Eleanor Says...Magic Tree House Edition IV

I started this feature in order to not only give children's books more time and space, but to hear from a child about the very books they should (or should not) be reading. Eleanor often pretends to be blogging on her own 'laptop' and I thought this would be a fun way to combine the two things I love most: my daughter, and books.

While I try not to blog too much while Eleanor and I are both home, she knows that I write about books I love and loathe, and that I have a blog. I asked if she would like to tell people what she thinks of kids' books, and if we could put her ideas on my blog too. She liked this idea a lot. I explained to Eleanor what the star-rating means, and that she can say anything she thinks about the book, that nothing is wrong; she can talk about things she did or did not like, as well as how the story made her feel. She now asks as soon as we finish a book if we can talk and write about it.

Here are Eleanor's thoughts on a few of our recent reads, straight out of her six-year-old brain:

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Eleanor Says: It made me really sad when the Titanic sank. But I am glad when Jack and Annie got saved by Teddy. It would have been scary to be on the ship and it makes me sad. I liked when Jack and Annie helped the girls and her brother.

Momma Says: It bothers me to no end that the ship was constantly referred to as 'the Titanic' and not simply 'Titanic'. Also, I would give this one five stars. Because, Titanic.

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Eleanor Says: I didn't like the saber tooth because it almost killed them. He looked slobbery on the cover. There was a blizzard and Jack and Annie were cold. They found coats in the cave of the family. I would make a snowman and have a snowball fight with my mom. They didn't have time to do that because the saber tooth wanted to eat them and they also had to find an M thing to break the spell on Morgan. I wouldn't want to live in a cave like the Cro-Magnon people because it would be dirty and there might be spiders living in there.

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Eleanor Says: The rain forest is intimidating because the vampire bats come out at night and suck blood. I wouldn't want to be in the rain forest at night with the bats. Jack and Annie didn't want to be there either. They tried to leave without the M thing, but couldn't find the Pennsylvania book. The monkey helped them by giving them a mango. I would like to talk to animals like Annie does. She knows what they are saying. I can speak cat. I would talk to the jaguar. Actually, I wouldn't because it would eat me.

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Eleanor Says: I really like books about ancient Egypt. The word ancient is weird. The cat helped Jack and Annie. The mummy was creepy because you could see part of Queen Hutepi's bones. Jack and Annie helped the queen's ghost find the way to the Book of the Dead. She needed it so she could go to the dead place. Jack and Annie got lost. The cat helped them get out of the pyramid.

Momma Says: By far one of Eleanor's favorites so far. She is on such an ancient Egypt kick and I love it, because it is one of my favorite topics too. I also love the complimentary non-fiction texts that go along with so many of the books in this series. We have a review coming up for the companion to this one soon!