Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
2018 Plans
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Z&K's ATY MidGrade and Picture Book Challenge
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I plan on reading Just So Stories too. And I LOVED Bunnicula when i was little.
Oh, the list is candy for my eyes, there are several of my fav here :)I offered Fortunately to my godson this year, it was a fun read for me! Beast keeper is planned for next year and I've to read the sequels, the 1st was enjoyable.
I liked a lot: Not quite narwhal, Splat (not this one as I haven't read it, but the 1st 3 books), Journey, Coraline (I prefer the movie), the sequel of the Crayons quit (more funny), Voyage to magical north, Where the wild things, How to train, Swimmy and Where the mountain.
Zaz she is getting Beast Keeper for Christmas as a gift based on your review. She seems interested in mythology and she is really starting to enjoy chapter books.
MJ I loved Bunnicula also when I was little 😊
I hope she'll enjoy it, it's a nice veterinary beasts book, I would have liked it as a kid!I never read Bunnicula, the cover is creepy :D
Just going over the finalized list with the girls and they are ready to read ALL of them RIGHT NOW, lol :-)
#21- A book written in the first person perspectiveMy Name Is Not Isabella
The girls have officially started their challenge!!! They chose this as their first read aloud and both rated it 5 stars on their GR pages.....and reviewed it lol.
Unfortunately it was only partially writen in the first person perspective, But we're not perfectionists at this level. They were super excited to see one book noted on their challenge trackers, and they only have 99 books to go to reach their personal Good Reads Challenge for the year :-)
Thanks Bryony for this idea, its so great!!!!!!!!
Haha I like the little reviews, it's cute. Can I add them as a friends? :)Nice to see them excited, I hope they'll enjoy all the books.
Zaz wrote: "Haha I like the little reviews, it's cute. Can I add them as a friends? :)Nice to see them excited, I hope they'll enjoy all the books."
They would love to have you add them to your friends list :-)
I type in their comments for them and then read them any comments that their grown up Good Reads friends leave for them. It's really encouraging their reading. Today my older daughter came home with a list of goals for 2018 and the first one she wrote was " Read 100 books"
They said "YES!!!!!" to friends, lol.
#1 A book with ATY in the title:A Bean, a Stalk and a Boy Named Jack
Finished book #2/52 for our picture books tonight. I thought this was a cute story and fun to read, but it wasn't one of their favorites. Zo did like the ending where the story of Jack and the Beanstalk turned into Jack and Jill...she thought it was cute when she figured it out. Four star reviews from all of us.
We also started our first chapter book for this same prompt
Fortunately, the Milk
I read quite a bit, and they seemed to be getting tired so I said we should stop at that point and BOTH of them said "NO!!!!!!!!". They really were enjoying the story and the snuggling up in bed to read together. I can tell we're going to enjoy this one a lot! Very funny so far. Neil Gaiman is great :-)
I liked a lot Fortunately, it was a fun read with good twists. I'm a big fan of the illustrator, he uses just the right crazy style for a Gaiman's story.
You’ve got me thinking I should set the Spider up on Goodreads!
Jody wrote: "You’ve got me thinking I should set the Spider up on Goodreads!"I'll have them friend request you Jody so you can see what their pages look like. They get more excited about it the more they use it :-)
I love that you're doing this Tracy. This is so fun to follow along and hear about how excited they are.
Thanks Katie :-)I expect we will be finishing up Fortunately, the Milk tonight. They love it!! Zo actually stopped watching her before bed movie the other night to ask if we could read more about "the milk" hahaha. I told her we would finish this weekend. I'm so excited that they are enjoying it, plus its extra snuggle time for me.
I absolutely loved Redwall growing up, hope you all do too! I plan on going back and re-reading the series at some point!
