What Our Kids Are Reading

Many of us have kids of our own at home. While we do our best to read only Random House books with them and to use them as test subjects before we sell to our bookstore accounts, sometimes they have a mind of their own and choose their own stories! Here is what they have been loving these days…

Dandy:

Lucas seems to follow Emerson’s lead when choosing books, as he does for most things. I guess it’s the life of a second kid!

So, that latest fad in our house is Geronimo Stilton. I think I’ve read about 8 of these books in recent weeks & have a few more in my future as both boys brought new ones home from school this week. After those are read I’m taking over & reading The Emerald Atlas. I know they are going to LOVE it! They were entranced listening to the first three Harry Potter books, but we need to hold off on the rest-as the are a little too mature for us.

Erin:

We start our bedtime story routine these days with a book of Gabe’s choosing. He tends to fixate on just a few books which he wants us to read over and over, and this week it’s been When Dinosaurs Came with Everything by Elise Broach and David Small. It’s a hilarious book about a very strange day, when every stop on a mom’s day of errands results in yet another dinosaur coming home with her and her son.

After Gabe’s book, we read a chapter book for Norah, who is six. A few weeks ago, I picked up the first two Ivy and Bean books at the library, and we’ve all fallen in love with these charming, funny books. They’re the perfect level for her age and interest, the girls are sweet without being saccharine and clever without being too snarky, and Sophie Blackall’s art adds to the terrific package. The best thing? There are many more books in the series!

Sarah:

I’m on the road this week visiting my awesome Florida indies, so I spent some time last weekend reading all the picture book F&G’s (samples) I’ll be selling, while Mia had fun trying to pry them from my hands and deconstruct them.

We have some awesome pictures books on our list for fall 2013 publication but the one I want to call out today is Dream Animals written and illustrated by Emily Winfield Martin who is also a popular Etsy artist.

This book is the perfect blend of whimsical text and gorgeous artwork, some of which was featured last week in a “Fall 2013 Sneak Preview” in PW Children’s Bookshelf – here’s another little sneak peak at a few spreads:

Deanna:

The twins came home a few weeks ago and were excited to tell me that their teacher had started reading a new book aloud to them called The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I don’t think it would have occurred to me to start them on the Chronicles of Narnia in Kindergarten, but they loved it and would update me each day on where they were in the book. During this time, my oldest came home with his newest reading/writing assignment. The genre this time? Fantasy! Realizing I did not have my own copy of the series (the one from my childhood must be tucked away in another family member’s house), I bought the series and started him on it right away. The twins have finished the first book (I know it’s been renumbered but TLTWATW will always be the first to me!) and moved on to Prince Caspian, so I let them watch the movie. While I know the new, live action movies have gotten some nice praise, I wanted them to see the animated version I remembered from my childhood. It’s out of print but I found it in 10 “chapters” on YouTube. I love watching it with them as the images they created in the minds while be read to are recreated by someone else’s vision. They like to talk about whether a character or scene looks like what they thought it would. They don’t really understand the fact that they created their own movie in their minds just by listening, but I love how attentive and hooked into the book they were. I definitely worry how the exposure to so much media will affect my children and their ability to focus, so this seems like a win for parents who read to their children every night!

Thanks for reading and please feel free to share what you’re reading to your kids, grandkids or students!