My kids went back to school today after a long winter break, and we enjoyed the less structured reading time. Both kids of course got books for Christmas, plus we have a nice pile of Christmas and snow books that only come out at this time of year.
In addition to getting back to the Magic Tree House book we’d been reading, the 6 year old and I read the first two LEGO Ninjago graphic novels that I found out about thanks to Jennifer. I don’t usually like reading graphic novels aloud (or at all, really) but these were easy to read, and it won’t be long before he can read them himself. He also received, but we haven’t started yet, Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King, which is the first book in the series that Rise of the Guardians is based on.
The boys had their well visits a couple of weeks ago, and when the Nurse Practitioner we see asked the 9 year old what he’s reading, she raised her eyebrows at his answer – The Lord of the Rings and Horten’s Miraculous Mechanisms. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, he was on the first chapter of Lord of the Rings in school and hasn’t touched it over break, even though I put it on his Kindle Fire, and I had to return Horten’s to the library, and when I borrowed it again a couple of weeks later, he seemed to have lost interest. But now that he’ll need to read for school again I’m hoping he’ll pick it back up.
As for what he’s actually been reading lately, two non-fiction books he got for Christmas have captured his interest – Sports Illustrated Kids 1st and 10: Top 10 Lists of Everything in Football and The Dangerous Book for Boys.
And now for something new:
As much as we’ve enjoyed sharing our Kids’ Picks and reading about yours, due to lack of interest, we are going to put it out to pasture. However, we want to do something new that will allow our reading community here to interact, answering that age old question about what people should read next. You know how when people find out you are a reader or that your kids like to read, they always want a recommendation. So starting next month on February 12, we’ll launch a new feature. We’re not exactly sure what it will be called, perhaps something as simple as “Reading Recommendations” or “What to Read Next?” (we’d love your input as well). We’re hoping this will be a place people can come to ask questions like “Is my child old enough to read The Hunger Games? or “What do you recommend beyond Magic Tree House for beginning readers? or “I finally picked up a book over Christmas, and I want to read more. I loved Gone Girl — what should I try next?”
–Looking forward to starting something new next month, from Jennifer, Nancy and the whole 5 Minutes for Books team
I can’t stop recommending 
For some families, vacations mean lots of opportunities for reading. My family just returned from a 10 day trip which included 6 different flights (3 legs, 2 flights per leg). The kids are old enough that they don’t need my attention the whole time so I get some great reading time in. Unfortunately they’d rather play on the various electronic devices than read, and with late nights there wasn’t much bedtime reading either. My 9 year old also took advantage of not having to log his reading time and devoured his