Corinne wrote: "I absolutely loved Redwall growing up, hope you all do too! I plan on going back and re-reading the series at some point!"Looking forward to Redwall, and I hope she likes it because then she can continue with the series :-)
Read a few more... Prompts 2 and 3, and continued with Fortunately, the Milk. They really like this story, it makes them giggle, and they are enjoying the illustrations even though they are black and white. Its such a silly story :-)Prompt #2 - we used a book out of Kalleys "book stack" (they get these crazy ideas from mommy lol). Next Time You See a Pill Bug. Kalley of course loved it because she is obsessed with pill bugs. She thinks they are "adorable". Zoey really could have cared less, but she was interested to find out that they are not, in fact, insects ( who knew?). They are crustaceans and therefore related to our beloved crayfish Tuna (R.I.P.) and so she was happy to remember him.
Prompt # 3- We're All Wonders, kind of a disappointing read for all of us. There was so much more that could have been done with this.... We did have an interesting conversation so that was good. Interestingly, Kalley didn't identify her classmate with Downs Syndrome as "different" or "unique" in any way. To her, she's just a friend. I love this about young children.
Everyones reviews are up....
Eye Candy moved here: We were running out of room to track our completed posts
Finished our first middle grade chapter book for the challenge #1. A book with the letters A, T & Y in the title:Fortunately, the Milk
OMG!!!! All the stars in the world for this. They ASKED me to read it to them every night since we started it. They just laughed and laughed!!
What fantastic and silly story.....Their absolute favorite part was the "Wumpires"...I had to read that section three times, and we had a serious case of the giggles 😂
We all HIGHLY recommend this as a read-aloud. As Zo said in her review "YOU SHOULD ALL READ THIS!!"
This is so much fun, and has been a great time of reading and bonding with my daughters. And its only half way through January.
I'm happy the girls enjoyed it. Have fun with the next books :)
Tracy, i just wanted to say how much I am enjoying your comments on this topic. It makes me wish I still had some little ones to read with! My youngest is now in her 30’s.
Thanks Lizzy. I know it’s going to be a special memory for us to look back on and they’re having so much fun. I don’t even want to think about them being like 10, let alone in their 30s😩
I’m exactly the same, Tracy. The Spider is growing up way too fast for me. She keeps reminding me that she’ll be ten next year - technically correct, but she’s not even 8.5 yet! - and honestly it just makes me want to cry.
Jody wrote: "I’m exactly the same, Tracy. The Spider is growing up way too fast for me. She keeps reminding me that she’ll be ten next year - technically correct, but she’s not even 8.5 yet! - and honestly it j..."Lol....K wants to stay 5 "FOREVER!!!!" and Z cried about being 10 soon, so we're good for a little while anyways :-)
Finished another picture book tonight : Body part in the titleFairytales Gone Wrong: Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Wash Your Hair!: A Story About Hair Hygiene.
Zoey read this one to us herself and did a great job! Her fluency is getting so much better :-)
Reviews are up. Zoey prefers Rapunzels hair messy, Kalley wasn't a big fan, lol
They are both still excited to be making progress and happy to be doing a reading challenge because they are "reading books!"
Zoey looked through and prioritized the chapter books she would like to read since we can't realistically get through ALL of them:Winter Pony
Wishtree
Misty of Chincoteague
Bunnicula
Hachiko Waits
Redwall
Coraline
Dinosaurs Before Dark
Wild Born
Young Scrooge: A Very Scary Christmas Story
Beast Keeper
Summer Pony
The last reviews were very funny, I like the mom's comments :pGood idea to order a little the TBR, hopefully some books will be easier to read so you can discover more stories!
Knocked another off the list!! The Dinosaur That Pooped A Planet!. This was Kalleys " A book you expect to make you laugh", and they nearly fell off their chairs and my lap laughing. It was hysterical. They LOVED this one. We bought a copy off Amazon because borrowing it from the library was not in K's plans....she wanted to own it FOREVER. I'm sure we will read it again.....and again. So gross, lol 😩💩😂
The girls finished E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: The Classic Illustrated Storybook, so they're a little ahead on their challenge :-)I'm trying to spread it out over the year, so do only four books a month, plus whatever they do for their school reading, which counts towards their GR challenge goal of 100 books for the year.
