I  really liked it, although I really didn’t like most of the kids, honestly. I guess I should allow for the fact that they’re At That Age, some of them, but a couple of them came off as a bit obnoxious, and that one girl April who was studying for the spelling bee eight hours a day? And it was interfering with her other activities? Mostly, I thought her parents maybe should have exerted some moderating influence there, but…”precocious” is not a compliment, necessarily. It’s not a socialization issue; Harry was off-the-charts badly socialized and it made me nervous to watch him, but he was kind of charming. But April, and to some extent Angela…it’s not that I think kids shouldn’t take pride in being smart and good at things, especially girls, or that they shouldn’t go after what they want, but there was a humorlessness there that made them a little bit hard to like. And Angela, when you win a bee, go shake the runner-up’s hand. You’re old enough to know manners, girl. (8/8/06)

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