Growing Bookworms Newsletter: July 17

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 1714 subscribers. Generally, I send out the newsletter once every two weeks. 

Newsletter Update: In this issue I have six book reviews (four picture books, one middle grade novel, and one young adult novel). I also have a post about summer reading (with a graphic from Read Aloud), a quick post documenting one of Baby Bookworm's literacy milestones, and a link to a list of recommended middle grade books that I shared at GreenBeanTeenQueen blog. 

I haven't rounded up any of my Twitter links for the past couple of weeks, due to a combination of the July 4th holiday and illness, but I will be catching up on that this week. 

Reading Update: In the past 2 weeks, I finished 1 novel for middle grade readers, 2 novels for young adults, 1 adult mystery, and 2 adult nonfiction titles. Not bad, considering that there was a week in there that I couldn't read at all (hell for a bookworm, to be in bed but too sick to read). Anyway, I read: 

• J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1). Scholastic. Middle Grade. Completed July 11, 2013. This was obviously a re-read. It was all I had energy for when I was sick. 
• Dianne K. Salerni: The Caged Graves. Clarion. Young Adult. Completed July 2, 2013. Review to come.
• Cassandra Clare: Clockwork Princess (Infernal Devices). Margaret K. McElderry Books. Young Adult. Completed July 10, 2013, on MP3.
• Zoe Sharp: Killer Instinct (Charlie Fox, Book 1). Murderati Ink. Adult Mystery. Completed July 12, 2013, on Kindle. This is the first book that I've read in a new-to-me series, and definitely won't be the last.
• Lauren Sandler: One and Only: The Freedom of Having an Only Child, and the Joy of Being One. Simon & Schuster. Adult Nonfiction. Completed July 15, 2013.
• Peter Gray: Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life. Basic Books. Adult Nonfiction. Completed July 16, 2013.

I'm currenting reading The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling, in case you haven't heard). I am enjoying it so far. It's a straight up private eye novel, a genre that I enjoy, with strong characterization and sense of place. I had to get it on Kindle, because it's out of stock. I'm listening to The Expats by Chris Pavone. It's interesting, but I'm finding the time jumps a bit hard to follow in the audio version - I think print would be easier. 

Baby Bookworm is still listening to a wide range of books, from board books to early readers. She's also started asking me what the books that I'm reading are about, which I take as a sign of her own literacy development. (Not to mention validation of my personal policy of reading in front of her whenever I can.) She can now spell three words: her own name, a close friend's name, and "Moo" (with thanks to Baby Says "Moo!" by JoAnn Early Macken & David Walker). We tried to extend from "Moo" to "Moon" but she wasn't quite ready for that :-). 

How about you? What have you and your kids been reading and enjoying? Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms. Wishing you lots of relaxing summer reading. 

© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.  You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook.