This summer, the boys and I are participating in a reading program at the local library. Thanks to this, NHL has been highly motivated to read books. What’s even better, he likes and is intrigued with chapter books. This has not always been the case.
In the past, I bought him books like the Phineas and Ferb one seen here, but he was too upset about the concept of chapter books.
It has been exciting to watch NHL devour different series of books over the last few weeks. I love seeing the excitement in his eyes as he announces he has finished another chapter.
My last Disney Driven Life post was Summer Reading With Disney. I wrote about NHL’s fears about chapter books, things we tried, and shared some great resources from Disney. Did you know that they have a website where you can search for titles based on age of child, categories of books, and featured characters. They do and you can read about it on my post.
Please stop by to say hello and check out the other magical posts from my Disney Drive Life friends. My other posts there can be found under NDM183 – that’s me!
Before I go, I wanted to share a fun video that I love featuring Phineas, Ferb, and Regis Philbin. Yes, THE Regis Philbin sings a Phineas and Ferb song. Oh and Neil Patrick Harris also has a small part in it.
Are you Phineas and Ferb fans? Let me know if you have a favorite character on the show.
Summer break is finally here. We try to spend a lot of time outdoors playing, running, biking, and so on. Of course, we also make sure to read. The summer is the perfect time to rest/cool off at the end of a busy day and read a book. We own a lot of books, but the boys adore going to our local libraries. A field trip to the air conditioned library means time to play, read, check things out, use computers, and catch up with friends.
As a child, I have so many memories from summers with my neighborhood friends. I remember when our local library started doing a summer reading program. Our parents would take us to the branch to sign up, and we would go back each week to write in what we had read. As we got older, we would often walk to the library, have lunch on the way, and make an afternoon of the experience.
For our first day of vacation, I took the boys to the library. I had already signed NHL up for the elementary aged program. Once he reads books, he can log in and record the titles that he has completed. For every five books that he read, he will receive some sort of prize. NHL is finally into chapter books. He has finished two of the A to Z Mysteries, read JSL several picture books, and started one of The Boxcar Children books. I am so proud of how he loves to read and is trying items out of his comfort zone.
JSL was able to sign up for the pre-reader program. You receive a calendar and mark each day that you read 15 minutes to your child. This is not hard for us to do and JSL seems very intrigued. When we got back from the library, he begged me to read him three of the books we took out. The boys are also excited about events that are taking place at many of the library throughout the summer.
So did you participate in a summer reading program as a child or are your children doing one this summer? I would love to know all about them.
What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your Book Posts, and/or leave a comment below. Include something you read on your own, with a child or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.
The summer is coming and school is almost out in our area. Thanks to this, I am looking ahead to items to read with NHL. Many of the local libraries are sponsoring fun summer reading programs. Two years ago, NHL was really into it. He loved trying to read as much as possible and getting prizes. Last year, we were not as motivated.
The reality is that NHL loves to read, BUT (and it is a big one) he is not a fan of trying chapter books on his own. I have tried numerous books that I have from my teaching days, we have bought countless others, and even tried audio with some. NHL was nervous about the number of pages, lack of pictures, and concept of chapters. As a certified reading teacher, I was more interested that NHL was reading and was not going to fight him. The reality is that many picture books have higher levels of vocabulary and concepts within them.
A while back, I had heard about the A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy. The books have three main characters that solve mysteries and each of the 26 books starts with letter of the alphabet. I really wanted to find something that would increase NHL’s independent reading confidence and that we could talk about when we read on our own. So, I bought the entire set from Scholastic Books. I was going to save them, but was too excited to show them to NHL.
More about the A to Z Mysteries:
Here is a great video of Ron Roy talking about the series from Random House Children’s Books. As you will see, the A to Z Mysteries have expanded to a new series called Calendar Mysteries:
My son decided to start with The Absent Author
About The Absent Author from Amazon: A is for author…. Dink writes to his favorite author, mystery writer Wallis Wallace, and invites him to visit Green Lawn. To Dink’s amazement, Wallace says he’ll come! But when the big day arrives, Wallace is nowhere to be found. The police think he just missed his plane, but Dink suspects foul play. It’s up to Dink and his two best friends, Josh and Ruth Rose, to find the famous writer–before it’s too late!
