40 books

Biscuit's class had an optional reading project this year called The 40 Book Challenge. It's pretty self-explanatory. They had to read 40 books. But there were some rules.

They had to read books in certain categories, including:

• Biography
• Mystery
• Realistic fiction
• Historical fiction
• Chapter books
• Informational
• Sci-fi
• Poetry
• Fantasy
• Sports
• Traditional literature
• Award-winning books

They had a chart to fill in with spots for two biographies, four historical fiction, three poetry books, etc. And they could only read five "picture books." You know, books that don't have a whole lot of words on the pages.

I was very proud of Biscuit. He didn't use any picture books. He read the poetry books, then every other book he read was a chapter book — which sounds exactly like what it is, a book with multiple chapters.

He was the first one in his class to finish it. And since it was optional, he ended up being one of only three kids in his class to do it.

His teacher has really encouraged him this year with his reading. And we've made sure to have books on hand that he enjoys reading.

As a reward, Biscuit's teacher gave him an envelope on a Friday afternoon. It happened to be the Friday of the book fair. She sent me an email saying she put $5 in an envelope for Biscuit to spend at the book fair. And that night was buy one, get one free, which meant he could afford to get two books with the money.

Jeff picked up Biscuit, put the envelope in his pocket, then took Biscuit to the book fair. Biscuit got what he wanted, and when they got home, Jeff laid the envelope on the kitchen counter.

When Biscuit got up the next morning, I told him to open the envelope so he could pay Jeff back for his books. But we ended up letting him keep most of what was in the envelope.

It included a $2 bill, an Eisenhower dollar coin, two Kennedy half-dollars and a regular $1 bill. It was such a sweet thing for his teacher to do because that money came out of her pocket.

I wrote her an email and told her how excited Biscuit was when he opened the envelope. She said her father-in-law started the tradition with her kids, and they call it "funny money."

Biscuit was very proud of himself for completing the challenge, and we were proud, too.