A few years ago, there was a lot of talk about how Harry Potter books got kids into reading. True enough, but for my 9 year old son it is Nothin’ But Star Wars, and the dozens of novels it has spawned, from Boba Fett’s adventures to the “Last of the Jedi” tales and everything in between.
He can’t wait to jump into bed every night and read himself to sleep– perfect!
Most recently, he had to do a book report, called “Book Report in a…” by his teacher, who must not think the students have older siblings that watch Saturday Night Live. The idea? Use a container to express something from the book. Here is my son’s San Pellegrino space ship (“It’s not a rocket!”).
Best part, is he made it himself, no help from us. I can’t stand seeing “perfect” projects that have the parents’ fingerprints all over it.
The other best part was that the students each had to pick 5 strange words and define them as used. This being Star Wars, it was hard to avoid words unique to Star Wars, so when he chose “Transparisteel,” a Google search took us to “Wookieepedia.” I approved his use of the definition found there. I’m ambivalent about using Wikipedia for school research, but Wookieepedia? Go for it!
I’m just glad he didn’t try to look up “Storm Trooper” in Webster’s.