This was a great adaptation of the movie and they enjoyed the story and the pictures. It followed the plot very closely while leaving out the parts that might be scary for little ones ( like E.T. almost dying and those scary Scientists invading the house).
They want to watch the movie but I'm undecided right now. I think my older one would be sad and a little scared but OK. My little.....I think it would traumatize her, lol. So unless they ask again I'm putting it off.
I've ET on my plan too, I'm trying to decide if I'll buy the english version, the translation or use something else from the library :pI don't have a good memory of ET, I don't think I liked it as a kid (I saw Star Wars around the same age and I've a fond memory of it). I've to rewatch it to see if I'll appreciate it as an adult.
Zaz wrote: "I've ET on my plan too, I'm trying to decide if I'll buy the english version, the translation or use something else from the library :pI don't have a good memory of ET, I don't think I liked it a..."
The book was really cute. I was surprised. As for the movie. I remember the story of having to be carried out of the movie theater crying when I was a little girl. I watched it a few times and loved it but its been awhile and I'm thinking the special effects probably haven't held up well. But....nostalgia :-)
We are supposed to have horrible weather here today and the girls aren't with me. my work is cancelled for the day and I have the whole day to figure out what to do. Maybe I'll put it on the TV while I clean.
so we had a snow day today and took some time to snuggle up and read a few challenge books..... they weren't that enthusiastic, lol :-(over the week we read 2 books towards the challenge:
Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes. Kalley especially liked this one because she could count the cupcakes as they went missing. It was a cute mystery, although for me the rhyming didn't exactly flow. We used this for a book involving a secret.
Stellaluna, a book with a warm atmosphere. This is a re- read in our house and we all love it, a great little story about friendship and family, how being different is okay, and how moms love you :-)
today we tried three:
Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau : inspired by real events. This is a story about Jaques Cousteau. Zoey wasn't a fan, she gave it one star, lol. Kalley liked the fish and underwater creatures, and her favorite was one page that pulled out to show a large underwater scene. I was surprised Zo didn't appreciate the environmentalist theme, because normally that is something that interests her.
Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back: Main character is a different ethnic origin. They didn't appreciate this much either. It starts off as the story of a Native American Grandfather passing along the stories of the 13 moons and then follows up with a description of each moon. Zoey rolled around on the bed and played with the dog mostly, Kalley seemed interested in quite a few of the pictures, again because.....animals. Their favorite part was the page with the wolves, but they are far more interested today in vegetating with their tablets and playing "wolf quest"
Hush! A Thai Lullaby: An "own voices" book.
They actually (shocker) both paid attention to this one. It had nice rhyming and animal sounds on each page and Zoey thought it was funny that the mom was trying to keep all of the animals quiet while not noticing that the baby wasn't even sleeping.
We also finished off most of The Velveteen Rabbit for literary fiction. It is long though. We have about five pages left to finish later. I think Kalley especially will like this because she has a "real" stuffed animal. Her name is Cutie Leopard and she is threadbare and her eyes and nose are missing. She goes EVERYWHERE with Kal. She thinks when we finish she will give it five stars.
Bottom line for the day, no one was really up for discussion, several of the books had more text than I realized and they haven't seemed very interested in reading lately. But then again, I haven't been either. I don't want to push them.
They are on track with the challenge still, and also both on track with their GR reading goal of 100 books for the year ( although in reality it is probably more than we account for because I miss some with homework they do and what they read at their fathers.) So I am proud of them.
Tracy, I love that your girls are doing this! I am getting a lot of good recommendations for my niece (age 7) & nephew (age 9). They just realized a few months ago that they enjoy reading. They know their auntie is a big reader and always tell me what book they are reading when we FaceTime. I am going to see them at a family event next month, so I am going to have to introduce my sister to this challenge.
