Junie B -- that's all.

I didn't want to like her, but I sort of love Junie B. Jones.

My son's kindergarten teacher read the class one of her books, although she told me that she changed it some as she read it. Like many of us, she had qualms about some of Junie's harsher language. She says "stupid" and "smelly" a lot. Also, she doesn't always use perfect grammer.

But my son LOVED it. He reported that he loved it. And his teacher confirmed that while all the kids loved it, my son ESPECIALLY loved it.

So we started reading some at home and we haven't stopped because: we just love that girl, that's why.

(She talks that way. A lot.)

As a parent, you get used to reading books that are more or less not interesting to you. Sometimes they were a little bit interesting the first time you read them. Sometimes you can appreciate the artistry. Sometimes you like the pictures or the lesson. But it's kind of rare to be reading a book with a kid and honestly say: "we HAVE to read another chapter. Because I want to know what happens next."

But when Junie B was trying to find a pet to take to pet day at school, I actually, really, totally couldn't put it down.

Classic Starts -- what a great start

I like the idea of my children reading classics -- great books that are too easy to ignore in the modern world.

But my enthusiasm for the exercise is often dampened by the uncomfortable truth that old-fashioned books often have old-fashioned sensibilities. The brother in "Charlotte's Web" heads off to school with a knife in his pocket. I turned at random to a page of "Around the World in 80 Days" and was treated to an account of an opium den. Yes, these could be launching pads for great conversations -- for older kids. But my children are very young and I just want a good story.

So what a treat it was to find the Classic Starts version of Robinson Crusoe. My 5-year-old and I lolled about one recent hot summer day, reading the abridged form of the novel out loud, clinging to each other in the scary parts, marveling together at the amazing moments. What a fun book! And my son didn't even question a few references that I am virtually certain were altered from the original account. Did Robinson really survive a scary moment at sea only to drown his sorrows in a glass of punch? Was the original version as vague about the barrels of "liquid" that the ship contained?

I don't want to protect my children too much from the real world. But on the other hand, I've worked hard to make sure my kids have long attention spans and bright minds -- and a modicum of innocence. It's nice to find a book that can accommodate all three traits. The Classic Starts series abridges many different classic books. We'll start on "Around the World" soon, I wonder how it will handle that opium den!

No accounting for taste...

Here's one thing that hits you hard as a parent: Your kids are not like you.

Of course, you knew that going in. But you knew it in a vague, theoretical way. When you actually bump up against it, it still surprises you. At least, it always does me.

For example, my kids love books that I hate. And no matter how often it happens, it still surprises me. "The Color Kittens. "I Stink." "The Little House."

I object to those books based on what I see as uneven rhyme schemes, lack of plot, and anti-urban sentiment. But my sons love them, can't get enough of them, sometimes sleep with them tucked under their arms.

So I smile and read and try to stay focused in the moment, though it's tempting to go over the grocery list in my head at these moments. And I remind myself that there will be a day, very soon, when I'd give anything to have them crawl in my lap and beg me to read a bad book.

The Key to the Universe

It is such a great feeling to see your son excited about a new book -- especially one that does not involve any "licensed characters" and has not even been made into a movie.

Yesterday, my kindergarten student came home with the book "George's Secret Key to the Universe," copies of which were being sold at his school.

I had been a little reluctant to send him to school with 15 bucks, because 1) I feared he would lose the money, 2)the book is really for older kids, 3) I am trying to encourage him to use the library and 4)the book is written by Stephen Hawking,(along with his daughter.)I can not understand Stephen Hawking's most famous work, A Brief History of Time, and while I'm no genius, I do have more than a half a year of kindergarten under my belt.

Nevertheless, in a moment of weakness, I sent in the cash. It turns out to be have been money well spent!

I can not yet vouch for the book as a work of literature or even science. It's gotten some nice reviews. I'm fairly confident that it will work on some level. But last night, we read only the first chapter. George has not yet even met the man who is going to teach him about space, including -- the cover says -- all the latest information on black holes. The key to the universe is, I'm guessing, many pages from where we are now.

But I would pay 15 bucks any day to see the look on my son's face when he showed it to me. He said that when he first heard about this book at a school assembly, he thought "it was just going to be an ordinary book." He said he thought it would be short and like the other books kindergarten kids have their parents read to them. "But as soon as I held it in my hands," he said, "I saw that it was totally awesome."

When it came to be rest time, he laid on his mat and turned through ever page and just in telling me about it, he was quivering with excitement over the line drawings of adventure and the full color photos of space.

My husband noted wryly, "So I guess you CAN judge a book by its cover." (Well, that and its pictures!)

Boy reads, makes mom a little sad

I never imagined this, but the first time my son read a page of a book to me -- really read a book he had not heard before -- I almost cried.

I want my kids to be readers. I am devoted myself as a parent to that more than any single thing other than, perhaps, simple safety. If I want anything for my kids, I want them to enjoy reading and to be good at it.

So why did my heart clutch a little when he tentatively -- but with appropriate intonation of questions and exclamations -- read me a simple page of one of the Frog and Toad books?

It's no surprise really. The first step a baby takes is, after all, their first step toward walking away from you. And it's the same with the first word they read. Our favorite part of the day is reading books at bedtime and there will come time, not too long from now, when my son will tell me to go away so he can read all by himself. For one tender moment, I regretted that. And I regretted every time that I did not treasure bedtime reading enough -- the nights when I thought I could not get through another Thomas the Tank Engine book, the evenings when I wished The Color Kittens would paint themselves into a corner and never come out.

I also thought about how my ability to shield my son from the world's sadness and ugliness was diminished. It was just a few months ago, when the bridge fell in Minnesota, that my family was watching the TV coverage in horrified silence. My son wondered into the room and asked about it and my father-in-law told him that a bridge fell down and then added the easy lie that parents are so inclined toward. "The people in those cars," my father-in-law said, "sure had to swim quick to shore."

My husband and I don't know if that is the right thing to do exactly, but it is what we do -- more often than not. But we won't be doing that for long. He can see the death count crawl across the screen as well as anyone.

So that's why my heart clutched, but then I looked at his face -- joyous and free. And I said "hurrah!" And I really meant it.