Alrighty!
Today I am goofing off and stepping away from the
mommy blog.
No pictures of my kids
like this one…
And definitely
no silly stories like how Rhett(4) was warned when we bought bright orange shorts that in general orange is not a neutral and he wouldn’t be able to wear it with other bright colors like, for instance, red. Â Oh, and when we bought him two new pairs of crocs it was my intention that he wear two shoes of the same color for a pair. Â I am crazy and un-imaginative that way.
I do NOT have time for that kind of
mommy blogger – ness!
Today I am asking YOU to give me some reading ideas.
Summer is upon me. Â My boys’ last day of school was on Monday.
I need reading suggestions for:
- 2nd grade boy
- 4th grade boy
- their harried 40 year old mother
I just LOVE a good book….and if you don’t read books, but have a good blog recommendation for me,
bring it on.
To thank you for your help, I will be sending a randomly selected comment below to receive a
$50 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble.
All you need to do is
comment with some sort of reading recommendation and you will be entered to win. Â The contest will close 5/18/10.
Easy, peasy.
And now I can get back to following around my children like paparazzi and blogging every word they say…
Hi! Don’t know if 4th grader is easily scared but The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is awesome! It’s really not that scary except for the beginning. My 5th grader liked it and it didn’t scare her.
Also, The 39 Clues series is awesome. About a pair of siblings that travel the world to solve a mystery and along the way you learn about things from different countries and histories and cultures. I loved them!
As for the 2nd grader, it’s been too long for me to remember what is good for that age group.
My daughter is younger than your boys, so I don’t know what they would like. I always enjoyed the Beverely Cleary books at their ages, though.
Some books I love include The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Kitchen God’s wife by Amy Tan, and for a nonfiction pick: Blink (or anything else) by Malcom Gladwell. Hope you get some good ideas from all the comments!
The Narnia books could be a great summer series for the boys!
For you, if you have not yet read “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett, it’s fantastic.
And for lighter (and hilarious) reading, check out the blog http://www.jennsylvania.com and any of the books by its author, Jen Lancaster. She’s fun and irreverent without being crude.
A nonfiction read that I recommend to all moms is “The Unhealthy Truth” by Robyn O’Brien.
Any Which Wall by Laurel Snyder for 4th grade and the Stink books by Megan McDonald for 2nd grade. If you haven’t read it yet, I’d recommend Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen for you.
For a great list of winning chapter books, be sure to check out the School Library Journal’s Top 100 Children’s Novels Poll…sure to be books for your kids on that list.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379/post/1820053782.html
Also, more suggestions here:
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379/post/1260053926.html
My little guy is only 3 so I’m not sure what to recommend for the kids except a couple of classics that I loved as a youngin’.
The BFG by Roald Dahl
The Giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk Ends, or The Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
For you?
The Alchemist
Eat, Pray, Love
Anything by Douglas Adams
For you : Story Sisters by Alic Hoffman
House Rules : Jodi Picoult
Summer sisters Judy Blume
4th Grader Tales of a 4th grade nothing and then all the books that follow
2nd grader the Magic tree house books
My favorite summer reads are from Dorothea Benton Frank. Great beach books with titles like “Isle of Palms”. Most of them are in paperback now. The coolest thing about them is that the characters jump from book to book as ‘cameo’ characters. Enjoy!
Delurking to say…I recommend “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak and “The Hunger Games” and then “Catching Fire” by Suzanne Collins. I also second the recommendations for the Stephanie Plum books and anything by Christopher Moore.
Magic Tree House for 2nd graders – it’s just the age of the characters in the book.
If you enjoy fantasy/sci-fi, try out The Night Watch (translated from my native Russian). I am somewhat biased, but it’s really fascinating series.
2nd grader: Captain Underpants (my SIL says they are soo great)
4th grader: Narnia series
Mom: Unspeakable Journey, Beaded Hope ( i reviewed both and interviewed the author of unspeakable journey on my blog) and my fave classic: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn