What's everyone reading at the moment?

[Runningmom80]

DS 10 is still reading Little Women (well we are reading it, as a read aloud) for fun he's been re reading all the James Patterson middle grade fiction he can find at the library. He adores house of robots.

 

Youngest have moved on to Little house on the prairie for their read aloud. Ds 6 is reading the 13 story tree house and dd really loves animal books so she's been pouring over this Book Polar Bear which is just so beautifully done. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1592702007/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1484396624&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=polar+bear&dpPl=1&dpID=41C50fQMoGL&ref=plSrch

 

I'm finishing up Song of Solomon and then I'm reading Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

DS 10 is still reading Little Women (well we are reading it, as a read aloud) for fun he's been re reading all the James Patterson middle grade fiction he can find at the library. He adores house of robots.

 

Youngest have moved on to Little house on the prairie for their read aloud. Ds 6 is reading the 13 story tree house and dd really loves animal books so she's been pouring over this Book Polar Bear which is just so beautifully done. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1592702007/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1484396624&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=polar+bear&dpPl=1&dpID=41C50fQMoGL&ref=plSrch

 

I'm finishing up Song of Solomon and then I'm reading Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin.

 

I saw 13 Storey Treehouse in your post - Australian author Andy Griffiths!

 

Have you read any of his 'Just' books? eg Just Stupid, Just Crazy, Just Shocking.

They are entertaining collections of short stories. Very silly, a bit gross here and there, and very, very fun.

 

They're kind of like Australia's answer to Diary of a Wimpy Kid, in that even reluctant readers love them.

[SKL]

To the question of whether I'd knowingly let my 8yo read a book with f-bombs in it, the short answer is no.  :)

 

My younger 10yo is reading the first Miss Peregrine's peculiar kids book, and she told me it has some language, though when she said "b-word" she was shocked when I took it to mean "b!tc#."  (I think she meant "boob" or similar.)  She finds this series a bit intense for her liking, and I don't know if she'll finish it now or put it down.  She is also reading lots of other stuff, the usual middle school fare.  I don't keep track.

 

My elder 10yo is still plugging along with Old Yeller and her weekly Dork Diary / Wimpy Kid choices.  I'm just happy she's reading.

 

Our current audiobook is Tom Sawyer.  We're about halfway through it.  The adventures are fun.  The "n word" has come up a few times.  I hope my kids are mature enough to understand what the author is trying to do (I did explain, but that doesn't mean they understood).  I liked one line where the narrator says something like:  the less logical reason there is for keeping around old customs, the more tightly people cling to them.  I do think that went right over my kids' heads, as it did when I read it at ~10yo.

 

Our next audiobook, for the middle school book discussion, is Out of the Dust, the 1998 Newberry Medal winner.  It looks interesting.

 

I am hoping to start the Arabian Nights as a read-aloud tonight.

[czardas]

DS (7): sped through three books from the "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children' Series in two mornings. He got to watch the movie version of the first book, quite enjoyed it. Also Startalk, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.

Edited January 23, 2017 by czardas

[SeaConquest]

Sacha is in love with this series I found on the CTY Young Readers syllabus. It's called HIVE: Higher Institute for Villanous Education. I haven't read the books, but based on his reaction, I have to recommend this one for the 8-10 crowd.

 

He's also enjoying the 100 Cupboards trilogy.

 

I'm enjoying chemistry. ;)

[luuknam]

Sacha is in love with this series I found on the CTY Young Readers syllabus. It's called HIVE: Higher Institute for Villanous Education. I haven't read the books, but based on his reaction, I have to recommend this one for the 8-10 crowd.

 

My oldest tried one about a year ago, and didn't like it.

[Runningmom80]

Here is where I will confess my failure.

 

DS and I AGAIN abandoned Little Women. It's just so hard for me to read aloud and he's not interested in reading it himself.

 

He's flying through the chronicles of Narnia instead, then we will read a few books from a refugee perspective.

 

I just finished Commonwealth by Ann Patchett and I highly recommend it. I'm starting The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead next.

[SKL]

Well, we finished Tom Sawyer.  It was a good audiobook choice for 10yo.  Next we finished Out of the Dust.  This was interesting but kind of fizzled at the end.  It was educational, but my kids said it was their least favorite book club selection so far.  After that, we started Before Green Gables (a Christmas gift), and we're about halfway through.  I find it quite melodramatic and slow-moving, but the kids seem to enjoy it.  (We did Anne of Green Gables as a read-aloud about a year ago, and they have the whole book set and the 3 movies, so they know about the character.)

