A to Z Mysteries (or Separated at Birth, Part 2)

Francis is obsessed with a book series- and in true Pavesi-style, he is hoarding... he has checked out all the way up to "L" from the library with the A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy.  My worries about him only wanting to read nonfiction sports manuals, Star Wars graphic novels and information books, and Garfield books FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE proved to be unfounded. Phew.

I watch in relief as Fran now pounds through the A to Z mysteries by Ron Roy.  He likes being able to get through it with one bedtime and one SSR time. Nice and fast, and he is able to think about the story and try to notice important clues (and connect them...) I am a bit embarrassed to say that I find them quite engaging. Also, it inspired me to read some grown-up mysteries again. (I had forgotten how much I enjoy them!)

We've had fiesty conversations about our favorite characters (he likes Dink, I like Ruth Rose), he told me Hayley's opinion about The Falcon's Feather book, we study the map on the endpapers, and he is checking off the books as he reads them on a list I printed from the author's website. He even told me-without prompting- that he wrote to Mrs. R for his weekly Reading Workshop letter about a "theme" from The Haunted Hotel.  He's a crazed fan.

This morning, he asked me to print a "biography" about Ron Roy, so I did.  It printed an extra author photo, so I made him a book mark.  When he got home, I handed it to him, smiling like a nut and expecting him to go c-r-a-z-y, too... It went like this:
     "Look, I made you a bookmark."
     "I don't want that."
     "But it's a picture of Ron Roy!"
     "Oh, I thought it was of Papa."

Poor Papa.  Out-ranked by Ron Roy.  (And Papa's done pretty cool things: riding motorcylces, amazing photography, really interesting travel,  hiking, biking...) And poor me-- I guess my Etsy-shop with "Papa Pageholders" (bookmarks with Papa's photo!) might not be as successful as I had initially envisioned.

Later, when I was setting up the bookmark for the photo below, Claudia walked past.  "Why do you have that picture of Papa?" she asked.

Last night's book and the objet d'art!