Books We Love (Kids Reading List)

My older daughter has a New Year's resolution to read fifty (50) books this year, and I thought it would be fun to share her progress and some of her favorites with our loyal Roxiticus Desperate Housewives readers. She asked for books and more books for Christmas, and Santa and her family all delivered….about 85 books in all. We have spent quite a bit of time computerizing a reading list for her and organizing them on the bookshelves in her room. After filling the shelves, my daughter's room, just like mine, is overflowing with stacks and stacks of books. I thought it would be fun if she wrote a little book report/review of each one to help her track her reading progress throughout the year 2008 and beyond….she thinks "not so much." Like mother, like daughter….perhaps you've noticed that I am better at making lists than telling stories.

Speaking of lists, here are some of our favorite chapter book series:

• We discovered the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne at the planetarium at the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill. The planetarium and Mary Pope Osborne had created a planetarium show based on Jack and Annie, the main characters from the Magic Tree House books.
  
• In September, we started borrowing the A to Z Mystery series by Ron Roy from the school library, and we've almost made it through the alphabet. Like grown-up mysteries, these books are page turners but probably can't be read twice by the same person because knowing whodunit spoils the fun. The first graders frequently have an A to Z Mystery contest in which each kid checks out an A to Z Mystery and they keep track of who finishes first.
  
• A much smaller series is Sleepover Squad by P.J. Denton. So far only four books are out: Sleeping Over, Camping Out, The Trouble with Brothers, and Keeping Secrets, with Pony Party! due out in May 2008.
  

One mom suggested using movie tie-ins to get a recalcitrant reader interested in books, so here are a few we've enjoyed:

• We've read The Field Guide, which is the first book in The Spiderwick Chronicles. We have not seen the movie yet, so I can't offer a movie review, and can't tell you whether the movie is based on the first book or a combination of all of the books.
• No reading list would be complete without Harry Potter. We have read the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and seen the first four movies on DVD. The first book and movie seemed magical to me, but I can feel them growing darker as Harry and his mates get older, so we may put J.K. Rowling on hold for a few years while my daughter's maturity catches up with her reading level.
• I enjoyed Harriet the Spy as a child, and I read the book to my girls and we've also seen the movie on DVD. I learned at Christmastime that Louise Fitzhugh also wrote a bunch more books based on Harriet and Sport, so we own them all but haven't read the sequels yet.
• You'll find Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy on the Roxiticus Desperate Housewives' adult reading list, but I'm not sure my kids are ready for the books or the movie yet. The Golden Compass comes out on DVD in April, and I will pre-screen it for my kids and my loyal readers.
• How could I forget the Chronicles of Narnia? I read all seven books to my girls when they were much younger, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (now available on DVD) was the first movie we ever saw together in the theatre.

Prince Caspian is coming to theatres on May 16th, 2008.