I have had a bad habit for a long time of giving just about every book that I read 5 stars. Well, gosh, it's because I so rarely get to read a book for fun that I really feel it is a 5 star treat! For the sake of anyone who hopes to glean a recommendation from my site, I'm now trying to be more discriminating.
Well, this week we had our "go through all your old school papers and throw most of them out" party. It was supposed to take one evening, but the living room is STILL filled with old school papers. Xander sat on the sofa for an hour smiling and looking at things he had written this year, last year, 2 years ago... he had such fun with it that I can't quite throw it all out yet. So, at least I try to get him to fit it into a few files.
Guy took a bunch of his school things (like his photo yearbook and his songbook) and lovingly arranged them in his closet (his "fort" if you ask him). I'm glad they have made some treasures this year! Guy's writing journal is so nice to read and look at that I can imagine saving it for just about forever.
BUT, one thing I found in the file was our collection of "Books that go down in history" from 2007. That summer we photocopied the cover of each book that the boys read (Guy wasn't really into chapter books yet, however) and we taped them up on the wall by the stairs, trying to fill the whole wall all the way down the stairs with book covers. Nice! I saved the photocopied covers because I wanted to remember which books we liked best, so that Guy could read them when he got to the level.
Well, voila! Now with goodreads I don't have to have a file. So, I've got shelves in goodreads for K-1 or 2-3 grade books to help myself remember, and to show my pals what my kids have read and liked. I have asked a few of my friends with boys slightly older than mine to do the same...so I can copy their lists...and I invite anyone who has a good recommendation for me or the boys (especially the boys) to send it my way!
Guy has been extremely charged up over the past 2 weeks and read 15 of the A-Z mysteries (yes, that averages to more than one per day), so I expect he'll munch through an extensive list by the end of summer. Xander does well once he's deeply into a book, but getting him there can sometimes be a struggle...maybe because he really does hide a comic book inside his chapter book. Hey! I bet he GOT that sneaky idea from a comic book. Tsk! Tsk! If comics didn't have such rich vocabulary, they'd be in danger of my wrath.
Speaking of getting ideas from a book...Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Oh dear. After reading that (and laughing until I cried), I trepidatiously questioned Xander, "You know, you should NEVER do what Greg did in that chapter, right? You know he made the WRONG choice in that other chapter, right? What he did in that final chapter was very bad, you see that, don't you?" In the end, when we laugh together about the book, I counsel him, "When you have to make a decision about something, it would probably be wrong to do whatever Greg Heffley would have done." I'm still just a tiny bit nervous, but I'm hoping he's mature enough to see why it's funny to laugh at the outrageous (and fictional) stories. (George and Harold's Captain Underpants mischief is right up the same alley.)
So check out my books, and don't do anything Greg would do.
No comments:
Post a Comment