Audio Snippets II

Howdy all!  Times have been crazy here lately for the Z-Fam.  Isaac has had a horrible sore throat, Dad has been on the road doing school visits and book signings, and our digital recorder's memory has reached full capacity.  So in lieu of a new review this week, let's take a listen to a few choice audio snippets pulled from the last few months before I wipe the recorder clean again.  I hope you enjoy them!  (I've also included links below to the original reviews if anyone wants to revisit them.  And if anyone has trouble with the audio loading in this post, this alternate version may work better for you.)


After pulling these favorite clips from the past 18 recordings, I noticed a couple of reoccurring qualities.  First, there is a very musical bent to this batch.  And second, we get a lovely glimpse into the goofy terrain that is Lily's brain.


I submit Exhibit A:  Lily's thoughts on "The Arrival."  (And you will need a translator: she says, "It is a nicely, strangely, weirdish, story..." and after that everything descends into chaos.)


Gracie struggles to find the right word to describe the protagonist from "The Arrival."


Lily sings us the title of our next book: "Down the Back of the Chair."


We like Polly Dunbar's name:


The Lunch Lady books are about a couple of cafeteria workers who secretly fight crime in their spare time.  We homeschool so, for us, Mom is teacher, principal, librarian, and lunch lady all rolled into one.  I asked Lily if she thought her lunch lady fought crime...


Lily shares an evil librarian's laugh:


Upon opening the Lunch Lady books, Gracie immediately improvised an accompanying soundtrack.  She became "Theme Song Girl" and carried on for all 25 minutes of our review.  Here are a few highlights:


Gracie shares her favorite picture from "The Hiccupotamus"...  and then I make her cry:


Lily is once again incoherent... Doodle-loodle-loodle...


I have no idea what Lily says here, but it sure is funny:


When we reviewed "Where the Wild Things Are" Isaac was in a bizarre mood.  Way bizarre.  I had to turn off the recorder and tell him to stop saying such crazy stuff.
"I'm not saying crazy stuff," he claimed.
"You just did," I retorted. "When we were talking about the pictures breaking out of the borders."
"I did not," he insisted.
"You said 'the trees are poofing out of the chickens,'" I countered.
"What!?" he exclaimed incredulously. "I said the trees are coming out of the borders."
"No, you said 'chickens'."
"I did not!"
"You did!"
Then Dad realized - hey - we've got a tape recorder to settle this...

Ah, sweet victory...

You know you've got a wonderful kid if his most serious vice consists of randomly saying the word "chickens."


Lily breaks into song while reviewing "Jeremy Draws a Monster."


Gracie invents Tubecats:


Gracie has words for Peter McCarty:


Isaac and Gracie try to pronounce Dieter Wiesmuller's name:


Gracie bestows a name upon the kid in "Nugget on the Flight Deck."


While reviewing "Who Needs Donuts" we discovered that Lily once accidentally loved ducks more than people:


If you haven't guessed, reviewing with kids can be a very chaotic experience.  Here's a bit of the behind the scenes drama that you all fortunately get to miss:


And for our final clip, sweet Lily offers herself to "The Book That Eats People."



Hope you had fun listening in!  If you liked these and want to hear more, you can check out our first batch of Audio Snippets: here