favorite new thing at the library

One of the advantages of restricting technology in our home (my son would have me believe he's the ONLY almost-twelve-year-old he knows without a cell phone or an email account) is that my boys still get excited over things that other kids might not. Like the video games in the childcare at the gym. Or the new, exciting Playaways we've discovered at the library. We've gotten books on CD before, and enjoyed them. But there's something special and compact and "kid cool" about these little MP3-like players that just have one book on them. The library supplies the Playaway, and we have to furnish our own headphones and batteries. And I love that on one website, they're described as being "made of droppable plastic." Droppable is good around here.

We've brought home one of the Percy Jackson series (which my child has already read, but is enjoying hearing none the less) and have checked out Horrible Harry and Mr. Putter & Tabby Stories for his younger brother. So far they're a big hit.