Weekly book shelf, monthly edition: June

Calvin's great discovery of the Harry Potter series occured over Memorial Day, and the whole month of June was reading, and rereading, and rereading the series in its entirety. And acting it out. The series obviously needs no real introduction here.

There was some additional reading, too, though. On his birthday (June 9) we took him out to dinner and to our local bookstore to pick a new title. He chose The Thickety, a new release that is the first in a promised trilogy. He picked the book for its cover, and I let him, because why not, and because everyone has to do that every once in a while, right? As it turned out, he really enjoyed the book. Unfortunately he's been spoiled by reading finished book series, so the fact that the second book doesn't come out until next June was a huge disappointment.

A find the boy took home from our library used book sale—and an award winner at that. Natalie Babbitt is the author of several other well known books, like Tuck Everlasting, and this story doesn't disappoint. Young Egan moves to a small town where the people live in the belief that a monster inhabits there hills. Finally one night he climbs the rise to discover the truth once and for all about the urban legend.

Another title from a well known author picked up from our book sale. Avi, though, is more prolific, more varied, and less reliable, and Poppy, though sweet and enchanting, is not award winning material. It also turned out to be the second book in a series that kind of resembles the Redwall series that Calvin loved so much. He enjoyed Poppy, too, though not quite the same.

Together we are still reading The Golden Compass. It's been difficult to get our read aloud time in, what with his eagerness to read his own books, and the later summer nights that lead to late baths and immediate zonking upon hitting the pillow. Slow and steady wins the race, though, and he's definitely still enjoying it.