What are you reading this month?

...only 18 days until Harry Potter comes out in the theater - which means it's time to re-read The Deathly Hallows (what a fun task!)

...just finishing Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Excellent, rich book. So great, especially if you love all things England & Tudors. Might make you hungry for baked mushrooms in cream.

...dying to get More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. I am still the world's worst knitter, but it doesn't stop me from enthusiastically starting (and subsequently abandoning) a new knitting project about every other week.

...did you know that you can take free college classes online (not for credit, but for personal benefit) from lots and lots of universities? I just finished a great one from my alma mater BYU (here's the link to the list of their free classes) - and here is a link that will take you to a list of other universities' classes, including Tufts, Stanford, Berkeley, and MIT. So awesome!! I think I'm going to start this one next. The best part of course is that there are no grades and no deadlines - it's all for the pure pleasure of learning. I love it.

Rip the Page

{Full disclosure: as I type this, my children are playing wii with their friends, and it's a beautiful day outside}

...but, that being said, I do totally look forward to summer as a time where we have more hours in the day - and hopefully more energy! - to maybe painlessly incorporate some educational activities into the mix.

I love this book that Shambhala/Trumpeter has put out - Rip the Page, by Karen Benke. They sent me an advance copy and we have been loving it. I covered our dining room table with big paper, and have been encouraging the kids and their friends to sit down for a minute or two as they pass by, and add some semi-guided graffiti.

The book has great starts to help children think and write more creatively: ideas like, think of names for your toes and fingers (which might prompt your children to think even further, and name their bums, as mine did) - or silly haikus - or fortune-cookie fortunes (this is a great activity to do in the car).

And, I've got to say that I love, lovel, love that this book is realistic. Each little activity and project is totally doable: no sit down and have your kids write ten pages in the middle of the summer type of thing (not to say that I don't totally admire any parent that could orchestrate such an event). Which is why it's been tucked in my diaper bag, and comes with us whenever we head out. Love this book! Thank you, Karen Benke!

Next up:

MUMMIFYING CHICKENS

book list

You guys are awesome!! Look, here's a big list of all the great titles and series that you guys came up with. I tried to divide it loosely into genre but forgive me - some books really fall into more than one category, or defy category completely. There are just SO many great books out there - it's great to get tried and true recommendations. (I'll keep adding your suggestions to this list - could you, if you leave a comment with one or two, give me the author as well?)

Happy Reading!

Classics (or otherwise great)

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series, by Betty Macdonald

Mary Poppins, by P.L. Travers

Ginger Pye, by Eleanor Estes
The Moffats

Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame

The House on Pooh Corner, by A.A. Milne

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz series, by L. Frank Baum

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie

Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lingren

Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White
Stuart Little
Trumpet of the Swan

Henry and Ribsy, by Beverly Cleary
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
Ramona series

The Penderwicks, by Jeanne Birdsall
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street

The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodson Burnett
A Little Princess

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

Little House in the Big Woods and series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Cheaper by the Dozen, by Frank B. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Mandy, by Julie Andrews

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, by Ian Fleming

Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard and Florence Atkins

The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden

Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls
Summer of the Monkeys

Five Little Peppers and How they Grew, by Margaret Sidney

Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh

Poppy, by Avi

The 13 Clocks, by James Thurber

Betsy-Tacy, by Maud Hart Lovelace

Shoes series, by Noel Streatfield

Shel Silverstein (poetry)

Lost Queen of Egypt, by Lucile Morrison

Recently Written

Roxie and the Hooligans, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jaqueline Kelly

Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away, by Elizabeth Enright

My Father's Dragon series, by Ruth Stiles Gannett

Clarice Bean series, by Lauren Child

Anything Louis Sachar

Anything Judith Viorst

Mysteries

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg

The Boxcar Children, by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Nancy Drew series, by Carolyn Keene

The Hardy Boys series, by Franklin W. Dixon

The American Girls Series

Fantasy

The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM, by Robert C. O'Brien

The Book of Three and series, by Lloyd Alexander

The Giver, and series, by Lois Lowry

The Return of the Twelves, by Pauline Clarke

Five Children, by E. Nesbit
It, by E. Nesbit

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
James and the Giant Peach
The Twits
The Witches
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The BFG
Danny, Champion of the World
Matilda

The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norman Jester

The Spiderwick Chronicles, by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

The Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale
The Goose Girl (and series)

The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo
The Mysterious Journey of Edward Tulane

The Mysterious Benedict Society series, by Trenton Lee Stuart

Dragon Slipper Series, by Jessica Day George
Princess of the Midnight Ball

Funny

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Judy Blume
Superfudge

Goosebumps Series, R.L. Stine

The Willoughbys, by Lois Lowry
Anastasia Krupnik series
Goonie Bird Greene

Historical Fiction

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin

A Long Way from Chicago, Richard Peck

The Great Brain series, by John Dennis Fitzgerald

Magic Treehouse Books, by Mary Pope Osborne

Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George

The Wheel on the School, by Meindert deJong

Red Sails to Capri, by Ann Weil

Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry

For Older Kids

Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling

Artemis Fowl series, by Eoin Colfer

The View From Saturday, by E.L. Konigsburg

The Egypt Game, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Maniac Magee, by Jerry Spinelli
Stargirl

Frindle, by Andrew Clements

Nation, by Terry Pratchett

A Wrinkle in Time and series, by Madeline L'Engle

Anne of Green Gables series, by L.M. Montgomery
Emily of New Moon series

Dark is Rising series, by Susan Cooper

Percy Jackson series, by Rick Riordan

Chasing Vermeer, by Blue Balliett
Wright 3
The Calder Game

Great References

Honey for a Child's Heart, by Gladys Hunt (book of book lists for children 0 - 18)

Birds & Trees Love of Books List

Sarah Jane's list

Reading with Kids

Hello! I always find that you wise people out there have such fantastic ideas - and so once more I am going to draw on your wisdom. One of the things our two older kids love, love, love about life is our nightly reading before bedtime - like many families we end most days on a couch or our big bed for a chapter or two of whatever book I'm reading to them. So far this (school) year we've made it through:

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM (such a great book!! who knew rats could be so interesting), My Haunted House (so-so. what can I say, it was October), From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (all during which I kept saying: you see why it's such a bad idea to run away, right? :) ), Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Magician's Nephew, and we're just finishing up The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

I think after we finish the Chronicles of Narnia we're going to read Anastasia Krupnick, which I remember being hilarious - and my husband is anxious to read them Island of the Blue Dolphins, as he somehow managed to do book reports on this excellent book for four consecutive years in elementary school. Nice.



What chapter books do you think are must-reads for kids? It's so great reading them my favorites, but I'd love to find some new ones, too, or new-to-me old ones, to add into the mix.

Printing by Hand

Dear Melissa,

Hi, friend! Are you enjoying your children and their break from school this week? We are happy with ours. No one has gotten dressed (except my poor husband) from their pajamas until maybe after lunch, if at all. We did have one harrowing incident yesterday which involved me yelling at the baby "no, that's not apple juice!" and making a mad lunge (you can fill in the details with your imagination, and you would be right) but we seem to be settling into a less destructive routine.

I have become OBSESSED (the capital letters are required because if we were on the phone, I would yell that word) with Lena Corwin's excellent, beautiful, crazily-inspiring book Printing by Hand. I think I've had it now for about a month and I have consistently stared at it (cover, page, page, page) every day. When I finally have a minute to myself (the down side of children's holiday month) I have big plans. Here I made some trees (I think I need to invest in another ink color). The possibilities are endless. I think every inch of my life needs to be printed on.

Love,
Lynne