Summer Reading Challenge :: June

For the month of June, Ian's goal was to read four chapter books.

By the end of the month he read six books:

• Pendragon #5, Black Water by D. J. MacHale (448 pages)
  
• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party by M. T. Anderson (384 pages)
  
• Pendragon #6, The Rivers of Zadaa by D. J. MacHale (416 pages)
  
• The Black by D. J. MacHale (416 pages)
  
• Pendragon #7, The Quillan Games by D. J. MacHale (512 pages)
  
• Book One of the Travelers, Pendragon Before the War by Carla Jablonski (256 pages)

As you can see, he's really into D.J. MacHale's books right now. And it's kinda cool that we actually know D.J. :)

Summer 2011 Reading Challenge

Well, whaddayaknow? It's been another year since I last posted ... with no posts written by Ian. Oops. It's not that he hasn't been reading. In fact, his fairly voracious reading has continued. But I still very much want to see something written about what he's read. How could that not be beneficial to him, on so many levels?

So, when I saw that the Literacy Toolbox blog was having a summer reading challenge that wasn't overly complicated, I asked Ian if he would be interested in participating. Without hesitation he said he would do it. To keep him company -- and to motivate myself to get through some of my extensive to-read pile -- I said I would do a challenge too.

We begin June 1 and continue reading through August 31. I still have to get him to decide how many picture and chapter books he's going to read in June. Stay tuned!

Gonna try this one more time ...

Wow! It's been over two years since we last updated this blog. We originally began the blog when Ian was in first grade; he is now in fourth grade. Obviously, his reading has improved greatly since then and his interests have changed as well.

My hope -- in restarting this blog -- is that writing about what he reads will help Ian synthesize content and organize his thoughts, improve his writing (and typing), and aid in formulating his opinions on life and the world. Hey, a mom can hope, right?

For the most part, the only help I'll give Ian is technical help (mainly, how Blogger works). All words and thoughts are his own ... otherwise this blog would be pointless.

book 152 :: football

football

book 151 :: buffalo before breakfast

buffalo before breakfast
by mary pope osborne

book 150 :: harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban

harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban
by j.k. rowling

book 149 :: meet the barkers

meet the barkers
by tomie depaola

book 148 :: amber brown is not a crayon

amber brown is not a crayon
by paula danziger

book 147 :: franklin's bad day

franklin's bad day
by paulette bourgeois and brenda clark

book 146 :: wacky wednesday

wacky wednesday
by theo leseig

book 145 :: super diaper baby

super diaper baby
by dav pilkey

book 144 :: the truth about poop

the truth about poop
by susan goodman and elwood smith

book 143 :: an aztec warrior

an aztec warrior
by a. steele

book 142 :: penguins!

penguins!
by gail gibbons

book 141 :: i spy

i spy
by jean marzollo

book 140 :: curious george

curious george
by h.a. rey and margaret rey

book 139 :: chocolate fever

chocolate fever
by robert smith

book 138 :: nfl superstars 2007

nfl superstars 2007
by scholastic

book 137 :: if i had a robot dog

if i had a robot dog
by andrea baruffi

book 136 :: what happens to a hamburger?

what happens to a hamburger?
by paul showers and edward miller

book 135 :: penguins

penguins
by kevin j. holmes

book 134 :: snakes

snakes
by jennifer dussling

book 133 :: the scrambled states of america

the scrambled states of america
by laurie keller

book 132 :: hooper humperdink ...? not him!

hooper humperdink ...? not him!
by theo lesieg (i.e., dr. seuss, but our edition is old-school)

book 131 :: all about turtles

all about turtles
by jim arnosky

book 130 :: getting to know nature's children: bison

getting to know nature's children: bison
by laima dingwall

book 129 :: amazing animal groups

amazing animal groups
by the national geographic society

book 128 :: animals all around

animals all around
be melissa stewart

book 127 :: zoo animals

zoo animals
by angela royston, illustrated by martine blaney

book 126 :: captain underpants and the perilous plot of professor poopypants

captain underpants and the perilous plot of professor poopypants
by dav pilkey

and, in case you're wondering, ian's silly name per professor poopypants is chim-chim gizzardfanny. mine is dinky bananahead. i laughed. rupert did not find it very amusing.