"Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them." 2015 Summer Reading Challenge

"Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them."

-Lemony Snicket, Horseradish

When AC and I came up with the 2015 Summer Reading Challenge, I honestly wasn't sure if it was actually doable, but I had confidence if anyone could read that much, it would be SC.  Well, not only did she manage to read 10,000 pages from May 1 to August 15 to earn her $200 total, but we decided we would continue to count the pages she read between the end of the challenge and school starting (August 24), and she read an additional 1,500 pages that we gave her $.02 per page.

She decided to use her money to purchase a new iPod, because the hand-me-down one she had been using didn't have enough space, and wouldn't play any of the games she wanted well, or at all due to the updates not being accepted.  She was very excited to finally get one of her very own, and with her own money.

If you are interested, here is the list of books (72!) and page count.  She read mostly novels and "chapter books," though a few picture books as well.  Some favorites that she discovered were the 26 Story Treehouse series, by Andy Griffiths, the School for Good and Evil series, by Soman Chainani (which I also read, at SC's recommendation), and the works of Raina Telgemeier.

Book Title	Author	# of Pages	TOTAL
Explorer: The Hidden Door	Kibuishi	125	125
Bunnicula	Howe	98	223
Whatever After: Sink or Swim	Mlynowski	165	388
Whatever After: Dream On	Mlynowski	157	545
Whatever After: Bad Hair Day	Mlynowski	165	710
Contagious Colors	DeWitt	265	975
Freckle Juice	Blume	47	1022
The 13-Story Treehouse	Griffiths	239	1261
Encyclopedia Brown (Best Cases)	Sobol	123	1384
Encyclopedia Brown #2	Sobol	78	1462
Ramona the Pest	Cleary	211	1673
Dragons Beware	Rosado/Aguirre	153	1826
26 Story Treehouse	Griffiths	368	2194
Whatever After: Cold as Ice	Mlynowski	163	2357
Whatever After: Beauty Queen	Mlynowski	167	2524
Pinkalicious	Kann	40	2564
Bad Kitty Does Not Like Candy	Bruel	24	2588
Bad Kitty Does Not Like Dogs	Bruel	24	2612
Ellen Tebbits	Cleary	180	2792
Henry Huggins	Cleary	176	2968
Encyclopedia Brown #3	Sobol	96	3064
39 Story Treehouse	Griffiths	344	3408
The Grimm Conclusion	Gidwitz	344	3752
Marvin Redpost: Why Pick on Me	Sachar	64	3816
Ramona Forever	Cleary	191	4007
Ramona's World	Cleary	209	4216
The Iron Trial	Black	295	4511
The Phantom Bully	Brown	176	4687
Matilda	Dahl	240	4927
In a Glass Grimmly	Gidwitz	313	5240
Ramonda and her Father	Cleary	165	5405
Bad Kitty Gets a Bath	Bruel	125	5530
Bad Kitty vs. Uncle Murray	Bruel	157	5687
The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas	Almond	234	5921
Eerie Elem: The School is Alive	Chabert	90	6011
Happy Birthday Bad Kitty	Bruel	159	6170
Puppy's Big Day	Bruel	155	6325
Game Over, Pete Watson	Schreiber	225	6550
Frozen: Spring Fever	Disney	80	6630
Grimmtastic Girls #3	Holub	182	6812
Marvin Redpost: Super Fast, Out of Control!	Sachar	79	6891
Marvin Redpost: A Flying Birthday Cake?	Sachar	76	6967
Dogs Don't Tell Jokes	Sachar	209	7176
There's a boy in the girls' bathroom	Sachar	195	7371
School of good and evil	Chainani	501	7872
Floods: Good Neighbors	Thompson	213	8085
SGE: World Without Princes	Chainani	512	8597
Nancy Clancy: Secret Admirer	O'Connor	112	8709
Nancy Clancy: Secret of the Silver Key	O'Connor	121	8830
Nancy Clancy: Star of Stage and Screen	O'Connor	120	8950
Rotten School: Big Blueberry Barf-Off	Stine	128	9078
Miss Nelson Collection	Allard	98	9176
BSC: Kristy's Great Idea	Martin/Telgemeier	181	9357
Rotten School: Great Smelling Bee	Stine	128	9485
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing	Blume	120	9605
Rotten School: The Good, the Bad & the Very Slimy	Stine	128	9733
Aliens for lunch		54	9787
Goldilocks and other tales		50	9837
Grimmtastic Girls #5	Holub & Williams	181	10018
Grimmtastic Girls #6	Holub & Williams	179	10197
El Deafo	Bell	233	10430
Smile	Telgemeier	213	10643
Sisters	Telgemeier	197	10840
The Road to Oz	Baum	136	10976
The Scallywags	Melling	27	11003
Dump Dog	Morris	30	11033
Earthquack!	Palatini	14	11047
Miss Fox	Puttock	23	11070
The Baby that Roared	Puttock	29	11099
Marvin Redpost #8	Sachar	81	11180
The Haunted Library	Butler	127	11307
Henry & Beezus	Cleary	201	11508

