WHAT MY KIDS ARE READING

What My Children Are Reading is a meme hosted by The Well Read Child. It's a terrific idea about sharing what your kids are reading and a great way to get ideas from other bloggers for new books to read with your children. Your posts can be a list of books you're reading with your kids, books your kids are reading on their own, old favorites that get picked up again and again, summaries of your favorite books you love to read together, books you just started reading with your kids, etc.

#1 son is reading Meet the Aliensons: Freak Street by Knife and Packer. It's wonderful fun and that's no less than he would have expected as it was chosen for him by Ruth at The Children's Bookshop in Beecroft. Ever since I met Ruth at the launch of White Crane and she sent me home with two Beast Quest books as her recommendation, #1 son has regarded her as his personal book buyer. He often says to me "Ask Ruth. She knows what books I like." She does. And it only underlines the importance of specialist children's booksellers or sales staff with a background in children's books. To the buying parent these people are invaluable.

#2 son has just finished The Way of Shadows, the first book in the Night Angel fantasy trilogy by Brent Weeks. He gave it to me to read and then harrassed me until I did. "It's that good mum." He never says that about books. So I read it. It was that good. "The perfect killer has no friends, only targets." the by-line said. And I want to add a second one: "The perfect assassin has no targets, only deaders." Dark, gothic, chilling, engrossing. And the eerie thing was - it was exactly the sort of book I loved at his age. It had my two key teen book criteria - fantasy and thick. In those days I didn't get to the library that often but I had plenty of time to read. My mother didn't allow homework ('homework is set by teachers who don't do their job properly in the day', she said) - but then she didn't allow much at all. So books had to last. They had to take me away from everything. I'm hanging out until #2 son finishes #2 book.