 

I abandoned the Arabian Nights read-aloud as the book was full of completely age-inappropriate stuff, yikes.  I ordered a more kid-friendly version, but in the meantime I started The Wheel on the School, and we're roughly halfway through that.  It took a while for my kids to really get into it, but now they are engaged.  Unfortunately our read-aloud time is squeezed nowadays - I pretty much only read while they are getting ready for bed.  :/

 

As far as independent reading, my eldest has finished her online book club and does not want to continue on to the Spring one.  So she finished Old Yeller.  Other than that she has been reading Dork Diaries.  She currently has 100% comprehension average on AR tests, possibly because I have pegged my kids' allowance to their AR scores.  :P  I want to start assigning her some more interesting reading since she doesn't have any meaty books to read nowadays.  I bought Rascal, which seems a pretty easy read, so I might ask her to read that next.

 

My youngest, I don't really keep up with her reading.  She reads so much and it is so varied.  I wish she would not rush through the books though.  Her comprehension scores indicate that she isn't getting as much from most of the books she tests on.

 

As for me, I finished Condoleeza Rice's "Extraordinary Ordinary People" and am working on her "No Higher Honor."  I bought "The Grapes of Wrath" for when I finish that.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

It's interesting to see two different reviews for HIVE. I have that sitting in our 'maybe' list. 

 

 

Right now, my daughter (10) is reading Cinder and loving it.

 

On audiobook she's got Lemony Snicket's All the Wrong Questions series on high rotation. It's the prequel series to A Series of Unfortunate Events (which we all love).

 

Together we're reading Sherlock Holmes short stories - The Blue Carbuncle is penciled in for this week. She loved The Speckled Band last week.

 

Non-fiction - we're waiting on some books on Nelson Mandela...hope they arrive soon.

 

I've just started a Jeffrey Deaver book with main character Lincoln Rhyme - always good.

[ebunny]

DD has just completed 'Jane Eyre'. I'm plodding through 'Sapiens- A brief history of humankind'.

 

 

[Runningmom80]

DD has just completed 'Jane Eyre'. I'm plodding through 'Sapiens- A brief history of humankind'.

I love Jane Eyre! I need to re read it.

[ebunny]

Here is where I will confess my failure.

 

DS and I AGAIN abandoned Little Women. It's just so hard for me to read aloud and he's not interested in reading it himself.

 

He's flying through the chronicles of Narnia instead, then we will read a few books from a refugee perspective.

 

I just finished Commonwealth by Ann Patchett and I highly recommend it. I'm starting The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead next.

 

Here's where I will confess mine. I can't seem to get through Don Quixote. (There I said it). I kept reading the same 20 pages over and over again because I fell asleep every single time :huh:  and I couldn't remember what I read.

I finally gave up last November.

[SKL]

Here's where I will confess mine. I can't seem to get through Don Quixote. (There I said it). I kept reading the same 20 pages over and over again because I fell asleep every single time :huh:  and I couldn't remember what I read.

I finally gave up last November.

 

That happened to me with Tale of Two Cities long ago.  Some years later I tried again and was able to finish it.  :)

 

[Emerald Stoker]

Any new books?? I love hearing what people are reading!

 

Here: Child is reading Bohumil Hrabal's Too Loud a Solitude, I'm reading Gary Barwin's Yiddish for Pirates, and Husband is reading Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.

[SKL]

My kids' February book club selection was Every Single Second by Tricia Springstubb.  It was interesting on several levels.  Last week, the author visited our library and held a little writing seminar for the kids, so that was a special treat.  :)

 

Their March book club selection was Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library.  It was different but enjoyable for all of us.

 

We just started The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as an audiobook.  The kids took a little time to get used to the author's diction, and the language is unfamiliar for them, but they can follow it if I explain a few things here and there.  They seem to be enjoying it.  (I read the books when I was about 10yo or so, and I enjoyed them.)

 

We are still plodding through the Wheel on the School (read-aloud), little by little.  We're about 2/3 done.  I should probably try to step it up.  I think I will do Rascal as a read-aloud after this one.  The language in Rascal is a little above my eldest's abilities and I would rather make it easy for her to understand and enjoy the book.  So I am putting off Arabian Nights a while longer.

