Links I Shared on Twitter this Week: December 16: Gift Guides, Screen Free Week, and Reading Aloud
Christmas in the Barn: Margaret Wise Brown & Anna Dewdney

Growing Bookworms Newsletter: December 18: 11 Year Blog Birthday Edition

JRBPlogo-smallToday, 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 this year, 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 five book reviews (picture book and middle grade), one post with my daughter's latest literacy milestone (reading in bed on her ow), and three posts with links that I shared recently on Twitter. This will be the last issue of the Growing Bookworms newsletter for 2016. I'll be taking some vacation time at home over the holidays, though I do have reviews scheduled. 

I didn't do a separate post, but also wanted to mention that yesterday was the 11 year anniversary of the day I started this blog. Hard to believe that 11 years have gone by. I am grateful for the experience and for the fellow book-lovers I have met along the way. 

Reading Update: In the past two weeks I two four chapter book/middle grade, and four adult novels. I read/listened to: 

  • MakerMischiefLiam O'Donnell (ill. Aurelie Grand): West Meadows Detectives: The Case of the Maker Mischief. Owlkids Book. Illustrated Chapter Book. Completed December 7, 2016 (read-aloud to my daughter). This definitely measures up to the first book, and I hope that others are published in this series. 
  • Peter Meisel (ill. Paul Meisel): Stinky Spike: The Pirate Dog. Bloomsbury USA Children's Books. Illustrated Early Reader. Completed December 12, 2016, print ARC. Review to come. 
  • Margaret Mizushima: Stalking Ground (Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries). Crooked Lane Press. Adult Mystery. Completed December 1, 2016, on MP3. Although I like the characters and setting, I found the plot a bit predictable in this one. 
  • Sara Paretsky: Guardian Angel (V. I. Warshawski #7). Dell Books. Adult Mystery. Completed December 12, 2016, on MP3. The plot in this novel was a bit all over the place, though I'll surely continue with the series. 
  • P.J. Tracy: The Sixth Idea (Monkeewrench). G.P. Putnam's Sons. Adult Mystery. Completed December 15, 2016, on MP3. These books are always intriguing. 
  • Janet Evanovich: Turbo Twenty-Three (Stephanie Plum). Bantam. Adult Mystery. Completed December 18, 2016, on MP3. This book made me laugh out loud on several occasions. The plot is almost beside the point.

ImpossibleClueI'm reading The Impossible Clue by Sarah Rubin and listening to A Bone to Pick (Aurora Teagarden) by Charlaine Harris. As you can see by the fact that just about all of my reading lately has consisted of audiobooks, I have not had very much time to sit down and read. It's a busy time of year, and I can't seem to get through more than about 10 pages reading in bed before I fall asleep. 

We haven't read very many picture books to my daughter of late. [You can see our reading list for the year here.] This is partly because our schedule has been disrupted, but also because she has become very interested in listening to chapter books. She is interested, but doesn't necessarily have the focus to listen to a longer title all the way through. We are currently part way through The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik (an early Christmas gift from a thoughtful neighbor), the illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling and Jim Kay (our second or third try), and The Homework Strike by Greg Pincus.

HomeworkStrikeShe is actually most interested in The Homework Strike at the moment. Although it's a bit above her age level, reading it together has led us to some interesting discussions about the Revolutionary War, taxation without representation, and why and how people go on strike. Just further validation that YES, you should keep reading aloud to kids after they are able to read on their own. She does not have the vocabulary or the scaffolding to read this particular book on her own. But she is doing pretty well, as long as I stop to explain things. And this is what she's interested in right now, which is the important thing. I think the fact that I know the author helps, too. 

My husband is reading her Mike's Gang by Rosemary Weir (one of his childhood favorites) during their bedtime reading. 

I've been continuing to share all of my longer reads, as well as highlights from my picture book reads with my daughter, via the #BookADay hashtag on Twitter, though I may stop that now with the end of the year. Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for growing bookworms. I wish you all a joyful holiday season, and many books to read in the New Year. 

© 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

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