Booking in May

My girls’ reading landscape in May was dominated by the type of very early chapter books that parents often can’t stand because of the shallow plot, the formulaic, repetitive and predictable nature of the writing and the fact that each series seems to be never-ending. I have blogged about this type of book before when Freya went through her Billie B Brown phase.

This month we have read plenty of Ella and Olivia books for the demanding and fixated Odette (at one stage we had seven of them out from the library). We have followed Ella and Olivia as they have done fundraising, gone to the beach and played netball. All quite mundane things to an adult, but to a 4-year-old these girls have an action-packed, adventurous and exciting life.

Freya has continued on with the Ginger Green series, specifically, the Ginger Green: Playdate Queen series and I have been really thrilled with her response to them. She has been very keen to read them even by herself without a grown up watching or listening. She can read one in about 15 mins or so, with enough comprehension to retell the plot. This is great because she gets the rewarding feeling of accomplishing something on her own that just a few months ago was too tricky for her.

The added bonus is that the stories themselves often highlight a difficult social situation with a friend and then it shows how Ginger works out a way to resolve the problem. For example, in one book Ginger is invited to a friend’s for the playdate but the friend is not willing to share her toys, so Ginger has to teach her friend about playdate rules. In another, the friend comes to Ginger’s house but her big sister, Violet, kind of dominates the playdate. This is BRILLIANT for my slightly anti-social 6-year-old. Perhaps it is just coincidence, but it seems that just in the last month Freya has developed a nice little friendship with a girl in her class and they are spending time together out in the yard. Which is better than Freya hanging on the outskirts of whatever her older brother is doing.

May also saw the school host a book fair. We bought two beautiful books that have been very popular at home: When You’re Going to the Moon and The Unscary Book. We also came home with a long list of books the kids want to read. I have started reserving some of them at the library but it could be a bit of a wait as I know one of them has a waiting list and we are number 22 in line.

Some of the picture books we really liked this month include:

• It’s a Long Way to the Shop, by Heidi McKinnon.
• Don’t Forget the Bacon, Pat Hutchins. We haven’t had this one in a few years, so it was great for the kids to remember it again. NB I must reserve more of Pat Hutchins’ books.
• The Dress Up Box, by Patrick Guest and Nathaniel Eckstrom.
• So Many Sounds, by Tim McCanna and Andy J. Miller.
• The Hole, Oyvind Torseter.
• Rhyme Cordial, by Antonia Pesenti.
• The Cow Tripped Over the Moon, by Tony Wilson and Laura Wood.
• Because, by Mo Willems and Amber Ren.

Some of the chapter books or graphic novels that were a hit in our house in May include:

• The King of Kazoo, by Norm Feuti. This was actually a hit with Tobin of all kids. He sat and listened to it for ages. I have no idea how much he actually understood, maybe he just needed a cuddle.
• Mighty Jack and the Goblin King, by Ben Hatke. This is a great sequel and keeps you wanting more in the series.
• Jude also decided to start again on the Billy is a Dragon series, by Nick Falk andTony Flowers.

I managed to whip through a little series that in hindsight I should have read as a family read aloud to the kids. There are three books the series of The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters, The Jolly Regina, The Uncanny Express and Flight of the Bluebird. They are not overly long books, each could be read in under two hours, but they are very entertaining and amusing. The Bland sisters, Jaundice and Kale, live together in a house in Dullsville. They haven’t seen their parents in many years, but they keep busy mending socks, watching grass grow and reading the dictionary. This all changes when a series of unexpected adventures see them whisked away to a pirate ship, then solving a mystery on a train and lastly flying a plane. The pictures and design of these books are very appealing and the details of how bland and dull and ordinary Jaundice and Kale are very funny.