Books for Tween Girls and Brattleboro, VT

I guess I have to finally admit that Julia has reached the "tweens." She's been telling me this for a while but I refused to agree with her. It's not so bad - in fact yesterday when we were walking down the street in Brattleboro, on our way to Knit or Dye, I was telling Julia how I loved the age she is now. I much prefer it to the two's, the three's the four's. This is so much more fun for me and I think for her too.

Julia and I just listened to Time's Up (#12 in The Beacon Street Girl Series) on CD borrowed from our local library. I was skeptical about it thinking it wouldn't be of much interest to me but I was pleasantly surprised. Knitting plays a huge part in the story. There are some nice story lines about inter-generational relationships and about time management too. A good book for knitters to share with their tweens - so says this mom!

Julia is into reading series books and I think it is great. Currently she is working her way through The Beacon Street Girls, The Main Street Series (Ann Martin), and the old 1970's Babysitter's Clubs (also Ann Martin). Haven't been able to get her into Nancy Drew yet. Oh well.

It's not often I find something in the NY Times for Julia to read but this article caught my eye about the re-issuing and updating of The Babysitter's Club Books for girls. Much to our local librarian's chagrin, Julia is trying to read everyone of this series. She is up to #84 she tells me. They were all withdrawn from our library. Interlibrary loan has been very busy filling her requests. She reads one or two a day.

I say, great literature or not, if she loves them and wants to keep reading - kudos. She is so excited about the new pre-quel mentioned in the NYT article. I never read the BSC books - I missed them. Did any of you? Any other ideas for reading for tween girls that you have found?

If you are local, you might like to visit the relatively new shop called Knit or Dye in Brattleboro. Owned by a lovely young woman Rachel, the shop is well-lit, well-stocked and really pleasant. Rachel is even stocking my Julia Yarn (thank you Rachel). In the basement there is a lovely little tea room called The Twilight Tea Lounge. Brattleboro is loaded with all kinds of interesting independently owned stores including a slew of bookstores. It is worth a drive if you have the time. Delectable Mountain is another not to miss fabric store. There's a Gallery Walk too the first Friday of the month in the evening. We are lucky to live so close...... Good weekend everyone.