My kids got out of school last week, to the delight of my ten-year-old and the dismay of the five-year-old, who is already fiercely missing her teachers. We’ll be signing them up for the two different library summer reading programs, as usual. I also designed a Summer Library Passport for all the kids at their school. This is designed to encourage kids to visit the library over the summer and complement existing public library summer reading programs. I’d be happy to provide more details in the comments if anyone is interested.

Both of my kids made some really poor choices regarding library books recently, so we’re taking a short break from checking out library materials for them. That means they are mostly limited to reading the books we own, and might actually (but no breath-holding here) get caught up on the books we’ve bought for them.

The five-year-old has been wanting a lot of graphic novels lately – re-reading El Deafo by Cece Bell, and some others that Daddy bought for her recently: Snow White and the Seven Robots by Louise Simonson and Jimena Sanchez and Phoebe and her Unicorn by Dana Simpson. We’re also making our way slowly through a My Little Pony chapter book that she picked at the school book fair, Rainbow Dash and the Daring Do Double Dare by G.M. Berrow. In the car, I was really surprised when she wanted to try Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu, which I’d checked out for her brother. She made it through a couple of discs before deciding to switch back to Magic Tree House. We’re on book #48 A Perfect Time for Pandas, still written by the indefatigable Mary Pope Osborne. Both the brother and I are excited that we’ve now made it past the books that he and I listened to together.

The ten-year-old was recently given a whole stack of Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce and is rapidly working his way through them. He also expressed interest in reading Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor by Jon Scieszka, which I’d checked out to read for myself because of putting it on my 11 Recent Sci-Fi Books for Grades 4 and 5 list. We are still working our way slowly but enthusiastically through Jinx’s Magic by Sage Blackwood at bedtime. In the car, we’re back to Spirit Animals with Book 6: Rise and Fall by Eliot Schrefer.

My love has been re-reading the Agatha Heterodyne series by Phil and Kaja Foglio. Last I heard, he was enjoying listening to Magic Marks the Spot by Caroline Carlson.

As for myself, my print reading includes Prairie Fire by E.K. Johnston at home and Fly Trap by Frances Hardinge at work, both well-done sequels to books I enjoyed. I recently finished The Clockwork Crown by Beth Cato, and still need to a) read the first book, The Clockwork Dagger and b) download something else for the e-reader. I’m listening to The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall in the car – the Penderwicks are just as delightful as ever. I’ve taken to listening to podcasts rather than audiobooks for my chore time at home. Of potential interest to my readers here are The Witching Hour, a college-run wizard rock podcast, which punctuates the music with in-depth discussion of the Harry Potter books and fandom from silly to serious; and Fangirl Happy Hour, a fun if decidedly R-rated podcast for geek girls of all stripes (ok, mostly speculative books, graphic novels and movies), run by Thea of the Book Smugglers and Renay of Lady Business. I have another four print books from the library in queue, but as I’m running out of time now, they’ll have to wait for another time.

What are you reading these days?