Darwyn meets The Hobbit

I just finished reading The Hobbit with Max and Darwyn.  Max and I first read the book together back in 2014 and I wrote about it then.  This is the first time Darwyn's heard the story.  They both loved it.

Our favourite chapter is Riddles in the Dark, wherein Bilbo discovers the ring.  Darwyn loves Gollum and was bouncing off the walls that night.  She took the book to bed and reread all the riddles.  She posed the riddles to her friends at school the next day.  She made new riddles of her own.

Building on our success with The Hobbit, we've decided to start The Lord of the Rings.  I've warned Darwyn that these books are much longer and slower-paced.  We'll see how it goes.  We finished chapter 1.  Bilbo's birthday party had twelve dozen guests.  I asked Darwyn how many guests that is and she computed the answer all by herself in her head.

Ada's first thoughts on government

 Max has been learning about rights and freedoms at school.  At dinner one night he went on a rant about freedom of speech.  

Max:  I want to know why kids don't have freedom of speech at school!  We aren't allowed to express our opinions.

Greta:  Well, I think you can if you do so respectfully.  There is a difference between freedom of speech and slander.

Gus:  Yes, freedom of speech is more like not being able to express your views about a bad government.

Through this conversation Ada was eating her dinner and largely ignoring what we were saying.  At the mention of the word government she perked right up.

Ada: Yes!  Government!  What I want to know is why the government is giving everybody else money, but nobody is giving me any money!

She wasn't pleased when we all started laughing.  Not sure where she got the idea that the government was giving us all money (maybe CERB?), but I might have to quote her on a T-shirt.