I just read Shannon Hale’s Rapunzel’s Revenge with my daughter – great graphic novel with a sequel coming out soon. I just started Percy Jackson and I loved the first book. I wasn’t sure it would be my thing but I wanted to pre-read it for my daughter and I enjoyed it far more than I expected too.
I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of Goose Girl. I read it a while ago and thought it was okay, but that fairy tale is so dear to me, I guess I’m always going to be hyper-critical of adaptations. My dd loves the Mysterious Benedict books.
You know there’s a third Benedict Society, right? Oldest Son had a fit, when he didn’t get it for his birthday in November. He kept threatening to buy it with his birthday money. After trying and trying to deter him, I finally had to give up and admit that my mom had bought it for him for Christmas! Then, of course, came the waiting…misery, I was assured.
I’ll be interested to see what you think of Percy Jackson. I enjoyed book 1, but thought book 2 was much darker and quit about 1/3+ of the way into book three. Just not sure about them for my girls down the road, but would love to know what you think!
I LOVE the Mysterious Benedict Society! My sixth graders are fighting over my one copy. I’ve read all three and each one gets better than the one before.
My oldest daughter loves, loves, loves the Percy Jackson series and she is interested in The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey. We may be starting that next.
I loved the first and second Mysterious Benedict Society books. We borrowed the third one which my dd adored, but I couldn’t get past the second chapter. I think I’ll try again in 6 months.
Has your group read Charlie Bone? My 13 year old loves them and insisted that I read them too. I enjoyed the first 2, but haven’t worked my way through the third one yet.
Yes, Jane checked the 3rd Ben Soc book out from the library, I think. It’s funny how many search hits I get these days from people looking for news of a 4th book in the series!
I started The Magician’s Elepahnt as the latest read-aloud ), and asked Junior if he’d like to hear more. “No, thank you, that was enough of that book” was the reply. (It sounded lovely to me. Sigh.) So now I’m wondering what to read next! I tried the Lightning Thief a while back but could feel it floating over Jr.’s head. Maybe we’ll give the Mysterious Benedict a go.
I’m reading The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken aloud to my six-year-old right now. While I’ve loved several of her books since I was a kid, I had never read any of these Armitage family stories before. Wry, humorous stories about magic.
(A roundup post with links to my notes and reviews)
Hey, what happened to all those booklists you used to have in your sidebars at the old blog?
They're still accessible at melissawiley.typepad.com, where this blog lived from January 2005-March 2008. You can also find all my Lilting House posts there, or try the search bar here. All my previous Bonny Glen and Lilting House posts have been imported to this site.
Every day is complicated, messy, and full of friction. And every day has glorious or cozy moments worth celebrating. I seldom bother to chronicle the friction and the mess because writing time is fleeting and precious—and childhood even more so. I’d rather capture the small joys that I might forget—or take for granted—if I don’t take time to set them down in words.
(Excerpt from this post about Real Life, quoted here because I don't want anyone to be under the impression that things are always perfect around here! Heaven knows we are anything but. Perfect, frictionless, orderly? Nope. Happy? Most of the time!)
Be like the bird
Who, pausing in flight
On limb too slight,
Feels it give way beneath her,
Yet sings,
Knowing she has wings.
—Victor Hugo
Twitter Updates
“Exploration,” says John Stilgoe, author of Outside Lies Magic, “is a liberal art, because it is an art that liberates, that frees, that opens away from narrowness. And it is fun.”
Yes: it is so, so much fun, and that is why I write these posts all chattery with excitement over this or that connection the kids made today. (Or that I made myself!) I know I get carried away, but that’s the point, isn’t it, that way leading on to way has carried me away?
And yet—and yet—I think we are at once ‘carried away’ and made more fully present in the now, more rooted, by these relationships between ideas about things past and future. The joy of connection makes me want to celebrate this moment, this brief encounter with wild-haired child and broad-trunked tree, bus going by, sign on church wall, Scottish warlord creeping over the tower wall and startling the English soldier’s wife who has just put her babe in arms to sleep by crooning that the Black Douglas won’t get him. Child, laughing, shouting “Dinna ye be sae sure aboot that!” across the courtyard outside the library. How can I not celebrate this freedom?
I just read Shannon Hale’s Rapunzel’s Revenge with my daughter – great graphic novel with a sequel coming out soon. I just started Percy Jackson and I loved the first book. I wasn’t sure it would be my thing but I wanted to pre-read it for my daughter and I enjoyed it far more than I expected too.
Posted on January 7th, 2010 at 8:36 amI’m looking forward to hearing what you think of Goose Girl. I read it a while ago and thought it was okay, but that fairy tale is so dear to me, I guess I’m always going to be hyper-critical of adaptations. My dd loves the Mysterious Benedict books.
Posted on January 7th, 2010 at 10:55 amI can definitely recommend the first three on your list. I love them all!
Posted on January 7th, 2010 at 11:12 amYou know there’s a third Benedict Society, right? Oldest Son had a fit, when he didn’t get it for his birthday in November. He kept threatening to buy it with his birthday money. After trying and trying to deter him, I finally had to give up and admit that my mom had bought it for him for Christmas! Then, of course, came the waiting…misery, I was assured.
Posted on January 7th, 2010 at 11:18 amI’ll be interested to see what you think of Percy Jackson. I enjoyed book 1, but thought book 2 was much darker and quit about 1/3+ of the way into book three. Just not sure about them for my girls down the road, but would love to know what you think!
Posted on January 7th, 2010 at 11:54 amI LOVE the Mysterious Benedict Society! My sixth graders are fighting over my one copy. I’ve read all three and each one gets better than the one before.
Posted on January 7th, 2010 at 2:56 pmScary! I have read them all after the pleadings (okay, not too hard to twist my arm) of my daughter. Mysterious Benedict and Percy top my list. Enjoy!
Posted on January 7th, 2010 at 3:30 pmMy oldest daughter loves, loves, loves the Percy Jackson series and she is interested in The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey. We may be starting that next.
Thanks for sharing your kid picks!
Kim
Posted on January 8th, 2010 at 10:49 amI loved the first and second Mysterious Benedict Society books. We borrowed the third one which my dd adored, but I couldn’t get past the second chapter. I think I’ll try again in 6 months.
Has your group read Charlie Bone? My 13 year old loves them and insisted that I read them too. I enjoyed the first 2, but haven’t worked my way through the third one yet.
Posted on January 8th, 2010 at 12:15 pmYes, Jane checked the 3rd Ben Soc book out from the library, I think. It’s funny how many search hits I get these days from people looking for news of a 4th book in the series!
Don’t think any of us have read Charlie Bone!
Posted on January 9th, 2010 at 7:17 amI started The Magician’s Elepahnt as the latest read-aloud ), and asked Junior if he’d like to hear more. “No, thank you, that was enough of that book” was the reply. (It sounded lovely to me. Sigh.) So now I’m wondering what to read next! I tried the Lightning Thief a while back but could feel it floating over Jr.’s head. Maybe we’ll give the Mysterious Benedict a go.
Posted on January 9th, 2010 at 11:08 amTell your children they have excellent taste.
Incidentally, we listened to The Goose Girl (full cast recording) on our recent Texas-Massachusetts roadtrip.
Posted on January 9th, 2010 at 8:46 pmI’m reading The Serial Garden by Joan Aiken aloud to my six-year-old right now. While I’ve loved several of her books since I was a kid, I had never read any of these Armitage family stories before. Wry, humorous stories about magic.
Posted on January 11th, 2010 at 5:49 am