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ABAW August Supplement: Kids' Books
Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 10:00AM I have given up trying to keep track of everything the kids have read, but here are some notable items from the past month.
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger. Dwight makes an origami Yoda. Yoda answers questions with special insight, even though his maker is clueless. How can this be? And how does this whole middle-school thing work anyway? Such a cool concept. Be sure to check out the website for the book, and vote for which figure should star in the sequel.
Zombiekins by Kevin Bolger, illus. Aaron Blecha. Anytime we come across a book that all three read with enthusiasm and giggles, we know we have a keeper. This is one of those books. The story of a patched-together stuffed animal that comes to life when exposed to moonlight, Zombiekins is creepy good fun. I still can’t get any of them to read Bunnicula. This is Bolger’s second hit in our house. You might recall the Sonar obsession a few months ago with Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger.
Palazzo Inverso by D. B. Johnson. A stunningly beautiful picture book that can be read in circles, or all along the bottom pages, then flipped over and read backwards along all the top pages. You can read the entire book at the author’s website, but there is real joy to manipulating the book in your hands.
The Widow’s Broom by Chris Van Allsburg. If you’ve read any Van Allsburg picture books, you know the art is always spectacular, and this one is no exception.
The Ultimate Origami Book by John Morin or Teach Yourself Origami by John Montroll. We had a bit of a paper plane and origami extravaganza going on around here all summer. Several origami books were dragged into and out of the house, but the Sonars tell me that these two were the best of the lot in terms of the clarity of the instructions and the number of figures they folded from each.
Good Poems edited by Garrison Keillor. Our bedtime-story routine goes like this: one kid chooses a picture book and a poem to read to the others, then I read a chapter out of a bigger book. They can choose anything they want that they are able to read themselves. We do not censor. The choices they make sometimes open up an opportunity for conversation. They usually choose a short poem, most frequently out of Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein or The Rattlebag, edited by Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes. But I also bring home poetry books from the library to mix it up a bit. The Good Poems collection is full of great stuff, grouped thematically. Imagine my surprise and giggles when a very earnest Sonar X7 recently read “Sonnet” by C. B. Trail out of the section called Lovers.
The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. Each Sonar has read at least one book from this series, and I’m sure that they will all read more. Sonar X7 is the leader here, working his way through much of the series over the past two months. The Winter Knights and Stormchaser were his favorite books this summer.
Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku. You might recognize Kaku from several television and radio appearances, most recently Discovery Science Channel’s Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible. Sonar X10 brought this one home, and though some of the science is above his head, he flipped through and browsed and read significant portions of it before handing it off to dad, who read the whole thing. Just so you know, the accepted definition of Anti-matter, matter moving backwards in time. You’re welcome.
The Dragon Codices. These are part of the Dragonlance universe of books. The codices are a series of middle-grade books focusing on different colored dragons. So far there are seven books, but ten are planned. If you’re interested, begin with the Red Dragon Codex. Bronze Dragon Codex was Sonar X5’s favorite book this summer.
What are they reading now?
Sonar X10 has just finished The Monsters of Morley Manor by Bruce Coville and has moved on to The Lost Years of Merlin by T. A. Barron.
Sonar X7 is reading The Hobbit.
Sonar X5 just finished Zombiekins and hasn’t chosen another book yet.
All-together we’re reading Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.
A Book A Week, Kids, Read Something, Sonars in Words 
Reader Comments (2)
Saw this from Google alerts. Glad SonarX5 loved BDC! :)
Cool! Author sighting! Sonars are geeked.