Category: RecoMonday

We recently listened to the first 2 books in the Katie Kazoo series as a family. We had listened to a Gary Paulsen book previously (Lawn Boy), which my daughter hadn’t really liked. So I let her pick our next audio book, and try as I might not to label books “boy” and “girl” books, she usually wants a book with a female main character. So she picked Katie Kazoo, and though I found the story pretty average, Jane and my 3 boys seemed to enjoy it as well.

Just like some of the TV shows my boys would never pick on their own (Barbie and Sofia the First), they ended up enjoying these books that they probably wouldn’t pick up on their own to read.

So once we found some of Katie Kazoo’s books at the library, Jane wanted to check them out and read some more. And in my review on Goodreads, I actually mentioned this and predicted that I’d soon see my older sons (12 and 11) reading them as well.

And sure enough, Clark and Blake were both caught reading some of them. 🙂

Clark was a bit shocked when I took his picture to document it.

We also found that a series the boys have read before, George Brown Class Clown, is about the same characters from Katie Kazoo.

Both of these series by Nancy E. Krulik are recommended for 1st-3rd graders.

For our RecoMonday I have Jane’s favorite book from this past week. Bark, George by Jules Feiffer.

This is a book I read quite a bit to my boys when they were little. We checked it out from the library a lot because they liked it so much. I’ve never been able to find it at Goodwill though over the years, so we don’t own it. In fact, it’s been on my To Buy List for years.

Recently I checked it out again and I guess Jane had never read it before because she seemed completely enthralled. The minute we finished it she wanted to read it again.

It really is a fun book for ages 2-5. Definitely recommended.

Remember Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? That is an excellent book. My kids love it. And they love the other books in the series as well. (Though I just found out there is a 4th book about Alexander that came out in 2014; I’ve already put it on hold at the library.)

Well, the author of the Alexander books, Judith Viorst, has come up with another great series. This time it’s about a girl named Lulu and the books are slightly longer. Lulu wanders out into the forest and ends up finding a Brontosaurus, and the story that unfolds is quite entertaining.

I originally read this to my 6 year old son, who couldn’t wait to read it every night. So then I decided that it’d probably be a good chapter book for my 4 year old daughter to listen to as well. She still needs some pictures when we read and she really enjoyed it too.

I read Lulu and the Brontosaurus to them back in the fall, and then recently checked it out again so I could take a picture of it and recommend it. When Jane saw it today she told me that she wants to read it again.

So I’ll be reading this book for the 3rd time this week. You should check it out.

(We have read the other 2 Lulu books in the series and I don’t think they’re as good as this first one.)

My RecoMonday for this week is a recent Newbery Award Winner.  I read it in 2 days and could barely put it down.  The chapters are quick and short and leave it easy to keep reading.

Ada is a 9 year old girl who has never left her apartment.  Her mother is too embarrassed about her twisted foot.  She’s never been to school and everyone in town thinks there is something wrong with her mentally, but when all the kids are shipped out of town because of the war, Ada decides to sneak off with her little brother.

The story that unfolds is just excellent.  One of the best books I’ve read in a while.  The characters were real and Ada is a delightful girl who learns to trust others and herself.  Bradley’s writing was superb.  This book definitely deserves that gold sticker.

It was in the tween section at my library, but would still be a great book for an adult book club.  I gave it to my 11 year old son to read when I was done and he started ravenously reading it as well.  Recommended as a read-aloud for ages 8+, or as a great book for any adult to read.

In honor of Halloween, today I’ll recommend Jane’s very favorite Halloween picture book. We read this all the time.

James Stevenson is so clever.