I fear this will be (is already?) a lame week for posts, as I am feeling…depleted. So not much on thoughts for me, but nonetheless lovely news for all of YOU (yes, you—all the people who have been so excellent as to leave comments and suggestions for your fellow readers). Perhaps some of you remember the family that was visiting New York City and wanted recommendations? Well guess what:

My family and I had a wonderful time in New York – we went to see Winnie the Pooh and friends at the public library, went to the Met, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge after a trip to the flea and many other cool things. The playgrounds in Central Park were great in the heat.

Thanks to the many wonderful NY kids fiction recommendations I ordered a stack of second hand books to arrive in Seattle at the home of our friends (a stop or two before we hit New York).  So we had a wonderful library to greet us!

We loved Cricket in Times Square, which I read aloud to both my four and seven year olds; and Next Stop Grand Central was very popular.

Gregor of the Overlander was wonderful for my seven year old, he then gobbled up the next four books in the series when we returned home.  He also read Changeling by Delia Sharman and Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins and Other Nasties while we were away.  It was all fantastic, except for two small problems – 1) overloaded luggage due to our travelling children's library (even after I left a trail of books behind us) and 2) seven year old who liked to walk along sidewalks and cross busy NY roads with his nose in a book.

And then they sent us this:

So if you're feeling down and out, and looking for a little moment of niceness in the world, there you go. Because truly, your excellent comments are what keep this thing running. Now everybody run out and read something excellent, and enjoy it.

And if you're looking for a book recommendation, tell us all about your reader at thediamondinthewind (at) gmail (dot) com.