Today I will be sending out the new issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's and young adult books and raising readers. There are 1622 subscribers. Currently I am sending the newsletter out once every three weeks.
Newsletter Update: In this issue I have seven book reviews (two picture books, one easy reader, and three YA), one children's literacy roundup, and one post with quick hit news items. Because there are so many reviews, I am not including my three Twitter links posts in the newsletter. You can find them here, here, and here. (Do people want me to include them in the newsletter even when it's a bit long? Please let me know if you have a preference.)
Reading Update: In the past 3 weeks, I finished three books for young adults, and one for adults:
- Gina Linko: Flutter. Random House. Young Adult. Completed October 17, 2012. My review.
- Laini Taylor: Days of Blood and Starlight. Little, Brown. Young Adult. Completed November 1, 2012, digital ARC. My review.
- Michael Northrop: Trapped. Scholastic. Young Adult. Completed November 4, 2012. Review to come.
- Lee Child: A Wanted Man. Delacorte Press. Adult. Completed October 23, 2012, on MP3 from Audible.
I also continued to read picture books, board books, and easy readers aloud to Baby Bookworm, though I've lost track of our count for the year. I'm going to start counting again in 2013. I can tell you that recent favorites include Penny and Her Song by Kevin Henkes and Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems. And no, I'm not rushing her into easy readers at 2 1/2 because I'm trying to teach her to read. She picked both of those out because of familiarity with the characters, I believe, after reading each author's picture books. She is delighted on every read to find a Pigeon ice cream cone on the end page of Should I Share My Ice Cream?
We've also been reading Knuffle Bunny Free incessantly since our last plane trip. Two new picture book titles that are current favorites are Charlie and the Christmas Kitty by Ree Drummond and Diane deGroat (in part because we know a dog named Charlie) and Small Bunny's Blue Blanket by Tatyana Feeney (reviews to come).
One thing that I'm really enjoying as Baby Bookworm gets older is the way that we can reference books in our daily life. Yesterday I was putting on her shirt and I said "Over your head!". She replied, giggling, "Not over the dam", a reference to Jamberry (which Colleen gave us). And which I was thinking of, too, when I said "Over your head." We play airplane, and buckle our seatbelts like Trixie. And when we went out trick-or-treating last week, she had to clarify "No skeleton at the door" in reference to Just Say Boo!. It's very fun.
As for me, I'm reading The Fire Chronicle by John Stephens and listening to The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan. On my Kindle I'm reading How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough. How about you? What have you and your kids been reading and enjoying? Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms.
© 2012 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.