Adventures and Mysteries

Every day I find myself looking at KosherCop and wondering where my scrunchy-faced little baby went. But as much as it scares me to see him growing up so fast, my brother was right. Kids just get more and more fun as they get older.

Our new fun is reading mystery/adventure stories. We had gotten him the first story in the Magic Tree House series for his birthday and it seemed to really capture his imagination. So when his aunt sent him a gift card to a bookstore, we went back for more.

This series is great - a brother and sister find a magic tree house that allows them to travel through time. There is mystery, adventure, clues, danger, and plenty of jumping off points for imaginative play. KosherCop's new favorite game is to round up his friends after services to "spy and look for clues".

What's nice is each story is self-contained, but is part of a larger mystery that (at least for the first 4 or 5) builds over several books. KosherCop just gobbles them up and then talks and wonders about the clues. It's really exciting to see this new phase.

The other series I tried to get him interested in was the Boxcar Children. He was enjoying the first one pretty well while we were reading it, but after putting it down he has been too excited about the Magic Tree House books to pick it up again. I guess even though the kids in the story live in a train car, the fact that it's not moving loses something for him. It's very much the kind of story I would have liked as a kid, though - heck, I like it now! Four kids live rent-free and they decorate their home with stuff they find in a junkyard?

Why it's a vintage girl's dream come true!