WWRW: Books for Kids of All Ages

Are you on Pinterest?

I am.  I'm not terribly good at it, but I have a board called Books! where I pin interesting articles about reading and other bookly things.

This article, "Top Ten Favorite Books for Struggling Middle School Readers" piqued my interest.  I'm always on the lookout for good Hi-Lo books (high interest-low reading level) for my dyslexic student.

This Top Ten List has quite a few that seem to have changed Edmund's opinion of reading time.

Take this graphic novel, Bad Island by Doug TenNaple.

Edmund woke up, on a Saturday, went out to my car just to retrieve this book, and completed it that very day!  That, my friends, has never happened before.

I read Bad Island too.  It's about a family that gets stranded on a mysterious island with unusual plants, dangerous-never-before-seen-animals, and other deadly inhabitants.  This story is interspersed with the scenes from "another world, another time," in which aliens aided by humans are battling other aliens.  The two stories are connected in a surprising way. The family learns to work together to save each other and "free" the island (that's not really an island).

The son, Reese, has some issues with obedience and had actually been planning to run away before he was forced to go on this family "vacation."  His disobedience at one point allows him to save his parents from certain death. His father alludes to the fact that he knew his son would not obey the order to return to camp.  But all in all, I have nothing to complain about this fun little adventure story that has given my own son a boost in confidence.

At bedtime, Patrick is reading Where the Red Fern Grows to Edmund, and sometimes to Peter too.

Yes, Peter is a high school senior.  Yes, Peter is going away to college this fall.  (One UD legacy from this family and counting!)

But who wouldn't want to hear again how those nasty Pritchard boys challenged Billy and his Redbone Coonhounds, Old Dan and Little Ann, to tree the Ghost Coon?

Wilson Rawl's Where the Red Fern Grows is a wonderful tale for any age.  It's been awhile since we read or listened to it here.  Patrick noted that he had forgotten that Billy's mother is expecting a baby, a pleasant surprise in literature.

Huge props to Laura at This Felicitous Life for introducing us to James Mayhew's Ella Bella Ballerina series!

Jill is totally enamored with Ella Bella and her ballet teacher's magical music box.  In each book, Ella Bella learns the story behind a ballet.  So far, we have read Ella Bella Ballerina and Cinderella, Ella Bella Ballerina and Swan lake, and Ella Bella Ballerina and The Sleeping Beauty.

I've learned quite a bit about these ballets myself from James Mayhew's beautiful picture books.  Jill's birthday is Friday, and I *think* she might be getting a few of these titles to have and to hold.

I've been reading about Melissa Wiley's The Prairie Thief on Charlotte's blog, so I went and got it for my own self.

The Prairie Thief  is a charming story about a few legendary creatures of old in a new world, the American frontier.  I don't want to give anything away, but I will tell you that these creatures don't only appear to and communicate with the children (as I expected) but adults can see them too!

A fun book, I'd say The Prairie Thief is good for any kid who can read chapter books on their own.

You can also read all about author Melissa Wiley and her family at her blog, Here in the Bonny Glen.

Right before Easter, I went on a quest looking for age-appropriate Bible stories for Jill. From the depths of my memory I remembered these Little Chunky Bible Stories that Peter and Susan used to have.  I think I bought them at WalMart once upon a time. We had tiny lift-the-flap books about Jonah, Moses, Daniel, and David.

It took me awhile to find them online, and sadly they are all out of print EXCEPT All Aboard Noah's Ark! (A Bible Story Chunky Flap Book.  All of the titles are authored by one Mary Josephs, a fact which aided my used book search immensely.

Short, sweet, and scripturally sound (as far as I can tell) I did manage to get a few of the OOP titles used and Jill got a few new and new-to-us lift-the-flap Bible stories in her Easter basket.  These books are perfect for occupying little hands in Church.  I find it impressive that most pages have not one, but TWO flaps to lift.

I'm easily impressed.

That's it from me this week.  I look forward to reading your WWRW posts!

An InLinkz Link-up

It's What We're Reading Wednesday

Edmund is powering through Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner.  Recently diagnosed with a learning disability in reading, Edmund needs books that can boost his confidence, yet not insult his very high intelligence.  Ability and intelligence are two separate things, which we always knew but we were comforted to be told again.  In library terms, these are called "hi-lo" books, high interest, lower reading level.

Stone Fox is a beautiful re-telling of the Wyoming folktale about an orphaned boy, who in an attempt to save his grandfather's farm, enters a dogsled race against the famous and undefeated Stone Fox.

Stone Fox brings to mind one of our family favorites, The Bravest Dog Ever, The True Story of Balto by Natalie Standiford.  Sled dogs, races, life or death situations, both books are classics.  Plus, who doesn't enjoy a story set in the snow read in the summertime?

My sister and I often would read Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter during the hottest weeks of the year.  We would nibble saltines, or make "dough balls,"  which were tiny torn-off pieces of my mom's  whole wheat bread rolled into tiny balls (Gross.  Remember my toast story?).  It's the closest we could get to grinding wheat in coffee grinder for food.

Balto, the movie is also a family favorite around here.  Peter says it's still one of his favorite movies.  He also commented that the bad guy(/dog?) looks way cooler than Balto.  Peter has always had a tendency toward evil.  Darth Vader was his favorite Star Wars guy at age three.

The Caudill nominee I read this week is The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman.   Elizabeth Rew gets hired to work as a page at the New York Circulating Material Repository.  The Repository is similar to a library, but patrons borrow objects instead of books, such as Lincoln's hat, or Marie Antoinette's wig.  

In addition to items of historical significance, there are magical items, notably the items from the Grimm Collection: Hermes' flying sandals, a flying carpet, twelve pairs of worn-out dancing slippers, and other items from myth and legend.

Adventures abound, as Elizabeth befriends the other pages, and tries to uncover who has been stealing magical items from the Grimm Collection.  

There is a fair bit of romance as well.  Elizabeth and a co-worker ask a magic painting where a missing friend is and are shown said friend's make-out session with the star of the basketball team.  Elizabeth gets some kissing action herself, but it's minor and not integral to her character or the story.

The book I really enjoyed this week is The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen.  Four orphans are taken/purchased by a nobleman, who hopes to train them to occupy the throne in the guise of Prince Jaron, rumored to have been killed by pirates four years ago.  The orphans who are not chosen to play the part of a lifetime (literally) will likely be killed, as they are threats to the success of the plot.

I think girls as well as boys are going to love this one, and it's surprise ending.  Lucy did.  Oooh, and I just saw on Goodreads (you can friend me there as Housewifespice) that The False Prince is Part One of The Ascendance Trilogy and I heart trilogies.

The False Prince reminds me a little of the plot of Don Bluth's Anastasia and a lot of one of my mom's favorite movies, the Disney classic starring Jodie Foster, David Niven, and Helen Hayes:  Candleshoe.  I happen to own a copy on VHS, and yes, I still own a VHS player.  It is available on dvd for as little as $8 according to Google.  That's much cheaper than a Redbox rental for most of us.  Or if you can find a copy on the interweb, on Netflix or even have the patience to do an inter-library loan, I highly recommend it.  And so does my mom.