Books!

I have a review that I'm supposed to get up today (or tomorrow), so I wanted to get this one up before that.

It has been a busy few weeks for us. April's rehearsals have moved into full swing, and opening night is next week on Friday evening. Eeek! Anyway, that means we have been in the car a lot, so we have been listening to a lot of audio books. We started with Harry Potter since I was in a Harry Potter mood, and I think the boys are finally to a point that they'd be very interested in them. I was right! We flew through the first 3 books in the car. But, at that point I told them they had to read them on their own, or get a mp3 version because the books just get a little too scary for a 5 year old, and I didn't want little Alex listening to them past that point. Book 3 was even questionable for him, and he wasn't really digging them anyway. So, they did! They both have their own book copy, and I had a credit on audible to get it on the ipad. Of course, they both prefer to listen rather than read, so they kind of go back and forth. If the ipad isn't available, and they really want to read they do that. Aric has become a huge Harry Potter fan in just the past few weeks. It has been fun to see him take such an interest in the books. And, of course we've watched each movie as they have finished a book.

Another audio book we picked up randomly at the library was Crenshaw. I really enjoyed this book. The only reason we picked it up was because I noticed the voice for the audio was one of our favorite actors. The brief synopsis on the back sounded interesting enough, but I had never heard of the story before. I decided to check it out and give it a try. The first time I put it in there were a lot of groans. It definitely wasn't Harry Potter, so it didn't seem interesting at first. I told them to give it until the end of the first chapter. Well, they still wanted it off. So, I turned it off. The next day we were in the car, and the kids were getting bored (I have found that having a book in really keeps the crazy car behavior down), so I stuck it in anyway. After a while they decided they liked it, and eventually didn't want to turn it off. We listened to it in 2 days.

Here is a fun little youtube about it:

I loved this story, but it was also hard to listen to at some points for me. It reminded me of a part of my life that I try to forget sometimes. But, I shouldn't forget completely because I learned a lot and it is a problem that still exists today for many children. I realized that my children had never really taken the time to understand what it means to be homeless as a child (because of course they have obviously not had the real life situation, but also because I haven't really talked about it with them). I've told them that there were many times in my childhood where I was homeless, living in a van (just as the boy in this book) or tent, but left it at that. I've not always wanted to share the details, or how I felt because I often don't want to relive it. I loved this book though because it does exactly that. It shares homelessness through the eyes of a child, but it's not all sad. It shows how this child made the best of his situation, which is what I believe I always tried to do. I don't remember my homelessness as a child being all bad, but yes it was at the same time. I just remember doing my best, and trying to make the best of it. Anyway, this book is now one of my favorites. I feel it really takes a bad situation and shows how it can be made better.

We've also been hitting the library up like usual. I was amazed and impressed at Alex's desire for books at one of our recent visits to the library. He doesn't usually pick books out himself (maybe 1 or 2). I am usually the one that has to find ones that look interesting for him, or that fit into something we are learning. But, not this time. He just couldn't stop! This was his bag...

 And, his receipt... (which is longer than he is!) He was very impressed.

 Compare that to the boys' receipts... (this is not unusual, they don't often pick a lot)

What audio books have you listened to with a wide age range of children? I am looking for recommendations.