The month is almost over – next week, the Cybils nominations will open.  I’m already checking out books that might be nominated, but next week, the reading starts in earnest!  Here’s a look at what’s on our bookshelves and in the library book basket:

The daughter has just started first grade and turned six (in that order).  She still doesn’t see herself as a reader, though loud phrases from Happy Pig Day by Mo Willems can be heard coming from behind closed doors.  Okay, Andy by Maxwell Eaton (a Cybils easy reader finalist last year) is also popular, along with picture books Happy in our Skin by Fran Manushkin and The Sky is Falling by Mark Teague.  We’re listening to the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder in the car, with frequent pauses to discuss things, and are currently on Farmer Boy. We’ve been reading The Mouse Mansion by Karina Schaapman, enjoying the detailed photographs of the mouse-sized dollhouse with characters, though last night we read The Princess Knight by Cornelia Funke, which she’d gotten for her birthday from a friend. She also got an early chapter book picked because the heroine has her name, and a collection of National Geographic readers about bugs. We got her Completely Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, though she hasn’t wanted to start it yet.

The son is now in fifth grade.  We’re still reading The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley aloud together.  In the car, we recently finished The Wells Bequest by Polly Shulman, and are re-listening to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone while waiting for the library to have a copy of The Grimm Legacy for us to listen to – luckily for us starting with book two, it didn’t feel like we started in the middle of the series.  He just finished listening to Inkspell by Cornelia Funke on his iPod.  And – such a huge milestone – he’s finally gotten to a reading level where he can enjoy reading Percy Jackson to himself in print!!!  He’s starting with The Lightning Thief, of course – from the paperback we got him a couple of years ago, as we knew he loved it on audio and wouldn’t be able to read through a library copy in time.  He also wants to read the graphic novel Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson before it’s due back at the library.

I have no idea what my love is reading right now, other than scouring through our cookbook collection in search of tiramisu recipes. He has Going Postal by Terry Pratchett out from the library, though.

I myself have the usual pile of things waiting in a number of different formats.  In print, I’m reading Rump by Liesl Schurtliff (somewhat guiltily, as it’s been on my want to read list since it came out a couple of years ago and is thus can’t count for Cybils reading this year.  Maybe her new book will be, and this could be background reading?) But Mars Evacuees by Sophia McDougall is up next at home, and that definitely is eligible for the Cybils, as well as being one I’ve been wanting to read for a while now.  I also have the new teen fantasy by Kate Elliott, Court of Fives.  At work, I’m reading The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein, the first in her early Arthurian series, as I wanted more after reading Black Dove, White Raven but have, as of yet, been too chicken to read Code Name Verity, as excellent as everyone says it is. I just finished The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry in the car, and have moved on to The Poe Estate by Polly Shulman, as my boy has no interest in spooky books but I wanted to continue the series.  I’ve got Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley up next – I’m very curious about it as my blogging peeps have either loved or hated it, with not a lot of in-between opinions.  On my e-reader, I’m working on both Heroes of the Earth by Martin Berman-Gorvine and The Wrinkled Crown by Anne Nesbet  (due out for reals in November.)

What are you reading these days?