Booking in April

I thought I might start doing a monthly wrap up of our reading. I’ll include each kids’ recent favourites and progress.

I follow quite a few people from the book-o-sphere on social media and one of the biggest children’s book bloggers in Australia is Megan Daley. She is a teacher librarian and her blog is Children’s Books Daily. She has also recently released a book for parents, teachers, and caregivers with research-based tips and strategies to encourage reading, it’s called Raising Readers. While we were in Queensland in April I managed to get to one of her public talks at the Mt Ommaney Library and I got to meet her. It was a real thrill and I’ll bang on more about it once I get to actually read her brand new book.

All this pre-ambling is to say that I got some good advice from Megan about my girl Freya. I find that Freya is a capable reader. She is in grade one and can read fairly well. She can knock over Elephant and Piggie, Dr Suess and Grug no worries and she can do Billie B Brown on her own. The issue is that she doesn’t ever choose to read. All the reading she does is because she is assigned it from school or I insist she sit down and complete some reading. Most of the time that means a grown-up has to sit with her to make sure she doesn’t jump up and do a handstand etc. (Last night was a classic example, I was listening to her read and asked to finish: “Because I just want to skate.)

Megan suggested a new series that I hadn’t heard of before, Ginger Green, and we have tried them with some level of success. Megan was right; they are at the right level for Freya, and she can do them herself. I’m hoping she’ll get involved with the characters enough to want to read them herself.

Megan’s other suggestion was to do more audio books. We have done a few in the past, Charlotte’s Web, Fantastic Mr Fox, Billie B Brown and other picture books. But they have been listened to in the car by the whole family. What I need to look into is a way for Freya to listen to books she likes, by herself.

The two younger kids and I are still in the habit of reading picture books at lunch time and we have had some great ones from the library in the last month. And we got the most recent Leo Timmers picture book, Monkey On The Run, which was a really big thrill and huge hit with the kids. For the first time we read The Story of Ferdinand which is a classic. The kids also really liked : Butt out!, Scarface Claw: Hold tight!, The Hole Story, Mamie, I Don’t Want To Go To School (Odette recognised it from a Netflix show they watch called Simon), Parachute, Red House Blue House Green House Treehouse, Petra, Dude! and Chip.

A little while ago two books popped into my head that I remember reading as a child but had never seen at the library. They were about a bear family. In one the father can’t sleep, so he moves to different locations in the house to try move away from the noises and in the other, the baby bear travels to the moon in a cardboard book with a colander on his head as a helmet. I couldn’t remember either the titles or the author, but 15 mins on Google and all was revealed. They are Peace At Last and Whatever Next and they are by Jill Murphy.

I searched on the library catalogue and was able to reserve Whatever Next but no luck on Peace At Last. I knew from previous experience that the library was unlikely to order it in for me as it is quite old. So I went to an eBay seller who sells second hand children’s books for very reasonable prices. I managed to get it delivered for under $6.

All that effort was well worth it, the kids loved both books and it was fantastic to be taken back to my childhood.

My big boy, Jude turned 9 in April and has started reading some longer books. At the end of term 1 he read The Key to Rondo, by Emily Rodda and it seriously took him 2 weeks. I don’t think he’s ever invested so much time into a book. He enjoyed it (enough that is is now reading another from the series) but I also think he was ready to get through some easier, quicker reads. He read: The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day, Sherlock Bones and the natural history mystery, The Divided Earth, Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, Smash: Trial by Fire, and Little Legends: The Spell Thief.

As for me I have had quite a variety. I enjoyed The Enchanted Hour which encourages families (parents) to reduce screen time and other distractions and make room in your life for read to and with your children. It talks about the short and long term benefits for individuals, families and thus communities. It is along the same lines as The Read Aloud Family. I think I need to read a book like this every year just to re-motivate me and help me remember that to raise readers you need to be playing the long game.

While in Queensland I managed to get through Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. It was a really interesting, engaging read, at times I couldn’t put it down. A little dark in some places, slightly funny in others, with a hopeful ending.

I also read Atomic Habits by James Clear. I found it an easy read that gave me lots of ideas and motivation to make small changes in my life that will help my develop healthier habits and to reduce bad habits. The really good thing about the strategies is that they are explained in such a way that even a teenager could understand and apply them. The anecdotes were entertaining and the techniques seemed achievable.

I think that’s about it for April. We have also still been doing our family read alouds, so check out that page for the latest updates.