Over Sea, Under Stone
by Susan Cooper
This is definitely not a good book for reading aloud. We struggled through about a third of it, where Wayne kept complaining that "nothing was happening." He was right, of course, but I decided to finish the rest of it by myself, so I could skim. There was just too much...detail...and not enough character development or plot development.
Once I was free to skim because I stopped reading aloud, the book became more interesting. (I feel a little bad that I encouraged Wayne to give up on it so I could skim!) Whether the pace picked up because I could skim, or whether it would have anyway, I'm not sure. I think it was because I could skim though. The children in the book weren't the sharpest crayons in the box, and they spent much of the book talking amongst themselves (or falling into traps) about the things they were discovering, instead of...well...doing things. It seemed like an adventure book without much adventure until the very end of the book. I do admit not skimming at all when they came to the last step of their treasure hunt!
I hope the rest of the Dark is Rising series isn't as slow as the first book. There's gotta be a reason it's the "Dark is Rising" series, and not the "Over Sea, Under Stone" series. Here's hoping.
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