Hello again, sorry for the long delay. We’ll be back even better than ever with our newly updated website and new posts(soon).

http://www.elmstreetbooks.com/book/9780316356541 A friend recommended this book to me.  She did warn me that it was intense.  It is very well written.  Kate Fagan tries to understand what was happening to Maddy through texts, social media posts and talking with her friends and family.  Nobody will ever know what was happening inside Maddy’s mind, and that is heartbreaking.  This is an important read for parents and teenagers, and for teachers and coaches. In this fast paced, pressured world for our children, please know that NOTHING is more important that your life.  I don’t imagine that there is any parent, coach, teacher, professor, brother, sister, or friend that would disagree.  Please know…

My daughter and I are just about to finish reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.   I read it when I was in 7th or 8th grade.  I knew it was a classic because we had to read it.  As I got older and tended to read more books of my choosing, I did go back and read other John Steinbeck books and loved them.  The way he writes is beautiful.   There are so many books to read (just take a look at everyone’s TBR lists), how do we define a classic?  I remember everything about Of Mice and Men (and it was a VERY long time ago that…

So, Harry Potter has been around for a long time (20 years to be exact – why didn’t LEGO resissue the Harry Potter LEGOs to time with the 20th Anniversary?).  I remember a teacher friend reading it way back when I was single.  I read the entire series when the kids were very little.  My daughter was capable of reading it by 3rd grade but admitted that she was afraid.  Many of her friends were reading it, and she was feeling left out.  We decided to read it together.  I read Books 1-5 aloud to her.  By the time we got through #5, she told me she was done and…

My daughter and I just finished reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.  As my daughter has entered HS and is writing a lot for several classes, this seemed to be a good fit for right now.  It was a little slow for a read aloud, as there is no dialogue.  But, we both enjoyed it.  And, it is always good to hear an author’s writing process.  Anne Lamott is one of my favorite authors, both fiction and non fiction.  This non fiction book, as it states on the cover, is basically “Some instructions on writing and life”  This is very true of Bird by Bird.  There is some advice…

  Ok, so I know this is supposed to be a blog about books to read to your kids, but, I’m sure you read, too.  I pre-ordered this book back in September.  It is written by the very talented Kate Spencer.  I knew her mom (the dead mom of which she writes) and her dad.  I loved her mom, and miss her.  I always say if you read a book and you cant put it down (no matter the subject matter), then it is a success.  This was a tough read for me, but I couldn’t put it down (success!).  While I knew some of the details of Martha’s illness,…

Everytime I go on Instagram (readingtoyourkids – follow me!), I get overwhelmed by how little I think I am doing.  There are pictures of books that I want to read.  I think “ooh, let’s put this one on our list.”  And, then I see another one that looks good.  It’s overwhelming.  I need to keep to our already several lists of what we want to read.  We are trying to get through as many as we can from the Gilmore Girls list https://www.buzzfeed.com/krystieyandoli/all-339-books-referenced-in-gilmore-girls?utm_term=.rrEQYKX5za#.ltmM6Dd8JX).  We also have the books from The Reading Promise.  And, we try to read as many Nutmeg (http://www.nutmegaward.org/) nominees as possible so that we can vote for…

This is the third time I am reading this book.  I read it the first time to make sure it was appropriate to read with my daughter.  It was.  But there is some bad language in it – be warned.  And it is about the Holocaust, which in any situation, is simply horrible.  Make sure your child is old enough to handle the subject matter and any discussions that may come from it.  My daughter and I both loved this book.  It is so beautifully written.  The characters are extraordinary.  I highly recommend reading this book aloud with your child. My son and I are reading this book now, and…

We had quite a bit of wind and rain yesterday.  There were some power outages.  What better book to read to your kids than When Charlie McButton Lost Power by Suzanne Collins, illustrated by Mike Lester.  We loved this book when the kids were little.  It might help in this technology filled world to realize that the most fun can be had with your brothers or sisters playing with things around the house.  And, surprisingly, the kids will survive without technology. Happy Reading!

The Nutmeg nominees continue. . . Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai is the story of Ha.  She is 10 years old when her family has to leave Saigon.  They are headed toward America and perhaps a better life.  But, they have left behind all that they know to go to a strange land, strange people, strange food, strange language.  Ha and her brothers have a long year of change, dreaming, grieving, and discovering.  I tell my children this many times, and the many of the books we read have the same message.  You never know what is going on in someone else’s head.  This is true of…