The Crow and the Pitcher, by Adam, Adapted from Aesop

A Crow, half-dead with thirst came upon a pitcher. He could not reach the water. He tried and he tried, but he couldn't reach, so he took a lot of pebbles and dropped them into the pitcher. Then the water mounted up. The Crow then drank as much as he wanted and saved his life.

Little by little does the trick.

Androcles and the Lion, by Adam, adapted from Aesop

Androcles fled to the forest. He found a Lion moaning. At first he turned to flee, but the Lion didn't pursue him. He went up to the Lion and saw a thorn in his paw. Androcles pulled the thorn out and put a bandage on his paw. The Lion licked his hand and took him to his cave. Then the Lion brought him meat every day. One day, both of them were captured! Androcles and the Lion were kept in cages. The Emperor wanted Androcles to be eaten by the Lion. Everyone came to the arena to watch. The hungry Lion was let loose, but he recognized his friend and licked him. Androcles told the story to the Emperor. Then Androcles and the Lion were freed. Being thankful is the sign of good souls.

The Hare and the Tortoise, by Adam, adapted from Aesop

The Hare was once bragging of his speed before the other animals. "I have never yet been beaten," said he, "when I put forth my full speed. I challenge anyone here to race with me." "I accept your challenge," said the Tortoise quietly. "That is a good joke. I could dance around you all the way," said the Hare. The Tortoise said, "Keep your boasting 'til you've beaten. Shall we race?" So a path was fixed and a start was made. The runners started off. The Hare darted almost out of sight at once, but soon stopped and, to show his contempt for the Tortoise, lay down to have a nap. The Tortoise plodded on and plodded on, and when the Hare awoke, he saw the Tortoise just near the winning post and could not run up in time to save the race. Then the Tortoise said, "Slow and steady wins the race."

Adam and books

So, Ina asked me the other day what Adam likes to read lately, and I thought I'd post it here.

#1 answer: Encyclopedias. Especially science encyclopedias, (we have this one: ) but he can also be found reading the history encyclopedia or the geography encyclopedia, and he likes to check out human body encyclopedias from the library, especially this one: . Eventually, I'd like to get him this science encyclopedia: , which is much more complete than the little one he has.

He also really, really likes to read myths and fairy tales. We have a great collection of European fairy tales, but are lacking in African, Chinese, Indian, and Japanese fairy tales. For myths, we have D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths and D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths. We also have fantastic illustrated children's versions of Gilgamesh , The Iliad and The Odyssey.We have Beowulf, but we're still missing the Aenid .

Adam also really loves poetry, and his favorites are The Paper Doorway (which we have) and anything by Shel Silverstein (which we don't).

His favorite author seems to be Road Dahl, and he has most of his books, though not all. He also enjoys Beverly Cleary (he has The Mouse and the Motorcycle) and EB White (he has Charlotte's Web, The Trumpet of the Swan, and Stuart Little). His copy of Charlotte's Web is so well-loved that I've had to cover it with clear contact paper to prevent the cover from disappearing altogether! He also likes The Wizard of Oz (borrowed from the library) and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass (which he *does* have, Ina! I was wrong!)

I think that about wraps it up :)