Thursday, May 26, 2011

Reading Aloud Challenge: May 26

I cannot believe it is the end of May!  How in the world does this happen?

It was a decent week for reading aloud.  Grandma is visiting, so we certainly didn't read as much as I'd like.  But we did do some.


Black Horses for the King 
(Magic Carpet Books)William and Thomas are continuing to listen to Black Horses for the King.  And.... Drum Roll Please!!!  We finished it!!  I don't know why I had so much trouble reading this book.  We enjoyed it.  It is totally something my kids love.  I guess... I guess, it is partially that the "parts" are so stinkin' long (no chapters) and it stressed me out to think of reading an entire part, or to figure out where to break it up.  And the names, uff dah, the names...  Let me quote, from near the end of the book.  And you need to read this aloud without rehearsing it, just for a clue...

"'Well, we've mounted Gwalchmei, Geraint, Cei, Bedwyr, Medraut, Drustanus, Bwlch, and Cyfwlch; Prince Cador has three or four for battle and King Mark two...'"  Of these, I had seen only Cei and Bwlch before (well, and Cador and Mark).  I got to Cyfwlch and gave up.  Thomas suggested I call him Bob.

Dale even took a stab at it.  I handed the book to him and suggested he read that sentence aloud.  He insisted on studying it some first, and he turned all the "l's" into "i's" and vice versa.   That makes the names imminently more pronounceable.    Gwaichmel, Geralnt, Cel, Bedwyr, Medraut, Drustanus, Bwich and Cyfwich.  I made him do it over.

Anyway, I shouldn't complain.  The above is, by far, the worst sentence in the book.  And the story was worth it.

Dr. Jenner and the Speckled Monster: The Discovery of the Smallpox Vacci: The Discovery of the Smallpox VaccineConnor and I read through Dr. Jenner and the Speckled Monster this week.  This was great.  The Speckled Monster is smallpox, and I learned a ton.  So did Connor.  William & Thomas listened some too.  The book wasn't just about the fight against smallpox by Dr. Jenner, but also the history of smallpox, and what has happened since Jenner's day as well.  Fabulous book.  One of very few I don't actually own for Core 7, and although the library has a number of copies, I made just need to own this one.

I love scientist biographies, especially when they give such a great picture of the process.  Fantastic book.

Mary Jones And Her Bible
Then, I started reading Mary Jones and Her Bible to Connor.  We are halfway (or a bit more) through it.  We're liking it.  Connor feeling lousy though means we really haven't done any reading the past couple of days.  One of those stories that makes you not take the incredible availability of the Bible for granted.  Even after Bibles were available in English, in England, they were still expensive and owning one was out of the reach of so many. 

The Story of the Pledge of Allegiance: Discovering Our Nations HeritageEveryone has been listening to The Story of the Pledge of Allegiance.  I'll be reviewing this one, probably this afternoon.  We have a few pages to go, but I am considering it "finished" for this check-in post.  I'm a fan of Tiner, and this book doesn't change those opinions.

We also continue to read aloud various history, science, and Bible selections.  

So -- plans for the week ahead. Well, we may not have a ton of reading aloud time available to us.  Definitely plan to finish Mary Jones, and am hoping to read The Big Wave to William and Thomas.  We'll see other than that.

How did your week go?  Sign the linky and I'll definitely come visit your post.  This weekend, most likely!  Love having you here...


To see my first post when this turned into a linky thing, check here

2 comments:

Tess said...

Sorry I missed last week! I didn't do much reading aloud this week but I posted!

Michelle Smith said...

You always post about such interesting books, Debra. I need to begin keeping a "wish list" of books from your weekly challenge check ins.