Last week-end, the kids and I saw Crash at the Seattle Children's Theater. It's based on the book by Spinelli and was rated for eight and up, so I was a little nervous about David attending. It's about bullying in eighth grade, so the bullying is pretty cruel and about issues he might not understand.

Not to worry. David was on the edge of his seat the entire time. Even better, in the question and answer part, when someone asked how Crash was able to make another character move in slow motion, they asked the kids if they could answer. They called on David, and he said, "It was in Crash's mind," which is the right answer and shows he could follow sophisticated staging.

I thought the show was wonderful. I even ended up crying. The kids have seen another play about bullying, which made me grit my teeth because it was so didactic and preachy. This show had characters and plot, and I believed the transformations. We plan on reading the book together next.