Anything but that!

The kids were getting ready for bed the other night and it was my turn to read to Thomas. We have a huge basket of library books in the futon room, so I asked him to go down and grab a book for us to read. Side note: the futon room, strangely enough, does not have a futon room anymore but we kept the name.

At any rate, we were all set for bed, settling in and turning on all the lights. Thomas pulled out the book, I looked at it and shouted, "NO!!!!!"

He had picked a Scooby Doo book. I understand that there are some good redeeming social values from this series of books, as good always triumphs over evil. But, the Scooby Doo books drive me crazy. I know that it is a short drive, just ask Paula, she'll tell you.

So, I asked Thomas if we could, please, please read another book. He said he really wanted to read that book.

I came back with the following:

Okay, Thomas, here's the story. The gang all goes away to a strange, deserted place, which used to be good but is now being terrorized by some ghostly/evil person/thing. Once the gang arrives, the manager/leader/head person explains the situation to the gang, requesting their help. In the background, if one looks closely, is one of his disgruntled helpers, usually the guy who cleans the toilets but feels he deserves to own the company/fairgrounds/chocolate factory. That's the guy who will taunt Shaggy & Scooby Doo very soon. There is no need to read the rest of the book! After hearing the problem, the gang heads one way (the safe way) while Shaggy and Scooby go the other way (the dangerous/scary way) in search of the ghost/evil being. Because they love and cannot resist Scooby Snacks, while eating them, they are oblivious to the ghost/demon/monster who is now standing right behind them. They get scared to death, as the monster/demon/ghost chases them. Finally after several minutes of running around like crazy, they end up tripping over the ghost/evil/nerdy guy and manage to extract them from their costume. Then, the ghost/evil being, a tiny/weasel-like man, says, "I woulda got away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"

So, we read the story and the story plays out exactly that way. We both end up laughing, which is really my goal, because it is a beyond-boring, poorly written book but geared toward eight year old boys, which Thomas is.

Now that I got that off my chest, maybe the next time he brings me another Scooby Doo book, I'll try not to say "Rut-Ruh!"