My own summer book list is much shorter, and I only read half the number of pages (5600), but I did read some very good ones.  I really liked the School for Good and Evil series, and I read both The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt.  I absolutely loved Okay for Now, and it was incredibly written.

How did your own summer reading challenges go?  Did you discover anything you would highly recommend?

"It is likely I will die next to a pile of things I was meaning to read." 2015 Summer Reading Challenge

"It is likely I will die
next to a pile of things I was meaning to read."
-Lemony Snicket

SC is quite the reader these days, so attempting to come up with a summer challenge that will actually be a challenge for her hasn't been easy.  Most parents and organizations that have challenges do it to simply get kids reading, which really isn't a problem here.  However, we do want to continually encourage and reward her for the reader that she is.  After some thought and discussion, AC and I finally settled on a simple "cash for pages" method, because SC has been very interested these days in picking out and buying things on her own.

However, the challenge part comes into play with the final page goal, and there is a huge reward if she makes it.  The challenge for SC this summer will be to read 10,000 pages.  At a price of $.01 per page, that will earn her a total of $100 for the summer.  However, if she can get to that $100 mark, then her prize will be doubled.  Finally, AC decided that any book she writes a four sentence summary/review of (because that IS an area that she needs some extra practice), the earnings will automatically double as well.  So she has the opportunity to earn $300 all for herself this summer, if she is willing to put in the effort.

The challenge is running May 1 - August 15, which will give her some break time before her new school starts.  The rules we have come up with are that any first-time read counts, including comics and graphic novels, but only novels and chapter books will count as re-reads, and each book will only count once, mostly because it is too difficult to verify if she actually read 100% of a book on the fourth or fifth time through.  

So far she has just made it to the 10% mark of the challenge, though she has not written any summaries.  We told her that instead of waiting until the end of summer for any pay-outs, we would give her the prize along the way, after each $10/1,000 pages.

If she makes it to 10,000 pages by August 15, I have no idea how we will make next summer more of a challenge, or if this is one that we can do year after year.  As much as I read, 10,000 pages in just a few months would definitely be tough!

"...one's chances of survival increase with each book one reads."

"If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. 

Or better, one's chances of survival increase 

with each book one reads."

-Sherman Alexie

Between this time last year and now, SC's reading skills have really taken off.  I distinctly remember the energy she expended about this time last year to get through even one chapter of the fun Mr. Putter and Tabby series books.  We read together every day, and she would be drained after just a few pages.  Now, however, she is decoding words at a mid-4th grade level, and comprehending at a mid-3rd grade level.  (Have you heard about the DORA test?)

She cannot get enough of books, and we have had to deal with the quandary of her sneaking books past bedtime.  I cannot bring myself to in any way tell her "no books" or "you shouldn't be reading."  So, when we catch her reading past bedtime, I just take the flashlight or book light away and tell her that she needs her sleep, to have enough energy for the next day, and that the book will still be there in the morning.  It is hard for me, though, because I understand the need to finish, and how wrapped up one can become in a good piece of writing.

At the beginning of last summer, and into the fall, I had a "reading challenge," and we diligently wrote down each book she had read, tallied points, and she earned prizes.  Very quickly, however, we had to adjust how points were calculated (away from number of pages to reading level), and then again (to extend the reading level).  We ended up just tallying minutes, and finally stopped keeping track.  I am not sure if the challenge helped give her that push she needed to become a reader or not, but she is just as likely (if not more) to closet herself away in her room, in her "reading chair," as she is to ask to play video games or watch the TV.

