So what are your children reading?

[CleoQc]

SWB started a thread on what high school students are currently reading. Well, I don't really have a high school student, so figured I should start a similar thread here.

Science-boy 10yo, read two Moliere plays since Christmas - Les Fourberies de Scapin and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. There are probably English versions of those plays but I wouldn't know their titles. And in case you're not up to date with French lit, Moliere is a contemporary of Shakespeare, but he only did comedy, no drama.
He also read Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn (spelling?) and The Prince and the Pauper - Mark Twain.
And plenty of junk too....

Gym-girl 7yo is reading through Usborne's mythology book.

[Laura Corin]

Calvin is re-reading his entire library alphabetically. He just read a bunch of Sherlock Holmes and is now re-reading the Hermux Tantamocq books. The last book I gave him to read was White Fang, but this week we are reading Twelfth Night together (he has read A Midsummer Night's Dream and Henry V independently).

Hobbes is reading Summerland, by Michael Chabon.

Laura

[Mom2legomaniacs]

6 yr ds is reading a lot of different things right now. He just finished the Spiderwick Chronicles (all 5 books read in less than 3 days). He is also working through The Lost Years of Merlin (1st book), Dragon's Eye, Harry Potter's 5th book, the Invisible Man (Great Ill. Classics), and several others (I can't keep up with him!).

9 yr ds is re-reading Harry Potter series (currently in book 6), reading Redwall, the newest Spiderwick Chronicles book, and lots of Calvin and Hobbes.

[allearia]

DS 6 is reading Odysseus and the Serpent Maze for school to go with our ancient history study, and countless Batman/Superman/X-men/Spiderman/Justice League comic books.

[Plaid Dad]

My dd just discovered the Nancy Drew books. I'm not quite sure what to think about this, but I suppose there are much worse things she could be reading. :)

[Elinor Everywhere]

My 10yodd is currently reading Inkspell, Sing Down the Moon (again), & one of her Horrible Science books (again).

My 10yods is reading the 2nd Harry Potter book, his Animal book (encyclopedia type), and Gone Away Lake.

[kokotg]

Ari's reading the Wizard of Oz, alternated with Henry and Beezus, and I think he has a Magic Tree House book in there somewhere that he hasn't picked up in a month but still claims to be reading.

[KAR120C]

On his own he's re-reading the 3rd Harry Potter book and contemplating reading the 4th (he put it down as "too scary" last time he tried it). With book group he's reading Macbeth, with plenty of acting it out and discussing and whatnot... and he just finished Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate, which was excellent but very sad in parts, since it's about a Sudanese refugee. And he's about to start Alice in Wonderland.

[Kimber]

He's reading the Dahl books. Since he was interested, I went to the library and checked out everyone I could find.

Dd9 is reading 20,000 leagues under the sea, Dawn Undercover, Tom Sawyer (for me), and some other stuff and all of her brother's books as well. I told her how much I was enjoying Jane Eyre; she told me she wanted to read it. I haven't finished it, but I don't think she'd want to finish the book. So I'm having her wait. :)

[Andie]

DD13 is reading Marlfox, part of the Redwall series.

DD11 is reading The Last Battle

DS 9 is reading Frindle

DS 4 is sounding his way through much of Hop on Pop! All by himself!

[JenneinAZ]

Bookworm (dd9) just finished The Three Musketeers. She was not so impressed. She liked The Count of Monte Cristo much better. She read Dragon Rider and a bunch of tales from Japan.

MisterMan (ds7) just finished The Westing Game. He thought it was alright but nothing too great. He has read The BFG and Stuart Little recently too.

Bunny (ds3) has been listening to Duck Truck and Egad Alligator. He also likes Go Dog Go.

Jenne in AZ

[Heather in VA]

Don't worry Drew - I read all 50something Nancy Drew books countless times as a child and it was a great catalyst to get me to read even more. My oldest (now 12) has read them all as well. Enjoyable and harmless.

Heather

[Heather in VA]

My 12 year old is currently reading the Imitation of Christ and If I Perish.

My 8 year old is reading Mary Pope Osborne's Odyssey.

