Yay! We have the Internet again, so we're no longer living like savages! Except that the big truck carrying all of our belongings is still in a warehouse in St. Louis, so that's lame. Today I registered the kids for school and they were able to check some books out of the school library. They have all been reading happily for hours. Huzzah! That reminded me that I had not yet blogged about our latest Mother and I Book Club picks.
In May I had Harrison read Holes by Louis Sachar and he had me read Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson. It has been years since I've read Holes, so Harrison had to tell me the entire story again. We both agreed that it was a great book and that it was perfect for his age. Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life was kind of the worst. The cover and illustrations made it look like it might be similar to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, but it's so not. It's super heavy and not at all fun to read. I'm sure there are young kids out there who can relate to the main character's crappy life, but Harrison and I just thought it was a big downer.
Harrison and I decided to go to Fitz's one last time to talk about our books. They brew their own sodas and just seeing this picture makes me thirsty.
I decided to go nuts and get the gooey butter cake and cream soda. It was the best gooey butter cake I'd ever had. Rats! Now I'm hungry, too!
Since Harrison had recommended that book to me, I didn't want to hurt his feelings by telling him it sucked. I asked him if he enjoyed the book and he said, "No way! But that was the only book I could find that I had read and you hadn't." One of the rules of our book club is that we have to read a book before we recommend it. We decided we would spend the summer reading lots of middle grade books so that we can have plenty of recommendations for each other the rest of the year. So . . . help! What books have you and your 10-12 year old kids enjoyed? I would love some suggestions!
Harrison and I have a little inside joke about Phyllis Diller (as one does), so we were pretty excited to see that she has her own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
Off I go to judge another sock skating competition.
6 Wisecracks:
Good book: Firegirl. It is about a girl but it is written from the perspective of a boy, so it has nothing to do with Alicia Keyes and girl power. It is a fabulous book, and gets 5 stars from the Dyrengs.
Are you trying to stick to one book by an author? Some of Cole's favorite books are by Louis Sachar, especially "Dogs Don't Tell Jokes" and the Wayside School books. I would offer some of my favorites, but they are all super-girly. ;)
Oh right. Book ideas. I was too distracted by the lovely food, and the thought of no more Fitz's or gooey cake. I had no idea Phyllis Diller had her own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. So many good things originated in St. Louis!
all of the Artemis Fowl books!
Tamora Pierce books (circle of magic series, lioness series, wild magic series, protector of the small series)
all of Gerald Morris' kind arthur tales (very funny!)
Have you guy read Fablehaven and The Beyonders? The Rithmatist? Hmmm, There is the tripod trilogy and the sword of the spirits trilogy, both by john Christopher. The Dark is Rising is AMAZING. I actually read the little house on the prairies books at his age and really loved them (secretly). THe HArdy boys were a favorite. If he likes starwars, the Trilogy by Timothy Zahn is probably ok.
Roald Dahls' book, Danny Champion of the World.
Also you can look at the titles on the battle of the books lists:
http://www.battleofthebooks.org/book-list/
Oh and The Chronicles of Prydain, (teh balck cauldron is in this series)
White Fang and Call of the Wild.
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