Series & Sequels
It seems I have been on a youth fiction kick these days. Funny how your reading changes when you are screening books for your 3rd grader who is a strong reader. I stumbled upon The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy the in the library one day and both boys were excited to put it in the bin.
These books have become a read aloud vs independent reading ... and I'm so glad. We haven't made it to book three but we are on our way. These books are so funny and just right to entertain the 40 year old me and the 8 and 6 year old them. If you have children or grandchildren that you have the opportunity to read to let me give you a tip: check these out. You will become their superhero.
Bonus Books
I was able to squeeze in a bit of grown up reading which also involved a bit of good guys vs bad guys. Mudbound is a can't put it down - no that did not just happen - oh.my.gosh. get me the tissues kinda book. Here's what Amazon has:
"In Jordan's prize-winning debut, prejudice takes many forms, both subtle
and brutal. It is 1946, and city-bred Laura McAllan is trying to raise her
children on her husband's Mississippi Delta farm—a place she finds foreign and
frightening. In the midst of the family's struggles, two young men return from
the war to work the land. Jamie McAllan, Laura's brother-in-law, is everything
her husband is not—charming, handsome, and haunted by his memories of combat.
Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the McAllan
farm, has come home with the shine of a war hero. But no matter his bravery in
defense of his country, he is still considered less than a man in the Jim Crow
South. It is the unlikely friendship of these brothers-in-arms that drives this
powerful novel to its inexorable conclusion.
The men and women of each family relate their versions of events and we are drawn into their lives as they become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale. As Kingsolver says of Hillary Jordan, "Her characters walked straight out of 1940s Mississippi and into the part of my brain where sympathy and anger and love reside, leaving my heart racing. They are with me still."
The men and women of each family relate their versions of events and we are drawn into their lives as they become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale. As Kingsolver says of Hillary Jordan, "Her characters walked straight out of 1940s Mississippi and into the part of my brain where sympathy and anger and love reside, leaving my heart racing. They are with me still."
Yowza.
What have you been reading?
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5 comments:
Mudbound sounds wonderful and I'm going to look for Ordinary Boy for my Noah!
I've been reading the Pippi Longstocking books to my kids at night. Yours sound good, too!
Mudbound does sound like a must read. I think my grandsons would like the Ordinary Boy books. Thanks for hosting, Adrienne!
I absolutely LOVED Mudbound. One of my all time favorite books. I've also recently read Wonder with my daughter and absolutely loved that book. It might be just a little old for your boys (she's in 5th grade), but man was that a great book for us to read to ether. I read Beginner's Goodbye, Train of Small Mercies, and Wildwood Chronicles this last month and enjoyed each one of them. The benefit to not blogging is all the extra time I have to read.
I love reading books to kids! My daughter is 18 years old and won't let me read to her any more. What is up with that?
Mudbound sounds great!
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