You may as well be clever.

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

  I listened to this book and it is read by Sedaris.  I'm not sure that reading it would have gotten the same reaction out of me.  The author reading it seemed to give it life and character that it might otherwise lack. I've read a few others like it (ie Are you there God, It's me, Chelsea...terrible) and appreciate the fact that David Sedaris is really no one special.  He is just a regular guy, he didn't do anything spectacular in his book.  He has low self esteem and often addresses his struggles with that.  He is just a good writer (I use the term "just" here loosely as I view good writers as heroic).  He is able to tell seemingly unexciting stories in a way that keeps me intrigued and captivated. A good example is the vachette tournament in France.  NOTHING happens, the vachettes chase the contestants around, maybe someone breaks a rib or two but on the whole, anticlimactic.  The way Sedaris told the story and his feelings about it was mesmerizing.  David Sadaris is clever, the entire book is. While my to-read list is uncomfortably long, I will add his other books to it, though it might take a some time to get to them!

A YEAR AND A HALF?!?!?!

I recently discovered that my 10 year old step daughter has a gift card from Barnes and Noble from Christmas 2011.  WHAT!?  Outrage.  I'm reasonably sure that I stared at her for at least 30 seconds.  There are no words.  Oh wait, I can find a few.  How in the world do you not spend it all in the next week?  This is lunacy.  It was a pretty sizable amount so shipping would be free and we went for it.  We were up until 11 pm ordering books.  Such fun.  I love middle grade readers.  This is our exciting list:

 Goose Girl By Shannon Hale (this is the only one I've actually read.  Good book, great for girls!)

 The Egypt Game by Zypha Keatly Snyder

The Search for Wondla by Tony Diterlizzi

 The Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson

 The Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner

I was THRILLED that she chose all books off of my recommendation list.  I keep all kinds of lists from picture books to chapter books for all ages and obviously adult books.  All of these were one my middle grade list!  So excited to get them in. Getting new books in the mail is fabulous!

3 Year Old Chapter Books

My stipulations for chapter books with Kendall are a bit more rigid than the ones for Parker.  We need VERY short chapters.  Five pages is the most I look for.  And only a few sentences per page.  We read ONE AND ONLY ONE chapter per night.  I like her to have something to look forward to each day.  She can sit through much longer (as her favorite book is Eloise) but these books are usually only four chapters long and reading the whole thing would defeat the purpose!   Here is what I've been reading with Kendall:

Henry and Mudge
By Cynthia Rylant

These are fun little books about a boy and his dog.  There are a bunch of them (although we are quickly nearing the end).  Little Miss Kendall thinks they are funny and usually has one or two of them hidden in her bed to peruse at her leisure.  There is 2 or 3 sentences on a page and 3 or so pages per chapter.  Perfect.

Mr Putter and Tabby

By Cynthia Rylant 

Thank goodness Cynthia Rylant wrote about another dynamic duo!  Kendall is a little head strong (no idea where she got THAT) and we had a marvelous melt down when we finished the last Mercy Watson book so I began searching for another pint-sized chapter book as soon as were about half way through Henry and Mudge.  It was successfully introduced and look forward to reading the misadventures of Mr Putter and Tabby in the months to come!

Frog and Toad 

By Arnold Lobel

What can I even say about these books?!  Timeless classics.  I think Parker likes them better than Kendall does.  That's ok with me.  EVERY kid should read this.