They read it!

I still get a kick out of seeing Nancy's stuff in bookstores and libraries, but I've grown to expect that. It's more fun when her books turn up in unexpected places. A friend who frequently makes home visits has seen Impossible in not one but two houses in recent weeks, where it was being read by a couple of different teenage girls. Seeing it available for reading is one thing, seeing it actually being read is heartwarming.

Irony alert (the real kind, not the lame hipster version) -- possibly the one word in the English language that creates the most confusion upon being read describes the very act that created the confusion. The past tense of read is no sweat when you're speaking and listening, but it's tricky when you're reading and writing, especially if the sentence doesn't give you any clue what is meant: e.g. "I read. I read today." What did I just say, exactly? Even I don't know. We oughtta use a different spelling for the past tense, such as red (which as a verb wouldn't clash with the adjective) or redd. Of course that can't/won't happen; I'm just sayin'...