Today I will be sending out a 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. I currently send the newsletter out every two weeks.
Newsletter Update: In this issue I have eight book reviews (picture book through young adult), two posts with links that I shared on Twitter recently, and one post with a recent literacy milestone for my daughter.
Reading Update: In the last two weeks I completed one middle grade and three adult titles. I read/listened to:
- Holly Black & Cassandra Clare: The Iron Trial (Book One of Magisterium). Scholastic. Middle Grade / Middle School. Completed November 16, 2014. My review.
- Tana French: The Secret Place (Dublin Murder Squad). Viking. Adult Mystery. Completed November 10, 2014, on MP3. I found this quite engrossing, and will likely listen to other books in the series.
- Michael Connelly: The Burning Room (A Harry Bosch Novel). Little, Brown. Adult Mystery. Completed November 15, 2014, on MP3. I love Harry Bosch, and read all of the new books about him right away.
- Mark Forsyth: The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase. Berkley Trade. Adult Nonfiction. Completed November 17, 2014, on Kindle. This was a quick read, enjoyable for anyone who enjoys reading or writing.
I'm reading the second Lockwood & Co. book, The Whispering Skull, by Jonathan Stroud, and listening to Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen. The books that we're been reading to my daughter can be found here. We have been reading quite a few Cybils nominees, but she continues to ask for books featuring her favorite characters. She has been particularly fascinated with The Berenstain Bears Slumber Party, which we're been reading every day while she eats breakfast. We've actually used this book to launch some interesting discussions, including what you might do if you were at a party and things got out of hand.
We also had a fun book-influenced moment this weekend. My daughter was decorating a gingerbread house (we had an early Christmas celebration with friends). She starting piling up the white icing in front of the house, explaining: "It's the Blizzard of '78. They had to climb out of the windows because the snow was so high in front of the door." (Chortling.) This she learned from John Rocco's Blizzard, though her interest in the book was increased when she learned that her father and I both remembered the Blizzard of '78. Bringing real life into books, and books into real life -- that's what I like to see.
What are you and your family reading these days? Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms.
© 2014 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.