I’ve started reading chapter books to my children at night. They get to chose (from what we have) and this is where we begin. I don’t think I could have chosen a better first book.

Where Are You Going, Baby Lincoln? tells the story of Baby Lincoln striking out on her own, taking a Necessary Journey by train to… well, it doesn’t really matter in the end, does it? (Fluxom. They’re going to Fluxom.)

I’ve always loved the world Kate DiCamillo has created and this is no exception. It’s a fun book and a quick read and has a few nuggets of goodness hidden in there. DiCamillo certainly does have a way with words:

Baby leaned back in her seat. The train seemed to be going faster, and from somewhere far away Baby heard music. It was a song that she knew but couldn’t quite place.

“Do you hear music?” she said to Sheila.

“I hear something,” said Sheila.

She closed her eyes. She was quiet.

“I’ve got a physics professor who says that the stars sing to each other all the time. Isn’t that cool? Maybe the music we’re hearing is the stars singing.”

That right there sounds like the seed of a story worth reading/writing.