Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I generally take the time to go through the books I stick on my almost-10-year-old’s shelf.  I’m not actually worried about most of them being inappropriate (although occasionally I find one that seems a little old for her); I read through them because a)I pick what looks good and why not read through it while it’s in my house? and b)I want the books I’m providing for her to be worth reading.  I’ve never censored anything she’s picked, but I have, on occasion, read through a book I thought looked good for her and thought–life’s too short to bother giving her that.  There are too many excellent books in the world for me to waste time bringing mediocre ones to her notice.

Now, I generally don’t review the books I skim through, because I don’t feel I’ve fully read them; on the other hand, some of them still ought to be brought to your attention.  Without further ado, then, here is my first ‘Books That Made the Cut’ list.  I’m sure it won’t be the last!

1)Chasing Vermeer, The Wright 3, and (presumably) the books that follow.  Blue Balliett’s philosophical bent works, in part because there is also emotional depth, plenty of action, and a dose of mysticism.

2)Operation Bunny, The Three Pickled Herrings, and (presumably!) the rest of the Wings & Co. series.  Hilarious, but (again) with emotional depth and some extraordinary creativity.

3)Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, Detectives Extraordinaire, and its sequel.  Polly Horvath has done herself proud–oh, how I laughed!

4)Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains.  This is a bit of an odd mix of a plot, but it works.  Laurel Snyder has some excellent picture books as well.

5)Upside-Down Magic.  This first in a new series has three authors, and there’s quite a lot of depth here considering that it’s definitely aimed at the younger side of the JF spectrum.

Give any or all of these a try–or give them to your elementary-age daughters!