RIF

Remember those RIF ads from the '70s & '80s? Reading Is Fundamental, right? ("Once a kid starts to read, the world is an open book.") Well, it has come to my attention lately that I'm not really much of a reader. Friends often ask me, "Have you read ______?" and I swear, I feel so illiterate. (But, ahem, at least I know how to hold a book correctly!) I have all kinds of excuses, for example:

1. I have a short attention span and have a hard time sitting still.
2. Reading "real" books makes me sleepy.
3. Periodicals have lots of pretty pictures!
4. I don't like deeply dramatic or trashy books (I'm a poor judge of what's what.)
5. I spend so much time in the kid's sections of libraries and bookstores, there's rarely time for me to do more than grab a magazine on my way to the checkout stand.

What I do read are lots and lots of magazines, yet I don't subscribe to many. (Really dumb on my part.) Here are my favorites:

Creating Keepsakes (I've been reading this since the very first issue in '97, and I sad to say, I'm liking it less and less these days.)
Simple Scrapbooks
Scrapbooks Etc. (Do you see a theme here?)
Hallmark Magazine (LOVE this publication)
Living Crafts
Family Fun (Kira and I love this one, but it's CHOCK FULL of ads!)
Ensign
LDS Living
Vegetarian Times
Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion (occasionally)
Entertainment Weekly (I actually have a subscription to this one 'cause it was free)
Metro Parent
I absolutely LOVED Martha Stewart Kids, but they discontinued it. I have coveted almost every issue, and only need one or two more to complete my collection!

I also read a whole lot of kid's books--stacks and stacks of picture books, and I'm always reading a chapter book aloud to Kira at bedtime. Now that she's such an avid reader, I really miss reading to her several times a day. She's very content to read to herself, and is somewhat obsessed with books and stories on CD & tape. Today at the library she picked up Little Women--the original, unabridged version by Louisa May Alcott...on CASSETTE! Fourteen tapes--that ought to take her awhile. The only working cassette player we have (other than the one in our car) is an old Walkman style one, and she figured out how to clip it to her waist and listen while she tootled around the house this evening. (Now she's even more checked out than usual!) Little Women is one of my favorite movies of all time, and we watched it twice during Christmas break. Anyway, I've gotten way off track here....

I have read a LOT of children's literature, and am always looking for new, great books to read aloud. Right now I'm reading Kira B is for Betsy by Carolyn Haywood, which was written in 1939! We've definitely come upon things I have to explain, as a lot has changed about the life of a first grader in the last 70 years (ie: sitting in the corner and wearing a "Dunce" cap!) My first grade teacher, Mrs. Judy Hanson, read this to my class when I was in first grade in 1979, and I was so tickled to come across a copy.

When we finish the Betsy book, we're going to go back to reading the Lily Quench series by Natalie Jane Prior. We were just beginning book 5 (out of 7) when it all got just a little too scary for Kira. That was in Fall of '06 when she was Lily Quench for Halloween. (That costume nearly killed me, but I LOVED how it turned out. We even dyed her hair red!) I'm stoked to see that there's a new book coming out: Lily Quench's Companion to Dragons and the Art of Quenching!! I so wish I could get my hands on this for Kira for Valentine's!

Before Christmas a friend asked me for book recommendations for her niece who is the same age and reading level as Kira. Here is a list of some of our very favorite chapter book series:

- The Frog Princess series of 6 books by E.D. Baker
-Fairy Realm series of 10 books by Emily Rodda (there are 10 in the series)
-The Doll People, and the sequel, The Meanest Doll in the World by Ann M. Martin
-The Enchanted Forest Chronicles series of 4 books by Patricia C. Wrede
- The Unicorn's Secret series by Kathleen Duey
- The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder (of course)
-Pretty much anything published by American Girl I've been pleasantly surprised at how good their books are.

We're just starting to get into Nancy Drew books, but I think she may be a bit young for them yet. Of course, she's loving Harry Potter (she and Adam are on book 2) but we're going to hold off on the rest of the series until she's a little older.

As far as what Kira likes to read on her own, here are some of her favorites:

The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes series by Anne Mazer (and her new Sister Magic series)
Cam Jansen books by David Adler
The Fairy Chronicles series by JH Sweet(although they aren't coming out fast enough for her!)

She has a tendency to choose books that are a little too easy for her, but she burns through them like CRAZY. Today was a very crazy, stressful day (a story for another post when I'm not so frustrated about a $120 vet bill....) While I was picking out some books and CDs for school, she read an entire 70+ Jigsaw Jones book. Wha? She so gets this from her dad.

So now what I really need is to find some literature for myself--books outside the realm of paper crafts, knitting, and sewing books! If you've got any suggestions, please send 'em my way. For now I'm going to re-read Standing For Something by Gordon B. Hinckley. I've been so saddened by his death, but appreciate his messages in new ways now. What an good, good man, and what an amazing life he lead.

Alright, I'm off to turn a few pages before I doze off...zzz...zzz...zz..z