Each month Eleanor and I share the chapter books we read. We've been reading chapter books since before Kindergarten and her attention span as a four year old was definitely something to brag about. Eleanor was born a reader and that makes my heart so, so happy.
I am making a couple changes because Eleanor is becoming a more independent reader at home. She has no problem plowing through books at school, but at home she prefers I read to her while she is drawing, painting, working on a science project, etc. Plus, who doesn't also love being read to at bedtime?
Currently Reading Together
Read Together
Currently Reading Independently*
*Eleanor has begun reading more than one book at a time. I can't imagine where she got that idea from.
Eleanor's Independent Reads
Do the kiddos in your life have an interest in any of these?
Our reading has slowed a bit for a couple reasons: the first being that we are reading longer books together now, but she is also reading and re-reading longer books on her own. The second is that we are in the midst of dance season and have done four competitions already since February. Two left, one in April and one in May. This kiddo of mine is KILLING it, both in her solo AND group routines. I can't wait to share (if Eleanor wants me to) at the end of the season.
Happy Reading,
Eleanor and Sarah
Detectives, disasters & ghosts... The phrase about apples not falling far from tress comes to mind! [lol] I'm in two minds about the Enola Holmes books. Are they any good? The Wollstonecraft detective books look interesting. Presumably Mary & friend and spooky goings on?
ReplyDeleteLol, you are not wrong on that, for sure! Maybe those topics are ust hardwired into her brain at this point, given that those are the kinds of books she's been surrounded by since birth.
DeleteWe LOVE Enola Holmes. She is clever and outwits her brothers every chance she gets, especially Mycroft who wants to send her away to a boarding school when their mother disappears. Sherlock and Mycroft have their shitty attitudes about women of course, but that slowly erodes over the course of the series when they see just how capable Enola is of caring for herself. The one we read just recently is the first new Enola book in ten years, which is exciting because we love her adventures. it is also kind of a bummer because the original 'last' book wrapped up so well and ended with Sherlock saying that he could not wait to see what his sister did next.
As for the Wollstonecraft books, I am kind of divided on them myself. The language is not accurate for the period, in the early 1800s. The author explained why he took some liberties messing with the ages/timeline of the main characters, Ada Byron and Mary Wollstonecraft (the younger) - considering the fact that they were something like 15 years apart, instead of only 3 in the book. Percy Shelley (under a pseudonym) is hired as Ada's tutor to keep an eye on Ada, as he had promised her father Lord Byron that he would do. Mary is sent to Marylebone daily to take lessons from 'Peebs' as Ada calls him. They decide to form a detective agency and name it after Mary's mother. In the second book Allegra (Ada's half sister who actually died at age five, but again the author noted her took liberties with ages and timelines) and Mary's sister Jane join them in their pursuit of solving crimes. Charles Dickens is a child in the story as well, who occasionally helps the girls on their cases. I have a hard time with it primarily because of how inaccurate the language is. In the first book the girls say they are working on a "school project" in order to get access to their suspects. It's just very inauthentic. I keep reminding myself it is for upper elementary kids, but given how fantastically Enola Holmes is written for the period she "lived" in, it is hard to continue reading sometimes.
The only 'experience' I have with Enola is Youtube clips from the recent Netflix movie. They looked fun... If the author 'messed with' so much in the Wollstonecraft books I'd find it VERY difficult to read on. Obviously the whole thing is fantastical but still....!
DeleteI've not watched the movie yet, though Eleanor may have at her dad's. Enola is very independent and the idea of her getting married in the movie truly pisses me off. That's not in her character at all, and time and again we are reminded of her mother's words, "You will do well on your own". And Enola backwards is alone. So...But I am sure I will see it at some point.
DeleteEleanor doesn't mind the Wollstonecraft series nearly as much as I do, but she even notices things that seem off. We may finish the other two in the series, but have started something else instead, the second book in the Myrtle Hardcastle series, which we LOVE, and is true to the period it is set in.
I really am not up to date with childrens' books anymore but it looks like Eleanor is growing into oldern ones slowly but surely.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, for sure! We've found so many great middle grade books and series that she loves, despite being only eight.
DeleteMy kids were early readers. My eldest read "The Lord of the Rings" when he was eleven and many subsequent novels by JRR Tolkien.
DeleteEleanor was an early reader too, which will not surprise you. For her free book pick last summer for the library's summer reading program, she chose The Diary of Anne Frank. One of the librarians started to recommend something else but a swift side-eye and shake of my head stopped them.
DeleteNope, not surprised at all. And well done, Mum. Though I can understand the librarian, some parents can get very upset about what their kids are reading, even if they chose it themselves.
DeleteOh, for sure! But that will never be me. I've let Eleanor choose her own books for ages, but we still find ones together we think she would enjoy. And as a kid who read To Kill a Mockingbird as an almost sixth grader, I have no room to be telling her what she is and is not ready for! Of course I would not just hand her the book and send her on her way. We've read the Who was Anne Frank, and will be reading the books from that series about WWII and The Holocaust. I've been giving her context for a while, helping her to understand in pieces what happened. Someday when she is ready, we will go to DC to see The Holocaust Museum, and then we will go to Poland and Auschwitz.
DeleteThat is probably why she wanted to read it. You prepared her for that and I believe all kids should know about it. There are far too many adults who ignore anything that happened in WWII, in all the countries. We need educated children for a better future. You are doing a great job.
DeleteThank you! I've not gone into too many details yet about the camps themselves, but we have talked about how Anne and her family were discovered and sent to camps, where all died except her father. I don't understand the lack of knowledge about this, and how Holocaust deniers have ever managed to even gain a foothold. It's disgusting. The Nazis were meticulous about their records, and we have so many of them. It is not up for debate.
DeleteI don't think we need to go into the details too early in their lives. They have enough imagination anyway. My parents used to say they had no idea these camps even existed as it was well hidden by the Nazis and news like that didn't reach their little villages. However, they all knew that nothing good happened to those who were sent away, Jews or others who didn't fit into the Nazi image because "none of them ever returned".
DeleteAnd Eleanor certainly has tons of THAT! But it is important to set a solid foundation so there is no room for confusion or misunderstanding. I can definitely see how smaller towns and villages would have no idea the camps existed, especially if they were more remote. But as you said, everyone knew it was nothing good, whatever was happening.
DeleteBack then they were very remote. No internet. Often no radio. And if you listened to BBC, you could get arrested, as well.
DeleteExactly. It was illegal to have radios for so many and you definitely did not want ot be caught listening to anything but Nazi propaganda
DeleteThey would ask little kids in school about the news they parents listened to. If they recognized BBC, that was that.
DeleteYep. I can't imagine living with that kind of fear all the time.
DeleteAnd yet there are so many people on this earth where that still is the case.
DeleteExactly.
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