"What Are You Reading?" and Armchair BEA

Happy Monday! Today is "What Are You Reading?" linky time at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books. 

I have decided that I am finishing Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project THIS WEEK! This means that I can only read this particular book...I cannot pick up my other literature until I am finished.  There.  I said it. Please keep me accountable, fellow bloggers!!!! :)

Here are a few of the books I will be reading with my children:

I am also gearing up for Armchair BEA that starts tomorrow!  I am so excited to meet some awesome book bloggers and check out some cool new blogs!

I have added a new weekly feature here at A Novel Idea, called "Mystery Friend Friday", and I am really excited about it!  Every Friday I will highlight a particular children's author or illustrator, giving clues Monday through Thursday as to who he or she might be.  That person will be our Friday Mystery Friend!  Here's the first clue:  She is "somebunny" who you might know quite well.

And...check out the top of my sidebar! I have my own button now! Please grab it and share the love!

What I Am Currently Reading...

This is my first link-up to It's Monday! What Are You Reading? at the blog, One Person's Journey Through a World of Books...I am so excited!

I have borrowed my father's habit of reading several books at one time! This drives my husband crazy, but I can't help it! I get so excited when I come across a new book, and I just can't wait to read it!!

On my reading docket right now:

Books I am reading with my children this week:




This will be a great week of reading!! I can't wait to see what others have on their bookshelves ready to dust off and read!!

"The delight of opening a new pursuit, or a new course of reading, imparts the vivacity and novelty of youth even to old age." - Benjamin Disraeli

Tuesday Book Review #4

Get ready, readers, for some amazing suspense with the Tunnels series by Brian Williams and Roderick Gordon!! 

When I first picked up Tunnels, the original book in this science-fiction series, I was immediately hooked.  (And I am not a huge sci-fi fan!) The plot and literary style both carry you into a world you could never, ever imagine.  Every page gets increasingly suspenseful, and you cannot bear to put down this book...I promise!!!

I could not WAIT for the second book, Deeper, and had very high expectations of it.  My expectations were exceeded, as the plot twisted and turned, keeping me in constant suspense!!



I have just begun reading Freefall (Tunnels), and it is a page-turner as well.  It started with a bang(!), just like the first two books.



The latest installment in this incredible series is Closer (Tunnels).  I will be reading it as soon as I finish Freefall!!!

This series is appropriate for ages 10 and up.  It is an enriching literary experience, due to the unique story-line and excellent writing style of the authors.

Literacy Tip #2 - Repetition, Repetition, Repetition!

We all have that book we've read to our children again, again, and...oh, yeah - AGAIN!!

Turns out, our children (as always) have hit the nail right on the head! Repetition is absolutely key to children in the reading realm, particularly infants and toddlers.  Hearing familiar words read over and over again creates new neural pathways in a child's little brain, especially when those words are read to him or her in a book they love while sitting in your lap.  Basically, this situation is the "perfect storm" for learning!!!!

So, go ahead and let your awesome little one hand you Goodnight Moon for the thousandth time - your child will reap countless benefits, and you will relish in the fact that learning and loving are happening at the same time!

Some of my children's faves:

Two Little Trains by Margaret Wise Brown (author of Goodnight Moon)

 The Going-To-Bed Book by Sandra Boynton

 Mother, May I? by Grace Maccarone

 Winter Friends by Carl R. Sams and Jean Stoick