Reading is like eating. No one in my house can survive without a book tucked neatly beneath their arm. I find kids reading at all hours of the night and although it makes for a grumpy child the next day, I'm secretly pleased. What feeds the soul better than a good book? So today, I'm sharing book reviews written by my 3 oldest children. 9 year old Sydney just finished reading Out of my Mind, by Sharon Draper. She wrote the following review: Out of My Mind, by Sharon Draper is my favorite book. The book is about a brilliant eleven year old girl whose name is Melody. Because she has Cerebral Palsy, Melody can't walk or talk. Most grownups treat her like a baby and think she is dumb even though she has the most brains in her school. I like this book because it is very engaging and I like books that are in first person. I connect to Melody because I like listening to books on tape like she does. I wanted to say I connect with Melody because I'm brilliant, but my mom said not to. Ha ha! Read this book! 11 year Naomi wrote a review of one of our family favorites, Because of Mr. Terupt, by Rob Buyea. Because of Mr Terupt, by Rob Buyea is an amazing book. It takes places at the beginning of fifth grade in Snow Hill School. The book switches between the points of view Jessica, Alexia, Peter, Luke, Danielle, Anna, and Jeffrey. Jessica is a smart new girl who is having a hard time fitting in. Alexia is a bully who can't decide between being mean or nice. Peter is the class clown and troublemaker. Luke is an academic sort of person. Danielle is teased and doesn't stand up for herself. Anna is an outcast because of her family situation, and Jeffrey despises school. They get a brand new teacher named Mr. Terupt who makes school fun. He helps the students get along and become friends. After a horrible tragedy happens, the students learn that even when Mr. Terupt is unconscious, he still brings them together. I heard Rob Buyea speak about his book at a library. A lot of the things that happen in the book happened in Rob Buyea's classroom, when he taught fourth or fifth grade. I was surprised at how energetic and dramatic Rob Buyea was while he was speaking. It was really interesting to learn how Because of Mr. Terupt was written. Another thing I really liked about this book was the dollar word project that the students in Mr. Terupt's class. A is one cent, B is two cents, C is three cents, and so on. The students had to write words whose letters added up to 100 cents, or $1.00. Mr. Terupt was only called Mr. Terupt because Terupt is a dollar word. Examples of dollar words are...
We just finished reading Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes aloud. Here is 13 year old James's review: Johnny Tremain is an amazing book based in 1770`s, just before and during the revolutionary war. It tells the story of a young silversmith apprentice, and his adventures in Boston. I liked this book because it makes history interesting by telling a story about working through hard times, and letting go of your pride. I connected with Johnny because he is my age and he goes through many of the struggles that a modern day teen would have to go through. It was very engaging and had plenty of action. It was also interesting to me because I live very close to Boston and I've seen may of the places that are mentioned in this book. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes books. In conclusion, this book teaches many lessons and is fun to read. If you haven't already read Out of My Mind, Because of Mr. Terupt or Johnny Tremain, go to the library right now! You might even feel so full of wonderful words that you forget to eat! Kirsti Call is a homeschooling mom of five. Her debut picture book, The Raindrop Who Couldn't Fall, came out last December. Her family band, Calling Out, plays songs written by her children. She contributes to Writer's Rumpus, and Kids are Writers. If you visit her house, you’ll likely find her reading. You can find out more about her at www.kirsticall.com.
23 Comments
Mira Reisberg
1/20/2015 11:47:27 pm
These are wonderful. Your kids are a delight.
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1/21/2015 01:54:10 am
Thanks Mira. I find them pretty delightful myself! Thanks for suggesting their reviews. It was a good opportunity for them to write down their thoughts about books we've been reading.
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1/21/2015 01:55:20 am
Thanks Johnell. It was fun to have them think and write about some of the books we've read recently.
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1/21/2015 12:03:31 am
Way to go, Syd, Naomi, and James! Great reviews! And great Mom to read these with you!
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1/21/2015 01:56:09 am
Thanks Carrie! The kids thought it was pretty cool that they contributed to Children's Book Academy!
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1/21/2015 02:42:12 am
Very impressive! I love that you are a family of readers...and writers. So sweet!
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1/21/2015 03:46:10 am
Thanks Carol. It's funny because a couple of them are reluctant writers, (you can probably guess which ones!) and we are working on making writing easier :)
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Jilanne Hoffmann
1/21/2015 03:10:05 am
Wow! Great reviews! I'll be sure to recommend these to my son.
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1/21/2015 03:53:28 am
Thanks Jilanne! Frankly, I'm not sure I even know how I find time to do all that I do in a day! I try take one project at a time and try to move forward in a way that encompasses my goal of teaching/loving my kids. Involving them in today's post was a wonderful way to do that today!
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1/21/2015 03:32:43 am
Well written. I especially love the fact that you involve your kids in the review process. Duh, it only makes sense.
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1/21/2015 03:54:13 am
Thanks Robert. It was really fun to have the kids write their thoughts this time :)
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Mary McClellan
1/21/2015 03:52:02 am
Kirsti, what fun to hear from kids! It's very interesting to hear what they liked and why. Thanks for sharing this with us!
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1/21/2015 03:55:20 am
I'm glad you liked hearing the kids' point of view! It was great because this was their writing assignment for the day and I got a blog post up to boot!
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1/21/2015 11:11:12 am
Great kids and reviews. Does anyone read the '400' suggested word pb in your family now days? Just wondered what your kids 'take' would be on these shorter worded books. In younger years, would they have wanted these read as their bedtime story, or would they have preferred a longer story? Would love to hear their take on this.
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1/21/2015 10:40:06 pm
We still read picture books all the time because that's what I write! They like Mo Willems books and felt like the longer stories were super boring...that said, we read chapter books to our kids at night from age 6 on...I'm glad you like the reviews, Virginia. Maybe I'll have them write reviews for picture books for one of my posts!
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1/22/2015 12:20:05 am
Thanks Brenda. Naomi is having a lot of fun with her etsy site, so thanks for visiting it!
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Maria Oka
1/22/2015 12:58:47 am
Kirsti, this is awesome! Please tell your kids that these were fabulous reviews and that I'm going to have to run over to the library this afternoon. Thank you!!
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1/22/2015 04:52:37 am
Thanks Maria! You really will enjoy these books--the first two are some of my all time favorites for MG.
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1/24/2015 08:06:23 pm
This was one of the best posts on kidlit I"ve read lately. I Loved hearing about what your kids thought about these books, of which I've read two and will get the third.
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1/24/2015 09:56:40 pm
I'm glad you liked the post, Clara! Which book haven't you read?
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1/31/2015 04:19:55 am
Kirsti, I suspect your children and I are distant cousins, for more reasons than one. Tell Sydney I especially enjoyed her review of Out of My Mind. My sister, Kathleen Call had cerebral palsy, back before we used words like "special needs" to describe her situation. (And let Sydney know that I remember being a brilliant 9 year old, myself.)
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