Growing Bookworms Newsletter: Favorite #PictureBooks + Tips for #ReadingAloud

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 has refocused recently, and now contains content from my blog focused on growing joyful learners, including bookworms, mathematicians, and learners of all types. The newsletter is sent out every two to three weeks. 

Newsletter Update: In this issue I have two book reviews (illustrated early chapter books) and a list of six picture books that my daughter never refuses. I also have post about my daughter's latest literacy milestone (defining herself as a person who loves books), a post with tips for reading aloud to an impatient toddler, a post about making math fun by cooking with kids, and a post asking whether homework is "wrecking our kids" and what parents can do about it. I also have two posts with quotes from recent #JoyOfLearning articles as well as two posts with other links that I shared on Twitter (including lots of links related to Growing Bookworms).

Reading Update: In the past two weeks I read/listened to five early chapter to middle grade titles and four adult titles. I read:

• Jenny Goebel: Fortune Falls. Scholastic Press. Middle Grade Fiction. Completed March 9, 2016. Review to come. 
• Peter Brown: The Wild Robot. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Illustrated Middle Grade Fiction. Completed March 18, 2016. Review to come. 
• Judith Kerr: Mr. Cleghorn's Seal. Harper Collins Children's Books. Illustrated Early Chapter Book. Completed March 18, 2016. Review to come.
• Barbara Park: The Kid in the Red Jacket. Yearling. Middle Grade Fiction. Completed March 19, 2016. Review to come.
• Rodman Philbrick: The Big Dark. Blue Sky Press. Middle Grade Fiction. Completed March 21, 2016. Review to come. 
• Ace Atkins: Robert B. Parker's Lullaby. G. P. Putnam's Sons. Adult Mystery. Completed March 9, 2016. This is the first Spenser book written by Ace Atkins, and the first of Atkins' that I've read (after reading maybe half of Robert Parkers books in the original series). I particularly enjoyed the book's Boston setting, which reminded me of the days when I worked in the Prudential Tower. 
• Heather Shumaker: It's OK to Go Up the Slide: Renegade Rules for Raising Confident and Creative Kids. Tarcher Press. Adult Nonfiction. Completed March 14, 2016. SO good. I wish all parents and teachers could read this book.
• Robert Crais: The Promise (Elvis Cole/Joe Pike). G.P. Putnam's Sons. Adult Mystery. Completed March 17, 2016, on MP3. There were a couple of books in this series that I didn't care for recently (too bleak and violent, for a series that had started out more humorous), but I thought that this one was excellent. It also includes Scott James and his K-9 partner Maggie, who were featured in a previous book. 
• Greg Hurwitz: Orphan X (Even Smoak). Minotaur Books. Adult Mystery/Thriller. Completed March 17, 2016, on Kindle. This is the first book in a new series, about a boy who was covertly trained by the government as an assassin, and later "retires" and tries to help people. I liked the character and technical details, but found the level of violence to be a bit more than I like. I'll still probably give the next book a look when it comes out, because I did like the character. 

I'm reading Crucifixion Creek (Belltree Trilogy) by Barry Maitland and What If Everybody Understood Child Development: Straight Talk About Bettering Education and Children's Lives by Rae Pica. I'm listening to The Poacher's Son (Mike Bowditch Mysteries) by Paul Doiron. I also downloaded the first Penderwicks book on my Kindle (it was a Daily Deal and I couldn't resist) and I've been dipping into that one as a re-read. 

The books my husband and I (and our babysitter) have been reading to our daughter in 2016 can be found here. The other day before school we read The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig and Patrice Barton, one of our favorites. It's about a boy who is invisible at school, until he reaches out to a new boy, and is noticed in return. After reading it I asked my daughter if there is anyone invisible in her class. She laughed and said: "I wouldn't know, because they would be invisible." Fair enough, I guess. We've been reading more picture books and fewer chapter books lately (having set aside Harry Potter again after not making it through the first chapter). We just try to let her interests guide the reading. It's all good. 

Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms. 

© 2016 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.