 

My youngest is excited to finally borrow the 3rd book in the Masterminds series.  She's also got several others going, as usual.  Mostly she has her nose stuck in Pokemon stuff.  My eldest is still reading Dork Diaries and I Survived and similar, for school free reading points.  And their teacher recently read Number the Stars to them.

 

Myself, I am still only halfway through Condoleezza Rice's No Higher Honor.  I find it quite interesting.  It's been a very busy time work-wise and I haven't been at my healthiest, so I'll take whatever little reading progress I can get.  :)

[Rush]

My eldest has just finished all three books Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Frank Cottrell Boyce. He is reading The New Adventure of the New Cut Gang by Philip Pullman and A Really Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson now and after that he will switch to Johnny Maxwell Trilogy and Discworld Novels by Terry Pratchett and 50 Things Every Young Gentleman Should Know.

 

My youngest has finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Children's Book of Magic, reading now - The Railway Children and A Really Short Story of Nearly Everything + something else about Computers and Information Technology, after that I am planning to give him The Bromeliad Trilogy by Terry Pratchett. 

 

Together - The family Collection by Enid Blyton.

 

Myself. Finished - David Copperfield, reading now - Master and Margarita and Confident Child by Gael Lindenfield

 

Husband - something by Carnegie, I think.

[Sarah0000]

DS age 5 is independently reading one of the Captain Underpants books and various picture books. We just finished Mr. Poppers Penguins together and I think his dad is going to start The Indian in the Cupboard with him next.

 

I just finished the Robert Heinlein Future Histories books and started Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

DD(11 today!) -  Hover Car Racer by Matthew Reilly

 

Together for fiction - Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet  and also Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm

 

Together for non-fiction - Giants of Science: Newton

 

Audiobooks - Seven Brief Lessons in Physics + Great Courses + all her night-time favourites (namely The Westing Game and Holes)

 

Me - The Stranger by Harlen Cobin

[SanDiegoMom]

DS is Reading The Grapes of Math by Alex Bellos, who wrote Here's Looking at Euclid (his favorite so far). He's also reading Hero's Guide to Saving the Kingdom for light reading.

 

Dd just started Moonbird, a year on the wind with the great survivor B95 after finishing a Scientist in the Field book Saving the Ghost of the Mountain (snow leopards).

 

I am reading Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O'Neil. I just finished All the Light You Cannot See and decided I'm not going to read any more novels set in wartime for awhile. :-)

Edited April 5, 2017 by SanDiegoMom in VA

[Runningmom80]

DD(11 today!) - Hover Car Racer by Matthew Reilly

 

Together for fiction - Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet and also Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm

 

Together for non-fiction - Giants of Science: Newton

 

Audiobooks - Seven Brief Lessons in Physics + Great Courses + all her night-time favourites (namely The Westing Game and Holes)

 

 

Me - The Stranger by Harlen Cobin

Happy Birthday to Chooky Jr!

 

I finished The Handmaid's Tale a week ago and just started Wuthering Heights.

 

DS just finished Calpurnia Tate and is reading Tuck Everlasting next. (For school, I honestly have no idea what he got from the library this trip!)

 

Dd & Ds 6 just finished The Green Ember and are begging me for the next book in the series.

Edited April 7, 2017 by Runningmom80

[Momto4inSoCal]

DD 11 just started the Anne of Green Gables 2 days ago and is halfway through it. I held off starting the series with her because it held such a special place in my heart as a kid. I'm so happy she's loving it.

DD 12 is reading Sherlock Holmes.

[SKL]

We finished the audiobook Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  One of my kids may be inspired to read other S.H. stuff.

 

The next middle school book club selection is Hidden Figures.  We started it yesterday.  So far so good.  We'll probably see the movie afterwards.

 

Still about 20% to go on Wheel on the School.  We have just been so busy, our evening read-aloud doesn't happen regularly.

 

I know my reader has about 8 books going on, based on the email I received yesterday from the library.  These include the 3rd Masterminds book and various other interesting-looking ones.  She'll tell me which ones to renew today, I hope.  :)  She's also generally buried in Pokemon catalog-type books.

 

My other kid is not reading anything in particular right now.  She generally chooses one light book per week to test on at school.  We're on spring break and have a houseguest right now, so I'm pretty sure she's taking a week off of reading.

