There are a few books I distinctly remember reading as assigned reading in middle school, Bridge to Terabithia* is one of those books. From what I've been reading about this book, it's one everyone remembers if they were assigned to read Bridge to Terabithia*. The thing is, I … [Read more...]

This fall I assigned the kids to read Fantastic Mr. Fox.  I hadn’t read it yet, and I assumed it was in similar length to the other books the kids had read by Roald Dahl.  I was wrong.  We were driving in the car, and had been for all of 30 minutes when the first kid said, “Mom, … [Read more...]

As a young girl I was horse crazy.  Around 5th grade I discovered the author Marguerite Henry and proceeded to read every single book she ever wrote.  Her most famous book of all is Misty of Chincoteague, first printed in the 1930s, and made into a movie in the 1960s.  There are … [Read more...]

Holes came out after my childhood.  Which is a shame because I love Louis Sachar and as a kid, I read all of the Sideways Stories books, and in junior high, I had a blast figuring out the math problems of Sideways Arithmetic.  Louis Sachar’s Holes* came out the year I graduated … [Read more...]

As a young girl, I think I read the entire Black Stallion series 20 or 30 times.  Probably even more than that, I even read the clearly lesser, but still by the same author Island Stallion series.  I could not wait to share this series with my kids, and I especially could not … [Read more...]