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Posted by 40winkzzz

Sometimes my kids decide they wouldn't like a particular book before they even read it; other times they start reading it and decide they don't like it before they're even through the 1st chapter. In those cases, esp if it's a book I'm pretty sure they'd like, I usually do what I'm guessing you do, and many other parents as well-- I ask them to read 3-4 chapters and *then* decide whether they want to continue. Often they find that they do indeed like the book. (If not, there are usually alternatives that they can read.)

Sometimes, esp w/my youngest, all it takes is explaining one or two words or concepts at the beginning of the book that she didn't understand; then all of a sudden she "gets it" and wants to continue. That was the case just last week with the Civil War story, *Who Comes With Cannons*. With Spaz, I want him to read *Across Five Aprils*, but will allow him to choose between that and *Red Badge of Courage*; since he has to read one book each week of our Civil War unit, chances are he'll end up reading both anyway.

That was a broader comment than your cartoon warranted, but I've been away from the blogosphere for a few days and this was a good opportunity to ramble :-) and I didn't figure you'd mind. I love talking about kids' books.

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