Just in case

"What should I send to [girl on shopping list]?" I asked my 17-year-old in exasperation. 

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner!" he answered, as if there could be no more obvious response. 

I wound up reading it to Stella last night in between cookie-baking tasks. It was new to her. She loved the engravings and she loved the story and she was captivated by the language even though she was frequently puzzled by it. (The very best part was when my 17yo was eager to tell her all about it so that she could love it too.) She went back to it today, soaking in the illustrations and trying to pick her way through the text. I expect it will be in heavy rotation for a while here in the House of Geeks. 

So if you are buying last-minute gifts for families that might enjoy a kid-friendly edition of some really excellent Coleridge poems, you're welcome. I wound up going with some of my favorite hair products for the girl on my list, who would agree with me on the pitfalls of life with curly hair even if she might disagree on the merits of Romantic poetry.