To read or not to read A Series of Unfortunate Events ?
I have mixed feelings…but there’s more than one great way to experience the books. Read more…Fortunate? Unfortunate?
Audiobooks
If you have just one take-away from my blog, I hope it will be a resolve to make great audiobooks a part of your toolkit to get your kid reading. The best audiobooks can inspire a love of words and stories, and sometimes even a curiosity about what these words and stories look like on the page. They can turn hours of often-wasted transit time into an absorbing literary experience, one that the whole family can enjoy together.
With the recent boom in the number of audiobooks and in ways of accessing them, these resources can be both overwhelming and under-used. What to listen to, how to listen, using what devices, websites and tools...? I sift through all of it, together with my kids as often as possible, to bring the best of the best to more kids. Check back here often to find out the best and latest...
Audiobook review: Where the Sidewalk Ends
Title: Where the Sidewalk Ends – recited, sung and shouted by Shel Silverstein
Author: Shel Silverstein
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Shel Silverstein
Length: 6hrs 15min
Age Group: 6+
Hearing poetry read out aloud is something altogether different from reading it in a book. But to hear poetry in the poet’s own voice is an experience not to be missed. Read more…Audiobook review: Where the Sidewalk Ends
Horse tales, aloud
If you’re looking for audiobooks that have adventure, nail-biting excitement, friendship, courage and loyalty, look no further than these three, great, horse-tales. Read more…Horse tales, aloud
Here’s to the daydreamers…
There are few things I look forward to less than doing laundry. And with two active boys in the house, there is always a mountain of it waiting to be washed or transferred or folded at any given time. It is an endless effort to conquer the mountain, and I have my systems, as I am sure you have yours!
But these systems have their adversaries, and if you have a magpie for a child, not least of these are the ubiquitous pockets full of assorted trash: found pennies, baby pinecones, odd shaped stones, gnarled bits of bark, a crushed flower, downy feathers, each leaving a grainy debris that is near impossible to clear out completely. Read more…Here’s to the daydreamers…
What do Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and 007 have in common?
I have to confess I had no idea myself until we picked out this awesome audiobook for a listen and checked out the cover. Read more…What do Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and 007 have in common?
Boys and their bots
It’s a happy and familiar story: Boy meets bot, boy befriends bot…they become best pals, rescue each other from peril, and live happily, chasing adventure ever after.
Simple though it may sound, this theme has been spun into some great books for boys at all reading levels. Read more…Boys and their bots
Meet Salva Dut, refugee, reformer
These are troubled times. Turn on the news and our children are just as likely as we are to be barraged and confused by the turmoil around the world. The word refugee comes up often in this context, and raises many questions for kids: Who are refugees? How do they come to be in such a desperate state – displaced, on the run, seeking respite anywhere they can find it?
By telling the true story of Salva Dut, A Long Walk to Water presents parents and kids a chance to understand some of the forces and faces behind one particular refugee crisis. Read more…Meet Salva Dut, refugee, reformer
Audiobook review: A Boy and His Bot
Title: A Boy and His Bot
Author: Daniel H. Wilson
Narrator: David Ackroyd
Length: 4h 40m
Format: Audiobook
Age group: 10+
Code Lightyear is a shy young Cherokee boy. At school, he keeps his head down and tries to avoid the taunts of bullies. Rather than standing up for himself, Code prefers to concentrate on doodling robot designs. He also misses his beloved grandfather, who disappeared on a visit to Mek Mound, the hilly site of an ancient, Native American civilization.
On a field-trip to this hallowed place, Code wanders off from his classmates only to stumble through a portal into Mekhos, a bizarre and dangerous land populated entirely by robots. Read more…Audiobook review: A Boy and His Bot
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