Thanks Brooke :-)They're doing great with it...they make "book stacks" all over the house now, and Zoey has to buy chapter books constantly. I'm glad that Kalley is finally interested in reading, because she never was.
They're a little more excited now that I just told them they are right on track with both of their challenges :-)
Wow, we haven't updated this in a long time. With school and Summer Reading done the girls are feeling pretty motivated to keep going. They each had to read at least 15 books at an independent level to go to the beginning of the year Reading Party at school. Zoey is going into 3rd grade and Kalley is going into 1st. The local library also had a lot of incentive programs so they won a lot of prizes:
A free kids meal at Applebees
A free all day ride pass at a local amusement park
A free book from Barnes and Noble
and A $20 gift certificate at the local sports center ( mini golf, lazer tag. arcade, ice skating rink )
So VERY exciting!!... I really love watching them choose their own books at the library. Kalley prefers non fiction books about animals ( Wolves and Reptiles in particular) and Zoey has been interested in the Junie B Jones and Magic Tree House series.
Once we finished the Summer books, I reminded them that they were about halfway to their goal of 100 books for the year and also that we hadn't been doing their version of Mommy's ATY challenge. And they were on board!! We have read a few here and there over the months, but I'll share a little about their favorites!!!
A text only cover: The Book with No Pictures
They Loved this one. I took it out on audio from the library and we had to listen to it for probably about 5 nights in a row.... 3 times each sitting. The audio version is read through twice, first by a man and then by a woman...and then I had to read it. They loved listening to how everyone narrated it using different voices, lol. This was one of their first experiences with audio books, and now when we go to the library, Kalley will ask to borrow a CD book to listen to in the car :-) Also, I've found that using the "monkey voice with my monkey mouth" is a sure fire way to get Kalleys temper tantrums to stop dead in their tracks lol.
A short book: We went with a familiar classic for this, Goodnight Moon. I used to read this to them ALL THE TIME when they were smaller, and I couldn't believe how much they remembered about it. Truly a classic, and they had to search for the mouse on every page with The Great Green Room. Also, they had to say "Hush" along with the old lady, and they remembered that when we were doing preschool at home we used to eat a bowl full of mush after reading this book. So we had to have hot oatmeal when we finished. It made me so happy to realize that they have such special memories of reading with me when they were so little, like really specific memories. I also realized that I read the book to them then exact same way that my mom used to read the book to me.
A book featuring a murder: Thanks to Jody we read I Want My Hat Back. Kalley read it independently for her summer reading and then I read it to them both for the challenge. They loved the surprise at the ending and were laughing about the hat the whole time.
Book published in the last three years by an author you've never read before: we ( I ) chose The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors This book is HILARIOUS!!!!! We are planning to buy a copy for ourselves ( probably of all these books). I couldn't stop laughing and this is one super fun book to read aloud to your kids. They had to have a second round and share it with their dad. Everyone with children should be doing this as a read aloud!!
An author with the same first and last initials: Swimmy by Leo Lionni. This was a cute story but the best thing about reading this was that as soon as I pulled it out Zoey was just entranced by the beautiful artwork. The pages are done in muted watercolors , and it looks like much of it is stamped. It is really gorgeous. I think we talked more about the illustrations than the story. And I loved that she noticed that, and was so inquisitive about it.
A book of award winning short stories: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, which won at least 6 awards. Ok, so this is truly a book about stupid tales. When I read it to myself for the challenge I gave it 4 stars for originality but it really was kind of annoying to me. As a read aloud though, IT WORKS. The girls weren't quite sure what to make of it, they recognized some of the stories and how they were changed. Zoey thought the pictures were "creepy" but honestly, I guess because it was "fairly stupid" we really did laugh together reading this. My friend came over and saw it sitting on my table and said "Oh my God! I love that book".
