For The Love of Lists — POW! May 3 is Free Comic Book Day!

***UPDATED BELOW***

Tomorrow, Saturday May 3, is Free Comic Book Day and my kid will be beating down the door of her favorite spot, Thank You Comics, trying to get her hands on some newness. Though she has no concept of money, or saving (despite our best parenting efforts), she always manages to find just enough pocket change to keep her bookshelves well stocked.

We've never made it to one of these events (held the first Saturday of May), so I don't know what to expect. According to the official event site, Thank You will be handing out designated "Kid Friendly" comics. You can find participating shops using a Store Locator on the FCB Day Home Page.

If your neighborhood store is only handing out the racy/violent/dark stuff, you can always scan the shelves for these cool kids' titles*. They won't be free, but they'll be worth shelling out the cash.

*My suggestions are based solely on the number of times my own kid has read and re-read these titles. (Most of these are appropriate for, say, a mature 2nd Grader and range from either twee/girly to unisex.)

The "Hilda" Series by Luke Pearson.

The "Zita the Spacegirl" Series by Ben Hatke.

The "Amulet" Series by Kazu Kibuishi.

The "Bone" Series by Jeff Smith, and its "Quest for the Spark" spin-off.

Ugly Doll and Mameshiba manga.

And last, but not least, my kid's guilty pleasure...The MLP "Friendship Is Magic" comics.

Lately, my kid's been sniffing around the "Adventure Time" comics. We'll see what she picks up tomorrow.

Can you recommend any other kids' comic titles? You know the kind that's so good, they wanna curl up into a little ball of reading rapture until you force them to eat/bathe/sleep.

***UPDATE***
If you're in a book-perusing mood, don't forget May 3 is also California Book Store Day! Find out what's going on at our favorites, Vroman's and Skylight Books.

Wantables — Let the Spoiling Begin (rather, Continue)

HomeGoods, I'm way ahead of you. Your aisles have been crammed with Halloween stuff for the past several weeks, but my mind has already jet-packed forward to Christmas. Not so much the crafty decorations, or bountiful meal plans — I'm onto presents, presents and more presents!

Bearing in mind my kid's mid-November birthday and Dec. 25, I'm already strategizing which things she'll get and on which of the special days she'll get them. Go ahead. You can judge me. But I'll rattle off the following list of gift contenders knowing that you'll secretly take a break from clowning me just long enough to mentally store some of these ideas:

Djeco is a good fit for my all-consumingly-creative child. The French brand's art kits have exactly what her brain keys into — meticulous designs, copious colors and tons of teeny-tiny little pieces that drive me crazy.

She'd love this Klimt-y kit and it would jog her memory of the exhibit we caught this summer at The Getty.

Watch This — Japanese Fun Facts

Talking legumes that resemble puppies and disseminate arcane trivia. What have you been doing all your life, if not watching Mameshiba clips? Fava bean is the latest. So much weird Japanese goodness.