books!! (well sorry if it's a lame title, it's all I could come up with!)

Grace's birthday was a couple days ago. As it is Lent, we skipped cake and ice cream (we'll have that on Sunday) but she did get to unwrap her presents from various relatives not including Mom and Dad's (also being saved for tomorrow). A couple pretty necklace charms and a chain to put them on from Grandma D., and from everyone else...BOOKS! Here's the list:

• The Princess Bride (*shriek* I'm DYING to read it and Grace won't let me. meanie.)
• Dragonspell and Dragonquest (first two of a Christian fantasy series. I'm reading Dragonspell-with Grace's permission. It's not bad.)
• The Neverending Story (*sings* the neverending stoooooryyyyy.....)
• The Last Unicorn

The last two, I hear, are much better then their respective movies. Neverending Story 2= f-r-e-a-k-y. Apparently the book contains the plots for both movies and more. I peeked through it - under birthday girl's supervision - and I think I'll have to read that one too.

As you probably noticed, they're all fantasy, a genre she only recently learned to love. Before she read only horse novels (Black Stallion, Black Beauty, etc.), nature field guides and abridged classics such as 20,000 Leagues and Robin Hood. She got The Chronicles of Prydain for Christmas and absolutely loved them. Then Mom and I nudged her into reading The Belgarion by David Eddings. I'm a die-hard fan of those books and managed to pull Grace along with me.

So then for her birthday she requested fantasy books. And got them. She's very happy with them all and started reading the Last Unicorn right away. During her My Little Pony phase she loved that movie. Of late, she has scorned such a childish (and freaky...I'm telling you, it should be rated PG-13 for overall scary-ness. a kids' cartoon. seriously) film. But now she likes fantasy and it isn't a silly cartoon anymore, it's an intriguing book.

And as she unwrapped those books, oh how my hands itched to grab one- specifically a particular book concerning a beautiful farm girl and a man in black- and run away to read it. But Grace refuses to let me read it. Why? It's one of my all-time favorite movies, that never fails to make me laugh and I like it more every time I watch it. She even threatened to hide it.
"I'm going to put it in my secret vault!"
"You have a secret vault? Dude, I want a secret vault!"

*sigh* Buttercup, Westley, Inigo and all those other fantastic, lovable, hilarious characters will just have to wait.