Life of Pi

11-yr-old girl pulled out her phone and showed me the books she was thinking of reading next.  One of them was Life of Pi.

Me: Ooh, have you read Life of Pi yet?
Girl: No... I'm just ... thinking about reading it.
Me: Did you see the movie?
Girl: No. [looks apologetic] It - it looked kinda boring.
Me: Oh, it's not boring!  It's got a great twist at the end, and it's beautiful.  I ...uh... started reading the book.
Girl: And...?
Me: I.... couldn't finish it.
Girl: Why not?
Me: Well.... It's about a boy...
Girl [nodding enthusiastically]: Uh-huh...
Me: ... on a boat with 4 animals...
Girl: Uh-huh...
Me: 2 of the animals are natural predators...
Girl [face a bit screwed up]: Does... does the boy eat them...?
Me: Uh... No...

And then there's a wonderful moment when the girl works out what must have happened, as shown on her face.

I would like to finish the book, I just can't bring myself to do that just yet.

Book Critic

I teach a pair of brothers on Saturday mornings.  While I was teaching the younger, the dad handed one of my books (This is Your Brain on Music, by Daniel Levitin) to the older boy, who's about 14.  At the end, I heard this:

Dad: What do you think of the book?
Boy: meh... it's ... [insert teenage mumbling]
Dad [all enthusiastic]: It's written by a neurologist, about the different ways your brain connects neurons.
Boy [dismissively]: Yeah... he could have done better with metaphors.
Dad's jaw drops.