Preteen Girl Books

Day 178: Preteen Girl Books

I'm sitting in my parents' living room with my eight- and five-year old nieces. Evie is singing a song - from Frozen, of course - while Roxanne dances. Roxanne is wearing a sparkly black and pink tutu, and Evie is looking fine in pink polka dots. There are rules here, courtesy of the theater manager, Roxanne. No electronic devices (I got grandfathered in). No lights (except the stage lights, also known as the track lights on the ceiling). Evie knows all the words and movements from Frozen. I remember very well sitting and watching her sing The Itsy Bitsy Spider over and over, her tiny hands climbing up into the air and fluttering down to the ground at the end. And years before that, listening to Emma sing The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night (none of the words were comprehensible, but she knew them all).  Now Roxanne is serving refreshments: imaginary tea from a brass teapot. The teapot contains books of matches, as it has since I was a child. I believe my mother's parents brought it with them to Canada from Scotland.

Perhaps later tonight, these girls (and their older sister Kaeli, who is not here tonight) will enjoy these books. They were Emma's, but not her favorites. I hope she comes home for Thanksgiving. If she does, I don't think she'll miss them.