Reilly busted out of his shell and is reading all the time these days. He began with Gregory from Diary of a Wimpy Kid and it took off from there. It’s funny because I hesitated on this book series because I didn’t like the title but when Reilly and I were driving in the car I asked him to read aloud to me. He did. I was laughing at every other sentence. I guess it’s a book about a middle child in middle school who thinks he’s great and everyone should know that about him. His ignorance and arrogance are awesome and I find him hysterical. Although I should note since it is a cynical “diary” or “journal” written by Gregory himself – is it a good influence on an eight year old? Nahhhh, probably not. Then again neither are the 5th graders on the bus. At least we can both read the book and talk about it together, I can’t really sit on the bus with him, although sometimes I would like to.

Gregory has a best friend Rowley and they are different but similar. They hang together most of the time. It reminds me or Reilly and his bff Owen – although I think the roles of the two are constantly changing – the bff part and the torturing part remain the same. Gregory also has a little brother Manny. Manny calls Gregory “Bubby” and it drives Gregory crazy. I made the mistake of sharing this with Kate and Shea. At Reilly’s spring play Shea yelled out “BUBBY”!!!!! Reilly smirked in disbelief and Shad and I laughed but then told Shea to be quiet. Good thing Reilly adores Shea so much – because of that he thought it was a lot cute and a little annoying.

Shad and I are excited about his desire to read. We think it’s great. He’s powering through the Hardy Boys and eager to read Harry Potter. Too bad he can’t see Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson the way I saw them in elementary school – they were yummy!! I’m not so sure Reilly would think that then nor would he think it now since they are probably older than “his parents” and that’s ancient.

Reading is all good stuff I say, take it all in!