All recommended by the girls. So here they are:
I'm going to be updating the girls GR pages with their challenge reads and also their independent reading. If anyone wants to friend and follow, they can be accessed from my page: Zoey the Squirrel and Kalley the Chipmunk. They love to get comments and likes and it has really encouraged them to keep picking up books and reading, which is a great thing! I can't wait to see their faces when they complete this challenge and hit 100!!
We just finished 4 more books towards our challenge!!Kalley wasn't really in the mood to rate the books today, she has a fever, but she gave 5 stars to all the books with animal pictures :-)
A Book That Takes Place Under Water:Baby Dolphin's First Swim
Beautiful photos of dolphins and how the mother and the dolphin pod protects the baby as it is growing up.
A New Release From An Author You've Never Read Before (2016):What Do You Do with a Problem?
We talked about our problems, lol. Zoey really liked this one, she thought it gave good advice. Kalley said her problem is that she is tired. My problem is that I have loads of laundry to put away, so the girls thought I should listen to this book and just get it done, because then it won't be a problem anymore lol. This was also a special book for Zo, because her father gave it to her as a birthday gift, so she was glad to finally read it.
Our Gothic book: The Spider and the Fly
We waited forever for this to come in from the library, and I was surprised how long it took. The Librarian said that it was on the Governors summer reading list so its been traveling in and out. Kalley figured out what was going to happen right away and said the spiders face was "creepy", they both seemed to enjoy the scary looking black and white pictures which are so different from all of the other picture books we read. This also turned into a short discussion about "stranger danger", and why we don't go with people we don't know no matter how many nice things they say to us.
A Country You've Never Been But Would Like To Go:Island: A Story of the Galápagos
This seemed to be both of their favorite! The pictures are gorgeous, and they really enjoyed looking at all of them. We very recently watched a nature documentary of the Galapagos Island, and they remembered a lot of facts that they learned while watching it and made comments relating the show to the pictures in the book. I was surprised how interested they were in how the volcano formed the island and how the animals evolved to survive there. They also liked looking at the map at the end and remembering how we noticed during the documentary that the island looks a little bit like a seahorse with its tail backwards.
A good lazy reading and snuggle day because it is so uncomfortable and humid outside. Also, they helped me with the read-a-thon so they got hugs and high fives. They are getting very excited about finishing this challenge. We took a long break from it, but we're back at it again!
Kalley also snuggled and read ( or mostly looked at all of the pictures, but we learned A LOT) a whole bunch of books that we need to return to the library. So extra extra points to her for reading towards her 100 books in 2018 goal :-)
* For the Natures Children series we did Red Fox and Lynx but there were no pictures for those editions. She LOVES her animal books
Two more down for the challenge and the girls are doing great!We read Drawn Together for an author we haven't read that was published in the last 3 years. This was the third book we read for this category because we did one for each year, 2016, 2017, and 2018. The girls needed some hints to understand the story because in the beginning there are no words. The little boy speaks English and the Grandfather Chinese, so they are sad that they don't understand each other. Drawing pictures together helps bring them closer.
Zoey also independantly read her first graphic novel: The Bad Guys: Episode 4: Attack of the Zittens, which I put as an extra under the unique format book. I am planning on reading this over the weekend and then we can have our first mother daughter book discussion and compare our thoughts :-)
Congratulations to you, and your daughters!
Congrats for this first year of challenge :)What are you planning for 2019?
Zaz wrote: "Congrats for this first year of challenge :)What are you planning for 2019?"
I think for 2019 we might just stick with their GoodReads goal of 100 books. ( or however many they set, Zoey is reading chapter books now, so hers may be a lower number, for the school year its 30).
If they want to another reading challenge I may either make one of our own, or find a children book challenge online.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Not Very Merry Pout-Pout Fish (other topics)The Story of Babar (other topics)
A Girl Named Helen: The True Story of Helen Keller (other topics)
Miss Rumphius (other topics)
Owl Moon (other topics)
More...
