since he is into ALL things space and mars in particular,
i thought this novel would be perfect.
i was looking for something other than technical books for him,
especially since his teacher encourages him to read more fiction.
it was one of gifts he got most excited about christmas morning,
and he retreated to my bedroom for hours that weekend and devoured
the book, finishing it in 2 days. he announced this was his new favorite book.
fast forward 6 weeks.
my book group met last month to vote for our next book.
i was thrilled to learn the martian was one of our 3 sci-fi choices because
we already own the book AND i'd be able to discuss it with finn as well as the ladies.
{a rare treat since we don't read many books together anymore}.
the ladies overwhelmingly voted for the martian,
so i broke open the book on our road trip to utah a few weeks ago,
and the first sentence of the book used the four letter F word!!
with my mouth open wide, i showed christopher and turned around to ask finn who
had his head in this book, why he didn't mention the language to us when he read the book.
he very calmly and matter of factly said "i don't care about that mom, i care about the science".
had he been any other child, i might not believe him, but i knew it was true.
those words weren't important to him, the problem solving was.
STILL we don't want our 11 year old reading books with lots of foul language either.
i realize it's probably language he's heard before somewhere,
but i still should have done my due diligence.
this is the first fully adult novel he's read and i shouldn't have assumed anything.
{i did read several reviews of it, but language wasn't mentioned}
i let finn know that i should have done better...at least skimmed the book.
finn asked if we'd have let him read it and honestly, i don't think i would have...
not the unedited version. language aside, it's a fantastic book full of science,
with a brilliant and resourceful astronaut who solves problem after problem trying
to survive on mars. it's captivating and i understand why finn enjoyed it so much,
but dang, there are expletives throughout.
almost daily, finn asks me where i'm at in the book.
i tell him and he talks about the problems in detail.
the science goes over my head the 2nd time.
a few days ago he asks that i hurry up and finish reading so we can
not only discuss the end but also so he can cross out all the bad words and put
more "appropriate words" in their place. he wants to reread and share with his buddies.
a great solution for all.
c is actually finding all those words on a digital copy so finn doesn't have to
look for them. his father will cross them out in finn's paper copy and return to
his firstborn.
finally, my book group meets tonight to discuss the book and i'm hoping to have it
read by then {just a few more chapters to go}. i'm excited to see how a bunch of ladies
of all professions like it. we even have a mechanical engineer in the group...just like the
astronaut who gets stuck on mars.
enjoy your day!
~ the family sat around the tv watching an interview with the author last week.
it was so enjoyable. we learned a movie, with the same title, is currently in the
works and will be out this fall! finn is beyond excited and asked if he could see it.
as long as it's not rated R, he's there.
{on rare occasions, we make exceptions for pg-13 movies}
