the moments in between

on the shelf : percy jackson

(i kinda dropped this feature over the holidays + cha rush - but i'm excited to be bringing it back into rotation. i love looking back at the older posts i've done and remembering what i've read w/ the boys)

the percy jackson series by rick riordan : the lightning thief, the sea of monsters, the titan's curse, the battle of the labyrinth & the last olympian

alex picked the first percy jackson up through a book order. rick riordan wrote a couple of the 39 clues books, so i figured he was a safe bet to help alex branch out to a new series. he finished it and had us at the library collecting the second one in no time.

the basic premise of this series is that percy jackson discovers he's a half blood - his father is a greek god, his mother is a mortal.  the greek gods are alive and well, and apparently friendly with the mortals, because there's a whole camp full of half bloods who spend their lives plagued by monsters trying to kill them. through out the series, there are several threats against percy and all of mortal civilization, and he and his half blood friends have to make things right.

it's a really well written series.  it doesn't talk down, but is still age appropriate. i picked up the first book after alex, because we like to read what they're reading from time to time - and i was sucked in. alex and i ended up fighting over final book last week - luckily he's not very good at hiding things. ;) we redboxed the movie one weekend and both alex and ben loved it - so we've started reading the series together at night.  we're halfway through the sea of monsters.

the coolest part about this is that the bigs are now totally into learning about greek mythology. having a solid knowledge of those stories will definitely serve them well in lit classes in the future. 

currently reading : 

alex - the lost hero, rick riordan (this is a new series that happens after the percy jackson books. he's keeping it at school so i can't finish it before him. hmph)

ben - miss holly is too jolly, dan gutman (i've gotta get this boy to read books that AREN'T weird school daze or captain underpants. sigh)

sam - great big book of spacey snakey buggy riddles, simms taback

on the shelf : little tree

little tree - poem by ee cummings, story & art by chris rashka

i'm taking on the shelf in a bit of a different direction today - i wanted to share one of my favorite christmas books from our collection. i added this book to our shelves a couple years back after my friend mel posted about it, and i'm oh so glad i did.  it makes me smile each time i pull it out.

the story is based on a poem by ee cummings (i've added the orignal work below), and starts with a little tree growing in a forest. he finds his way into the little big city, where a little family finds him and takes him home. the writing is simple and lilting, and the illustrations are amazing. this book won a 2006 caldecott but now seems to be out of print - there are variations on amazon by other authors, but i recommend tracking this one down.

little tree
little silent Christmas tree
you are so little
you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest
and were you very sorry to come away?
see   i will comfort you
because you smell so sweetly

i will kiss your cool bark
and hug you safe and tight
just as your mother would,
only don't be afraid

look   the spangles
that sleep all the year in a dark box
dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,
the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,

put up your little arms
and i'll give them all to you to hold
every finger shall have its ring
and there won't a single place dark or unhappy

then when you're quite dressed
you'll stand in the window for everyone to see
and how they'll stare!
oh but you'll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take hands
and looking up at our beautiful tree
we'll dance and sing
"Noel Noel"

-ee cummings

currently reading : 

alex : the complete far side by gary larson

ben : captain underpants by dav pilkey

sam : the polar express by chris van allsburg

(ps : i'm working on my december daily today - look for an update tomorrow. happy thursday!)

on the shelf : the mysterious benedict society

 

the mysterious benedict society by trenton lee stewart

this series was my first adventure into reading longer books to the bigs - they all weigh in around 500 pages. i sprung it on them - i had noticed it recommended in national geographic kids (they LOVE this mag - it's arrival is much anticipated) and thought it looked like something they would enjoy.

they were dubious at first. especially ben. books thing long don't get going all that quickly - and we only average 30 or so pages a night. and a 500 page book doesn't get very far in 30 pages - it's all intro, character development and setup. ben wasn't buying it, and declared it boring.  i had to cajole him into continuing.

on the second or third night, they REALLY got into it. anticipating what would happen next, protesting when we had to stop reading - they were caught in the story.  the language was a little over ben's head at times, but he was good about stopping me to ask what a word or phrase meant. as soon as we finished book one we dove into the second one, the perilous journey, and then had to waaaaaaaaaaaait for the last one, the prisoner's delimma.

these books, in short, are about four children with remarkable talents - all of whom are alone in the world, for one reason or another. they're brought together by a cryptic newspaper ad, and find themselves infiltrating a school run by an evil genius. it's their job to take him down before he brainwashes the world. they're well written, and even i looked forward to picking it up each night. i also totally loved the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter - they look to be pen and ink drawings, and are wonderfully quirky. 

currently reading : 

alex : say hello to cactus flats by bill amend

ben : the extraordinary adventures of ordinary boy by william boniface

sam : cat the cat who is that? by mo willems

******

it's friday!  YAY! i'm starting it with a diet coke, baked goods and friends. perfection, if you ask me. =) hope yous is great as well!

on the shelf : Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems

we're big pigeon fans here.  BIG.  we love the books. all of them. we even follow the pigeon on twitter. we <3 him, through and through.

