Well, I found The Sea of Monsters at the school's book fair a couple of years ago. It looked cool and I thought Sarah would read it. She didn't. So when I decided that I would read it, I was bummed that it was Book Two of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I had to wait and get the first book from the library.
When I did get it and read it, it was pretty dang good. It had lots of action, was heavy on the sarcasm (Sarah loves reading these parts back to me and then laughing), and is an introduction to mythology. (I like Homer's books and my 9th grade English teacher, Mr. Peebles had a lot to do with that. He was such a great teacher.) After reading the first book, I moved on through the series, getting books three and four from the library also. Still, Sarah didn't read them.
And then a couple of months ago, I banned her from reading the Harry Potter and Eragon books. I think she has read all seven of the HP books at least 5 times each. She has read Eldest nine times. She lives in these books and I wanted her to expand her horizons. And I think it is working.
Desperate for something to read, Sarah finally borrowed The Lightning Thief. She then raced through the other three books, borrowing them from the library like I did. The second she read the last page of the fourth book and closed it, she began counting down the days for when the next book would be out. She acted like she was in pain because she couldn't stand to wait even another minute.
The fifth book of Rick Riordan's series came out two weeks ago (the same week as The Host--and I noticed that in my previous blog I put that it came out last week... I've been so busy that I lost a week in my internal clock... I'm jet-lagged without even leaving my own time zone) and I bought it for her along with book one, three, and four to complete her collection. Aren't I an awesome mom? Now she's reading them over and over again...I foresee another ban in the future. If you have a kid around 11 years old who needs something to read, I highly recommend this series.
Incidentally, when I was surfing through Rick Riordan's website, I picked up on another series by Erin Hunter since he claimed that she was his son's favorite author. I also found the Inkheart series which I checked out, read and found it really creative. I couldn't get to the first of the Warrior books by Erin Hunter, so I offered to let Sarah read it first. She surprised me by reading Into the Wild even though I suggested she read it.
We went online and requested the next two books through our library and she can't wait. Again.
3 comments:
i think is it so awesome that your daughter is such an avid reader. when i was her age, i read a lot too but i was more focused on the Sweet Valley Twins/High series, Christopher Pike, the Babysitter's Club, judy blume stuff etc. i didn't branch out to sci-fi or adventure til i was much older. i've only read the first Eragon book and still haven't gotten the others yet. my parents banned me from reading altogether because i was neglecting my studies in favor of reading. i just found sneaky ways to read!
You know what? She's just like you in that she finds ways to read. She's sneaky... like reading in low lighting that would make a person blind... she wears glasses, too, so she's not doing herself any favors being sneaky.
I read Judy Blume... "we must, we must, we must increase our bust" and I was so confused by what a sanitary napkin was or belt.
omg, that is hilarious! you totally quoted Judy Blume, i used to CHANT that line!
and due to my sneaky reading, my eye sight suffered and i ended up with glasses in 5th grade. my stepmother was MORTIFIED. when my younger sisters had to get glasses too, she was so pissed. funnily tho, they all sport cute frames, i had those ugly oversized glasses that did nothing for my nerd-look!
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