Well, what do we read now?

The Penderwicks was a hit! We finished it last night, much too late, because we just had to know; it was satisfying, all the way to the end.

"Yes, he said good-bye for now."

"That's nice," said Jane. "I like that."

"Hound, say good-bye for now," said Batty.

"Woof!" said Hound.

Then they were gone.

But we are left with a common problem: what do we read now? I still remember when we at long last finished reading The Lord of the Rings. The current reader shut the book, we all looked at each other in silence, and then someone said, "Well, what could we possibly read now?" We finally came to a conclusion: we'd better choose a bad one because, no matter what, we wouldn't like it. I seem to remember we were proven wrong, and we were happy with the book that had to shine in Tolkien's shadow, but it's never easy moving on from a favorite set of characters.

So, do you have any suggestions for a vacation read-aloud? We have plenty of audiobooks for the car, but we would love a good story to read at our final beach destination. If you do, drop me an email pronto; we leave before Mr. Sun comes to visit on Saturday morning.