My 4 year old is reading Fun Tales - well she's trying at least :-)

Heather

[mcconnellboys]

My guy (9/fourth grade) just finished Homesick, by Jean Fritz, about her time in China at the beginning of the cultural revolution there. He's working on finishing up Bud, not Buddy, about life during the Great Depression. He's reading from Harry Potter (again) on his own. He's been reading from Anderson's Fairy Tales off and on for a while now.....

Thanks for reminding me! I've got to order our books for next week!

Regena

[EKS]

My 11 yo is reading The Island of Dr Moreau by HG Wells and my 5 yo is reading Henry Huggins and anything else he can get his hands on.

[StacyWithFourRugrats]

My 7yo ds is reading a mixture of history books on the King Richard and Robin Hood, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Chess books, Garfield, miscellaneous dinosaur books, and a mixture of probably a dozen or so books he puts in his bed. Usually all at the same time (a few pages here, on to a few pages in another book, then another book, etc etc) We haven't really been able to breach the fear of longer books. He has read the first Harry Potter but he didn't want to continue, even tho he likes Harry Potter.

My 5yo ds has finished the BOB books (which he wasn't thrilled with towards the end) and Dick and Jane and was allowed to pick his next book. Sooooo...he picked a classic: Walter the Farting Dog. For now, it is helping him branch out a bit. I am hoping he will do some Dr. Seuss next.

My 5yo dd and 4 yo dd just like to look at all the books in the house. Nothing in particular.

[Old Dominion Heather]

Ds8 is reading Star Wars: Jedi Knights (?) or something like that, Farmer Boy and just finished Sign of the Beaver. He is on a quest to read all the Hank the Cowdog books.

Ds5 is reading Sign of the Beaver, The Dangerous Book for Boys and more Star Wars stuff than I can name. He is reading I, Jack, too. That is the current obsession, that and sharks.

We are reading Lord of the Rings together and we are getting ready to re-read Winnie the Pooh, because I think the two-year-old will like it.

[Arch At Home]

DD, 8, is reading Ballet Shoes and historical fiction around the Revolutionary War through Civil War.
DD, 6, is reading the Annie and Snowball and Henry and Mudge series. We are reading aloud Trumpet of the Swan, the Royal Ballet School series and the My America series.
DS, 4, is not predictable about what he will want read but it is usually either silly or about vehicles.

Arch At Home

[nitascool]

DS 7 is reading Canterbury Tales. He just finished his 4th reading of "The Usborne Internet-linked Library of Science Earth and Space".

DS 6 is reading through Dr. Seuss books right now. He just finished "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins".

[Kristiana]

I loved Ballet Shoes! I read it so many times as a child.

DS 7 has been reading all the Edward Eager books I can find and has now started The Borrowers. I need to find something more challenging for him though.

[Daisy]

DS8 is reading an Encyclopedia Brown book, Mary Poppins Comes Back, Great Illustrated Classics Little Women, Five Little Peppers Midway and The Only Sister (Rod and Staff). She's like me and has to have a bunch of books going at once.

DS5 is reading any Syd Hoff book he can get his hands on.

[Virginia Dawn]

Ballet Shoes was one of my favorites as a child too.

[Virginia Dawn]

My 8yo ds is currently reading The Fellowship of the Ring and Prince Caspian.

[mellifera]

Ds1 is going to be starting Plutarch's Lives (for school), and he's balancing that with reading a whole lot of the Sugar Creek Gang books.

Dd1 is reading Father Brown, The Conte de Monte Cristo, Edgar Allan Poe, and I'm sure something else.

Ds2 is reading one of the Dick King-Smith books. I think it's The Cat Lady, or something like that. He's also reading a bunch of old Ask magazines.

Dd2 is "reading" anything she can get someone to read to her. Last night it was Little Toot.

[KAR120C]

Dd1 is reading Father Brown, The Conte de Monte Cristo, Edgar Allan Poe, and I'm sure something else.
How old is the DD reading Father Brown? I was considering that for DS but someone had said it was extremely dense reading and better to wait.... and I've not had a chance to see for myself yet, although I'm 90% sure I read it when I was a teenager... millions of years ago.... :cool:

[chai]

I can't keep up with what dd is reading. She reads bits and pieces of books over and over again. Everyday, I have to "remind" her to put at least 5 books back into the library. She loves myths, fairy tales, fantasy and wierd books (like Dahl's). The books can be scary, but that can't have sad endings. I can't wait to give her Black Ships before Troy (We start Greece history soon); I know that she will love it.

