My little bookworm

Awsumb
Reading
Magic
Tree
House
6- 2008
Awsumb is a little bookworm. He has always been this way because Kenneth and I enjoy reading and there are books in every room of our house. Last year a friend of my Auntie's gave me The Read-Aloud Handbook. I wish I had this book earlier. It's a great resource for parents of young kids. But the biggest thing I learned from this book was something that should have been obvious. When reading books to your kids read something you enjoy.

Awsumb had these Disney books from doing the Dr. Seuss and Disney book of the month clubs. They were poorly written, seemed to drag on and on and were really long. When Awsumb would bring them to me I moaned and groaned and sometimes even refused to read them! Part of it is that I don't care for the way Disney waters down stories. But, all that matters is I just didn't enjoy reading them.

When you read books you enjoy, your child will sense your enthusiasm. If you read a book you don't care for your child will also sense this and may come to view reading as a chore. Even though it was so obvious I realized this to be a major factor in getting parents to read to kids. I immediately sorted through our picture books and donated the ones that I didn't enjoy reading. From then on when Awsumb and I were choosing books I made sure to pick ones I liked and ones I wanted to read.

Some of the books we are currently reading to Awsumb are...

The Boxcar Children - I remembered reading this as a child and wanted to share the experience with Awsumb. Awsumb loves to see what things Henry will build next. I think he also likes to imagine he is part of this sibling group as they care for one another.

Peter Pan - Kenneth has been reading this story out loud to Awsumb. You probably think of a watered down Disney version when you think of this story. But, this book actually has much more advanced grammar and vocabulary than one might think.

Lemony Snicket - This 'Series of Unfortunate Events' was a book Kenneth discovered years ago and couldn't wait to read them with Awsumb. They only read book one together and moved onto other things. But a few days ago we caught Awsumb reading Book 2 by himself.

Some of the 'my first chapter book' type of series that Awsumb has loved reading on his own this past year are...

Nate the Great and Jigsaw Jones - Awsumb loves mystery books. These series are simple. But Awsumb loves to read them over and over again and find new ones at the library. Plus he loves to act these stories out and play detective. I found a notepad in his desk recently. Awsumb had made two lists titled, 'suspects' and 'clues' under which were things like 'toxic waste' and 'fingerprints.'

Also check out the A to Z Mysteries and Bailey School Kids series.

Magic Tree House of course! Awsumb enjoys following Jack and Annie on quests through time.  There are also the Merlin Mysteries, which are a little longer and more fantasy than history

Nonfiction – Magic Tree House Research Guides.  Don’t forget about nonfiction books!  Awsumb loved researching about animals, planets, other countries, etc.

Magic School Bus Chapter Books - I think there was a PBS series about this teacher? We never saw those shows, but Awsumb has enjoyed some of the chapter books. They throw in little scientific details.

Dinosaur Cove - Follow kids on their adventure to the prehistoric world of dinos. Awsumb can't get enough of these. #5 and #6 are just coming out and Awsumb already has his book order in at school to get them.

Dragon Slayers' Academy - Awsumb just started this series. So I don't know much about it yet, but it looks fun.

Encyclopedias - Kids love reading about the world around them. Don't forget to have non-fiction books around the house. There are many children's type encyclopedias available. I loved reading through encyclopedias as a child. Another good resource for this category is the Kids National Geographic Magazine. Awsumb looks forward to getting the new issue each month.

I recently bought him the Encyclopedia Brown and Superfudge collections too. It's been fun to remember the books we enjoyed as children and share those with Awsumb. Next I want to read the Mixed-up files of Ms. Basil E. Frankweiler to Awsumb.

What books do you remember reading as a child?