Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Summer Reading Extravaganza - Day 2: Kids books

The Friendly Book Nook
Today's Summer Reading Extravaganza question is about good summer reads for the kids. My daughter, age 11, is currently reading and loving The Calder Game by Blue Balliett. She had read Chasing Vermeer with the same characters in school and was very excited to see this new book in the book store. She says it's about a boy named Calder who, along with a statue of a famous Calder in England, goes missing. And his friends and family who search for him. It's quite the mystery and she's having fun trying to figure it out!

An author my kids and I all love is Kate DiCamillo. We started with the book Because of Winn-Dixie that my daughter read in second grade (before the movie came out). My mother-in-law and I read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane out loud to the kids. All four of us loved following that rabbit on his adventures. We have The Tiger Rising on the to be read list!

Another book we've loved (and of course the movie after reading the book) is Holes by Louis Sachar.

For more recommendations for books for the kids, check out the other posts at The Friendly Book Nook. I look forward to seeing what else to share with the kids!

9 comments:

Absurd Book Nerd said...

My boys loved Holes!!!! What a great list. You can see my kids picks at http://blog.kimberlykaye.com

Lenore Appelhans said...

I have a lot of friends who read English as a second language so if a middle grade novel has a great story, like Holes, they love it and I love to recommend it.

Leesy said...

My son just read Winn-Dixie in school, and really liked it. Before I read Holes, I was prepared to hate it, but needless to say I actually enjoyed it a lot. Even my daughters do, which I think surprised them, too.

Michele said...

Kimberlykaye, Lenore, and Leesy - we definitely loved Holes. I am going to read The Calder Game after my daughter is done and I'll let you know if I like it as much. I know she does.

Anonymous said...

Do you know that I read "Because of Winn-Dixie" before my daughter? When she & I saw it in the library and I told her, she said, "You are such a strange mom." (lol)

Anonymous said...

The Calder Game looks fun! Love the cover. The Holes movie was great too:)

Emma said...

I've been wondering about reading Holes for a long time so it's good to see a recommendation for it. I can see this week and this challenge is going to be terrible for both my bank balance and my "waiting to be read" pile by my bed!! Very fun tho!

jessi said...

I love Holes! Have you read the sequel, Small Steps? I have it, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Your daughter might also like Shakespeare's Secret, by Elisa Broach. I thought it was a good story, and one of my students compared it to Chasing Vermeer. I haven't read it (yet) though, so I can't say for sure.

ldperez said...

hmmm. . . thanks for the suggestions! can't wait to check these out!