Bean was knocking out the books during the first three months of 2018. Audiobooks are her thing – she has a hard time mentally focusing on print; she finds it too small. Her “omg these books are amazing!” books were:
A Mango Shaped Space
The Scourge
Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervllain
Audiobooks (23)
School (3)
Bean discovered or revisited several book series, and spent a decent amount of her winter break listening to books on her new Kindle. Her favorites (which account for most of what she read) are:
*Curse Workers trilogy: They were well-written, I liked the rules of magic the author created, and I liked that the main characters were not perfect.
*Magisterium series: series I liked Call because he is supposed to be the bad guy, but is trying to do the right thing and be a hero. I also liked the rules of magic the author created.
*Willow Falls series: Each book had multiple points-of-view with different plots that all came together in the end. Each plot revolved around a central character, and nothing would have happened without that character.
1st Quarter
2nd Quarter
3rd Quarter
Audiobooks (14)
Books (2)
Read Alouds (1)
Bean’s reading picked up, mainly because of summer break. She ended up ripping through audiobooks in between playing outside (and playing Minecraft). She had several favorites: the Masterminds series and The Girl Who Drank the Moon.
*Masterminds: it drew me in, each chapter focused on a different person in the group ending with a cliffhanger – I needed to know what happened. I also liked how the different characters saw the same situation.
*The Girl Who Drank the Moon: I liked how the author told the story. It felt and sounded magical.
Audiobooks (8)
Books (2)
Read Alouds (2)
Bean hit a reading slump this quarter. A combination of watching too many YouTube videos of a British buy playing minecraft, and playing outside took away from reading time. I have no issue with playing outside, but I don’t understand the attraction of zoning out on a guy narrating minecraft as he plays. However, I’m sure my parents felt the same way about TV shows I watched as a child. The ’80’s weren’t know for quality television.
Audiobooks (1)
School Reads (2)
Read Alouds (2)
Now that my daughter is reading somewhat consistently, I’m going to start doing quarterly book updates for her as well as my husband (his is coming soon). As of this morning, she said her favorite books were Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #1). I agree with Magnus Chase, but the one book I remember her being unable to put down (and when she did put it down, wouldn’t stop talking about) was Lost in Outer Space: The Incredible Journey of Apollo 13. I really hope Tod Olson writes more books in his Lost series because Bean loves both of the ones that are currently published.
Audiobooks (4)
Novels (2) / Nonfiction (2)
School Reads (1)
Read Aloud (1)
My oldest daughter, Bean, has taken a very long time to develop an interest in reading. This mainly stems from the fact that she was slow to gain reading confidence. Up until partway through 4th grade, graphic novels were the only books she would read without a fuss. She also hadn’t stumbled into the genre(s) that were sure to suck her in to staying up way too late reading on a school night. At her age, pretty much all I read was fantasy with a healthy dose of science fiction. Neither are genres Bean really enjoys, which I find mildly horrifying because how am I supposed to find books for her?!?!
It’s been an interesting road, but I’ve finally found out Bean’s favored genres: puzzle mysteries/adventures, historical/realistic fiction, and books involving children from other cultures. There is a little bit of fantasy mixed in, but it’s fairly selective – a Harry Potter fan, she is not.
Below are the books she received this past Christmas. She’s only read three so far. 1) Because I’ve had them in my computer room with the intention of taking a photo of them for this post, and 2) because she keeps getting distracted by other books.
Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story by Nora Raleigh Baskin
Very tragic. I understood it, but it was hard to grasp the details because it was just so devistating. I liked that the characters were from different cultures. They all had different experiences when 9/11 happened.
Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
It was okay. She’s a good author, but I didn’t really understand what was going on.
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertram
Iris and the Tiger by Leanne Hall
Rose and the Magician’s Mask by Holly Webb
This was the third book in the series. It started out strong, but then started to feel loose towards the end. I didn’t like what the author did to Mr. Fountain. The whole situation felt off.
Rose and the Silver Ghost by Holly Webb
My 8-year old daughter is an avid graphic novel reader. She’ll whinge if you hand her a chapter book, but she’s loved almost every graphic novel I’ve placed in her hot little hands (the Amulet and Squish series being the exceptions so far). The idea of giving her graphic novels didn’t occur to me until we started reading The Fog Mound trilogy when she was in first grade. The chapters in the books alternate between prose and comic format, but she was especially taken by the details of the comics chapters. I read the first Babymouse to her because of that her fascination, and she’s been hooked on graphic novels since then. Below are her current favorites.
My 4-year old daughter loves looking through the Babymouse books, but wanted her own graphic novels. She cannot read, so that’s a limiting factor. She’s been obsessed with owls for most of her life, and since Owly has no words, I figured it would be a perfect fit. She now owns three Owly books, and reads them in bed on most nights. Hello Kitty is the other series she’s read, but we check them out from our library.
8-Year Old
Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm (18 volumes so far)
Happy Happy Clover by Sayuri Tatsuyama (5 volumes)
Mameshiba: On the Loose by James Turner & Jorge Monlongo
Guinea Pig: Pet Shop Private Eye by Colleen AF Venable & Stephanie Yue (6 volumes)
Swans in Space by Lun Lun Yamamoto (3 volumes)
4-Year Old
Owly by Andy Runton (5 volumes so far)
Hello Kitty: Here We Go! by Jacob Chabot & Jorge Monlongo
My 4-year old getting ready to read her brand new Owly in bed.
