Book Series for Early Readers

I'm in agony right now, the kind caused by wanting to finish a book and not being able to.  We have a budding reader in this house who while he enjoys me reading to him prefers not to read himself.  To entice him into more reading I picked up two different series.  The first was Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.  We've read ten chapters as a family and I'm hooked, the kind where you want to finish all three books in a weekend.  BUT I CAN'T.  First and foremost, I'm suppose to be finishing packing up my house before I leave for vacation and our big move.  The house is in complete shambles, and me hiding in a corner isn't going to help.  Secondly, when I did sneak off to a corner to read I got caught, once by Dr. J and once by Little E.  Both gave me a tongue lashing about reading without them...and so I'm stuck, stuck at the pace of three chapters a night, all we can squeeze in as we prepare to move.  The story is a pure delight, it follows the orphan boy Peter on his way to Rundoon to be the slave of a King, the villainous pirate Stache chasing down the "greatest treasure ever sent to sea", and the 14 year old heroine Molly, because sometimes you want a girl around for more than romance and fluff.  The dialogue is fun and the pace is fast.  There is the occasional innuendo that make Dr. J and I raise our eyebrows and laugh but so far the action and plot are very age appropriate for our children.  This series is a joy to read out loud and I can't wait for vacation so I can finish it.  

The other series I picked up was the part of the Magic Tree house.  This follows the adventures of a brother/sister pair who travel through books in a magic tree house to learn about history and the world.  The negative, the plots are exceptionally repetitive.  As a parent, they can get so boring.  The positive, the plots are exceptionally repetitive :)  Great for early, developing readers.  There is a picture probably every fourth or fifth page and even Gigi and Peach enjoy walking around with these, flipping through for pictures "reading".  Not as fun as Starcatcher, but definitely have their place.  

The Appeal - John Grisham

John Grisham and I have a love hate relationship. He brought me to my favorite genera...mystery/thriller. He avoids graphic descriptions of sex. His main characters are exceptionally likable. They are deeply flawed but at the core are good and when push comes to shove they make the right choice. That being said, his endings are always rubbish as if he ran out of steam and just went for the safe ending and his last few books just haven't done it for me. Surprisingly this latest was one of my favorites. It follows a supreme court campaign, bought by big business trying to have an torte legal case overthrown. There was enough here that was believable that I just couldn't help but think, are we honestly allowing people to vote for supreme court judges, people who can and often are swayed by money, money that the supreme court has voted can still be poured into campaigns. It seems like it would be to easy to manipulate, but it turns out it is fairly common, 22 states: Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin. Not the best book I've ever read but probably worth it for the crazy conspiracy theories it got going.

How To Ditch Your Fairy - Justine Larbalestier

I loved this story. Charlie is 14, in a sports centered middle school, and has an "always find a great parking spot fairy." What she really covets is "find great clothes fairy" or an "all the boys like you fairy". Charlie hates cars and a life time of being dragged along on trips hasn't improved her opinion. She decides to wait her fairy out to get a new fairy and mayhem ensues. This story was short and sweet and filled with tons of totally cute Australian sayings. ADORABLE!!!!

Ape House - Sara Gruen

Sometimes you read a book and think, "Hello Brilliant. How did they think of that?" That's how I felt about Water for Elephants. I was hoping to feel that magic again. Ape House just didn't have it. Ironically a portion of the book is dedicated to a character who is an author and is struggling with book sales. Self fulfilling prophecy? Who knows. Basic story line...a reporter visits a monkey facility, connects with the monkeys and their scientist keeper, facility is blown up, monkeys get sold to a reality show guy, scientist tries to get monkeys back with reporters help. It was slow, the character's were unlikable, the plot was unbelievable but two boring to make me want to look past that. Water for Elephants is the more enjoyable choice.

The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman

When the movie came out of this book I watched it along with millions of other people. The movie follows the book remarkable well. Young orphan girl lives in a male college under the protection of the scholars. It is a world very much like or own but one substantial difference is that souls exist outside the body in the form of an animal companion that can converse. The girl is restless and when a glamerous woman comes to the college and ask her to be her personal assistant she jumps at the chance. She finds herself looking for her best friend, running from her mother, hanging out with a talking bear, and looking for dust, a mysterious substance that covers most adults. I really enjoyed this book.

