What We're Reading Wednesday #3

We had one of those weeks where it became glaringly obvious that the book Madeline selected for her summer reading assignment simply wasn't going to work for her.  So we pulled up the summer reading list and sifted through the dismal books on the list looking for something that I didn't find inappropriate and something she found interesting.  We landed on Chew On This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food.  So far, so good.  She's made it a good way through the book in the past couple of days and she's telling us all sorts of things that she learning from the book.  Works for me.

She also started to read Harry Potter in the Sorcerer's Stone.  I suspect it will take her a while to get through this book unless something clicks and she actually gets into the story.  I remember when I picked up that book on afternoon just to peek inside I lost about 17 hours of my life.  Don't ask me who took care of little toddler Madeline while I read that book.

Ellie has been reading a bunch of different books so it's hard to pin point what she's reading at any given moment.  She did start reading a new series of kid's books, Gospel Time Trekkers, from Pauline Kids yesterday.  She zipped through the first few chapters of Shepherds to the Rescue.  So far she likes what she's read.  Once she's done reading the book I'll be posting a review of it.  It looks a bit like the Imagination Stations series.

I've been battling headaches for most of the week so I haven't been reading a lot.  I did start to page through Bl. John Newman's Everyday Meditations the other day.  The meditations are very good.  In a way they sort of remind me of both St. Francis De Sales and St. Ignatius Loyola.  But as I was reading the book I got hit with a headache like I sometimes get when reading St. Augustine and St. Ignatius Loyola so I'm not sure if it's his writings or just the bad bout of headaches that are to blame.  Either way the meditations are very good, I'm just not sure if they're of the spiritual indigestion inducing caliber of Sts. Augustine and Ignatius.  Once I get past these headaches and delve back into the book I'll know for sure.  

I've also continued reading through the Gospels.  Last week I read through Mark and now I'm working through Luke.  I now find myself at Mass saying to myself, "Hey, I read that a few weeks ago!" or "Hmm...this sounds really familiar." and then I realize that it's familiar because I read it quite recently. Have I mentioned how much I love using the USCCB's website for reading the bible?  I just have a window with it up on my browser.  So when I find myself spending way too much time on the computer I just flip over to that window and read so I'm at least doing something more worthwhile than checking out Facebook or browsing Amazon.  I'm working my way through the Gospels at a rate of 2-4 chapters a day.  

Katie is stuck on her favorite books.  But she did humor me and sit through The Holy Twins.  She likes the pictures from her Tomie DePaola, but I don't think she's enamored with the story.

She has been a bit attached to God's Alphabet The ABC's of the Church.  It's a really nice ABC book that was originally printed back in 1938.  Each letter has a little rhyming verse about something that relates to the Catholic faith and there's a lovely blue and white illustration of the sort that you really only find in older books.  Katie happily sits and listens to this book and then pages through it herself.

When I originally ordered this book I thought it was a bit pricey, but it's a very nice quality book.  The pages are nice and thick and it's also printed in the USA.  I don't mind paying a bit more for a book when I know that it's helping to keep jobs in our country.

She's also decided that she'd humor a few of the baby board books the other day.  She had me read Dr. Seuss's ABC a few times.  I used to have to read this book to Madeline all of the time.  Ellie HATED books when she was a toddler with the exception of a few Boynton titles.  I was amused that after all these years I still have that book memorized.  "Big U, little u. What begins with U?  Uncle Ubb's umbrella and his underwear, too! U...u...U."  I have to say it's one of the more amusing ABC books that we own.   

She also humored me reading her some nursery rhymes from The Real Mother Goose.  Honestly, I'm still not sure how I feel about this book.  I brought it back in 1998 when my best friend was expecting her first child.  I got a copy for her baby and one for my future children.  The illustrations are nice, but I take issue with how some of the nursery rhymes are worded.  They're not the same as the book my mother has.  I do wish I could find a copy of the Mother Goose book my mom has.  I always liked the illustrations in that book.  Years ago I searched for a used copy and had no luck.  But back to the copy that I do have.  Of the several Mother Goose books that we own, this one is the one I like the best.  It's a close second to the one I grew up with.  I do have my eye on the Tomie DePaola Mother Goose book.  Maybe Katie will get a copy for her birthday.  It's on her Amazon wish list.

I am happy that she's allowing a bit more variety with her book requests.  I did order her some out of print Tomie DePaola books hoping to add a few new favorites.

Head over to Clan Donaldson for more What We're Reading Wednesday posts.