Growing Bookworms Newsletter: July 2

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 1701 subscribers. Generally, I send out the newsletter once every two weeks. 

Newsletter Update: In this issue I have five regular book reviews (one picture book and four middle grade novels) and one announcement / plug for a young adult novel written by a friend. I also have two posts with children's literacy and reading-related links that I shared on Twitter, an infographic from Education.com about avoiding summer slide, and a quick post documenting one of Baby Bookworm's literacy milestones. Not included in the newsletter this time around, I shared:

• A press release about RIF's Be Book Smart campaign, and the results of a recent study on bedtime reading.
• An announcement about the new RSS feed for this blog, for those who subscribe via a blog reader (or would prefer daily email updates). 

As I mentioned last time, Terry Doherty, Carol Rasco, and I are taking a bit of a break from the children's literacy and reading roundups for the summer, but we'll continue to share reading links on Twitter. Look for the #litRdUp hashtag for items of particular interest. 

Reading Update: In the past 3 weeks, I finished 1 novel for middle grade readers and 3 novels for young adults. I read: 

• Donna Gephart: Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen. Delacorte Books for Young Readers. Middle Grade. Completed June 19, 2013.
• Sarah Zettel: Dust Girl (American Fairy Trilogy, Book 1). Random House Books for Young Readers. Young Adult. Completed June 19, 2013.
• Sarah Zettel: Golden Girl (American Fairy Trilogy, Book 2). Random House Books for Young Readers. Young Adult. Completed June 27, 2013.
• Charlie Higson: The Sacrifice (An Enemy Novel). Disney Hyperion. Young Adult. Completed June 28, 2013.

I'm currently reading The Caged Grave by Dianne K. Salerni. I'm just about finished listening to Clockwork Princess (Book 3 of the Infernal Devices trilogy) by Cassandra Clare on MP3. I have several nonfiction titles queued up, including the brand-new seventh edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease (a book I think all parents should read). 

Baby Bookworm is reading a little bit of everything these days. I did have a happy Mommy Bookworm moment the other day that I wanted to share with you. We were in the car for the hour plus drive home from Monterey. Baby Bookworm sat in her car seat for quite a while, quietly "reading" aloud to herself from various books (including The Berenstain Bears Go Green). I thought: "We are doing something right." 

She also had her baby cousin visiting recently, and was very excited to read aloud to him. She "read" him No No Yes Yes by Leslie Patricelli, carefully running her fingers over the words as she said "No, no" and "Yes, yes". She also had fun picking out a basket of baby books for his room. Good times!

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 summer reading, and, for those of you in the US, a happy and safe July 4th. 

© 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.