Mission to the Moon - Alan Dyer

The librarian's at my local library are the best.  I recently went in and said, "What do you do about kids who don't want to read on their own."  E man just doesn't make sense to me.  He loves to have me read to him, he will begrudgingly read to me, but when it comes to on his own reading, for the most part he is uninterested.  For me it was a total shock!  I love reading and even as a young child would take a whole pile of books into my room for alone time.  G bear is the same as me.  She'll sit on the couch for an hour just flipping though books.  If she knows the story she may mumble it under her breathe, but she is also content just to look.  That makes sense to me.  No alone reading doesn't.  So I asked the librarian for some suggestions.  She offered cartoon books and then also non-fictions on topics he's interested in.  The first one she picked up, Mission to the Moon.  Ironically just the week before we'd been in Houston, Texas at the Space Center.  The information is presented in short fact with lots of pictures...amazing pictures!!!!  The history is amazing.  There was stuff to learn even for these parents....like did you know this picture famous picture is actually Buzz Aldrin.  I've seen this picture many times in my life and always assumed it was Neil Armstrong.  He may have been the first man on the moon but he had a partner, and that partner snapped this shot of his own footprint.  Crazy.  Anyway both kids loved it and so did their mom.

Mission to the Moon - Definitely Recommend

Three By the Sea - Edward Marshall

With a first grader in the house we are doing a lot of easy readers.  This one was extremely popular with the kids.  The words were all easy so my young reader didn't get discouraged but it introduced the ideas of chapters and pages with just text.  The story is silly but cute for kids. 

Three By The Sea- Recommend for an early reader.

The Body Finder - Kimberly Derting

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting, Violet Ambrose has be able to sense murdered things since childhood. Dead squirrels, dead birds, dead bunnies, and oh yeah dead people. She can also smell murders. As a teenager this "gift", this "curse", this "existence" comes into play when a serial killer starts using her town as a hunting ground and grave yard Violet's skill goes into overdrive. Add in a best friend who doesn't know he is a lover interest and you have a nice teen mystery/suspense/drama.

Supernaturalist - Eoin Colfer

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer. Up until the latest Artemis Fowl book I was a huge Eoin Colfer fan. His books are funny, quirky, and quick, a nice break from creepy mysteries. Unfortunately this early work is not nearly as fun. A futuristic time, an orphan, a global business conspiracy, it could have been good. Unfortunately the characters are underdeveloped, the story a little pieced together, and then at the end I just didn't care. I was glad it read fast. Thank goodness!

The Boy Who Could Fly - James Norcliffe

The Boy Who Could Fly, James Norcliffe. Michael or red is an unwanted lving in a home for abandoned children. One day he sees a weird boy, a boy with wings on his back who can fly. The boy, who calls himself the loblolly boy tells Red he can teach him to fly, give him wings to leave the prison of orphanage he has spent his whole life in. Michael finds that freedom isn't always what it seems, that there is a price to pay for every action in life. While not the most exciting book I've ever read it is a decent quick read.

The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman - I've been meaning to read this series for years, probably since before the movie came, yet I've never gotten around to it. This November while hubby was in Portland he stumbled into a fun little book store with shelves stuffed with both used and new books. Somehow he stumbled upon the series. He bought all three and presented them as early birthday gifts. I thoroughly enjoyed this first book. The movie follows the story almost exactly so if you've seen it you know the book. These books exist in an alternate history of the world where people carry their souls outside of their body in the form of animals. Lyra the young protagonist is an orphan growing up with little supervision in an all male college. One day she decides to spy on the master of the college and finds herself swept up in a political game. There have been some efforts to ban the this book because of negative references to "the church". Pullman probably is making some social commentary. For me it is a non issue. I did happen to find some issue with the basic "rules" of the story but I read it for entertainment, and entertaining is how I found it.

Elizabeth George - This Body of Death

Elizabeth George - This Body of Death. I love Elizabeth George the way I love John Grisham. As he introduced me to mystery, Elizabeth introduced me to English mystery. It was a love at first sight. After her first book I read every English/Irish mystery I could get my hands on. Like most relationships though this one has lost it's shine. All my favorite characters are still here. Lynley, Havers, Winston. The dynamics between them are the reason I read. The mystery itself a little ridiculous. The lush new boss brought in so that Lynley can get back on his woman loving groove, absolutely horrible! I guess I'm in these books for the long haul, until someone dies but it has gotten to the point where they actually pain me to read.