[Arcadia]

DS11 is reading Big Questions from Little People and simple answers from Great Minds https://www.amazon.com/Big-Questions-Little-People-Answers/dp/0062223224

DS12 is reading How not to be wrong The power of mathematical thinking https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Be-Wrong-Mathematical/dp/0143127535

[chocolate-chip chooky]

My daughter (11) is on book 3 or 4 of the Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch.

 

For non-fiction, she (very) often has a crochet book on the go, and if not, then it's usually either What If (by Randall Munroe) or We are the Weather Makers (Tim Flannery adaptation for younger readers) at the moment.

 

Together we are still reading Isaac Newton biographies. She's really quite taken by Newton.

 

I'm reading a young adult book called The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily. It's a tandem book by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. It belongs to one of my older daughters (20). I actually really like YA fiction, as long as it doesn't involve vampires, dystopia etc. Reality-based YA is good fun. Think John Green.

[Runningmom80]

I started A Return to Love on the advice of a friend, I will not be taking her advice anymore. Lol

 

I dropped it for How to Raise a Wild Child, it's pretty good.

 

Twins read aloud is Farmer Boy, DS 10'is reading and not enjoying The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

[Arcadia]

DS12 was laughing while reading this book at the library The Mathematics Lover’s Companion: Masterpieces for Everyone https://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Lovers-Companion-Masterpieces-Everyone/dp/0300223005

 

My boys are also fighting over this book as both wants to read. DS12 is three quarters way through while DS11 is half way through.

We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Unknown Universe https://www.amazon.com/We-Have-No-Idea-Universe/dp/0735211515

 

I saw these books at Barnes and Noble so we reserved them from our library.

[SKL]

We finished the Hidden Figures audiobook - it was very good for my kids' age and interests.  Then we saw the movie, which was also good.

 

The next middle-school audiobook was/is Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead.  It is really a little too old for my kids, but having jumped in it's too late to backtrack.  :P  I've had to explain some things where words were hard to find.  My kid helped by suggesting "chocolate," the code word for sex that they use at school.  :P  Well anyway, after that is done I think we'll do an audiobook of one of the Books-a-Million summer selections.  You have to choose 4 books from their list to get a prize.  One of them is The Phantom Tollbooth, so I'm planning for that to be our next read-aloud, which will probably start when we are on our cruise in late June.  (Big work deadlines in June.)  Our current read-aloud is still Wheel on the School, but it's been weeks since I read anything.

 

My kids' teacher recently finished reading them The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman - not sure what that's about.

 

Individually, over the past few weeks my reader has read about 10 books according to her Accelerated Reader record - several biographies and a variety of fiction - the usual mix.  My other kid hasn't been reading much on her own lately.  She's been busy with sports and enjoying the outdoors.  I do have a pile of stuff for both to read over the summer.  :)

[Runningmom80]

I LOVED How to Raise a Wild Child.  Highly recommended.

 

I am now reading Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott.  Also really good.

 

DS is reading some Code Zero series he picked up at the library.

 

Youngers are reading Peter Pan as a read aloud and lots of Garfield and Big Nate on their own.

[Rush]

My eldest apparently does not remember many books that he read a year or two ago :confused1:  so we have decided to reread all must-haves this summer :coolgleamA:

For now my little one is reading Dragon by Pratchett and how to be a millionaire, something of Secret Millionaire's Club :laugh:

My big boy is finishing Flaming Olympics by Michael Coleman and lots tiny books about politics/elections/terrorism :confused1:  and also surviving skills and how to be a super secret agent :coolgleamA:

[Rush]

Do you think it is appropriate to give a 9 yr boy to read The boy in a striped pajamas?

I summarised the story and ds is asking to read it now and says that he will not be scarred :confused1:

Edited June 3, 2017 by rushhush08

[ebunny]

Do you think it is appropriate to give a 9 yr boy to read The boy in a striped pajamas?

I summarised the story and ds is asking to read it now and says that he will not be scarred :confused1:

 

Has he read anything about the Holocaust earlier? My DD read and watched 'The boy in...." but it wasn't her first book on that topic. Her first introduction to it was Judith Kerr trilogy starting with 'When hitler stole pink rabbit'.

IMO, I wouldn't recommend 'The boy in.." as a first book on the Holocaust, particularly if the child is sensitive. ymmv

[Rush]

Has he read anything about the Holocaust earlier? My DD read and watched 'The boy in...." but it wasn't her first book on that topic. Her first introduction to it was Judith Kerr trilogy starting with 'When hitler stole pink rabbit'.

