I got books 5,6,7,9-12 today trhough the post [thankyou american ebay]. SB loves them. Typically, she has started at book 12, and having flicked through, I think they are supposed to be vaguely sequential!
I have looked at the website? and it doesn’t answer my questions, so anyone out ther that have used them:
1. Is it particularly noticeable it should be sequential?
2. Are all the books roughly the same reading level [SB is racing through this polar bear one]
TBH, I thought they may be a bit tricky for her, but they’re not [I have no idea what ‘reading level’ she is [well, she is reading the usborne young readers at level 2, level 10/11 ORT, DK readers level 3 - whatever all those are!], and what they are supposed to be. I just want her to have a bookshelf of interesting books to read. These certainly fit that bill.
I am doing some translation – sneakers = trainers, and an ineresting discussion on torches vs flashlights [rofl!]
Any other favourites out there for this kind of reader? [tempted by the animal arks in the latest book people - should have put in bin without reading!]. She likes chapters, but not really long ones, likes the occaisonal piccie or line drawing – doesn’t have to be every page.
no idea – but looking at the website, they look fab. Will have to have a nosy when we come visit.
My 6yo dd (who played with yours a bit while we were still in Cambridge, sob) is reading MTH too — I think it should be spot on for yours. The books all seem to be about the same level and while it would be better to read them in order, it’s not essential because there’s usually a bit of ‘and this is what has just happened’ stuff at the beginning of each chapter. HTH.
As for other readers, I’ll be interested in what other people say. We just grab a few from the library and hope they hit the spot.
look away kirsty!
Elizabeth, we do miss you and your family. Glad to hear that its not sooo dreadful to start at 12! SB really likes the first one anyway.
Hmm, I wonder why I haven’t looked at your blog before! having found it – and read the book reviews! I have linked and should read more often. Hope thats OK
Plenty of that sort of level book in our library (they have them graded), or any bookshop. Ernest is delighting in the Horrid Henry’s, lol. We had one of those junior Animal Ark books too – so appalling! We also have several of some Usborne and Collins series I think, which are ok – some decent suthors writing short and simple stories.
Boxcar Children?
is boxcar readable by BB herself then? [I'd got it into my head it was a read aloud!] might ask if someone can bring a book to Kessie for me to see.
We are big fans of magic tree house and magic school bus here. The magic tree house books are numbered but it doesn’t really make a huge difference. Each book is a story in its own right and mary pope osborne makes sure she recaps the essential elements at the beginning of each book. After the 3rd book ( I think) jack and annie discover that morgan le fay is the owner of the tree house and that she is the librarian at camelot. As the series progresses morgan sends them on adventures to collect books and stories from different time periods and in one set of books they even rescue her from a spell she is under. They have a lot of the stories on http://www.audible.co.uk. Sam loves to listen to them while we are out and about.
They are all about the same reading level and always have a section in the back to explain more about the topic.
There are also teacher’s books to go along with some of the titles to give more background and project ideas.
A series we have recently discovered is called Carole Marsh Mysteries. They are set of books in which two children and their grandparents solve mysteries while on vacation and research trips (their grandmother is an author). The reading level is a little more challenging than magic tree house but the topics are really good. We are currently reading mystery on the iditarod trail.
Fans of Magic Tree House here too. I think they do sometimes make reference to something which happened in a previous story but it does nothing to spoil enjoyment of the current book. The first 3 or 4 books do set the scene for later adventures in terms of explaining the reason for the tree house etc.
We’ve just read Twister on Tuesday as we’re doing a weather project and have the Ancient Greek, Roman and China ones to look forward to when we get there with SOTW.