{"id":32280,"date":"2020-01-31T08:00:58","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T13:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=32280"},"modified":"2020-01-31T08:00:58","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T13:00:58","slug":"raising-a-book-hog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=32280","title":{"rendered":"Raising a Book Hog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the holidays I found myself helping a number of customers find books for those voracious younger readers who can be so tricky to keep supplied\u00a0in books. I have one of those insatiable second graders and even as a children\u2019s book specialist it can be a challenge. These readers want content, and they can handle longer stories, but they’re still young. They’re not ready for the emotional weight or thrilling suspense of many middle grade stories intended for slightly older kids. Plus, every reader has their own quirks\u2014especially at this age\u2014so there\u2019s not exactly a one-size-fits-all solution. My reader rarely peeks out from behind the pages of his latest book, it seems, and has book piles started in every room. That being said, he\u2019s only seven.\u00a0He\u2019s still turned off by dense type (\u201clooks boring\u201d) or the first two pages don\u2019t hook him quickly enough (\u201cis boring\u201d) or for some reason the book drags in the middle (\u201cgot boring\u201d).
\n\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a>
\nBunnies, Rabbits, Hares, you name it:<\/u><\/strong> We still keep it pretty light on\u00a0truly\u00a0harrowing adventure. While we dip into slightly darker fantasies when we read together, he gets more scared when he’s reading on his own. Jessica Day George’s magical\u00a0Tuesdays at the Castle<\/em>\u00a0series, for instance, is a perfect fantasy for not-too-terrifying independent reading. And maybe it\u2019s because they\u2019re such gentle classroom pet worthy animals in real life, but from Royal Rabbits of London <\/em>to Bunnicula <\/em>to Mr. and Mrs. Bunny: Detectives Extraordinaire<\/em> to Podkin One-Ear<\/em>, rabbity middle grades offer humor, adventure, and even a little horror with cuddly, floppy-eared accessibility.
\nMedia matters:<\/u><\/strong> How to Train Your Dragon<\/em> was one of the first full chapter book series he devoured last year on his own. Motivated by his love of the movies, he pushed past his natural resistance to the page count and plowed right through. And while I sort of agree with Cynthia\u2019s recent lament on ShelfTalker about boxed sets sitting around kids\u2019 rooms as dusty relics of series past, when my sister sent him the full boxed set, it immediately moved into pride of place on his bookshelf, where it has gotten so many repeat reads that it\u2019s actually breaking apart. And this introduction to dragons has led him to several diverting forays into dragon lore, notably Zetta Elliott’s delightful\u00a0Dragons in a Bag.\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\" \"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a>
\nShort Stories:<\/u><\/strong> I\u2019ve written before about our family\u2019s dive into the world of scary stories, but story collections of all kinds have been successful for my second grader. This week he\u2019s finishing Chitra Soundar\u2019s cheeky tales of young Prince Veera\u2019s escapades\u00a0outwitting adults with his best friend Suku. And Scary Stories for Young Foxes <\/em>(which isn’t actually short stories, but feels a bit like it)\u00a0<\/em>proved that not only cottontails take the edge off a scary situation for a younger reader. Although, has anyone else noticed that every book written about foxes is also heart-wrenchingly sad? I mean, truly wonderful, but sad.
\nGraphic, Graphic, Graphic (duh):<\/u><\/strong> — I mean, we’re talking jumbled piles of Pok\u00e9mon<\/em>, Hilo<\/em>, Amulet,<\/em> Big Nate<\/em>, Giants Beware<\/em>, Rutabaga the Adventure Chef<\/em>, Zita the Space Girl<\/em>, Nathan Hale\u2019s Hazardous Tales<\/em>, and more. Those books are great on their own, but his insatiable appetite for illustrated stories has also been leading him toward books that might otherwise have seemed daunting, like Flora and Ulysses <\/em>and How to Be a Supervillain<\/em>.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>
\nRead Together<\/u><\/strong>:<\/strong> I know I\u2019m preaching to the choir here, writing this for a readership of a children\u2019s bookselling blog. But as a parent of young children, I\u2019m beginning to realize how many parents stop regularly reading out loud with their kids once those kids can do it themselves. I fully understand the appeal of shortening the bedtime routine, but stories shared are irreplaceable. We’ve recently been reading The Dark Is Rising <\/em>together at bedtime, and\u00a0while he doesn\u2019t have the context to fully parse the story\u2019s layers on his own, he\u2019s completely immersed and loves talking through each chapter as we go.
\nPlus, from a kids\u2019 perspective, one advantage of having someone else read to you is that your hands stay free to cover your eyes or ears if things get suspenseful (or, God forbid, if any character expresses romantic \"\"<\/a>interest of any kind in another).
\nThen Get More Books!<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019m a dedicated children\u2019s bookseller and passionately believe in the value of home libraries. But kids also need freedom to experiment and pick up things they don\u2019t know are good just to see what they\u2019re about. I think a healthy reading habit pairs bookstore visits with library trips to load up. After all, as Hermione says, \u201cWhen in doubt, go to the library!\u201d
\nTime to get more\u00a0sustenance for\u00a0your book hog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bookseller parent tries to keep a rabid second grade reader in age-appropriate books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}