Ready Read Tuesday - The Short Stack

Welcome back to Ready Read Tuesday! If you are new to my weekly book challenge, see this post for the background. In order to save time, let’s just consider this as good of a reason as any to spend some time reading with the burgeoning young geniuses in your life. To help navigate, I've added an index page for this and all future Ready Read Tuesday posts here. So what are you waiting for? Grab one of these great books and let me know what you've been reading with your kids! 

Now for this week’s book challenge – This week’s theme is “The Short Stack.”  Between our busy works schedules and the kids’ school and sports schedules, sometimes the idea of sitting down to an entire book is just daunting. That’s why this week I’m focusing on short story collections that make it easy to read to or with your child a little at a time. There is a little something for everyone in these selections and, because nothing compares to a child’s laughter, they can be counted on to show you the funny. Happy Reading!

1. The Sneetches & Other Stories  - Dr. Seuss

Where To Get It? B&N, Amazon

How It Inspires? Who among us can’t think of treasured a Dr. Seuss story right off the top of our heads? And with Hollywood giving kids a fresh appreciation for these timeless classics, it’s a great time to reintroduce all of us to some of our old favorites. Seuss was a master of weaving life lessons and tales of morality into incredibly entertaining stories, helping to build a foundation of open hearts and open minds for children.  “Too Many Daves” and “What Was I Scared Of?” are two of my favorites in this collection.

2. Ribticklers!: Funny Stories  - Chosen by Michael Rosen

Where To Get It? B&N, Amazon

How It Inspires? Some of my favorite childhood memories with my family, even those where I’m a bit hazy on the details, involve all of us in fits of laughter together. I may not remember what was so funny, but I remember the feeling – Complete and Utter Happiness. This book is intended for the middle school aged but, with stories by humorists such as James Thurber, the grown-ups are bound to get a kick out of these stories as well.

3. Guys Read: Funny Business – Edited by Jon Scieszka

Where To Get It? Amazon/Kindle, B&N

How It Inspires? For starters, everything I mentioned above about laughter creating such wonderful memories applies to this collection as well. But going a step further, this collection is part of the Guys Read series aimed at piquing the interest of young boys. Studies show that boys are harder to interest in reading, and Scieszka has done a wonderful job of putting together stories that contain all of the ick, gore, and comedic villains a boy could want in a book. It might be written for 9-11 year olds, but if you have boys from 9-91, this is your one-stop shop to get them reading.

Ready Read Tuesday - "Undersaurus Rex!"

Welcome back to Ready Read Tuesday! If you are new to my weekly book challenge, see this post for the background. In order to save time, let’s just consider this as good of a reason as any to spend some time reading with the burgeoning young geniuses in your life. To help navigate, I've added an index page for this and all future Ready Read Tuesday posts here. So what are you waiting for? Grab one of these great books and let me know what you've been reading with your kids! 

Now for this week’s book challenge – This week’s theme is “Undersaurus Rex!”  Since last week was targeted toward older children I’m going to give a selection for our newly developing bookworms this week. We have one book about underwear, one book about dinosaurs, and one book about both!

1. The Adventures of Captain Underpants - Dav Pilkey

Where to Get It? Amazon/Kindle, B&N/Nook

How Does it Inspire? I can’t think of a better way to sum up the reasons children (myself included) would love these books than this Amazon.com Review:

"Faster than a speeding waistband... more powerful than boxer shorts..." It's Captain Underpants! Young readers will devour this fancy new boxed set of the first five paperbacks in the side-splitting, potty-humored (literally) Captain Underpants series. These books are award-winning--but really, who cares about awards when you're reading about talking toilets and the perilous plot of Professor Poopypants?” These books are for children aged 7 and up, and if you have a child who is reluctant to read because books are ‘boring,’ just start reading a few passages and you’ll know they’re hooked when the giggles start J

2. Dinosaurs Before Dark - Mary Pope Osborne

Where to Get It? B&N/Nook, Amazon/Kindle

How Does It Inspire? This is the first installment in the Fabulous Magic Tree House series for readers between 6-8. I was a lover of all things dino when I was a child and you still won’t find a more suitable fuel for the fires of imagination than dinos for children today. If Jurassic Park were a children’s book first, the movie would have been just like this book!

3. Dinosaurs Love Underpants - Claire Freedman

Where to Get it? Amazon/Kindle, B&N (Not yet available on Nook)

How Does It Inspire? This one is a picture for the youngest readers, though I got a kick out of the story, myself. The thing I like best about books like these is it takes a mundane everyday thing and gives it a completely new, even if completely silly, story. All of us adults know that a meteorite most likely killed the dinosaurs. We also take underwear for granted. But would we still take them for granted if we knew that it really was the Great Dinosaurs Underpants War that killed them? Set a child’s imagination flowing in this direction, then ask them to come up with their own unique story about what really killed the dinosaurs. I’d love to hear what they come up with!

