When I was a child, my mom introduced me to Angelina Ballerina. The first book is Angelina and Alice; a precious story about two mice who are dancers and best friends. I remember loving it. A few weeks back, while at the library, I thought Julia might like Angelina and Alice, so we borrowed the book. Oh was I right.

She seems harmless, but she's not...*

From their first introduction, all Julia talks about is Angelina. All she wants to listen to is ballet music and dance “like Angelina”. All she wants to read is Angelina. All she wants to watch is Angelina {thanks PBS!}. Angelina. Angelina. Angelina.

One day last week we read through our 9 Angelina books 4 different times. Doesn’t seem too bad, right? But these aren’t small books. And typically Julia asks questions about each page {“Why is Angelina wearing a purple dress?” “Why is Angelina sad?” “Why is Angelina’s bike red?”}. So each session lasted about 30 minutes. Times four. That’s a lot of Angelina. Even for an avid reader like me. By the last reading session I had to put my foot down. Angelina was literally driving my crazy. I would read no more. Poor Julia was a bit heartbroken, but I made it up to her by letting her watch an episode of Angelina while I made dinner {told you she was obsessed}.

Since then, I’ve made an effort to set some reading rules. We can read all the books twice – once in the morning and once on the afternoon. Any other time, Julia can choose one or two, no more. Angelina is still driving me a bit crazy {mostly because it’d be nice to read any other book} but at least I’m not reading for two hours.

Maybe it’s time to look into audiobooks.

*photo credit