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. 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. 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. 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. 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…
Do you love to giggle with your kids. Do you appreciate good humor and fun writing with a subtle but not preachy lesson thrown in. Then don’t walk…RUN to your local library and check out as many Junie B. Jones books as you can by Barbara Park. My kids and I have been reading these aloud to each other for years…starting when they were in about kindergarten. They are now 11 and 13 and we just read one the other day and about laughed ourselves silly. They are just some of the most delightful books out there for kids. A great summer goal (in this English teacher’s opinion) is to try and read the entire collection, which won’t be hard because they are short little chapter books just right for your age group. Happy reading!!! And p.s. Pick me! Pick me! 😉
For the 2nd grader: Frog & Toad – The Collection Box Set. Totally a childhood staple. http://www.amazon.com/Frog-Toad-Collection-Read-Book/dp/0060580860/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273978766&sr=1-1
For the 4th grader: How to Eat Fried Worms (http://www.amazon.com/How-Fried-Worms-Thomas-Rockwell/dp/0440421853/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273978840&sr=1-1) and Chocolate Fever (http://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Fever-Robert-Kimmel-Smith/dp/0142405957/ref=pd_sim_b_2)
For the weary mom who’ll only survive the summer by reading in her bathroom: The Life of Pi (http://www.amazon.com/Life-Pi-Yann-Martel/dp/0156027321/ref=pd_sim_b_2) or The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Dragon-Tattoo-Vintage/dp/0307454541/ref=pd_sim_b_79) OR One Hundred Years of Solitude (http://www.amazon.com/One-Hundred-Years-Solitude-P-S/dp/0060883286/ref=pd_sim_b_34) – after that one you might be running back to your noisy brood!
Good books for 2nd-4th grade (depending on reading fluency, most likely for 4th grade): E. Nesbit’s *Treasure Seeker’s* series, also *Five Children and It* or *The Wouldbegoods* (all Nesbit). Perhaps also Judy Blume’s *Superfudge*. For 2nd grade, the Magic Tree House books might still hold interest. If mysteries are of interest the *Alfred Hitchcock’s Three Investigator’s* series is probably at 4th grade level, and *Encyclopedia Brown* is good for 2nd grade.
For you: fascinating non-fiction = *Ghost Maps* or *The Professor and the Madman*. For fiction, I LOVED *Drood* and *The Girl in Hyacinth Blue* and *In the Time of the Butterflies*. By the way, none of these books is anything like any of the others. Happy reading!
I’m a retired teacher. Here are a list of the books I think your precious little men would love to read and to have read to them this summer. You will enjoy reading them as much as they will. I know I did when I read them over and over to my classes for 30 years!
All of the books from The Black Lagoon Series by Mike Thaler. There are over 25 in the series starting with “The Teacher from the Black Lagoon”, “The School Nurse from the Black Lagoon”, “The Principal from the Black Lagoon”, “The Bully from the Black Lagoon”,etc. (note: each time you say “from the Black Lagoon”…you must use your deepest, scariest voice) The pictures are priceless….and the boys will want to read them over and over!
All of Robert Munsch’s Books…are a must!!! Again, the illustrations are priceless and being the artist that YOU are….you will adore his books! There are probably 20 or more! Some of my favorites are: “Purple, Green and Yellow”, “David’s Father”, “Stephanie’s Ponytail”, “Wait and See”. And….the classic….”Love you Forever”. (this one is about a mother and her son….and when he grows up) Note: you have to sing the little song that she sings to him….and he sings to her…..just make up a tune. My class cried every year when I read this one.
All of “The Dumb Bunnies” books by Dav Pilkey and illustrated by Sue Denim. Again the pictures are priceless…and so is the humor. Your boys will have you reading these over and over and they will read them again and again. There are 4 starting with the above mentioned one….and “The Dumb Bunnies Easter”, “Make Way for Dumb Bunnies” and “The Dumb Bunnies Go To the Zoo”.
All of “Tacky the Penquin” series. Can’t say enough about Tacky and the lessons your boys will learn from these books! Tacky is written by Helen Lester….and illustrated by Lynn Munsinger. Again you will be so impressed with the pictures. There are many Tacky books. (this sounds funny) There are also lots of other books by these two. Over 16 titles in all. Your guys will love all of them….and so will YOU!
Now for you.
Considering your wonderful sense of humor….I think you would just have a hoot of a time with these 2 books by Haven Kimmel:
“A Girl Named Zippy ”
and the sequel
“She Got Up Off the Couch”
She has also written one about a little boy that your guys would love called: “Kaline Klattermaster’s Tree House” It’s about a 3rd grade boy who lives in a treehouse with his 2 very cool older brothers and 100 puppies. (that’s Kaline’s fantasy world) — “it’s really about a sweet, sensitive, creative boy dealing w/change and finding his own quirky voice”.
There are also many other books by Haven Kimmel if you like her style.
Also…..if YOU haven’t read “The Pillars of the Earth”…and the sequel “World Without End” by Ken Follett……both of those kept me glued for awhile last summer.
Now…..hope I’ve given you something to read and smile about for this summer!!! Whew!! Enjoy!!!
I teach third grade so this right up my alley!
For the second grader I would recommend the Geronimo Stilton Series. They are bright and colorful and a lot of fun. My class LOVES them!
Captain Underpants is also a favorite. The pages in my classroom copy are litterally falling out.
Shel Silverstein poems are great and appeal to boys in that age group.
Don’t be afraid of non-fiction! It is as important as novels and often more popular with boys. The Scholastic Book of Records, The Scholastic Book of Lists, etc provide hours of entertainment!
The new favorites in my classroom this year is the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series. That might work for the fourth grader.
For mom, I have a thing for Irish and English chick lit myself. Marian Keyes is my favorite author there.
Happy reading!
My 7 and 9 year olds love:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The 39 Clue Books
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
The Swiss Family Robinson
The Chronicles of Narnia
Thornton W. Burgess – books like “The Adventures of Reddy Fox, The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel” etc
Peter Pan
Mary Poppins
Well I like Dr. Oz’s books! My son who is now a fifth grader has always been into the sci-fi books like the Goosebump Series that has been a favorite all through elementary school. He also likes to collect and look at…not sure how much he reads it…but the Guinness World Records Books and the Ripley’s Believe it or Not that come out each year. He also read the Magic Treehouse book series. In the last two years he has been interested in the Mike Lupica books about baseball…like Miracle on 49th Street, Heat, and Batboy. He also has shown some interest in history books like the bio of Ab Lincoln. Now my little one likes SkippyJon Jones…thank goodness they come with a cd to read it to him…cause I don’t speak with a spanish accent very well!
My son is 7 and has been reading the Lightning Thief series. He really likes it. Before that he finished the Chronicles of Prydain series and loved that. We have Hoot and have read others of Carl Hiaasen’s children’s books too. I bought an Encyclopedia Brown set but DS hasn’t started it yet.
I could go on and on with books for you. I have my entire reading list for last year on my site. This year I’ve enjoyed The Help, Little Earthquakes and Her Fearful Symmetry. I’ll read anything by Elizabeth Berg, Adriana Trigiani and Joshilyn Jackson.
My absolute FAVORITE book of ALL TIME for children is “Flat Stanley.” The best part about the books is that you can make it a learning lesson on why it’s okay to be different, and the advantages of being different. You can also create “Flat Stanleys” and carry them around with you, taking photos of your travels for a nice summer scrapbook. You’ll have as much fun as your kids do! =)
Oh and you’re sweet to offer the gift card to a random winner, but it’s not necessary. Unfortunately for others, I love sharing my opinion! Good luck with summer reading!