SLICE #8- In which she becomes a reader of Harlequin-ish romances??

K pushes through the front door. She has missed almost ten days of school- her family had out of town company and they went skiing. She immediately greets me.

"Hi, Dr. W, I don't have a book log, but I finished my book. And it was so good."

I try to remember what she was reading when she left ten days before.  I don't have to try very hard, because she reaches into her back pack and pulls out the book.

"See, the THE KISS OF DECEPTION from the Remnant trilogy. It's so, so good."

She hands the book to me. The cover, which features one woman, with her back to the reader,  reminds me vaguely of a Harlequin romance. I'm a little surprised- K plays year-round competitive soccer and just doesn't seem like the Harlequin romance kind of kid.

"Is it a romance?" I ask.

"It's everything," she says. "A little romance, a little fantasy, a little mystery. It's so good."

She continues breathlessly, "It's a series and I reserved the second one from the library and my dad is going to take me to pick it up tomorrow."

I am not much of a romance reader, but I can't argue with that much enthusiasm. "I might have to check it out," I say.

"You can read this one," she says. "I'll let you borrow it." I'm not so sure about reading a 400+ page romance novel, but I am never one to turn down a kid's recommendation.

Later that day, when I see her in class, she tells me that the book is so good she has decided to read the last 50 pages again, while she is waiting for the next one to come. "But you can read it after I'm done," she says.

On Wednesday she waves the second book victoriously, and  tells me she forgot the first one, but that she will bring it tomorrow.

Today she brings it. I'm about a third of the way through Laura Shovan's newest book, which I got as an ARC at ALA. I tell her it will probably take me a few days before I can start it, and ask if that will be ok.

"You can keep it as long as you want," she says. "But you have to give it back when you are done.

And so the next book on my TBR pile is a 486 page Harlequin-ish Romance.

The things we do for kids…