Book Review: Keep My Son Reading!

My first-grader loves to read and I see all of the time online that other mothers are struggling to keep them reading. We've been delving into the world of elementary school books for boys lately and all I can say is, WOW. Graphic novels have come a long way. We passed on the very popular Bones, because there aren't enough clothes on the girls. Really? We need massive cleavage and leg showing? Do we want to train them to accept porn later in life?

And then others, like Secrets of a Lab Rat assume that my son won't read unless there are tons of bathroom jokes and the main character is sufficiently nasty to his younger sister. I think we owe our sons more than that. I do appreciate the books that have been written that give depth and intelligence, and there needs to be a bridge between See Sam Run books and those. Many authors are trying to fill it with all kinds of literature and "literature."

James Patterson felt the same way and began writing a popular series for boys (a bit old for us yet) and made a website to review books by age. It's helpful and I refer to it sometimes.  It covers picture books, too.

Some series we are sticking with for now are Magic Tree House, Stone Rabbit, Dodgeball Chronicles, Lunch Lady (my and Paul's personal favorites), Missle Mouse, and the Big Nate series. Books I look forward to reading with him are the Amulet series, NERDS, and How to Train Your Dragon series. If you want to check out my GoodReads shelf on books for him, feel free! And I'd love to hear what you've found, too.

And lastly, a big shout out to J.K. Rowling once more. I am reading aloud the Harry Potter series to all of my children (with occasional editing for super scary moments or the later years when Ron takes up swearing), and they are eating it up. We're on Book 4 and I am reminded of all the fun getting a new book of hers was and the thrills of reading them the first time. It's so fun to see my kids playing legos or Hero Factory quietly as I read, and creeping closer and closer to me when the plot thickens, until they're practically sitting on my lap and I can't read fast enough.