Summer Reading

We as a family have been doing LOTS of individual reading this summer. I've read about a book every two days and Gabe and Emma are not far behind. In an attempt to conserve money and gas we've been getting a lot of entertainment at the neighboring metroplex library which is amazing. I've been on a historical fiction/crusaders jaunt with alot of books by Stephen Lawhead. I'll have to say that most of them have been just okay. Unless your just a sucker for crusader books, which I am, I wouldn't necessarily recommend them. I read Hood (okay); The Iron Lance (good); The Black Rood (okay); The Mystic Rose (good); The Paradise War (okay); The Silver Hand (okay); and The Endless Knot (okay). I also read a Lawhead science fiction book Dream Thief that was pretty good. Gabe (11 years old) is trying to get through the entire Harry Potter series this summer but keeps stopping to read other books in between. He finally found the third in a middle school age vampire series by Sebastian Rook and finished it in about two days. For Emma (8 years old) I have found a series of books I loved as a child, which unfortunately can only be found in libraries or second hand book stores as they are no longer in print. Our wonderful library somehow manages to have the entire series! They are the Dorrie the Witch series by Patricia Coombs. I should say if you ever see a copy in good condition at a second hand book store - pick it up...they are worth a LOT of money! For Julia (4 years old) we've found the author Nancy Tafuri and Shirely Neitzel, especially "The Dress I'll Wear to the Party"

ADHD and Reading

Gabe my ten year old has been diagnosised with ADHD and some other comorbid conditions. ADHD is often misunderstood and can vary from child to child so I'll try and describe some of his symptoms. 1. Impulsivity - this often gets called hyperactivity in some children but in Gabe is rarely comes out as hyperactivity. Usually is displays itself as not thinking through consequences before he says or does something. This also means he can't, with positive and negative results, follow down trails of possibilities. For example when he's sick...he can't imagine being well, when he's disappointed he can't project into the future alternatives that might be fun. This makes delayed gratification especially difficult and sticking to difficult and boring tasks extreemly hard. However, when he is interested in something he will hyperfocus and hours can go by without him looking up. Thankfully he LOVES to read and has voraciously consumed bookcases full of books, this may also be genetic as I do the exact same thing! But for those out there who are looking for books that might interest young boys I thought I would occassionaly list the books he's reading and likes. He is also working on getting AR (accelerated reader) points at school so most of these are AR books as well.
1. Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson 451 pages that Gabe read in three days over spring break...he reads at night to calm his mind down enough to be able to go to sleep...or not when the book is good :) AR Quiz # 83056 Grade Level: 5.2 AR Points: 13.2 Word Count: 83,150.