Saturday, October 2, 2010

100 Books of Summer: We Did It!!





Remember the challenge I issued my kids in June??

Let's read 100 books this summer!!

I know ALL of YOU are dying to know if we made it or not.......


As it turns out, WE DID!!!  uh hem....well, we read 100 books before summer was over......hee hee!

If you look real closely at the picture, you'll notice the squiggly line?  That represents us going back to school.  We were up to 80 books at that point.  Frankly- that HUGE!!!  That means the Texas Darlings read 80 books in 11 weeks!!  That's not small potatoes folks.  

However, our goal was 100 books and here in Texas, we don't count the summer over 'til we are at least in the 90s temperature-wise.... So could we read 100 books by September 20?? 

The challenge was thrown down and these kids rose to it.  You should have seen them reading their little hearts out to be the person who read the 100th book!!


       Sis won!  And she deserved it- reading a whopping 54 books!  She read some fantastic classics like,  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Boxcar Children (and several of the "mysteries"), & started the Little House on the Prairie series.   She also discovered some new favorites like Because of Winn Dixie and The Percy Jackson & The Olympians series (which she devoured all 6 books  in 2 weeks).  Here was her favorite books of the summer in her own words:

         
      
         Brody, like I predicted, read a lot of  non-fiction (tanks, submarines, snakes, lizards, you name it) this summer.  He also read a ton of Magic Tree House books and really enjoyed the Diary of A Wimpy Kid series.  For someone who doesn't  pick reading as his first choice of something to do, he read very well this summer, completing 30 books!  Here is his favorite:



           For me, I wanted to read quick, fun reads this summer.  My favorites this summer?? 
The first 4 of the Sookie Stackhouse books (such fun, quick reads!) 
 Janet Evanovich's First 2 Stephanie Plum books

Quick, easy reads for me....don't come looking for serious novels here.  I also got nice & caught up on my magazines that have been stacked in the corner.  NO time for those any more...need to end my subscriptions....
    
I also fell in love with the Kindle this summer.  It is so, so, so easy to get a book and read on it.  Love toting it around in my purse and having my "book" where ever I go!

So I have quite a few more books on my list to read this fall, including Carl Hiassan's Star Island (or October Book Club read), The Hunger Games series (thanks to all of you out there hyping it up) and I STILL haven't read The Host yet (shame on me!).  



Part of me is intrigued by Eat, Pray, Love and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  There seems to be a lot of mixed reviews about these.   Have any of you read these?  What do you think???

What are you reading right now?  I'd love to hear what's on your bedside table??


13 comments:

Miller Racing Family said...

How exciting. I am so happy that the Darlings are becoming lifetime readers. Right now I am doing a new Bible study One Month to Live. So it is taking up most of my reading time. Well you know between the kids books and all,lol.
Hope you are having a great weekend!

Kelli said...

What a great goal you accomplished!!! My friend's son loves Diary of a Wimpy kid too. Way to go all of you...keep up the great work.

Kelly said...

Great job! You are doing your kids a great service by instilling a love of reading in them. My little ones are both book worms so far and I hope it stays this way. I love the idea of a summer reading challege. My kids will be 3 & 6 next summer so it might be a little early but I think I might give it a try! Thanks for the idea and congratulations!

Shawn said...

What a great project!

My girls are huge readers. Peanut will lock herself in her room and read for hours, she had "reading marathons" this summer and read every night from 9 to at least midnight, sometimes later!

Way to go Sissy and Brody!...You too Becca!

Connie said...

Great job everyone!!

I'm currently reading:

Freedom...because Oprah told me to.
The Happiness Project

Sugarplum Creations Blog said...

Yay! Sierra LOVES to read. You can always catch her with a book. She, too, loves the Little House series. Shame on me, I'm not much of a reader these days. I try to read the Bible daily, other than that, my main reading consists of blog reading ;)

Anonymous said...

wooohooo you go guys!! They did such a good job! You totally finished before summer was over! The first day of fall was Sept. 22nd!!!! You had two days to spare!

He & Me + 3 said...

That is so awesome. I need to do this with my kids next summer.
I am not a big reader but my kids love it. I just don't make the time.

jennykate77 said...

Congratulations!!! You guys did awesome!

I'm glad you have The Hunger Games and The Host on your list to read!!! Some of my favorites!! (you already know that) :)

I got a Kindle for my birthday!! Of course, I downloaded The Twilight Saga...my first purchase. I had already bought The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, so I downloaded the sequel to it and I'm going to start reading those this week. I'll give you a review when I'm finished!

shortmama said...

Such a great project! My oldest is such a reader too and I love it. My youngest cant read yet but she loved to be read to. A Kindle is on my Christmas list...right now I have the Kindle on my laptop so that I can at least get the instant gratification of ebooks!

Jen said...

Wow - I have to say, I am most impressed by Brody! William reads only when we make him, but Evie always has a book in hand (like her mom used to, back in the day!)

Right now I'm reading Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler's Wife) - just started it, but I love her writing so I expect it to go quick!

Now, The Host? Personally, I loved it! It's not Twilight, it's a bit sci-fi, but Stephenie can tell a fantastic story - I read it 2x in a row and will read it again, probably soon. Give it a shot!

Sometimes the word verifications crack me up - mine's 'oxoboxo' - weird :)

McCrakensx4 said...

What a fantastic accomplishment that is! Great job. We are a reading family as well (well me and the boys) and this summer I read quite a lot, but not as much as you! I will have to give this a try next summer. I read Eat Pray Love this summer (I wanted to read it before the movie came out). I tried to read it once before, but I couldn't get into it...the 2nd time I tried I had to push past the part that made me stop the 1st time and I am glad I did...I liked it. I still want to see the movie though...probably have to wait until it comes out on dvd!

Vivienne @ the V Spot said...

Did they read the Chronicles of Narnia? My favorites! :)

I read Eat Pray Love, but really only like the Italy/eating part. Cuz that's how I roll.

(Literally... cuz I keep eating and there's nothing but rolls...)

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