magic tree house revisited

Eva had the idea a few months ago to read *all* of the Magic Tree House books {by Mary Pope Osborne} in order. I groaned inwardly at this suggestion- not because I dislike those books. Because I don't. I wouldn't say, though, that they are my favorite books. Plus. I've already read them- some of them many times over. First to Samuel. Then to Eva. Other times, again. And again. But! We've never actually read them in order, at least not beyond the first few books.

So, I let the suggestion go for a little while and then it came back up and I decided to rush headlong into it and just get started- yesterday. And so we've read through the first one and then we checked for which ones we already own {again}. And then, when we went to the library today, we checked out some more.

Here's my plan. We read 1/2 a book (in order) each day. Right now we have enough to last us 20 days. Half a book (rather than a whole book) ensures that I am able to keep at it. Those books are definitely readable in one sitting- true- but I find when I try that too often, their charm decreases considerably. And we'll just keep on like that, doggedly {and yet enthusiastically!} until we're done. So there you go.

And while these are not my favorite books to read, I am enjoying Eva's enthusiasm at the prospects of actually-reading-them-in-order! I let myself be carried by her enthusiasm and also allowed myself to bask in the positive thoughts associated with starting a project! (And used it as an opportunity to practice a little mindfulness.) It can't- after all- be the worst thing in the world to sit down with my daughter and read the Magic Tree House books. And so it wasn't. And most probably won't be.

Here's what I'm looking forward to. There were several books we skipped {for various reasons} that we will read through this time. There is a thin plot that connects the books that we have all gleaned, but which {upon rereading} we will be able to fully piece together. And, there are several books that were written much later (after we had stopped reading them the first time) that I know very little to nothing about.

Samuel's involvement is undetermined at this point. He groaned outwardly when he heard of our plan, but was intrigued when he thought about actually-reading-them-in-order. He joined us last night, but skipped today, and he knows he is welcome to pop in and out as his interest is piqued.

My only disclaimer about my plan is that I can see getting a little burnt out about reading every day and scaling it back to every few days. I am going to try to stay on task, though, because Eva is so intent on this project and I want to support that, even if it means skipping a few days here and there to keep the momentum moving forward. And then- also- I imagine being able to say we've read them all. In order. And that helps to keep me going, too.