IMO, I wouldn't recommend 'The boy in.." as a first book on the Holocaust, particularly if the child is sensitive. ymmv

He is not that sensitive, at least not to these kind of things. For the last year he has been reading plenty of similar books, watching news about everything too, including terrorism, but we have never tried fiction though.

Anyway I think your idea to start with Judith Kerr is wonderful and we will follow your steps. Thank you!  :thumbup1:

[zaichiki]

Younger dd is reading Om-Kas-Toe and a collection of Geronimo Stilton books.

Younger ds is reading Minecraft books (grrr).

Older dd is reading several "candy" books from the teen section of our library. (I don't even want to know.)

Oldest ds just read The Man in the High Castle by Philip Dick (because he was hooked on the TV series). He enjoys dystopian alternative history stuff. He tells me he's also reading  the sci-fi thriller The Martian, 

 

I'm reading two "old" anthropology books by Robert T. and Barbara Gallatin Anderson. One is a study on changes over time in a Danish maritime village and the other, Bus Stop for Paris, focuses on the changes in a French village . I was introduced to Barbara Anderson's writing when a book was assigned in a college anthropology class years ago. I have read that book many times over the years... Recently it struck me that she might have written more, and of course, thanks to the internet, the answer was easy to find! That first book is called First Fieldwork. The second one I read is Around the World in Thirty Years: Life as a Cultural Anthropologist. And now I've found two more! I think I may be reading them more for nostalgia at this point than anything else.  Heh.

[bookbard]

Dug up an old Australian classic - Barnaby and the Rocket (about bonfire night). Any Australians recognise it? I loved it as a kid, and both my two are loving it too. They are also enjoying the picture book versions of the Tashi books (Anna Feinberg, also Australian). 

 

I read the Gaiman version of Norse Tales and really enjoyed it. I'm not a massive fan of Gaiman, but these stories were wonderful and enormously thought-provoking. I also read a book I've been waiting for, for a long time - the most recent book in Megan Whalen Turner's "Thief" series, "Thick as Thieves". It was wonderful, and full of stories loosely based on the Epic of Gilgamesh. I recommend it, but only after reading the previous four first. You'd miss important stuff otherwise. Oh - and it's more fun if you know the Epic of Gilgamesh, I think. 

[SKL]

Well, I thought I'd celebrate:  I finally finished Wheel on the School (read-aloud), yay!  Now there will probably be a break from serious read-alouds, but I'll try to plow through some short books that we should donate to the nieces, but that still have some content I don't want my kids to miss.

 

We also finished Goodbye Stranger (audiobook).  It was not bad.  I forgot to ask my kids what they thought of it overall.  I ordered a couple more audiobooks from the Books-a-Million list, but they haven't come in yet.

 

Now if I could finish my Condoleezza Rice book ....

 

Miss Reader has taken a new interest in Greek myths, so she borrowed some stuff from the library on that.  I've offered her my summer book pile - can't remember which one she decided to start first.

 

Miss Sporty is working through a kiddy princess book, which she knows is silly, but whatever.  :p  Right now I am too busy with work to push the reading more than "you should read some every day."

Edited June 9, 2017 by SKL

[chocolate-chip chooky]

Dug up an old Australian classic - Barnaby and the Rocket (about bonfire night). Any Australians recognise it? I loved it as a kid, and both my two are loving it too. They are also enjoying the picture book versions of the Tashi books (Anna Feinberg, also Australian). 

 

I read the Gaiman version of Norse Tales and really enjoyed it. I'm not a massive fan of Gaiman, but these stories were wonderful and enormously thought-provoking. I also read a book I've been waiting for, for a long time - the most recent book in Megan Whalen Turner's "Thief" series, "Thick as Thieves". It was wonderful, and full of stories loosely based on the Epic of Gilgamesh. I recommend it, but only after reading the previous four first. You'd miss important stuff otherwise. Oh - and it's more fun if you know the Epic of Gilgamesh, I think. 

 

No, I've never heard of it ...

Some Australian authors that my girls have enjoyed over the years include Andy Griffiths, Nick Earls (his junior fiction and YA fiction), Paul Jennings, Robyn Klein, Morris Gleitzman and I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of right now.

