Reading Report :: May 2015

As I was prepared to tally my reading report for May, I had thought it would be a slow month to report. As it turns out, I kinda still think that, but I also did read more that I thought I did. May is always a busy month. Soccer, end of activities, wrapping up school ... but still I did find time to read a few pages.



I managed to finish:

• All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor. We FLEW through this read-aloud (blogged here) and are looking forward to tackling the sequels in this series this summer.
• Christy by Catherine Marshall for the Reading to Know bookclub. I so loved revisiting this old friend and I owe Carrie my wrap up post on this book ASAP. 
• Ming Tea Murder by Laura Childs was my mindless fiction for the month. An easy breezy mystery that I read over this holiday weekend when we had a little extra downtime. It's not a deep series by any stretch of the imagination, but I can pick it up and remember the characters and enjoy the story, scenery and food descriptions without any problem. A great light read for those reasons.
• Onion John by Joseph Krumgold for Amy's Newbery challenge. I really do want to write more on this one so hopefully I will make the time to come back and share a few quotes. I'm not sure why I picked this one for my challenge selection other that the title sounded unique. And to be honest, the first half of the book was a chore to get through, but I was glad to see the end of it. Will I rave about this being the best book I discovered in the Newbery challenge? Probably not, but it did have a super sweet lesson at the end of it that I loved. More soon, I hope. : )

For June, I have a small stack here that I'm going to start with. We have our Classical Conversations practicum this month as well as VBS (which I'm helping with) so we'll see what kind of reading time I end up with in my fringe hours. I'm envisioning many days of reading at the pool while my kids swim, but that may just be dreaming. : ) On the list:

• The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King. A Sherlock Holmes mystery (of sorts) that I am thoroughly enjoying, but its about the opposite of Laura Childs' light mysteries in every respect. Meaty and detailed, and I am really enjoying it, but it's been slow going. I'm on my last renewal of it before I have to return it to the library so I plan to finish it soon. Really.
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is our current read-aloud and I'm actually guessing that we will finish it today or tomorrow. I remember trying to read this to my crew when N1 was five or six and we bailed on it. It's a different experience this time around and we are LOVING IT. 
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Another classic I've never read and it's Amy's choice for the Reading to Know bookclub in June. 
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. I've recently seen this title mentioned by my friend as one of her favorites and since I've never read it AND it fits for Amy's Newbery challenge for the 1970s, it is in the stack. I know absolutely nothing about the book so we'll see what I learn.

Summer's a'coming and hopefully more time for reading! Anything you are dying to get to this summer?