Saturday, August 28, 2010

She's a reader!

It's the start of a new school year, and during the past few weeks I've been talking with each of my kids to plan what they'd like to learn and how they'd like to learn it. My 12-year-old middle child decided that she would like a reading list for the year. Through several conversations I discovered:

1. She wanted to read every book on the list, "even the ones I don't want to read."
2. She didn't want to choose the books herself, "except I might want to choose some."
3. She wanted the books to be listed in order of difficulty, starting with easier ones and ending with the hardest ones, "except maybe not all the hard ones together."



This is not a surprising set of requirements if you know this child. (Thanks to my dad for the great photo!)

After more negotiation about the details, we went through our shelves. She suggested some books and I suggested some. We added one or two that we don't own but can get at the library. I was surprised at how excited she is about this "assignment." I think having the list typed up and numbered makes it seem somehow more official to her, and right now she likes official.

Four or five years ago, she was just starting to master reading enough to enjoy reading independently. (The Magic Tree House books were the transition books for her.) Now I look at this list that she helped create, and I can tell she's caught on to how amazing books can be. Some of the harder ones will be a challenge, and we may need more than one year to finish all the books, but she is determined and I know she can do it!

Here's her list:

1. Magic by the Lake – Edward Eager
2. The Blue Fairy Book – Lang
3. Way to Be! – Gordon B. Hinckley
4. The Time Garden – Edward Eager
5. The Wind in the Willows – Grahame
6. Number the Stars – Lowry
7. The Borrowers – Norton
8. The Black Stallion – Farley
9. The Forgotten Door – Alexander Key
10. The Keys and the Candle – Mary Hale Woolsey
11. Summer of the Monkeys – Rawls
12. 10 poems Mom selects
13. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch – Latham
14. Time Cat – Alexander
15. Amos Fortune, Free Man – Yates
16. The Westing Game – Raskin
17. The Jungle Book – Kipling
18. The Incredible Journey – Burnford
19. Code Talker – Bruchac
20. LDS Stories of Faith and Courage
21. Powers of Ten – Eames
22. The Fledgling – Langton
23. Johnny Tremain – Forbes
24. A Wizard of Earthsea – LeGuin
25. The Bulletproof George Washington
26. 10 poems Mom selects
27. The Tempest – Shakespeare
28. Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain
29. Kon-Tiki – Heyerdahl
30. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare
31. The Story of My Life – Helen Keller
32. Treasure Island – Stevenson

(If you've been looking for a good book to read, I'm positive there's at least one on this list that you'd enjoy reading or re-reading. Try it!)



2 comments:

Kelly said...

what an awesome list of good reads. I did find some I'd like to read myself. Good Luck Anna and excellent job picking great books.

Brandi said...

That's so awesome!!! I should try going through my shelves with my daughter and make a reading list for her. One more thing to do after KOF Summit. :D Thanks for sharing the list. I love getting recommendations!