The other day my oldest grandchild, who is just completing kindergarten, was reading to me from an Early Reader book. Of course I was thrilled she was able to read so much of the story with so little help. The book that shall be nameless isn’t my kind of read, but the activity fueled my fantasy of sitting in the rocking chair and having a middle-school aged grandchild read to me from a book we both enjoy, and can pass down the line to my growing flock of grandkids as each reaches the appropriate age.
What kind of books would we enjoy? Funny you should ask. It just so happens that two great friends of Women of Mystery have released wonderful middle school mysteries this month.
Chris Grabenstein is known far and wide for his Jersey Shore series starring Ceepak and 
Danny, as well as his slightly scarier but just as entertaining Christopher Miller series. Click here to learn about Chris’s adult books.
Now Chris has branched into Young Adult mysteries suitable for eight to thirteen year olds. Take a look at The Crossroads. Young Zack, just moved to a new neighborhood and has one burning question. "Have you ever seen a face hidden in the bark of a tree and known that the man trapped inside wanted to hurt you?" With that opening Chris brings us the same humorous and spine-tingling story telling in The Crossroads as he does in his adult books, without, of course, the vocabulary issues. (His phrase and rightly so!) Click here for some great pictures of Chris.
The other Chris in our lives is the multi-talented Chris Verstraete who thinks no one is ever too old to play with dollhouses, so when she's not writing, she's probably working on a new miniature project. She is an award winning journalist, a world class miniaturist and to my great joy, a brand new novelist. Chris has written the just released and much lauded young adult book, Searching For A Starry Night. Chris manages to bring together her love of miniatures (you have to check out her gallery) and her love of dogs in an exciting mystery starring Samantha, the somewhat reluctant heroine, and Petey, Sam's canine sidekick, as they search for a missing miniature of Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Chris has a contest running until July Fourth. Click here to try to win a signed copy of Searching For A Starry Night and a special miniature collector's edition of chapter one made by Lee Ann Borgia.
So I am scoffing up my copies of The Crossroads and Searching For A Starry Night right now. My oldest grandchild will turn eight on August 11, 2010. As soon as she blows out the candles on her cake, I’ll be sitting in the rocker with my pile of YA books waiting to be read. These two will be right on top. And its likely I will have read every page long before the grandkids do.
Terrie
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Grandma Waits Patiently
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10 comments:
What a wonderful way to spend time with your grandchildren.
df Leah,
It really is.
Right now I am in Florida visiting two of my grandkids. My first stop when I hit town was at the library to get books for them and books for me.
Today's grandkids are tomorrow's readers and writers.
Terrie
My oldest son will be 8 in October so I'll have to look for these as well.
When my two boys settle down and have kids, these are exactly the type of book I'll be reading to my grandkids. Heck, these particular books sound so interesting, I might borrow a grandkid and read them now!
How embarrassing! I bought Chris G's. new one for myself! Christine V's stuff fascinates me, like anything miniaturized.
Actually, I read a fair bit of juvenile fiction (I know what you're thinking, be nice!), because I also am writing a youngish MS. Of course, if I love it as I expect to, my oldest niece will be the next guinea pig. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!
Travis,
I hope your boys enjoy these books. I suspect they already like to read.
Elaine,
It is never too early to start screening and compiling books for the grandkids and you'll have a great time doing it.
Terrie
Clare,
I must confess it took me fourteen years to graduate from college, what with having kids and all. But those kids came in so handy because I quickly noticed that pretty much whatever a teacher wanted me to learn in college, had already been written in a clearer and easier way for kids. So I did much of my research in the children’s library. I even got brazen enough to use the books in bibliography lists and as direct quotes. This worked especially well in any of the Arts, History and English. Political Science (my major) and Economics, not so much.
Terrie
I said it elsewhere, but I think that's a brilliant idea! Authors for kids don't talk down nearly as much as many people suspect, but clarity's prized.
Terrie what a splendid idea to read to the grandkids - and I'm tickled pink that one of your tbr's is mine. I so thank you for your wonderful post! (And Petey says woof, too!)
Chris V.
Clare,
Right you are!
Chris,
My pleasure.
Thank you for writing such a fun book for the young 'uns.
Terrie
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