Austyn and I were really enjoying the Spiderwick Chronicles recently. We read the entire series, including Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles.
Other parents ask me if he reads them on his own and I tell them that I read these type of books to him. I have gotten some interesting looks. From what I understand, the kids in his grade level are reading many books on their own and being forced to do book reports each week. I get the impression from these parents that he should be reading all of these books on his own. This isn't the case and this is the way we do things. He only reads what he wants on his own and what he is ready for. I don't want to force reading. Instead I want to foster a love for reading and I think that I'm doing a great job of this. I may not be doing many other things as well, but I can say with confidence that he lives these books that I read to him! The other thing I can USUALLY say with confidence is that he retains the information well and retells what happened in the books to others.