I thought it would be interesting to put together a list/progression of the books she has read on her own over the past year.  Once we stopped keeping written track (because I just couldn't keep up!), I may not have them all or be in the correct order, but this is most of them.  I have previously written about the first ten books she read here, so I will start after that.  I am also only going to link to a few of our favorites, rather than each one, for expediency.  

This first part of the list is the one I diligently kept track of, June through November.

Title//Author

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Mo Willems Almost Richard Torrey Born to Be a Butterfly Karen Wallace Should I Share my Ice Cream? Mo Willems I'm a Caterpillar Jean Marzollo Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Bill Martin, Jr. Sid's Surprise Candace Carter Going to the Sea Park Mercer Mayer Welcome to Royal Prep Lisa Ann Marsoli Mr. Putter & Tabby Walk the Dog Cynthia Rylant Penny and her Marble Kevin Henkes Mr. Putter & Tabby Ring the Bell Cynthia Rylant Bear in Underwear Todd H. Doodler Mr. Putter & Tabby Spin the Yarn Cynthia Rylant Hop on Pop Dr. Seuss The Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss Just Lost! Mercer Mayer The New Baby Stan & Jan Berenstain Bad Kitty Gets a Bath Nick Bruel Mr. Putter & Tabby See the Stars Cynthia Rylant Mr. Putter & Tabby Run the Race Cynthia Rylant I Want my Hat Back Jon Klassen Mr. Putter & Tabby Pour the Tea Cynthia Rylant Mr. Putter & Tabby Catch the Cold Cynthia Rylant Mr. Putter & Tabby Paint the Porch Cynthia Rylant Just a Little Music Mercer Mayer Happy Birthday, Bad Kitty! Nick Bruel Missing Molly Lisa Jahn-Clough The Giving Tree Shel Silverstein Bad Kitty Meets the Baby Nick Bruel Princess Posey & the First Grade Parade Stephanie Greene Play, Mozart, Play! Peter Sis My Trip to the Hospital Mercer Mayer Mr. Putter & Tabby Write the Book Cynthia Rylant Mr. Putter & Tabby Fly the Plane Cynthia Rylant Mr. Putter & Tabby Spill the Beans Cynthia Rylant Pete the Cat: Rockin' in my School Shoes Eric Litwin Mr. Putter & Tabby Make a Wish Cynthia Rylant Lily's Purple Plastic Purse Kevin Henkes Princess Posey & the Perfect Present Stephanie Greene Hamster and Cheese Colleen AF Venable Madeline Ludwig Bemelmans Princess Posey & the Next-Door Dog Stephanie Greene Princess Posey & the Monster Stew Stephanie Greene Cardboard Doug TenNapel Princess Posey & the Tiny Treasure Stephanie Greene

This part of the list is not in exact reading order, but rather alphabetical by author.  I also do not list the various picture books she has read because I cannot keep track of them all.  Our usual take from a library trip is 20-30 books, and we also go to Barnes & Noble to sit and read picture books a few times a month.

by Jorje Aguierre
Giants Beware!

by Annie Barrows
Ivy and Bean
Ivy and Bean and the Ghost That Had to Go
Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record
Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter
Ivy and Bean: Bound to Be Bad
Ivy and Bean: Doomed to Dance
Ivy and Bean: What’s the Big Idea?
Ivy and Bean: No News Is Good News
Ivy and Bean: Make the Rules
Ivy and Bean: Take the Case

by Nick Bruel
Bad Kitty for President
Bad Kitty School Daze
Bad Kitty Drawn to Trouble

by Kazu Kibishi
Copper
Explorer: The Mystery Boxes
Explorer: The Lost Islands
Amulet: The Stonekeeper
Amulet: The Stonekeeper's Curse

by Mary Pope Osborne
Dinosaurs before Dark
The Knight at Dawn
Mummies in the Morning

by Ashley Spires
Binky the Space Cat
Binky Under Pressure
Binky: License to Scratch
Binky to the Rescue
Binky takes Charge

by Doug TenNapel
Bad Island
Ghostopolis
Tommysaurus Rex

The list also should include all the Berenstain Bears and Little Critter books she can get her hands on, plus anything Star Wars related that the library has.  I still feel like I am forgetting some, but oh well.