Werewolf from "Jinx's Magic"

"I am expending considerable effort on not eating you."

This line spoken by Malthus the werewolf is one of my favorites so far in Sage Blackwood's "Jinx's Magic."

We've been working our way through this sequel to "Jinx" at bedtime, on train rides, and during times when the electronic device privileges have been suspended due to crappy behavior.

The Jinx series is one of the few occasions when I feel like I am reading a book to my sons that I would have really enjoyed reading myself at their age.  My sons almost always prefer graphic novels and comic books, and mostly those featuring high tech weaponry.  While I have been happy to be immersed in graphic storytelling (and violence!) over the last few years, it was not something that I saw much of during my own childhood.  The graphic novel category didn't exist, and I don't think regularly reading comics even occurred to me as a possibility.

I was an extremely enthusiastic reader as a kid, and I'll admit to a little nagging disappointment that I have not been able to successfully share any of my early, admittedly girly, favorites with my sons.  Obviously the Laura Ingalls Wilder series was a non-starter destined for hysterical derision. The same goes for the likes of "The Secret Garden" and "A Little Princess."  And I couldn't even get traction with the Narnia Series, or "The Last of the Very Great Whangdoodles" (written by Julie Andrews herself, although no one has the slightest interest in Mary Poppins around here)

At any rate, I am enjoying Ms. Blackwood's books even now in my present geriatric condition, and have had to restrain myself on a couple occasions from reading ahead on my own.  It's not so much that I think that I am too mature to be reading a book theoretically written for  children....(for more insightful thoughts on this topic, see Sarah Burnes' thoughtful essay on adults and YA literature in the Paris Review here)

I just don't have much time to be reading for pleasure when my sons aren't around... because, you know, I have to draw on these napkins.....