Volunteering at a local public school Montessori program has me helping in book club along with Baggy Book reading with kiddos.
The following books were read this year and we had so much fun discussing them all together. The children do an amazing job of expressing their thoughts to me and to each other.
The Tale Of Despereaux by Kate Dicamillo
This is my third year in a row doing this book. The kids seem to pick this one every year. What a hoot. We have some really interesting conversations about good and bad and light and darkness. The insight of the kids always amazes me. Botticelli always ends up being called broccoli by the kids, which is really funny. They don’t like the character or the vegetable. A few of the kids actually watched the movie and said that so much was left out, they didn’t like it. This, of course, makes me smile.
Stuart Little by E.B. White
This one shocked me! NONE of the children had heard of this book and only one child had seen the movie. I was so surprised. A group of boys was in this particular bookclub and they thoroughly enjoyed reading it! Their excitement every week was just so much fun! So much laughter and excitement. Made my heart smile.
Ranger in Time by Kate Messner
This book is another favorite. I have done this book three times as well. It is about a time traveling Golden Retriever. Girls and boys alike love these stories. There are six in this series so far, I believe. Fun adventures with real history that kids really seem to enjoy.
The Wild Whale Watch Magic School Bus
chapter book
Neither of my children liked these books, however they are still very popular and I enjoy watching the kids learn from them. The girls reading this book learned a lot about whales and were excited to share these facts with each other. Personally I was surprised about how many facts about whales there were in the book. Impressed.
Night of the New Magicians
(Magic Tree House (R) Merlin Mission)
by Mary Pope Osborne
Magic Tree House books are still very popular. This is another series my kids did not really enjoy, so I am not as familiar with them. I have found that kids either really like them or really do not like them. The stories I have read with kids seem to be little mysteries and or adventures. This particular story fascinated the little boys reading it and they had very lively discussions with each other. So much fun.
The year is wrapping up and this week is my last with book club. For this week the children are supposed to bring in their favorite book and tell us about it. I can not wait to see what they bring.
Volunteer, mentor, read with a child. It will change and enrich your life in a way you could never imagine.
Peace.
