First Week Readings

Here's what's being read at the Oak House Academy this week.

Tiny Dancer: A variety of versions of Goldilocks. She's working on the Goldilocks literature pocket, so we have been having fun reading the stories. I just can't understand why Goldilocks goes into someone else's house, eats their food, breaks their chair, and takes a nap. I have a hard time connecting with this story. But I suppose for children it's the thrill of seeing someone else be naughty, right?

Little Bear:  Beowulf: A Hero's Tale Retold by James Rumford. It's a beautiful picture book of the famous story. It's pretty gruesome, but it was actually Tiny Dancer who loved it the most. She could answer all of my questions about the story, and she was caught during the week playing out the story with her toys. 

After we finished Beowulf, we started reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Michael Morpurgo. This one is a little longer, so it will take us a few days. We've only come to the part where Gawain volunteers to play the Green Knight's "game." He's a pretty gruesome character, himself. I thought Little Bear might be a little afraid of these stories, but he seems to be loving the adventure.

His fun reading includes the Weird School Books. There are a ton of these, and they are very funny. He's read all the library has, so he was thrilled to find a new one this week. 

He also really likes the Horace Splattly series.  

Curly:  He has two books he's working through for school, just for literature. He's reading Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye with me. It's a longer, fuller version of the story. There are more details, and it's even more gruesome. The descriptions of Grendel the ogre are pretty vivid.

He's also reading The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff on his own. This one is a nice challenge for him and fits into the time period of our year.

Just for fun, he's in the midst of the Artemis Fowl series. He's on a mission to finish them all by Labor Day. We'll see...  

And for me, I'm reading several things at the moment, but this one really has my attention. I first heard the story on This American Life, my favorite NPR show, and was really intrigued. I wrote the title down to wait for it to become available at the library. It was a long wait, but it was worth it!

How about you? What are you reading?