel by Donna Jones Koppelman

Isabel by Donna Jones Koppelman

Major Bear at the Grove Park Inn by Donna Jones Koppelman

Major Bear at the Grove Park Inn by Donna Jones Koppelman