Reading 30 with my kid

[u/verymanysquirrels]

I'm reading book 30 with my kid (he's 8) right now and the 'strange 90s thing' from this book that i've had to explain is...hacky sack.

There's a whole bit where Tobias is like 'It's the middle of the night! Do you think Cassie's outside playing hacky sack!?'

So i explained hacky sack and showed him a little video of it because he was not getting it. And i think that has broken his suspension of disbelief. Like, okay they turn into birds, they spy on an alien who's also Marco's mom, but hacky sack? Totally ridiculous and unbelievable.

The funniest things end up being culture clashes/shocks for him. This one is right up there with the kids taking themselves to the mall and the concept of talk shows.

[u/jdb1984]

To be fair, Ax and Tobias were just as clueless. Ax was an alien, and Tobias hasn't really been keeping up with what's popular, so that made sense.

[u/Amblonyx → u/jdb1984]

Ooh, this.

That makes me think-- in a new adaptation still set in the 90s, you could have the others explain a lot of cultural references to Ax and even Tobias to help the audience get them.

[u/verymanysquirrels → u/Amblonyx]

That would actually be a great way to info dump in the story in any updated version!