 

Right now my 11yr old is deep in Bad Magic by Pseudonymous Bosch. It is great fun and is loosely based on The Tempest. We've read it together in the past, but she's enjoying it all over again on her own.

For non-fiction, we're reading Mozart biographies.

 

I'm reading a novel by Lisa Gardner at the moment and someone has just passed a copy of The Well Trained Mind on to me. It's about time I read that, I think!

[Bobjakes]

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This novella worth attention, I would recommend for adults as well. I remember when I first read it, the characters and the writing  style  are really outstanding

 

Edited June 21, 2017 by Bobjakes

[SKL]

We're working through the audiobook for "Hoot," one of the summer book club suggestions.  We like it so far.  The next one will be Wonder.

 

The next middle school book club selection is "Out of my Mind."  We couldn't get the audiobook, so I borrowed two hardcopies and hope to read them on our cruise.  I also have a small pile of country-themed story books to read on the cruise.

 

One of my kids has access to some Google books online as part of her online summer camp.  She likes it a lot.  She started with some horrible Dracula-themed nonfiction book.  Whatever!  She also still has a pile of library books lying around that are in different stages of completion.

[pinewarbler]

I'm reading Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood.

 

A friend lent it to me and told me I MUST read it, so I am dutifully doing so. Have to admit, I am pretty done reading parenting books...

 

It is a helpful approach in which the author untangles 7 strands/ issues that you'll be contending with as they go through these years. She has a lot of hands-on experience as a counselor at a girls school. I think it would be super helpful for parents with girls that are 11-13 year old so that they know what to plan for (mine has finished many of these stages). She also covers some of the new scary modern problems (eg. sexual harassment via texting) that are common and talks about how to inoculate your child against them.

 

Time to move on to summer reads!!

[Runningmom80]

After Bird by Bird I read a really cool book called Long Division. (Fiction, not math )

 

Then I started The Dance of the Dissedent Daughter by Sue Mink Kidd. It's slow going because I don't relate to a lot of her story, but it is good. I just started Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

[SKL]

We are back from our northern Europe trip.  We did not read any of the books I brought about those countries.  Maybe we still will later in the summer.

 

We did finish the audiobook of Hoot, which was enjoyed.  We started a read-aloud of The Phantom Tollbooth, which wasn't really what I expected, but whatever.  :P  The girls started reading Out of My Mind for their middle-school book club discussion, which is tomorrow.  They won't finish by tomorrow.  :(  They will have to return the book, but hopefully we can take it out again, because my eldest really likes it, which is is unusual for her.  We started the audiobook Wonder, which is interesting so far.

 

The last day of our trip, in Norway, we went to some sort of peace museum bookstore.  My eldest really wanted the book I Am Malala.  Again, it is unusual for her to be interested in a meaty book, so I indulged her.  The other kid, Miss Book Fiend, of course had to have a book too.  She wanted something from the War and Violence section, but settled for Speeches that Changed the World, which turned out to be a really good book for her.  Both girls did lots of reading from that moment until the end of the trip.

 

While I realize this is the AL board, I will just say that if my slower reader really finishes Malala and Out of My Mind this summer, I will count it as a success.  :)  Her enthusiasm makes me very reluctant to push any other books.

 

Myself, I started The Grapes of Wrath and am about halfway through it.  I really don't like it, but I will finish it since it's a "classic."  Then I will go back to my Condi Rice book which should be done fairly soon now.  :)

[SKL]

Came back here because I'm trying to make a list of the books my kids can claim to have read this summer, so they can get the B&N book club prize.  :p  Well one of them won't have a problem listing 8 books, but the other one, hmm... digging into some cobwebs for a princess book she claims to have finished ....

 

The current middle-school book club selection is Wolf Hollow, which was OK.  We also listened to When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, because it was on the BAM booklist.  That was kinda weird, but OK.

 

We just finished the audiobook of Robinson Crusoe.  That was fun.  The kids may not have understood all of it, but they listened and asked to see the movie, which I have on order.  :)

 

Read-aloud - we're still on Phantom Tollbooth.  I haven't had many chances to read to them this summer.

 

My kids checked in at the library last month re the summer reading club, and each got a free book, which they are now reading.  One got Frankenstein and the other got Everything, Everything.  (I just looked the latter up and it says grades 10+, but I'm not about to stop my reluctant reader from reading it!)  She's also still working through Malala.  Other kid has read tons of other stuff.

