Good Reads

     I'm so lucky that my kids allow me to read to them.  Not a reader as a child or young adult, I'm not sure how I became an English major in college.  I only know that by the time I hit ECC, that I had fallen in love with the printed word.  I can tell you the exact story that hooked me - D.H. Lawrence's The Horse Dealer's Daughter.  I'm making up for lost time, catching up on all those books I never read. 

     My eldest & I began the Charlie Bone series.  I listened to the first book & was completely entralled.  Yvonne lent me thier copy of the book, and thus our adventures with Charlie began.  Similarities to Harry Potter exist - a boarding school for the gifted - both in the arts and with supernatural powers.  And there is the fight against evil, the darker powers always looming close by.  (Where! Oh! Where? is the spell check button - my typing skills have been detrimentally influenced by texting!)  The book definately has it's own personality different from the Harry Potter series.  It is equally captivating & compels you to want to continue the series.

     With my middle child, we began the Molly Moon series.  I should note that I read the first Molly Moon book to her well over a year ago, & to be quite frank, I did not think it had mesmerized her in the least bit.  However, when we finally finished the previous book, an E.S. Nesbitt book, she picked up the second Molly Moon book.  The love affair began.  We just finished the third book.  I love this series.  Each book, like the Harry Potter Series is equally well written.  The second Charlie Bone book, I felt was slightly, & only slightly not as good as the first.  But Molly Moon!  I'd wake up in the morning, thinking about what I had read the previous night.  I love that she threads these compelling thoughts and bits wisdom throughout the story as Molly is faced with challenge after challenge.  I'm not sure if a young reader would say "Wow! That's deep".  or "Let's discuss how time might be like a wheel, with the end of the world next to the beginning."  Maybe I notice them because I'm an adult.  Irregardless Molly Moon ranks high on my list as one of my favorite series.