Reading Levels

Today I was reading Ten Years in the Tub. It is an anthology of articles written by Nick Hornby on books and reading. Mostly I skimmed and jumped around and read the chapters where he discusses books I have read. Skellig was on his list and he had a great quote from the book. Michael's home schooled friend, Mina, comes over and is looking at some of his books:

"Yea, looks good," She said, "But what's the red sticker for?"
"It's for confident readers, "I said. "It's to do with reading age."
"And what if other readers wanted to read it? ...and where would William Blake fit in? ... "Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright / In the forests of the night." is that for the best readers or the worst readers? Does it need a good reading age? ... And if it was for the worst readers would the best readers not bother with it because it was too stupid for them?"

Nick Hornsby goes on to muse about whether or not he is missing all sorts of great novels because they're not for adults. I'm with him.

Ladybug Girl (David Soman and Jacky Davis)

These are all really cute books. There are quite a number of them in the series. They are all about a girl who overcomes her fears. Great books for character lessons!

Inkheart (Cornelia Funke)

For some reason this has often been a stall book for me. I get half way through it then don't finish it. Despite all the times I started and didn't finish it, I love this book! (I did finally finish it) I love the idea of having stories come to life. I loved how people escape into the stories and escape out of the stories. I loved that reading well can make it all happen. I loved all the references to other books and stories. Fabulous story! Goodreads Summary: Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service.   Characters from books literally leap off the page in this engrossing fantasy. Meggie has had her father to herself since her mother went away when she was young. Mo taught her to read when she was five, and the two share a mutual love of books. He can "read" characters out of books. When she was three, he read aloud from a book called Inkheart and released characters into the real world. At the same time, Meggie's mother disappeared into the story. This "story within a story" will delight not just fantasy fans, but all readers who like an exciting plot with larger-than-life characters