My son and I finished North Woods Poachers last night, another high-action, simple-plotting book by Max Elliot Anderson (compare prices). The author's "Tweener Press Adventure Series" is designed to rope in reluctant-reading boys, and my son was able to read the text and follow the story nicely. It held his attention, which is no easy task.
The book follows two families on a camping trip, and two cousins getting into the kind of trouble kids always seem to find in children's books: Bad people doing bad things the boys just have to investigate all on their dangerous own. In this case, it's poachers using a remote corner of the lake as a holding area for exotic animals. The boys monitor suspicious airplanes, get pursued by dogs and jet-skiers, and show precocious technological know-how in foiling the villains. There were plenty of opportunities for me to turn to my son and say, "Should they have told their parents?" and fortunately, he always gave the correct answer.
Next up on our reading pile is Miranda Mania, an unauthorized biography of his current celebrity sweetie, Miranda Cosgrove. After that, there's a trilogy of books about a young man with FASD that I'm eager to try out with him, since he has the same diagnosis. At this point, he's less interested in reading than in listening to his iPod and staring at pictures of the aforementioned Ms. Cosgrove, so I have my work cut out for me.
What are you reading with your kids right now?
Read more: Special Needs News | Site of the Day | Anderson's "Secret of Abbott's Cave"
Cover image courtesy of PriceGrabber.