Reading Outstanding Unusual Stories (ROUS’s):

I am reading my kids another book for our read aloud. There are literally dozens of (and probably hundreds of if I REALLY tried) great books that I want to read my kids. Having no experience to draw on, and a stubborn penchant for doing things my way, I settled on a personal favorite of mine. I wanted to choose a book that I doubted any other teacher they would have would have them read. I wanted to use literature to teach my kids lessons while also offering the blissful escapism of a fairytale fantasy into imagination. I chose a book that was made into not just a movie, but one of the greatest kids’ movies of all time.

After hours of searching, I could not find Crossroads (starring Britney Spears) the book. So I had to go with my second choice.

My kids and I are reading the Mr. B abridged and “translated” version of The Princess Bride. It would be Inconceivable to read that book to my class without a fair amount of translating and over explanation due to their vocabularies (which have very little exposure to archaic tounge in cheeck old english) . However, If you can read at a sixth grade level or above and need/want a book to read that will make easy smiles, then I cannot recommend this book enough. My kids often BEG me to keep reading, and the more time one spends with Dread Pirates, Beautifullest Women, Inego and Fezzik the better life will be. It might not change your life in a big way, but it will make your life happier for awhile, and you never know, it might give you ideas for finding your own slices of long term happiness and taking lessons on taking life urgently, while not taking one’s self too seriously.

After all there may be rocks ahead.
And if there are, we’ll all be dead.