What We Are Reading

We went on a mini-vacation this week. The only books I took for Froggy were her Magic Treehouse books. These have become such an amazing addiction. She has even gotten me hooked enough that I chose the bedtime book (an unheard of liberty) so that I could finally find out what happened at the end of one adventure. Typically she will pick one of these when I offer to read to her and we run out of reading time before we are through with the book. She then goes off and finishes the book herself and chooses different book the next time I am available to read. I was getting tired of never seeing the end of a book.

She gets some strange looks and comments when we are out and about these days due to her addiction. Her reading has enabled her to be allowed places many children are not. Because I can reliably ask her to sit down and read her book while I have my meeting, she is allowed to come with me. And she does. She will happily sit in the corner for an hour or more as long as she has enough book to fill that time. She does not look up or engage the outside world until the story is over.

She has read all the Magic Treehouse we have or can scrounge from the library. I have tried to entice her with other series and stories of about the same reading level. She enjoyed Mouse and the Motorcycle but not enough that she wanted to read the other books. Not enough that she wanted to go back and read it again. Nothing is as captivating as Jack and Annie right now. I love variety so I want that for her yet I don't know how to bring it.

We do other books at bedtime frequently. This is when we do most of the picture books we read. The top picture book pick of the week is One Day At Woodgreen Animal Shelter. Patricia Casey does a great job making the animal shelter come alive. The book is a realistic depiction of what happens during a day at the shelter. She combines drawing with scrapbook styled photographs to bring a bit of reality into the book. I really liked that is showed how much work and how many people it takes to care for the animals.