Books My Kids Are Reading Part 5

First week of September and I am up to my eyeballs in lunch boxes and homework!

Before I completely forget everything that happened this summer, I want to give you the rundown of some books we enjoyed while school was out.

It’s not the entirety of what we or they read, but the ones worth sharing. These are the books my (kids age 7 and 10) enjoyed and said, “just one more chapter! Please!”

AniMalcolm by David Baddiel

We stumbled into the world of David Baddiel when I picked up this book at the airport back in June. AniMalcom is a book about a kid who doesn’t like animals and then gets turned into an animal himself. Finding his way back home taught the boy some important life lessons.

My kids adored this book and had so much fun trying to guess which character the boy would turn into next.

The Parent Agency by David Baddiel

Honestly, I wasn’t too sure about the premise of this book. I didn’t want to give my kids the idea that they could interview and pick out their parents. You’re stuck with me, kiddos!

It turns out this was a light-hearted way of showing kids the grass isn’t always greener with another family.

My kids enjoyed this book, but it wasn’t their favorite David Baddiel book.

The Person Controller by David Baddiel

The kids’ favorite David Baddiel book, so far, is The Person Controller.

A Mystery Man gives a brother and sister a game controller that controls people. The kids use it to rescue a pet, teach the school bullies a lesson and win a school soccer game. Ultimately, they learn they don’t really need the controller. They just need to believe in themselves.

I could see my kids’ imaginations running wild with the possibilities presented in this book. What’s not to love about being able to do flips in the air like a computer game character? In the end though, they were the ones who “got” the point about believing in yourself. As a parent, I appreciate books that are fun, engaging and have a strong moral at the end.

Skellig by David Almond

Skellig (The Owl Man) was a book way out of the realm of what we normally read. It’s about a boy who moves to a new home and while his parents are distracted with an extremely ill baby, he discovers a strange being in his crumbling garage. This discovery changes his life forever.

This award-winning book is definitely geared for older kids and not necessarily my 7-year-old. This is mainly because of some complicated relationships and the very real, raw feelings that can come out in those situations. It’s not a fast-paced, action-filled, heavy plot points book, but it’s insight does keep you turning the pages. It’s hard to explain! You’ll just have to read it!

This was book was made into a movie a few years back. We watched the movie after we read the book. Here’s the trailer:

Dinkin Dings and the Frightening Things

This Dinkin Dings book (there’s an entire series) is definitely geared for the humor of young boys. I appreciate this because I have a young boy and while he doesn’t mind reading, he hasn’t reached the point where he’s picking up a book on his own yet. He’s capable, but resistant. This type of book is right up his alley.

Dinkin Dings is scared of most everything – except the monsters who live under his bed. Dinkin suspects his new neighbors are zombies in disguise, so he concocts a plan to reveal their true identities. Quite an adventure unfolds from there.

I’m definitely going to look for more books in this series for my son to read.

The Owls of Blossom Wood (Books 1-3) by Catherine Coe

My daughter loves all the animals of the world.

She saw The Owls of Blossom Wood series in one of those Scholastic magazines that comes home from school in the United States. I never got the book order turned in on time. Oops! Fast forward 2 years and imagine my surprise when I saw these books at a TJ MAXX in Ireland.

I snatched them up and my daughter plowed through them – even though she’s probably out-grown them. If your kid likes the Magic Pony/Kitten/Puppy series, these will be a hit.

Horrible Histories Gruesome Guides: Dublin by Terry Deary

Horrible Histories is a series about, well, history around the world. We happened to read most of the one about Dublin.

History can be written in a very dry way. This book was jam-packed with information, but it was definitely not dry. There are pictures, cartoons and an emphasis on the gross factor. If anything, this series probably portrays history in a more accurate way instead of the sanitized version we usually read about in textbooks.

How I know the information (or some of it) stuck in my children’s minds is when we visited a museum and they said, “Look, Mom! We read about the Battle of Clontarf!” So, thank you Horrible Histories!

If learning about Dublin history isn’t your thing, there are a bunch of books in the Horrible Histories series as you can see from this 20 book set: Horrible Histories Collection 20 Books Set Pack.

Wheelnuts! Complete Collection (5 books) – by Knife and Packer

I have to give grandma credit for buying my son 3 of the Wheelnuts! Craziest Race on Earth books from one of those online book parties. By the way, grandma, we need the rest of them now!

HE LOVED THEM.

One of the race cars was named the Flying Diaper. The driver of the Flying Diaper was named Burp. When you’re a 7-year-old boy, it doesn’t get much funnier than that.

The books are all about the antics of a crazy race where there are no rules.

This was a book my son could read (he reads a page, I read a page), but because the story was entertaining, the font was big enough and there were pictures on every page, he didn’t complain about reading. That makes this book – even if I had to read about a river of drool – a win!

If you love reading, you’ll appreciate this slightly tongue-in-cheek article titled 15 Things Book-Lovers Do Better Than Anyone Else. I can certainly relate to some of them!

Happy Reading!

And as always, let me know what we should read next!

Here are past posts on children’s books we LOVE

1. Books My Kids Are Reading Part 7
2. Books My Kids Are Reading Part 6
3. Books My Kids Are Reading Part 5
4. Books My Kids Are Reading Part 4
5. Books My Kids Are Reading Part 3
6. Books My Kids Are Reading Part 2
7. Books My Kids Are Reading Now (Part 1)
8. Two Children’s Books That Made My Eyes Leak – Cried my eyes out. Still my favorite books.
9. Star Wars Phonics Books – These worked miracles at encouraging my son to read.

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