Rare Sighting- Summer Reading!

We just got back from a 3 week road-trip. (From Utah, through  Canada- down through New York to Maryland (where I grew up) and then back to Utah!!)

The first day we were home- the kids rushed outside. Connected with friends, had a huge squirt gun fight with the neighbors and then slept soundly in their own comfortable beds.




This is what they looked like day two! I was shocked. They were reading without my nagging  motivational speeches. lol

AMAZING.

The son laying down is reading Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets.
The other picked up a book he read before Summer of the Woods by Steven Smith.

While visiting cousins- my boys were introduced to an avid 11 year old coin collector! We didn't know this cousin was so interested, knowledgeable about coins. We came back to grandmas house after a day of touring Washington DC, and my sons took the coins out of their pockets to show him. (From the Metro we had gotten $1 coins as change- and this third son of mine had an old Susan B Anthony.) My nephew (their cousin) grabbed his coin collecting book and they learned it was valued at $60!

Well- needless -to -say that really sparked the interest of my sons. We've been checking our pocket change the rest of the trip. Coin collecting is so cool- it's like a treasure hunt with our own American money!! Summer of the Woods is about two brothers who find a rare Indian Head penny, that leads their summer vacation into a 60 year old mystery of a stolen coin collection in their town.

(You can click here to read our book club about it.) Even though he has read it before- he admitted he didn't remember much, and wasn't that interested. NOW that he is hooked on collecting coins... he wants to read it again! lol


Other Summer Reading ideas:
Calendar Mysteries Series- I am currently hosting a summer book club for my 8 year old with this series. Click HERE to see our book club activities.

Million Dollar Series by Dan Gutman is a really fun series for kids who love sports. Each book is centered around one sport; Million Dollar Shot (Basketball), Million Dollar Goal (hockey), Million Dollar Putt (golf). My second son did this entire series with his book club when he was in grade school. Book Club activities are pretty easy- simple play that sport!


If you have any family vacations planned- try finding a book that relates!
With our recent trip, I brought along a fun series called Capital Mysteries.


If you are having a Stay-cation this summer, Weird School is a funny series we did last year.

Books for Older boys that my sons have loved include:

Hatchet and Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen

If your kids have fallen in-love with the HOW To Train Your Dragon Movies- we did a few of these books as a book club, before the movies were made. (The movies don't follow the books faithfully- so it might be a fun book club to compare and contrast!)

Hope this list helps you find some great books your child will enjoy reading~!

Summer 2014 Book club!

It is officially Summer where we live.

My youngest son, who is now 8 years old,

 was eager to get his book club started!

As part of our summer book club-

 we are going to be reading a cute series

 by Ron Roy, is called The Calendar Club.

Each book is based around a month.

 

Todays book club is based on the book May Magic.

You should click HERE- so see specifically what we did.

 

If you browse around my blog-site you will notice a few things.

 

1. Hopefully it is not too confusing to navigate.
This is a "blog-site" = 3 blogs (with same template) linked together by buttons

It has some perks and some draw-backs...

 But here are a few tips:

*use side bar buttons to find where you want to go

*at the end of each post are "tags" that you can click to narrow your search
* look at our ABC list (under our header) of all the books we've read with our book clubs.
(story times are not included in this list.)

 

2. There is no set method as to how I set up a book club.

every year I seem to organize it a little different.

 

It depends on the child.

 

Some of my sons wanted their book club to be BOYS only!
One son didn't care- he had boy and girl friends.

One son only wanted to read books-based -on- movies.

(That was a fun book club. EASY Peasy to host!)

 

Sometimes book clubs were held during the school year- when that made more sense.

Now I hold book clubs in the summer.

 

Some book clubs were twice a month.

Others were once a month.

A few times I have held book clubs- only around school holidays.

 

Some books clubs were super organized. (Always the first Friday of every month.)

Some book clubs were "fly-by-the-seat of my pants". (Read the book- date/time TBA each time.)

 

Some book clubs I have each child read the same book.

Other book clubs we each read one book from a series.

 

Some book clubs I provided all the books.

Some book clubs we all ordered the same set (series) from Scholastics.

 

My point is- book clubs are flexible!

Hopefully you have seen that- if you have browsed the book club outline posts.

 

You can create a book club that works for YOU.

 

Don't want a bunch of rowdy kids at your house?

Meet at the park, or some location that relates to the book you just read.

 

Don't feel creative enough to come up with activities?

browse this blog and get ideas

or have a movie- book club. (read the book, watch the movie- EASY!)

 

 

 

It's Summer!
Don't let having a summer book club be one of those things that you

could-a and should-a organized.

 

I am actually feeling pretty lax this summer about book club.

In the past I have held a book club for each of my sons- that was hectic!

This summer I just have one!

 

It's easy- OH and before I forget...

my sons are all reluctant readers.

They love their book clubs regardless of the fact they hate to read~!