Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Red Pyramid and Completed Books 9/21/10

The kids and I just finished The Red Pyramid (528 pages), Rick Riordan.  Riordan's knowledge of Ancient Egyptian culture is superb, however I got quite bored with the story.  The kids seemed to like it though!  Basically, the two main characters are descended from the line of Pharaohs and must save the world.  In doing so, they encounter monster after monster, and must morph into different things to escape or defeat the monster... sigh.  Finally, "Oh god!" was used on and off when the children were in trouble.  Granted the whole story is about false Egyptian gods, but I still don't like the expression.  I will say that Marcus and Lella have a better understanding of Egyptians gods, who they are, and what Ancient Egyptians believed. 

History Reading (both):
Favorite Celtic Fairy Tales (84 pages), Joseph Jacobs - A collection of stories from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall.  Gabriella almost cried at the end of "Beth Gellert".  We loved reading this book.
Favorite Medieval Tales (72 pages), Mary Pope Osborne - We read these stories last year and loved all of them.  This year, we focused on "Beowulf".  Gabriella's favorite is "The Werewolf".
Cat and Rat:  The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac, Ed Young
Religions of the World - I am Muslim, Jessica Chalfonte - A simple book about the beliefs of Muslims.
Forty Fortunes:  A Tale of Iran, Aaron Shepard
The Three Golden Oranges, Alma Flor Ada
The Hundredth Name, Shulamith Levey Oppenheim

Marcus:
Mercy Watson to the Rescue (71 pages), Kate DiCamillo
Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride (72 pages), Kate DiCamillo
Tales from the Odyssey, Book One:  The One Eyed Giant (101 pages), Mary Pope Osborne - Marcus read this series last year and loved it.  He wanted to read this story again.

Marcus and Gabriella are obsessed with reading their dictionary (Scholastic Children's Dictionary).  They have also been reading The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls.  It's amazing the things they find and learn about in these three books!