 

Myself, I finished The Grapes of Wrath and have roughly 100 pages to go on my Condi Rice book.

 

Edited August 5, 2017 by SKL

[kubiac]

Ds4 read-aloud: Jenny and the Cat Club
DS7 read-aloud: just finished Cricket in Times Square. Next will be Homer Price, Miss Hickory or Basil of Baker Street
DS7 independent read: Quikpick Adventure Society & Hardy Boys

Me: Lessons from Privilege: The American Prep School Tradition by Arthur G. Powell & Schools That Work: America's Most Innovative public Education Rograms by George H. Wood 

Edited August 6, 2017 by kubiac

[SKL]

So now we have started the audiobook for A Wrinkle in Time.  It is damaged, so we've done more as a read-aloud than as an audiobook so far.  :P  I chose this book because (a) it was available at the library and (b) it was mentioned in When You Reach Me (which we recently finished) as the main character's favorite book.

 

The kids got their free books from B&N.  They are fighting over The School for Good and Evil (I wouldn't let them both get the same book).

 

I should also mention that we are working through some very easy books in Spanish, for the purpose of reviewing what they (hopefully) learned in school, and because I want to pass down the books to my nieces.  I'm also trying to get through some other easy review-type books that were on my to-do list for this summer.  Not really worth listing the titles.  :)

[SKL]

We finished A Wrinkle in Time today, and tomorrow we'll start the audiobook for the next middle school book club selection, "Cinder."

 

Youngest quickly plowed through the first 2 books of the School of Good and Evil, and eldest has started reading the 1st book.  Youngest is enjoying the series, says it's suspenseful but that there's some violence.  I assume she's down there reading the 3rd book now.

 

Eldest's interest level is apparently much higher than her ability to efficiently read, which is a bummer as she's still in the early part of each of the 3 books she started this summer.  She has an appointment next week with a vision specialist to see if she needs any more therapy.

[El...]

Can I jump in?  I'm reading this thread and filling up my Amazon wish list!  

 

Dd9 just finished Wonder.  She took a break to cry and hug my arm, but then went back and liked the ending.  She's a really tender kid.  The book was a gift from a friend of mine who teaches highschool literature.  I wondered if it would be a bit too heavy.  Now she's drawing a picture for that friend of what she thinks the main character looked like.

[Runningmom80]

Can I jump in?  I'm reading this thread and filling up my Amazon wish list!  

 

Dd9 just finished Wonder.  She took a break to cry and hug my arm, but then went back and liked the ending.  She's a really tender kid.  The book was a gift from a friend of mine who teaches highschool literature.  I wondered if it would be a bit too heavy.  Now she's drawing a picture for that friend of what she thinks the main character looked like.

 

Oh, Wonder. Love, love love. :)

[Runningmom80]

I just finished Still Life by Louise Penny and then started the second book in the series, A Fatal Grace (? I think that's what it's called.)  They are murder mysteries, very well written, and easy reads.  I am WAY behind in my 52 books challenge so I need some light reads to catch up.  I'm reading Let's Play Math as my "professional development" for August. 

 

DS just flew through a cute book called The Book Scavenger.  He can't wait to read the next book. His school read right now is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  He's enjoying it. 

 

DS 7 is reading some old Peanuts books from my inlaws. 

 

DD 7 is listening to On the Banks of Plum Creek. 

 

The twins read aloud is Ida B.  I really love it.  It's perfect for 2nd grade. 

[luuknam]

On our road trip to the eclipse, we listened to An Impossible Journey, a fictional story about two kids who are traveling from St. Petersburg to Siberia where their mom has been exiled to for 3 years in the 1930s. Broccoli really liked that story, DW liked it too, and Celery didn't really care for it all that much. Spoiler for people with sensitive kids (it says it's for ages 10+, but obviously ymmv, what with my 6yo and 40yo liking it and my 10yo not) in white: their father dies of (I'm guessing) TB. 

[greenfields]

Son (6.5 years) is not an avid reader because I checked his reading too often (frequent decoding) - New Yorker articles, words we encounter, scientific jargon, Constitution (in cursive, since he enjoys cursive), Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (to test for decoding), etc.

 

Currently, he prefers to look at pictures.  However, he would occasionally and meticulously pore over, of all things - Harbor Freight ads.  Then he'll ask, "What's an electronic refrigerant leak detector?"

 

Yep.  That's our life.