this book seems simple on the first flip through. simple drawings, simple words, simple concepts. but as you read it again (and again and again and again) you realize that it's brilliant.  the illustrations show subtle changes as the pigeon goes through his range of emotions.  the words were meant to be read aloud - they invite you to beg and plead and even yell at the top of your lungs.  and the concepts?  totally capture a preschoolers point of view. it's the kind of book you won't mind reading for the 10zillionth time.  which is good.  because you'll definitely be reading it that often.

currently reading :

alex : alcatraz vs the knights of crystallia by brian sanderson (yep, he's plugging through these.  now we're held up - number 4 doesn't come out till 12.1! he's already on the hold list at the library)

ben : diary of a wimpy kid by jeff kinney

sam : can i play too? by mo willems

on the shelf : nate the great

nate the great : marjorie weinman sharmat

this is the series that got ben out of easy readers and into chapter books. we had a lot of trouble finding anything that caught his attention enough to make him TRY chapter books - he had basically nixed any series that alex had liked based on, well, the fact that alex liked it. ;) after talking to his 1st grade teacher at conferences, i went to the library and scoured the beginning chapter book shelves and brought home a stack for him to sort through. 

these books are under 100 pages and have some illustrations, so they're a nice starting point for kids new to reading chapter books on their own. the prose is tight and concise - it tells the story without a lot of extra description, but doesn't skimp on humor. the stories are clever and not cloying - and once you've read a few books at this level, you'll learn that's a rarity. ;)

nate the great is a pint sized detective who does he best thinking in front of a plate of pancakes. his friends call on him with all sorts of mysteries - and he always saves the day.  he also always leaves his mom a note letting her know what he's up to - gotta love a boy with manners. ;)

currently reading : 

alex : alcatraz vs the scrivener's bones : brandon sanderson

ben : wayside school is falling down : louis sachar

sam : can i play too? : by mo willems 

in other news : sam started throwing up again last night. we're back on the couch, watching curious george. we had a long, looooooooooooong night but he woke up asking for OJ and waffles. um, no.  we went with a slightly blander breakfast and we'll see how he does with it. i'm glad i got a lot accomplished yesterday - thinking that WON'T be the case today.

happy thursday!  hope yours is off to a better start. ;)

on the shelf : NERDS

(so. i've got three boys. we read together.  they read alone (well, the oldest two do). when they started reading, i wasn't sure what books might catch them at the library - my favorites were all decidedly girlish. we've also struggled with keeping their above grade level skills challenged while keeping the subject matter age appropriate. and we find that they'll read and reread the same books and authors - sometimes they need a little shove to move on to something new! i've had some fellow mamas of boys asking for book suggestions, and i thought this would be a fun way to share our favorites and record what we're reading.)

NERDS : National Espionage, Rescue and Defense Society & NERDS 2 : M is for Mama's Boy by Michael Buckley

long story short - NERDS is about a group of awkward kids that have been "upgraded" with computers to become secret agents - because who expects a kid to be a spy? it's got gadgets, bad guys, and saving the world - and a fair amount of tongue in cheek humor. my boys are spy obsessed, so kid spies = super cool.

i originally picked up NERDS at the library as a book for alex to read alone. at 352 pages, it's a fairly sizeable book and while he's generally drawn to shorter novels, i'd been trying to push him towards books that fit more in the grade 5-7 catagory. once i read the cover flap and scanned the first chapter, i knew this one would be a hit.   i showed it to him and he added it to his checkout stack.

once alex had read it (and ended up buying a copy the next time he had book money), i read it to both the boys.  ben isn't quite ready to tackle books of this size alone, but i knew he'd enjoy it, too. we're reading the second book now & loving it just as much as the first.

what they're currently reading : 

alex (9) : the capture (guardians of ga'houle book 1) by kathryn lasky & alcatraz vs the evil librarians by brandon sanderson

ben (7) : mrs patty is batty by dan gutman

sam (3) : russell and the lost treasure by rob scotton

on a less book-ish note : i have to admit that i was nervous when facing a day of not quite better alex and just started throwing up sam. but having alex home totally worked out in my favor. he was feeling well enough to play video games, which took the edge off sam's neediness. and to make the day go a little smoother, i found a neighbor who could pick ben up at school - i'd been worried about putting sam in the car, for obvious reasons!!

and to add a little happy to MY day yesterday- the man in brown stopped by with a big box from studio calico. i did a little (ahem) christmas shopping for myself when i ordered my december kit - i couldn't resist picking up another receipt holder, as well as two in the smaller size. i love the one in my scrap room - i'm planning on using the other large one by the front door and the smaller ones in the kitchen. they'll be perfect for corralling all the odd bits that we can never find when we need them!

alex is back to school today - still not eating quite normally, but i'm hoping he'll make it through the day.  sam is half awake on the couch next to me - he's still miserable. =( we're currently working through all of the curious georges on the tivo - why oh why doesn't someone explain to bill that george is a monkey?? ok, scratch that, sam is not half awake, he's totally asleep.  i'd better sneak off and try to get something done while i have the chance!  happy thursday!