[Jenny in Florida]

. . . My 9 year old is reading Dragon's Gate (assigned for history) and the third or fourth (I've lost track) of the books in Garth Nix's "Keys to the Kingdom" series. He recently finished the fourth of Dorothy Hoobler's samurai books and is looking for more similar titles.

--Jenny

[genie]

My not-too-into-reading 10yo daughter fell in love with the Series of Unfortunate Events books this year. Lemony Snicket's style of writing just cracks her up! (She's not exactly what you would call an academic :o) But alas, she finished book 13, so now she is reading his Unofficial Autobiography and laughing out loud on a regular basis. Now if I could only find an author with a similar style.

Hey, have you guys read any of the "Toad Rage" books by Morris Gleitzman? They were my favorite read-alouds EVER. Hilarious! (In a non-intellectual, somewhat irreverent kind of way.)

[angela in ohio]

They don't keep track of their free-time reading books, and they pick whatever form our library, so I only know their school books:

My 11 yo is finishing up all of the books she has not read yet on my "up to grade 6" list in preparation for Omnibus next year. She has read since Jan. 1, for school:
The Summer of the Swans
Tales from Shakespeare
Just So Stories
Swallows and Amazons

My 9 yo has read, since Jan. 1, for school:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Baby Island
The Trumpet of the Swan
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

They both ahve read the following inthe same time period, also, as they got them for Christmas:
Derwood Inc.
Dangerous Game
Treasure in the Yukon
Llamas on the Loose
Abandoned
Courage by Darkness
The Complete Peterkin Papers

[chai]

Angela,

Can you tell me more about your "up to grade 6" list? I am also planning to have dd use Omnibus, but we have three years to go first. How did you select this list? How are you preparing for Omnibus?

Donelda

[two2homeschool]

My 7 ds is reading through, for the third time, the Thornton W. Burgess books (Adventures, How,Why,etc and Mother West Wind). Our house is jammed packed with books but he keeps re-reading these-go figure :).

[freethinkermom]

Ds10 is re-reading Don Quixote (unabridged Oxford Classics edition) because the library is closed and I forgot where I put my copy of Dune which is what he wants to read next. He finished DQ for school last week and loved it so much he wanted to start all over again without the pressure of it being work.

[mellifera]

How old is the DD reading Father Brown?

She's 10. We did it as a read-aloud first.

[ArwenA]

DD 9 looooves to read and read the following for free reading: The Secret Garden, D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths and Norse Myths (both re-reads), Simply Shakespeare Macbeth, Book of Small (this was our read aloud but she loved it so finished it of herself)
DD 6 is starting to read and is working the Beginners Bible and Outback Adventure
DD 3 has loads of read alouds and is starting to recognize words.

[Robin Hood]

My mom sent the girls (9) a box of abriged classics and they are devouring them: Jane Erye, White Fang, Rebecca of Sunnybrooke Farm, Peter Pan, The Secret Garden, Kidnapped, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Captains Courageous and The Jungle Book. One of my dds reads a book a night before she goes to sleep. That leads me to think they are a bit below her reading level. The other one loved Jane Eyre so much that I bought the unabridged version for myself. I am almost done with it.

[Daisy]

I'm interested in the "up to grade six" list also.

[KAR120C]

She's 10. We did it as a read-aloud first.
That's a great idea -- maybe I'll follow suit :)

[JeanM]

DS8 is reading a lot of books simultaneously, which makes me a little crazy, but I don't complain too much. He is reading "Dragon Rider", "Lord Brocktree" (one of the Redwall series), "Robin Hood (Howard Pyle) and an Encyclopedia Brown book.

DS6 is reading a book called "Sea Monsters" or something like that - it is about prehistoric sea animals. He also is constantly reading Calvin and Hobbes or Garfield.

They are both listening to "Calling on Dragons" on CD, I think they have one more CD to go. And we are reading aloud both "Ice Fire" and "Winter Holiday" (a Swallows and Amazons) book. Oh, and they were listening to "Prince Caspian" on CD, but the CD stopped working so they are temporarily stuck. We'll get the book version from the library soon.

