My daughter is reading this book. I read it last night and this morning. - it was excellent. Do any of the rest of you read books your kids read? (do I remember that we talked about this already?)

Jodi

Any adult will enjoy any book - or at least any of the several that I've read while Eleven was reading them - written by award-winning author Margaret Peterson Haddix. Her books are extremely well written, and deal with very complex and thought-provoking issues. I just can't say enough about her books; they're fantastic!

Not that it matters to the quality of her books, but I will add that she's also a very nice person with a wonderful family. She attends our church, and is actually Eleven's Sunday school teacher this year.

My wife could not read Robert Munsch's "Love You Forever" without bawling her eyes out.

I loved reading Dr. Seuss books to them when they were small, and I recall my oldest son's favourite was Janel Cannon's "Stellaluna".

Now that they are all much older, now, instead of reading to them, I enjoy re-reading classic novels that they are studying in Literature when they are finished with them.

Jamie

I read many of the books my children were reading and continue now to exchange "good book" ideas with them. They got me to read JRR Tolkien. Can't remember a lot of titles now, but I liked most of their books (A Wrinkle In Time, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Little Women, Choose Your Own Adventure, James and the Giant Peach, Encyclopedia Brown, etc). Many were books I had read as a child and reread with them. I had a little problem with the "Sweet Valley High" series and my son went through an Anne Rice phase. That generated some good discussions about good and evil. Recently, we have all read the Harry Potter books. It's interesting to discuss these books with the children of friends, too. I miss having kids around the house

Would that I had the time to keep with them! My wife gets to read more of their books than I do, but we somehow manage to keep up. Narnia was good to reread, and my wife enjoys the Harry Potter series. The Goosebumps series is getting a bit old, though. Having skimmed one, there didn't seem to be much different in the rest of them.

The David Almond and Margaret Peterson Haddix books sound like some good works to steer them towards next. Our son's ten, our daughter is eight. Any content issues in those author's books for that age range? We try to do some advance reading before handing over a book with significant content, and have sometimes deferred a book for a year or so.

Thanks,
Jeff

My daugther is 12, and read "Heaven Eyes". It may be a little much for the younger kids. I couldn't put it down, and neither could my daughter, but it might be depressing to the wrong child. (the main character's mother died when she was 10) It's a kids story, with the feel of a fantasy/adventure but I thought it had a lot of deeper meanings that maybe only an adult would understand, or think about. It's not violent, but it does have some scary mysterious parts - it's set sometime in England - my daughter seemed to think it was present day, but I felt like it was sometime in the future, perhaps after a war. It's about some children in an orphanage in England, with a well meaning but not without her own problems caretaker. Three of the kids "escape" down the river on a raft to a strange place filled with run down buildings, and canned food, and a couple of strange people - one of them an angel -like girl called heaven eyes. There are "treasures" buried in the mud flats (including a mummified body of someone from long ago) - it was bizarre and fascinating at the same time. It didn't take me long to get through it - a few hours maybe. I did come across some reviews on Amazon - several people liked it, one person (who had been a foster child when she was younger) hated it. I would be really interested in hearing what any other parent here thinks about this book.

Jodi

Jodi,

Thanks for the feedback. I do read the Amazon reviews, but without further context it's sometimes difficult to evaluate someone else's judgement. PianoWorld provides so many opportunities for that

I'll probably include it in my next book order, read it, and possibly hold it until age eleven comes by.

Jeff

jkeene, Margaret Haddix's books would be good for your older child. The ones I've read wouldn't seem to be a good match for an eight year old, but she has written quite a few books that I haven't read, either.

Instead of giving you a long book report on the books I've read, look at the Amazon synopses. They're all good; many deal with issues that are initially unsettling but deal with children's thoughts and emotions while dealing with difficult situations. The books are written in a very "adult" manner, not talking down to the kids at all. Some titles I've read include "Among the Hidden," "Among the Betrayed," and "Among the Barons," (an ongoing series), and "Running Out of Time." There are quite a few others, but start there and search under her name; you'll find a real treasure of preteen-teen reading that parents will be interested in reading too. In all honesty, Eleven started telling me about the first MPH book that she read, "well Dad, there's this society where the government will only allow two children per family, and the government takes additional children away and kills them, but there are many secret, hidden additional children who survive, and..." I thought to myself, "I think I'd better read this to see if this is what I really want my (then) ten year old to be reading." I started reading, and kept reading until the book was finished. It was fascinating, and I never miss a chance to recommend her books to kids of this age.

Dwain,

Thanks, I like your thought process there. I'll add one of hers to my order and read it too. I did check the Amazon summary, glad to know it's an accurate representation.

Jeff