Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Getting your kids to love reading part 2

Graphic Novels/comic books—

What? I used to hate the idea of these, but my absolute favorite thing about this medium is the ability to turn fairly boring subjects into hilarious, fascinating stories.

For example, are you interested in your child getting familiar with Shakespeare? Try Marcia Williams. She writes a series of books that are comic-strip retellings of all sorts of fabulous tales: Shakespeare, Robin Hood, the bible, Greek Myths, the Iliad and the Odyssey, King Arthur and the Knights, the stories of famous inventors, and more. All of my kids, and I mean ALL of them, ages 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 love these books. They are teaching them fabulous stories in a fun way and she really does not massacre these stories. The essential content is completely there.

Tales from Shakespeare
Charles Dickens and Friends: Five Lively Retellings


Product Details
And here's another great series: Good Times Travel Agency. They have books on Greeks, Vikings, Egyptians, Ice Age and so forth and my kids love these too. Love them.



Our final favorite history series is the You wouldn't Want to be a series:

You Wouldn't Want to Sail on the Mayflower!: A Trip That Took Entirely Too Long
You Wouldn't Want to Be a Greek Athlete: Races You'd Rather Not Run
You Wouldn't Want to Be a Roman Gladiator! (You Wouldn't Want To)
You Wouldn't Want to Be at the Boston Tea Party!: Wharf Water Tea, You'd Rather Not Drink
There are tons of these, and seriously, they are so great. My kids love them. They are full of gross facts (as well as important facts), and I can almost always catch someone reading them. The cheapest way to buy them is through Rainbow Resource, but they are always at the library too. (I prefer to own them. They're the kind of books that kids take to the bathroom...)
Smile

Now for a graphic novel for kids and grownups (I could NOT put this book down)—Smile by Rania Telgemeier who also did the Babysitter's Club graphic novels. It is so painfully true and honest—an absolutely awful story of orthodontia, but funny and poignant all at the same time. We all love this book.

Happy Reading!

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