Ready Read Tuesday - "Other-Worldly Classics"

Time to kick off our inaugural edition of Ready Read Tuesday! If you missed the introductory post yesterday, see this post for the background. In order to save time, let’s just consider this as good of a reason as any to spend some time reading with the burgeoning young geniuses in your life. To help navigate, I've added an index page for this and all future Ready Read Tuesday posts here. So what are you waiting for? Grab one of these great books and let me know what you've been reading with your kids!

Now for this week’s book challenge – the theme to get us started is “Other-Worldly Classics.” In other words, this is a selection of books most of us so-called grown-ups should remember fondly that take the reader through adventures on new worlds.

1.           The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

•     Where to get it? Gutenberg.org eBook, B&N/Nook, Amazon/Kindle 
•     How does it inspire? The book takes Dorothy and her new-found friends farther than the classic movie that we all know and love. Did you know that there was a dangerous river in Oz that the group had to cross, or that Dorothy actually met the king of the winged monkeys? I thought not. Throughout the story, children learn how  friendship, loyalty, and self-confidence can help them overcome any obstacle they face.

 2.        A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle

•          Where to get it? Amazon/Kindle, B&N/Nook
•          How does it inspire?  L'Engle, ever a brilliant story teller, gave us this masterpiece that celebrates and embraces the uniqueness of her characters. At first, the characters are shown as misfits with no understanding of what makes them special. Through their journey across both time and space to save their father, it is the extraordinary abilities of Charles Wallace and his sister Meg and the natural leadership of their school friend Calvin O'Keefe that protect the trio in their adventure.

3.         A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs

•         Where to get it? Gutenberg.org eBook, B&N/Nook, Amazon/Kindle,  
•         How does it inspire? This one is for the slightly older children and all of us who are young enough at heart to still appreciate a story about heroes, princesses, loyalty, and, well, martians. You won't find it on many reading lists for young adults, but it is a fabulous early example of 20th century pulp fiction and offers everything from swashbuckling to air-borne ship battles. It gives the reader  characters who exemplify principle, loyalty, justice, and honesty. What person, young or old, couldn't look up to a hero like that?

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A Preview for Ready Read Tuesday

See how reading makes a difference here

I've had the good fortune of meeting many writers in various stages of the careers since I began actively blogging. They come from all backgrounds; from poor to wealthy, from single-parent households to sprawling families, from all over the country and beyond. The one theme that seems to unite all of them is a simple one:


At some point in their childhood, someone took the simple step of putting a book in their hand.


Now for the parents reading this, you might be thinking that you don't want your children to grow up to be writers. You want them to eat regularly and have money for rent. Perfectly understandable. But don't neglect the many benefits realized from encouraging your children to read. 


Reading at an early age leads to enhanced language skills. That includes reading comprehension which is a HUGE factor in your child's ability to learn quickly and to foster good study habits. Reading, whether it is fiction or non-fiction, also provides a child with perspectives beyond their own experience to help them navigate those difficult early formative situations. Perhaps it's easy for little Alice or Johnny to ignore Mom's words of advice, but chances are they'll remember that Harry Potter didn't take the easy way out by lying to keep himself out of trouble. Reading gives a child other children whom they can admire and respect.


Those enhanced language skills in combination with the expanded perspective also feed directly to an enhanced ability to communicate. Communication is such an important developmental skill that is lost these days to text messaging, gaming, and the myriad of other distractions and the loss of it seems to be showing across the country. Increasing disciplinary issues, fighting, parents with children in therapy who've given up trying to talk with their child, and far worse issues seem to be normal topics of conversation among parents anymore. This is why I believe that instilling a strong ability to communicate in a child is such an important step to foster strong emotional and intellectual development. A child without the ability to communicate or even to make sense of their thoughts and feelings is more likely to act out on those feelings violently or behaviorally. 


It is for this reason that I am designating Tuesdays on my blog "Ready Read Tuesdays." Each and every Tuesday I will list three books that inspire, entertain, and educate young readers and I will challenge parents, aunts, uncles, big siblings, ANYONE with a child in their life, to get one of these books in the hands of a child. Whether you read it to them or with them, be available to talk about the story and the characters with the child and be prepared to be amazed as you see how quickly they assimilate the stories and lessons into their own lives. 

Ready, Set, Go!

And for those of you who think you're too old to get anything out of a children's book - as a fully grown-up reader of Young Adult fiction, I can promise you're never too old to learn from a child.


The first Ready Read Tuesday begins tomorrow. No excuses! I'll even make it easy for you to find all three books for cheap or even for free. Get ready!