Growing Bookworms Newsletter: March 28: Calendar Mysteries, How to Get Kids to Read for Pleasure, Re-Reading, and Lots of Links

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 growing joyful learners, mainly bookworms, but also mathematicians and learners of all types. The newsletter is sent out every three weeks.

Newsletter Update:  In this issue I have three book reviews (two young adult and one nonfiction title for parents about encouraging readers) and three posts with links that I shared recently on Twitter. I also have a couple of anecdotes regarding my daughter's reading, which are included below in this post. My blogging energy remains limited, I'm afraid. 

Reading Update:  In the last few weeks I finished one middle grade, one young adult and nine adult titles. This was mainly thanks to audiobooks. I read/listened to: 

• Kathryn Erskine: Mockingbird. Puffin Books. Middle Grade Fiction. Completed March 11, 2018. My daughter brought this home from her school library and I read it to see if I thought she would like it (which I didn't - she's not ready for this book). I do think this book is well-written and compelling, but not for a seven-year old who is just inching her way into non-illustrated novels. 
• Joelle Charbonneau: Time Bomb. HMH Books for Young Readers. YA Fiction. Completed March 13, 2018, review copy. My review.
• Kaye Newton: How to Get Your Screen-Loving Kids to Read Books for Pleasure. Linland Press. Adult Nonfiction. Completed March 7, 2018, on Kindle. My review. 
• Gretchen Rubin: The Happiness Project. Harper. Adult Nonfiction. Completed March 9, 2018, on Kindle. I've been doing a lot of reflecting on personal happiness, some of which relates to blogging, and both this book and the one that follows were useful, in different ways. I'm blogging a bit less, and working on a hand-written gratitude journal right now. 
• Emma Seppala: The Happiness Track. HarperOne. Adult Nonfiction. Completed March 11, 2018, on Kindle.
• Calene O'Connor: Murder in an Irish Churchyard (An Irish Village Mystery). Kensington. Adult Mystery. Completed March 11, 2018, on MP3. Eh, the romantic stress was a bit contrived. But the mystery itself was non-obvious, and I do enjoy the setting. 
• Dana Stabenow: A Cold Day for Murder. Berkley. Adult Mystery. Completed March 15, 2018, on MP3. This is my first read of this series, set in remote Alaska, and I do expect to try others. 
• Karen E. Olson: Hidden (A Black Hat Thriller). Severn House. Adult Mystery. Completed March 17, 2018, on Kindle. This is the first of a four-part series about a woman hacker who has been in hiding since committing certain crimes, and is found. Refreshingly different. 
• Peter Clines: The Fold. Broadway Books. Adult Science Fiction. Completed March 19, 2018, on MP3. This was a science fiction story with an intriguing premise, which I picked up as an Audible Deal. 
• Joy Ellis: Buried on the Fens. Joffe Books. Adult Mystery. Completed March 25, 2018, on MP3. Although I've enjoyed this series, this particular title was a bit dark for me. 
• Karen E. Olson: Shadowed (A Black Hat Thriller). Severn House. Adult Mystery. Completed March 25, 2018, on Kindle. 

I'm currently listening to The Punishment She Deserves by Elizabeth George. I'm reading You, Your Child, and School by Sir Ken Robinson. My daughter and I are still reading Harry Potter Five (The Order of the Phoenix). For her own free choice reading she has mostly been re-reading her favorite graphic and notebook novels. We passed a display of such books in Target last weekend. We own them all already. My daughter gave a little pat to each of her favorites and remarked: “I wish I could wipe them from my memory so I could read them again for the first time.” That's book love for you! 

She has also started to dabble in series reads like the Calendar Mysteries by Ron Roy. What I've noticed is that for books that are not graphic novels, her interest level favors significantly less advanced books than her tested reading level (which is above her grade level) would suggest. Hence she keeps coming home from the school library with books that she is not interested in, that fall into the range that she is apparently encouraged to target. She mostly  ignores them all week and then returns them unread. But she whipped through two Calendar Mysteries this weekend and started a third. You all know my view - I just want her to read whatever she finds enjoyable.

She is showing a bit more interest in the first Wings of Fire book by Tui T. Sutherland, which a friend recommended. However, it's quite challenging for her and I am not going to push her to finish. 

Thanks for reading, and for growing bookworms!

© 2018 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.