Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians - Chapter 02

The narrator (Alcatraz) explained that he had been many things, including a potted plant—the kids thought that hilarious as they burst out laughing.

8YO: “Potted plant? That’s a silly one!”

6YO: “That’s stupid. He’s stupid like Arthur*.”

I wonder if this is also a reference to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy where the potted plant and the whale fell out of the sky. 🤔

When Alcatraz’s grandfather says that Alcatraz should remember him from the day he was born the kids piped up!

8YO: “Most people don’t remember that.”

6YO: “I can’t remember who was there when I was born. Well, Mom and dad and you [8YO] must have been.”

8YO: “Just mom and dad.”

6YO: “Well mom HAD to be there.”

8YO: “Technically.”

Then his grandfather revealed that everyone in the family has a Talent and the eight year old guessed what was going on pretty quickly (Alcatraz breaks things). The book is nicely paced so that she is able to guess revaluations before the text spells them out.

A bit later she interjected after processing that there was a narrator telling the story.

8YO: “Why is it like a diary?”

I explained how a first person narration worked and once I explained she realized that she was familiar with it due to the Bunnicula series that is narrated by one of the characters. 

The chapter ended on a cliffhanger and everyone wanted me to keep going, the six year old rather insistently.

6YO: “Daddy, that’s not fair. Read more!!”

But I want to make sure I don’t get through the books too quickly, so I kept with just one chapter. Also while I really enjoyed reading through Tolkien it is nice to get my voice a bit of a break after those very long chapters!

*She’s thinking of the character Arthur Shappey played by John Finnemore on the brilliant BBC radio series Cabin Pressure.