using System;

using System.Linq; 

using System.Collections;

using System.Collections.Generic;       

using System.Data;

using System.Data.Linq;

using System.Data.DataSetExtensions;

using System.Xml;

using System.IO;

using System.Xml.Linq;

public class Program

{

    public static void Main()

    {

        string input = @"<RateSheet><rate category=""children"" date=""2016-04-21""><value>1.375</value> </rate><rate category=""music"" date=""2016-05-01""><value>2.475</value></rate></RateSheet>";

        var doc = XDocument.Parse(input);

        var myrates = doc.Descendants("rate")

            .Select(r=> new Rate() {

                Category = r.Attribute("category").Value,

                Date =  DateTime.ParseExact(r.Attribute("date").Value,"yyyy-MM-dd", null),

                Value = double.Parse(r.Element("value").Value),

            }).ToList();

        foreach(var rate in myrates)

        {

            rate.Dump();

        }

    }

​

}

​

public class Rate

{

    public string Category;

    public DateTime Date;

    public double Value;

}

​