Books Books Everywhere.....

But nothin' good to read. At least nothing that hasn't already been read, and in some cases, re-read.





Okay, so I never got around to the "Summer Reading" post that I eluded to a while back. Yeah, well. I was inspired by my friend Significant Source, when she posted about summer reading on her blog. But, it just never happened.

I can't imagine why. Ahem......5 kids + 6 cousins + 1 friend of a cousin + revolving front door + trip to Chicago + Swim team = wild and crazy summer with very little blogging time! Oh well.

It isn't because we don't read. Trust me.

I was a "late bloomer", a "reluctant reader" .....okay, I failed my pre-primer in first grade. Whatever. I caught on eventually, and I remember going to the library with my Mom and Grandma in the summer and bringing back stacks of books to read. I loved going places in those books! I loved that it was like a movie playing in my head!

Now, required reading, that was another story. Ahem.

To this day, I'm happiest if I have a good book going. Sometimes, I have two or three! So, of course I hoped to pass this love for print on to my offspring! My children's book collection was ample before my children began to arrive on the scene. It helped that I was a kindergarten teacher and could collect said books and call it "a business expense". Ha! If only the IRS had allowed that....but, I digress.

We read to Lizzie a lot. We read to the boys a lot! We read to Isabel......okay, things got a little more complicated when we added another kid. We slacked off some. Yes, go ahead. Play her some violin music.....and now she's really pathetic, because she's *gasp* a middle child!

But, we've seen the error of our ways. We are reading to her a lot now, and Claire too! And our kids LOVE books!

The boys, like me were not early readers. But, once they acquired the skill, they ran with it! They raced through the simpler chapter books like the first 12 Magic Tree House books and got bored easily. And, once they got the hang of reading, THEY HAD TO HAVE A BOOK TO READ. Because, they like to read. They like to read a lot.

All. The. Time.

They follow behind me in W@lmart with a book to their noses. They sit in food courts and read when I let them. They read in the car, no matter how long or short the trip is. They read at the pool. They read at the beach. They read every where except church....but, they've asked. THEY ASK FOR BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS.....it's that serious, people!

Yup, they are avid readers. It's official. And, these pictures I've been showing you are not of our children's book collection. They are of the boy's collection of chapter books.

I'm thinking we could start our own library pretty soon!

And, they don't just read, they devour books. It takes less time for them to read a book than it takes for me to find them something else to read! I'm having trouble keeping up. Coincidentally, that is what reminded me to write this post. I've run out of things for them to read and they have one book left....which they are both trying to read. At the same time. As you can imagine, that is not going well!

Here's the rub. I'm very picky about what they read. *gasp*. I know you never saw that coming.

O be careful little eyes what you see
O be careful little eyes what you see
There's a Father up above
And He's looking down in love
So, be careful little eyes what you see

I take my job seriously. Proverbs 22:6

So, for a while now, a lot, but not all, of their books have come from Christian sources. Especially since they love fantasy so much and you never know what might be lurking in some of today's secular fantasy.

Now, you may think that that is going a tad overboard.

I'm okay with that.

So, what are some of the boy's favorites through the years? Well, interestingly enough, they just got finished reading, and loved, the Rick Riordan series that starts with The Lightning Thief. This is a secular series, but it was recommended by trusted sources. I first saw it referenced on my friend's blog and she was right. They thoroughly enjoyed it and learned some Greek Mythology while they were at it! Homeschooling moms love to slip school in when children least suspect it!

Most of their favorites have been Christian Fantasy though. They have read and re-read books from the Donita K. Paul Dragon Keeper series: Dragon Spell, Dragon Quest, Dragon Knight, Dragon Fire. Then there is the Oracles of Fire and Dragons in our Mists books. Both series are by Bryan Davis and both boys really enjoyed these immensely. As a matter of fact, the boys name The Dragons in our Mist as an all time favorite and then Oracles of Fire. In Parker's top 10 favorites is The Door Within series by Wayne Thomas Batson. Noah says they are all so good, but if he had to choose favs, he picks those too and, The Wormling series by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry and Isle of Sword and Isle of Fire by Wayne Thomas Batson. Oh, and he doesn't want me to forget to mention, The Way of The Wilderking series by Jonathan Rogers! Really, they have so many books that they love.

They have also read classics like The Swiss Family Robinson, Julie of the Wolves, Crispin, The Hobbit.....the list is sooooo long.

But, we are struggling right now to find good, safe reads. I ran across The Mysterious Benedict Society the other day at the library, but unfortunately, the librarian or Media Specialist as I guess they are called now, could not tell me if they would be a good fit for our family. She did however, turn me onto some websites that review books.

If you are looking for clean reads for kids or adults, check out Homespun Light. It was formally Clean Reads but moved to this new blog. Reading to Know is another blog that I have used recently.

As for The Mysterious Benedict Society, based on knowledge gleaned from these blogs, I decided it was a go. But, we decided it might be cool to read it as a family, rather than the boys reading it alone. So, I still have the problem that they need some new books to read NOW.

Any recommendations?