I'm making notes of lots of books in this thread; this is great. I also loved "Ballet Shoes" and other "Shoes" books!

[angela in ohio]

Angela,

Can you tell me more about your "up to grade 6" list? I am also planning to have dd use Omnibus, but we have three years to go first. How did you select this list? How are you preparing for Omnibus?

Donelda

I created a book list for grades 2-6 (to follow a picture book list I created for K-1) of books I thought dc should read. I spent a few weeks on it a few years ago, but then I was done, and I can just pick the next book with confidence. I compared lists from Classical Christian schools, Sonlight, Veritas Press, Logos, Great Books reading lists, and so forth, and marked the books by frequency. I could see really quickly that certain books were "must reads"! I put each book that showed up very frequently into an "essential reading" category for the grade it was usually recommended for. Then I listed the other books as "extra books" by the grade level they were usually shown in.

You can see the list at: Reading List for Grades 2-6 (http://www.wallsofbooks.com/2007/02/reading-lists-for-grades-2-6.html)

The "essential reading" books are the books I assign, we discuss or use a study guide for, and they write about in reports or essays. The others are books I have stocked their shelves with, and they generally read for free-time.

As my oldest dd is entering the last half of her 6th grade year, I am going though and picking out with the books she hasn't read and assigning them. She was in about 3rd-4th grade when I created the list, so she didn't get every book, as we were catching up. All the books from Veritas Press' reading list are on the list, with a few exceptions, so I feel like she will be prepared by Veritas' standards to do Omnibus if she has conquered all of these books.

The biggest preparation for Omnibus has been to do a solid textbook world history curriculum with her this year, the years of Progeny Press and similar guides and book discussions, tons and tons and tons of reading of only classic literature and children's classics since she was little, and a solid writing program. If she doesn't do well in Omnibus next year, I will honestly be able to say it was not through lack of my effort and planning. :D

[chai]

Thank you for sharing! It sounds like you spend a lot of time discussing the books. Do you usually use book guides for that? What world history curriculum are you using this year?

I hope that you will share your experience with Omnibus with us.

[Georgie]

My 10 ds is just finished Stoneheart. My 8dd is "researching" dogs. She checks out any dog breed book she can find.

[Jill]

"Parts", "More Parts" and "Even More Parts" by Tedd Arnold. Especially the latter which is a good collection of idioms. My son reads it during the day and picks it as one of his bedtime books many nights of the week. He wants to understand each and every idiom in that book. I can truly understand that motivation. He's also been reading the Chinese idiom stories at starfall.com and I have to say those are some _useful_ fables for us. 8^)

Edit: He usu. reads a couple of comic books every day. He (and my DH :rolleyes: ) have a good collection of Avengers, Spiderman, Fantastic Four and more... The Avengers in Asgaard is a fave right now. Comic books really mess with mythology sometimes but he loves that he reads about Thor in myths and then gets to see him in action more in comic books. ltm.

Jill

[angela in ohio]

Thank you for sharing! It sounds like you spend a lot of time discussing the books. Do you usually use book guides for that? What world history curriculum are you using this year?

I hope that you will share your experience with Omnibus with us.

You're welcome! We do spend a lot of time discussing books. I went through the Teaching the Classics materials, and I have taught a Jr. Great Books class, so I use my background from those, plus what I have learned from conference speakers. But we also use comprehension guides - Veritas Press, Logos, Total Language Plus, and Progeny Press.

We are working through the 7th grade A Beka book - History of the World - with the BJUP 6th and 7th grade history books. We had concentrated very little on history up until this point (and more on math and reading and writing), using more of a CM history approach of reading through the lives of historical figures here and there instead of doing a big overview. So this year is for pulling it all together for her, so that she has seen the flow of history once before she gets it again in Omnibus.

I hope to blog about our Omnibus experience - the highs, the lows, the laughter, the tears... ;)

[freethinkermom]

I realized I only listed ds10 and forgot ds6.

Ds6 reads several Magic School Bus and Bernstein Bears books everyday. We have a large collection and he has read them all several times. I bought ds10 The Way Things Work a couple of weeks ago, and ds6 has been pouring over it despite the difficulty level. He is obsessing on the Magic Tree House books. They are not exactly classic lit :) but he is getting glasses and likes that one of the main characters is a little boy with glasses. I am not pushing any more formal assigned reading until he does get his glasses (exam for perscription is early next month) since the poor little guy is getting headaches from eyestrain.

