Books we read

Besides having a another baby boy-- in case you missed the news-- we are reading machines. Last summer I made list of a few books we were all reading and thought I would do it again.

We have started reading Jack chapter books. He loves them, follows them, quotes from them, incorporates the characters into friends that he plays with, and is always excited for more. We started-here- with the first four Magic Treehouse books by Mary Pope Osborne. Then we moved on to some Roald Dahl books: James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and the BFG. We also read a Roald Dahl book called The Minpins which wasn't a chapter book but a longer picture book that we really liked.

I have noticed that it may be time to take a break from some of these books though. They all start out with some sort of mean parent, dead parent, mean aunts, people who don't want little kids, people who don't like little kids, and little kids being abandoned or unloved by people who should love them. Since the books use this as a device to show overcoming evil or giving the child a power or imagination to find happiness in the end we thought it would be fine and at first it was, but lately Jack has been very upset by this. It became quite clear that we needed some lighthearted chapter books when watching the movie-Babe-he broke down in tears because the puppies on the farm where being sold to little kids. He didn't think it was fair the mom wouldn't have her puppies and that the puppies wouldn't have their mom. He was so upset that we took Tigran away from Gordo when he was a puppy and didn't think it was ok at all. He wondered why this always happened. While he is very smart and capable of following these books we must remember he is still just 4.

So then I found a book called Frindle by Andrew Clements but it was a little too old because it was set in an elementary school and involved all things to do with being in school which he didn't understand at all. Then we read a book called My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett and it was lighthearted and cute-just what we needed. I have two other books we checked out: Freckle Juice by Judy Blume and Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith. We will see how these go.

Luke is still being read board books. We have been reading Brown Bear What Do You See, Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See, and Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear? all by Eric Carle. But Not the Hippopotamus and Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton. Also, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.

I have been reading too. I have read Margaret Atwood's The Handmaids Tale. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I started reading The Sun Also Rises, but I couldn't get into it-sorry Hemingway fans. I am going to try again since they haven't gotten to Spain yet. I am reading G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries. I also have checked out The Pyramid by Henning Mankell. So that is what has been hanging around the side of my bed.

Since we have been spending most of our free time reading I thought I would share our books with you. Yes, Pete is left out and that is because he has math papers toread. Being a PhD student doesn't allow much time for novels. Sorry Petey.