Excuse Me While I Gloat

Over the past two snow days, I made my child read (yes, such a mean mom). She was a struggling beginning reader at the end of kindergarten, and needless to say, I was very worried about her academic future. So, I forced daily reading sessions upon her every day over the summer. She took to them slowly. She finally blossomed into one of the best readers in her class.

But back to my point....

I decided to challenge her a little. I asked her to read her first chapter book. We went through all my old books from when I was her age, and we decided on Judy Blume's Freckle Juice.

We read the snowy Tuesday and Wednesday away. We read about how Marcus Andrew desperately wanting Nicky Lane's freckles because he didn't want to wash his neck and ears. And meddling Sharon selling Andrew a secret recipe for freckle juice. It was wonderful.

She loved it and her confidence soared. Now she believes she was to tackle Superfudge.

Shelfari

I thought I might take a minute to explain the bookshelf located at the very bottom of my blog page. Thanks to the Alice Pope blog, I joined shelfari. I am an avid reader and lover of books. I frequently find myself in the library wondering if I have read a particular book.

Yes, I have several notebooks with various reading lists scribbled in them, but you know how it is when you are leaving the house, those notebooks are suddenly as well hidden as Hoffa's body. I need help in getting these organized. And the good Lord knows that I have not even come close to listing them all. I still have the bookshelfs at my parents' house to inventory. But this website (http://www.shelfari.com/) does it all for you (organizing, that is), and makes it look like a bookshelf at Borders or Barnes and Nobel. It is wonderful.

I also find that it has inspired me to read more. Especially since I shared the shelf with co-workers. We are all reading more. Several little competitions have sprung up, like who can read the most books this month, who can write the most reviews, etc. We are having a lot of fun.

I have also considered starting a shelf for my daughter (6 years old) since she is really starting to read books on her own. I think she might like to see all the books that she has read over time. We could start with all those childrens' books I read to her.

So if you have the time, check it out. It just may inspire you.