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A few days ago, Ella asked me if I would help her start a blog. Of course, I think she’s adorable and that a blog written by a ten year old girl would be super fun, but I asked some questions about exactly what she wanted to share. I asked her to brainstorm a list of post ideas and promised we would talk about it. For now, she’s going to be sharing periodic posts about what she’s reading. I’ve actually had lots of questions about how we read with the girls and what their favorite kinds of books are, so I thought this might be a fun feature to share with you. She’ll be participating in a reading challenge at school and will be tackling a few more books than she’s used to in the coming months, so it will be a fun way to recap what she’s reading and to help keep her accountable for her challenge at school.
Everyone in our house loves to read and we’re almost to the place where everyone can do it independently. Josh and Ella don’t read nearly as much as I do, but they can be found snuggled up with a good book from time to time. Sophie isn’t quite to the place where she can read without help for long stretches of time, but we’re getting there. I’ve been incorporating easy chapter books into her routine and reading aloud together at night certainly helps. Over the summer, we encouraged the girls to read 15-20 minutes every week day. Obviously, that varied some since they weren’t always at home, but we did manage to check quite a few books off our “to read” list before school started.
Ella is super excited to share four of the books she read over the summer and let you know (in her own words) how she felt about them all! We both hope you’ll enjoy these posts and be excited to catch up with her each month.
I gave Ella the same reading scale that I use in my monthly review posts to rate her books.
1 star // she did not like it
2 star // she said it was okay
3 star // she liked it
4 star // she really liked it
5 star // she it was amazing
1. GRACEFUL BY WENDY MASS // 5 OUT OF 5 STARS
My favorite author is Wendy Mass. Most of the books that are written by her and that I’ve read are fabulous. She writes series and books that are alone. My opinion is that she is a great kid author. Graceful is in the series Willow Falls. It is a book about a girl named Grace that has magical powers. Grace has to save her city by using her magical powers and her friends get to help her. If they don’t stop the problem Willow Falls will change forever. I think that Graceful should be read by people that like books that are funny, magical, and mysterious.
2. RULES BY CYNTHIA LORD // 1 OUT OF 5 STARS
I’ve read a few books that have been written by Cynthia Lord and I’ve liked them, but I did not like Rules at all. This book was about two siblings. One of them a boy and one of them a girl. Their names are David and Catherine. Catherine has to teach David the rules because he doesn’t understand and they become best friends. David has a book of words so he can point to them when he wants to talk. Catherine loves to draw. I do not know much more because I didn’t read all of it. It was my least favorite book of the summer.
I encouraged her for days to finish this book at the beach, but she just wasn’t into it. My mama heart wanted to make her read it, but I’ve found myself in the middle of a book I didn’t like a time or two and I decided not to make her read it if she wasn’t enjoying it. Instead, we headed to the bookstore and bought the following two books. I was pleasantly surprised that she raced through them both!
3. ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS BY SCOTT O’DELL // 5 OUT OF 5 STARS
What lead me to read this book is my mom thought I would love it and I did and because she read it when she was a kid. Now it’s my favorite book in the whole world. I think Scott O’Dell is a great author. He is my second favorite author. The book is about a girl named Karana and her tribe. They live on a island. One day they leave and everyone gets on the boat except for one. Someone jumps of the boat to save them and the boat leaves them, so two kids are left on the island alone. They have to survive by themselves. They have accomplished surviving for a while until a pack of wolves visits them. This book is interesting and cool.
She had a hard time describing this book because she didn’t want to spoil the plot if you haven’t already read it!
4. JEREMY FINK AND THE MEANING OF LIFE BY WENDY MASS// 4 OUT OF 5 STARS
Jeremy Fink And The Meaning Of LIfe is also written by Wendy Mass. This book stands alone. This book is about a guy named Jeremy Fink and his friend. They find a box that’s locked and they can’t get it open. The box has Jeremy’s name on it. Since it has his name on it they want to get it open so they set out on a journey to find the keys that unlock the box. I like this book because I like adventure and mystery.
I have had the best time watching Ella write this post and get it ready for you today. She was super excited to share these books in her own words.
