Monday, July 26, 2010

Graphic Novels and Books Completed 7/26

Summertime reading is here!  

Marcus and Lella seem to really enjoy graphic novels.  They recently read Into the Volcano (173 pages), Don Wood, and loved it.  They actually read this book a few times before I insisted they read other things.  (Caution:  There are a couple of scenes where one of the females is wearing a bikini top and shorts.)


They also really enjoyed Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown (96 pages), Jarrett J. Krosoczka.  This wasn't a graphic novel, but the layout was similar to one.  They laughed out loud during parts of this book.


Other books recently completed:
Marcus:  Jake Drake:  Bully Buster (101 pages), Andrew Clements, Superstar Watch (98 pages), Gertrude Warner, The Dog-Gone Mystery (120 pages), Gertrude Warner, Abe Lincoln:  The boy who loved books, Kay Winters and Nancy Carpenter, Ten Holiday Jewish Children's Stories (45 pages), Barbara Goldin.

Lella:  Five Fables of La Fontaine (64 pages), Roberta Sewal, My Father's Dragon (77 pages), Ruth Gannett, Elmer and the Dragon (78 pages), Ruth Gannett, The Dragon of Blueland (79 pages), Ruth Gannett, Breakfast in the Rainforest, Richard Sobol, Sun-Day, Moon-Day:  How the week was made (80 pages), Cherry Gilchrist and Amanda Hall. 

***Gabriella LOVED Gannett's dragon books.  She actually re-read My Father's Dragon and then read the other two.  She also loved Sun-Day, Moon-Day and read it multiple times.

Both:  Here Comes the Garbage Barge, Jonah Winter, Prayer for a Child, Rachel Field, Pet Stories You Don't Have to Walk (64 pages), Reading Rainbow.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Harriet the Spy and Completed Books 7/10

The children and I began reading Harriet the Spy (320 pages), Louise Fitzhugh.  I have seen this book on many reading lists and after reading a review that said, "Happily, it has neither dated nor become obsolete and remains one of the best children's novels ever written," I thought we would give it a try.

Unfortunately, at Chapter 5 of the book, we had to stop.  The icing was this sentence: "I'll be damned if I am going to dance class!" 

Harriet, the protagonist, is a very observant little girl who writes observations down in a notebook.  I felt like some of her observations were unkind.  The word "fat" was used a lot and she tended to see the negative in everything she wrote.  With so many wonderful children's books available, skip this one.  It's just not worth it.

Books Completed Marcus: 
The Time Machine (GIC - 238 pages), H.G. Wells, The Camp Knock Knock Mystery (47 pages), Betsy Duffey, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Rudyard Kipling.

Books Completed Lella:
Frankenstein (GIC - 238 pages), Mary Shelley, A Little Princess (129 pages), Frances Burnett, Lunch Lady, Jarrett Krosoczka, Roxaboxen, Barbara Cooney, A House Is a House for Me, Mary Ann Hoberman.

Both:
The Fantastic Undersea Lif of Jackques Cousteau, Dan Yaccarino, The Velveteen Rabbit (again), Margery Williams, The Seven Silly Eaters, Mary Ann Hoberman.