The Absent Author (A to Z Mysteries) – Written by Ron Roy – Illustrated by John Steven Gurney - Random House 1997 – $3.99 (paperback) – Ages 9-12 – 96 pages
What we think so far:
I think we have a winner! Yes, my second grader is reading a chapter book on his own. For the past few days, he asks to take The Absent Author to the couch, or does it on his own. While there, he will read a chapter or two. NHL smiles and laughs as he talks about reading the adventure of Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. While he was at school the other day, I pulled the book out to read the section that he was up to so NHL and I could chat about the books. The teacher in me drafted comprehension questions in my mind. I wanted to know about the characters, plot, and I also wanted to have him predict what would happen next.
After I picked NHL up from school, I told him I wanted to chat about The Absent Author. I think he was a bit surprised with my interest. He forgets from time to time that I am a teacher at heart. So we drove to our destination chatting about the book. I asked some pretty specific questions and he got them without flinching. Yes, my 7 year old son was really reading the books. I knew he was reading the books, but this involves more than just saying the words on the pages and flipping further along. NHL really got the point of the story. He recalled little items, figured out the game plan of the characters, and had his own theory on how the rest of the book would go. It was at this point that I told NHL I was so proud of him. He had overcome his fear of chapter books and was reading them!
Here is a look inside the book.
The use of note from Wallis Wallace takes away from the fact that the entire page is full of text. This is a subtle trick that kids never get, but works well. They love seeing an item that belongs to the characters and want to learn more. There are also illustrations from time to time that connect with the story. This is huge when you are trying to get a reluctant chapter book reader to become independent and try things on their own. While browsing Ron Roy’s website, I found his letter to parents. It really hit home with me. Roy not only wants to engage children in his books, but teach them to use their brains to solve problems with their friends. As a parent and teacher, I respect his philosophy and it makes me even more confident in my kids reading this series and others by Ron Roy.
Yes, I do believe that we have a reading project for the summer. NHL and I will be reading and doing projects as we move along with the A to Z Mysteries. I have a feeling we may also move onto the Capital Mysteries as well as the Calendar Mysteries.
Do you have something that you or your children plan to read this summer? I would love to know.
What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your Book Posts, and/or leave a comment below. Include something you read on your own, with a child or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.
Disclosure: I purchased these books from a Scholastic Book order form that my son had sent home recently. One widget within the review is for my Amazon Affiliate where I will receive a percentage of money for the sale of the books should you opt to buy the book mentioned.
Back at the start of October, I wrote about reading while I get other items done. One of those books was The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I had the audio version of the book on my MP3 player. The MP3 player went with me all over the place because I wanted to keep reading and hear what would happen next. I was thrown into the world of the characters and needed to listen to their tale. Before I knew it, I was finished and left to figure out what to read next.
All these months later, I am excited that The Help will now be coming out as a movie. As a teacher, I have to admit – books to movies do worry me. Too many times beloved books come to life on the big screen and then things change.
While watching the previews for The Help, I do not think this will happen. It appears that they have taken this powerhouse novel and made it into a movie to represent the well written words. Here is a featurette from DreamWorks’ that really has me excited about the release later this summer:
The Help comes to theaters August 12. I hope to see it soon after the release so I can see the amazing women in the film come to life. If you are a fan and want to check out more, The Help Movie has a Facebook page and are also on Twitter.
Have you read The Help? Are you looking forward to the movie? I would love to know what you think of books coming to life on the big screen.
Disclosure: PR from DreamWorks sent me media information about The Help. As a fan of the book, I wanted to share this information with my readers. No compensation was given, and all opinions are mine.
This summer, the boys and I are participating in a reading program at the local library. Thanks to this, NHL has been highly motivated to read books. What’s even better, he likes and is intrigued with chapter books. This has not always been the case.
