We need book recommendations for Owen and Jack.
Earlier this summer we made a deal with them. If they would read 6,000 pages before school started (this gave them 84 days), we would give them $60, and an additional $10 for each additional 1,000 pages read.
Jack finished last week. He's at 6,442 pages. Owen isn't as motivated; he's at 4,670 pages right now. We are struggling to find books that he actually likes. There are two series that he seems to enjoy: Geronimo Stilton and the A to Z Mysteries books. He's okay with Junie B. Jones but doesn't pick them out like the other titles.
Harry Potter, Hardy Boys, Percy Jackson are all too advanced. But the other books they have been reading... they're okay, but we don't really feel like they've challenged the boys much. No new vocabulary, not much learning, just fun reading. Fun reading is good; we understand that it develops a lot of areas, but we would also like their reading to be more educational. Owen read a book about Titanic and Jack read about the Revolutionary War, and both of those books had them asking us questions about the events and telling us things they learned for days afterwards. The goal isn't just for nonfiction. Owen read a fictional book about the White House and that seemed to initiate the same type of thing.
Have any of you had luck with other series/authors for this age level?
Natalie is 17!
3 hours ago
3 comments:
We've been having some of the same problems this summer with our read-a-thon for Spencer (who is 7), but he has read the Wayside School books and really enjoyed them. They would be for fun. Also the Ramona Quiby books have been funny as well as SuperFudge, or Fudge Forever. Nonfiction, he kinda just looks around on his own for whatever he is interested in, so I don't know any series for that. Hope this helps a little bit! :)
Ava loved Magic Tree House series, Cam Jansen is a cute series and Geronimo Stilton was huge for her last year. There are honestly about 150 books in that series! Ava is just starting choose your own adventure and says they should try that. :) I'd say 4600+ pages IS motivated. Especially when you're 7 and could be out playing or watching TV all the time instead!
This is a topic I can help with -- in a few more years. I don't have any suggestions yet. However, I am so glad to see that they like non-fiction books. There is a huge change coming to the US educational system that pushes non-fiction reading really hard and they will need a lot of practice in understanding non-fiction work. It will help them immensely in school!
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