Free Help: Improving Your Child's Reading (and Learning) Habits

If you've ever wanted to explain subject and predicate agreement to an impatient elementary school student, have I got some sympathy for you!

I also have a website to recommend: K12Reader Reading Instruction Resources for Teachers & Parents.

In addition to simple instructions and free worksheets (with answer keys) the site also includes reading recommendations, by grade, as well as more than 20 book award lists, from Caldecotts to Golden Kites and a few I'd never heard of.

Have fun with that reading, grammar, and spelling homework. Just remember to let your kids do some of it...

~Diane Stresing

Just take those old books off the shelf...

...with apologies to Bob Seger (and anyone who has ever heard me sing) I was repeating that little tune the other day as we strolled out of the library, a pile of "new" books tucked under our arms. "We" consisted of a recent graduate of the second grade and myself. For him, Daniel Handler's series of unfortunate events are all-new. For me (donning sheepish look) it's Primary Colors. Seems appropriate in this ridiculous election year, don'tcha think?

A Sweet Hippo and the Nose that Didn't Smell So Good

Based on title alone, I thought that Tony Payne's picture book Hipponotumus would be funnier than it was. Ah, but picture books are not written for 40-something moms so much as for 4-year-olds. And mine loved it.

So I'll admit I'm not a picture book expert, and frankly, I'm not reading many books from the grown-up shelves lately either. Maybe I'm going soft, maybe I'm just making bad picks.

The last book I didn't finish was What the Nose Knows, about the science of smell. Yes, I know it sounds geeky, but I like to think I'm as geeky as the next guy/girl; the subject fascinates me and the book was very well researched. It just didn't tell a story.

Folks, non-fiction does NOT have to be dry. I actually enjoyed a rather long historical nonfiction work about the history of the color red. It sounds drier than burnt toast, but the author told a great story throughout the book. Alas, the nose didn't know enough about creative nonfiction to pull off a similar feat.

Amazon Reviews and the Truth

I get sucked in by Amazon reader reviews - and I know better!

I don't "surf" much, but when I do, I'm likely to be found sifting through the pages at the amazin' Amazon of a bookstore. (Yes, I prefer REAL bookstores, but I'm stuck in front of a computer a lot.)

I love the convenience - Amazon has been able to deliver a few titles my library can't! - but I do make some mistakes. For example, I fell for great reviews, including one in an in-flight magazine, of Pete Dexter's Paper Trails.

I admit I fell for the catchy subtitle (True Stories of Confusion, Mindless Violence, and Forbidden Desires, a surprising number of which are not about marriage). I also love essays - good ones - and I thought the award-winning author and former Philadephia newspaper columnist would have a nice collection. There were a few gems, but overall, I found the lot uneven and uninspired. Sigh.

Guess it's back to Barbara Kingsolver for me.

And back to Amazon...

I'm sold on the site, for several reasons - including the various means of delivery offered by the giant e-tailer.

For example, Amy Friedman's collections of stories for preschoolers, Tell Me a Story and Tell Me a Story 2: Animal Magic can be purchased on CD or as MP3 downloads.

And speaking of these stories, they really do deserve the good reviews they've gotten. A friend of mine who teaches preschool (3-4 year olds) says her kids beg for them.

How 'bout you? Can you spout off about a book that didn't deserve the marketing hype or the reviews it got? Or, can you point out a little-known, wonderfully written book that was largely overlooked?

Just finished reading about the Invisible Man

Correction - make that, the invisible young adult. Bobby Phillips, to be precise. He's the main character in Andrew Clements' Things Not Seen - it's a great read.

Things... was the first of Clements' books that I've read. As an adult, at least. I love Young Adult, or YA literature - in spite of the fact I'm a not-so-young adult myself. I just had to finish Things because (1) it was a great story and (2) Team of Rivals, all 912 pages of it, is taunting me from the kitchen countertop. I've got another week before the library will want it back. Ah ... so many books, so little time.

And then there's my stack o' mags. Popular Science. Discover. National Geographic. PC Magazine. National Geographic Kids. Highlights. My Big Backyard. Well, what did you expect from an admitted lover-of-kid-lit? Call me young at heart.

This blog is a place for me to blather about books and magazines - and I hope you'll join in. Otherwise, it'll just be my online reading list. Which is OK, but borrrrrr-ing!

So ... read any good books lately?