Think of a Wonderful Thought

We've been on vacation for two weeks and I have so many fun adventures to share.  One of our many adventures was finishing Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie.  This book was magical and sweet and funny and I highly recommend reading it.  Silently.  To yourself.  Not out loud to your children.  My kids have never been more fidgety than when we would read this book each night.  I found myself stopping every couple of pages and asking, "Do you know what just happened?"  They usually needed me to explain it to them.  It was like reading scriptures.  They understood what was going on in passages with a lot of dialogue, but when the narrator would start in on his commentary, he lost them.  I do feel a great sense of joy in knowing that I am the one who introduced them to Neverland. 

We watched both the Disney cartoon movie and the latest live-action movie of Peter Pan.  (I don't remember when it was made.  It stars nobody I've ever seen before, except Lucius Malfoy as Captain Hook/Mr. Darling.)  They were completely riveted by the cartoon and I found myself tearing up several times as I watched their sweet little faces.  The live-action version is an hour longer than the cartoon and they didn't pay attention to it as well.  When I asked which they preferred, Harrison liked the "real" one and Chloe liked the cartoon.  I'm pretty sure that's just because they insist on disagreeing with one another.  I liked the cartoon best, but didn't like trying to explain all the inappropriate comments about Native Americans.   Yikes.

It really is a must read, but I wouldn't read it to my kids again.  I felt like we were playing Storytime Chicken for a month (each of us thinking the other was going to give up first).  I'm now inspired to read more classics on my own.  I declare this My Summer of Reading Classics.  Any suggestions for which to read and which to avoid?