Books, Books, and more Books

What a difference a year makes!

It was less than a year ago that I was bemoaning Alex's non-enthusiasm for reading, and taking pride in the fact that The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books seemed to be turning things around.

Well, as we come to a close of his first grade year, I have to take a few Mommy pride minutes to brag about just how far he has come. He now had three favorite authors, Jeff Kinney (of Wimpy Kid fame), Ron Roy (the A-Z Mysteries) and JK Rowling (Harry Potter).

Last week alone, Alex read six chapter books: Kidnapped at the Capital, the Lucky Lottery, the Panda Puzzle, the Zombie Zone, Captain Underpants and the invasion of the incredibly naughty cafeteria ladies from outer space (aka Captain Underpants #3), and Naruto: the Boy Ninja .

 



Each one is around 100 pages (give or take), and while there are varying amounts of drawings, and sometimes no more than a few sentences per page, but still... He read six chapter books last week!!!  I can't help doing a massive happy dance at how successful my attempt to be the mother of a  reader has become. :)

He's also read the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Most of it he read by himself, although I did read a chapter here and there - but mostly because I've been dreaming about this moment ever since 1999, when I first started reading the HP books (and well before Alex was even a little egg growing in my tummy). Now that's a REAL book, with only one small drawing at the beginning of each chapter.



And he and Carl have been making their way through The Lightening Thief.



We're so proud of our little reader!


Now if only we could get Ryan to catch up...