[Susie in CA]

He's reading the Dahl books. Since he was interested, I went to the library and checked out everyone I could find.

Dd9 is reading 20,000 leagues under the sea, Dawn Undercover, Tom Sawyer (for me), and some other stuff and all of her brother's books as well. I told her how much I was enjoying Jane Eyre; she told me she wanted to read it. I haven't finished it, but I don't think she'd want to finish the book. So I'm having her wait. :)

My ds 8 is finally enjoying some books. The one that turned him on was 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' by Dahl. Now he is reading James and the Giant Peach.
Ds 6 is reading 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.'

We just love Roald Dahl.

Susie

[Baseballmom]

My 8 yo ds loves Fantastic Mr. Fox too. He read the Toothpaste Millionare after that. He is now reading the Phantom Tollbooth and loves it, but he loves play on words. My 12 yo ds just read Huguenot Garden (definately an easy read) and said it was one of the best books he ever read, even up there with the Where the Red Fern Grows, his other favorite. We also just got the first book in the Terrestria Series, a Christian allegory, and he will be reading that next.

[GreenKitty]

Right now my oldest ones are reading:

Books on html, Books on electronics and Realm of the Dragons

[pianoplayer]

My 10-year-old daughter just finished reading Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery, and she is now starting Douglas MacArthur's Reminiscences.

[Baseballmom]

Oops

[karensk]

Some of ds10's "school" reading --

D'Aulaires' Greek Myths
The Golden Fleece by Padraic Colum
Famous Men of Greece

He's loving the mythology & ancient Greek history. (I'm struggling to keep up with the readings; ds is a very fast reader, like his dad.) For his free reading, he's doing the color Fairy Book series by Andrew Lang and the Hank the Cowdog series.

Dd8 just finished the Grandma's Attic series, which she loved. A couple days ago, she started All-of-a-Kind Family series. She's more of a slower reader, like me.

[Testimony]

He is reading Capital Mysteries.

My older one says that he is bogged down with reading. He read A Wrinkle in Time, then The Last Battle.

Wait, is this for school or leisure? My older son said that he was bogged down with school readings to do his leisure ones. He is reading, Our Young Folks Plutarch, Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare, Story of the World vol.4 (his favorite book).

Blessings,
Karen
www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[nancypants]

7 year old is just starting The Last Battle in Chronicles of Narnia. And I'm looking for direction for what to have him read next!

[M.Z.]

Our two-year-old read her first word today! So her literary exploits consist of "cab" at the moment. (4-yr-old ds is reading Frog and Toad.)

M.Z.
www.BeowulfTheBook.com

[Nancy in MI]

13yo is reading through the Freddy the Pig books. 9yo just finished Toliver's Secret. Our readaloud is Wind in the Willows.

:)

[Nancy in MI]

Oh, and my 9yo is on a quest, like someone else I read about here, to read through the entire Hank the Cowdog series. My 13yo did that when he was in 2nd grade. Seems like yesterday!

I have to admit I'm a little intimidated by all the pre-teens reading such advanced stuff! My 13yo isn't even *close* to reading some of those books.

Yikes!:eek:

[freethinkermom]

Updating since the kids go through books so fast....

Ds11= Through The Looking Glass (just finished Alice in Wonderland)- Quick, easy read, but he had never read them and wanted to.
Xenocide by Orson Scott Card (3rd Ender's Game book). He has the 4th and 5th Ender's Game book checked out, so he will probably read those this week too.

Ds6= He has had a big leap in reading ability and speed in the last couple of weeks. He went from reading one Magic Tree House book a week to one a day (or more). So he is still working through those. He has a stack of 8 for this week. For required school reading he is reading Charlotte's Web and several Greek Myth books.

[Karenciavo]

My dd just discovered the Nancy Drew books. I'm not quite sure what to think about this, but I suppose there are much worse things she could be reading. :)

Nancy Drew is fun, I wouldn't worry.

Ds5 is reading his first "big boy book" as he calls it, Paddle to the Sea.