Booking in Summer
In the long stretch between the end of school 2019 and finally feeling settled into the routine for 2020 my 3-year-old has dropped regular naps, so I have done absolutely no book blogging or reviewing. I am ignoring him now to remedy this.
With a preppie in the house again we will be back to learning to read. One challenge is that she is already very familiar with my go-to books for teaching reading. I’m on the hunt for a new series or two that will engage and entertain as well as help in the learning to read process (basically I need something just like Elephant and Piggie but not Elephant and Piggie as she knows them by heart).
Here goes with a few reviews.
Picture Books
I ❤ The World, by Tania McCartney – I have reviewed Tania’s books before and I always love them. Her style is impeccable, her attention to detail is meticulous, the amount of work she must put into her books is incomprehensible. This is a very large book, with a ton of images, all extremely beautiful. One of my daughters is a big Tania McCartney fan, but not always a huge non-fiction fan, but she was certainly interested in this wonderful book. It really should be in all school and public libraries, as well as being a truly giftable tome.
The Cool Bean, by Jory John and Pete Oswald -This is the third book by Jory John and Pete Oswald, and it continues their series quite well. We meet another small food-ish character, a bean, and together the reader and character learn a bit more about how to overcome social challenges.
Ori’s Stars, by Kristyna Litten – This is a sweet little story about a lonely star that has really cosmically colourful and bright pictures. The front cover is especially pick-up-able.
The Underwater Fancy-dress Parade, by Davina Bell and Allison Colpoys – Don’t we all sometimes feel like we can’t face the feelings that come with challenging events, performances or assessments? Though aimed at young children, this book can guide parents in their reactions to ‘childish’ behaviours. I know I often forget that my kids are not yet fully formed humans with an innate ability to read my mind and behave accordingly.
This Book Can Read Your Mind, by Susannah Lloyd and Jacob Grant- Another in the growing number of books that are more interactive toys than storybooks. In this case, the reader voices the scientist who has created a book that can read minds. Only the scientist keeps accidentally suggesting thoughts that are dangerous to the book’s very existence. I’m not sure if my 3-year-old was acting or if he was really believing that he was controlling the book, but either way fun and laughter ensued.
The Little House, by Virginia Lee Burton – I have recently realised that my younger children are too young to remember some of the classics that we have read in the past. So I’m making more of an effort to re-borrow and thus re-read some books we haven’t enjoyed in a while. I remember this one from when I was a kid and am so glad my library still has a copy because my kids really love it.
Eats, Shoots and Leaves: Why Commas Really Do Make a Difference, by Lynne Truss and Bonnie Timmons – I read the original book written by Lynne Truss for grown-ups years ago (I honestly think I was in uni) as it scratched my linguistic and literacy itch. I’m so glad I spotted this on display in the non-fiction section. It is a simple concept, each 2-page spread contains the same sentence, with only an extra comma. Each sentence is illustrated with a cartoon that helps the readers understand how that one comma alters the meaning of the sentence in dramatic ways. It was thoroughly enjoyed, even by the 3-year-old.
Rapunzel, by Bethan Woolvin – I adore Bethan Woolvin’s illustrations, her modern woodland aesthetic grabs kids’ attention. We have previously read her versions of Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel, and this one fits the series perfectly.
Middle-Grade Books
Ghoulia, by Barbara Cantini – I’m still on the hunt for a new series that my 7-year-old girl, Freya, will become obsessed with and will want to read rather than do anything else. I came across this series that is just the right lexical and content level for her. The high-quality illustrations are bright. bold and frequent which is fantastic. The general spooky theme was also a real winner as it was different from the other books I have tried to recommend to Freya. This was a wonderful success and Book#2 has been reserved from the library.
Mac Cracks the Code, by Mac Barnett and Mike Lowrey- This is book #4 in the Mac B Spy Kid series. Jude is absolutely stoked anytime I bring the newest one home. Despite being halfway through Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, he took a break one day and whipped through this great book. If you haven’t seen these before, they are great for kids ages 9-12 who are still consolidating reading independently as the content is funny and upper primary school, but the story is easy to follow and very easily read in a day.
Buttons McGinty series, by Rhys Darby – There are currently 2 books in the series and I know my 9-year-old is hoping there will be more. When you see a name like Rhys Darby on a book for your child’s age group you go right ahead and put it on your TBR list. What a treat to have such a great creator making books for kids.
Audiobooks
We listened to these on Borrow Box, but in preparing this blog post I saw that both of these books are free with an Amazon Audible Trial.
Funny Kid, by Matt Stanton -I needed some more audiobooks for the summer holidays and I was pretty confident that all my kids would like Funny Kid (my 9 year old has read the entire series and loves it), and I planned for it to be a sanity saver on the long car trips we had planned. I grossly underestimated how much my kids would enjoy them. They loved them so much that they were sitting around the lounge room listening to Funny Kid the way families used to crowd around and listen to radio programs.
We loved all the characters in the series. Max, the main character and narrator, is a seemingly average kid at an average school who has grand ideas for himself. Max’s best friend/sidekick/lackey, Hugo, is a simpler kind of kid who is loyal and willing to go along with Max’s outrageous plans. Then there is Abby Purcell, Max’s arch-enemy and my favourite character. She is feisty, smart, and she speaks up. She often greets the boys: “Hello, idiots,” and I crack up laughing every time. In book #3 we meet twins Pip, a potential love interest, and Tyson, another potential arch-enemy keen on pranking.
Matt Stanton himself reads the audiobook versions of this hilarious series and his performance is just perfect; he gets the right tone, lands all the jokes and draws the audience into Max’s world. Plus how great is it for kids to hear the author themselves read the story they created?
The only downside about listening to the series is that the kids don’t get to see the wonderful illustrations Matt has done for the traditionally published books. However, now that they know and love the story, I’m pretty sure at some point my other kids are very likely to pick them up and re-read them to themselves.
Go Girl, by various authors – Odette, my new preppie got into these in Term 4 of 2019 when she had to be driven half an hour back to our old area for kinder. The additional time in the car meant more time for audiobooks these are what she chose and she got stuck on them. Over the summer holidays, I could often find her, sitting on her bed, having stolen my phone and listening to Go Girl audiobooks, she was happy to listen again and again to ones she had heard before.
Booking for Mum
The Word is Murder, by Anthony Horowitz (read by Rory Kinnear) – I was looking for something entertaining to listen to as I plough through 3 hours of housework while the 3-year-old is at kinder. Also, it’s nice to have something to break up the solid pile of non-fiction beside my bed that I’m trying to get through.
This was absolutely THE right book for me. Horowitz, a well-known novelist, and screenwriter has written this book in such a way that I was totally drawn into believing it could have been real. He has set himself as the main character and narrator, positioning himself as Watson to his fictional detective Daniel Hawthorn, who is the perfectly conceived modern Holmes. Horowitz uses many references to classic detective novelists like Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and as such gives a somewhat education to the reader about the construction of a good murder mystery novel. I say somewhat because he is so good as his craft that you will still be unsure of the murder in this novel until right before the climactic scene, even though the clues have been there the whole time.
I would highly recommend this to those who love a good detective story because for me this one was a whole new concept and truly exceptional. I have the next one in the series waiting for me in Borrow Box for the next kinder day.
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