Weekly book shelf, 5/16/14

We went completely off script in History this week. Jon had jury duty at the federal court in Detroit. He got up at 5am every morning this week and drove into the city, missing some rather important things at his regular job, to hear a case that, as he summed it up, came down to a dead beat looking to get money from the government. He found it rather disheartening, but we used the situation to take a closer look at the judicial system in our country. I can't necessarily recommend this book (it was the best option our little library had on the shelf and our study decision came too late to order title from other libraries), but it certainly did the trick.

Also off script this week in science. Calvin kept coming up with all these great ideas for mixing and combining, so I got the Mixtures and Compounds book off our shelves. He gave me a list of materials he wanted and I set him loose on the driveway. When he was done it looked like a rainbow had exploded (thanks to the food coloring) and I was completely out of a number of kitchen staples, but Calvin was one happy boy.

Calvin did a literature study of The Magician's Elephant this week. Although I am not a fan of all of DiCamillo's work, this and Edward Tulane struck my fancy. In this story a young orphan boy refuses to give up the belief that his sister is still alive somwhere, and a fortune teller predicts that an elephant will bring them together. Add magic and adventure and you have a heartwarming story.

And in free time this week, Calvin devoured Eyes of the Killer Robot. Jon was a fan of Bellairs's books when he was younger and had encouraged Calvin to give them a try, but until now he'd been a little nervous of them—concerned that they would be scary. I can't imagine why, when the story involves a young boy who must put a stop to the robot his professor has assembled, an evil killing machine that wants his eyes. I think he did find it scary, but he read it all the same. Not stellar writing, but still a step above junk food. Maybe trail mix with chocolate.