52/52
√√1. A book with the letters A, T & Y in the title
Fortunately, the Milk
A Bean, a Stalk and a Boy Named Jack
√2. A book from the first 10 books added to your To Be Read list
Next Time You See a Pill Bug
√3. A book from the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards
We're All Wonders
√4. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #1 Earth
A Rock Is Lively
√5. A book about or inspired by real events
Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau
√6. A book originally written in a language other than English
The Story of Babar
√7. A gothic novel
The Spider and the Fly
√8. An "own voices" book*
Hush! A Thai Lullaby
√9. A book with a body part in the title
Fairytales Gone Wrong: Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Wash Your Hair!: A Story About Hair Hygiene
√10. An author's debut book (their first book to be published)
Night Of The Moonjellies
√11. A literary fiction
The Velveteen Rabbit
√12. A book set in Africa or South America
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock
√3. A book with a plot centered around a secret
Splat the Cat and the Big Secret
√14. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #2 Fire
Rainbow Crow
√√15. A book with an unique format/writing structure
The Bad Guys: Episode 4: Attack of the Zittens
Journey
√16. A narrative nonfiction
A Girl Named Helen: The True Story of Helen Keller
√17. A book you expect to make you laugh
The Dinosaur That Pooped A Planet!
√18. A book with a location in the title
Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm
√19. A book nominated for the Edgar Award or by a Grand master author (Mary Higgins Clark)
Ghost Ship
√20. A book rated 5 stars by at least one of your friends (Ammie)
Miss Rumphius
√21. A book written in first person perspective
My Name Is Not Isabella
√22. A book you have high expectations or hope for
Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships
√23. A medical or legal thriller
The Rabbit is Next
√24. A book with a map
Henry's Map
√25. A book with an antagonist/villain point of view
I Am Pan!
√26. A book with a text only cover
The Book with No Pictures
√27. A book about surviving a hardship (war, famine, major disasters, serious illness, etc)
Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs
√28. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #3 Water
The Not Very Merry Pout-Pout Fish
√29. A book with a "Clue" weapon on the cover or title
Pirates vs. Cowboys
√30. A short book
Goodnight Moon
√31. A book set in a country you'd like to visit but have never been to
Island: A Story of the Galápagos
√32. An alternate history book
After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back up Again
√33. A book connected (title, cover, content) to a word "born" in the same year as you (The word is "Gamification"....meaning playing games)
Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon
√34. A suggestion from the AtY 2018 polls, that didn't win but was polarizing or a close-call ( A book picked off your TBR by mom)
Blueberry Girl
√35. A book featuring a murder
I Want My Hat Back
√√√36. A book published in the last 3 years (2016, 2017, 2018) by an author you haven't read before
What Do You Do with a Problem?
The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors
Drawn Together
√37. A Women's Prize for Fiction winner or nominee....used Caldecott winner
Owl Moon
√38. A science book or a science fiction book
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: The Classic Illustrated Storybook
√39. A book with a form of punctuation in the title
Oh, The Places You'll Go!
√40. A book from Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime list
Where the Wild Things Are
√41. A book by an author with the same first and last initials
Swimmy
√42. A book that takes place on, in, or underwater
Baby Dolphin's First Swim
√43. A book with a title that is a whole sentence
I Like to Be Little
√44. A ghost story
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
√45. A book that intimidates/ scares you
The Tailypo: A Ghost Story
√46. 4 books linked by the 4 elements: Book #4 Air
When the Wind Stops
√47. A book where the main character (or author) is of a different ethnic origin, religion, or sexual identity than your own
Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back
√48. A book related to one of the 7 deadly sins ( greed)
Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes
√49. A book from one of the Goodreads Best Books of the Month lists (Used GR choice awards)
Julia's House for Lost Creatures
√50. A book with a warm atmosphere (centered on family, friendship, love or summer)
Stellaluna
√51. An award-winning short story or short story collection
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales
√52. A book published in 2018
A Campfire Tail