Our new favorite books

We've been reading a lot at home lately. Our new favorite author is Roald Dahl. Sure, he was a favorite in my youth for James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And I recently saw the movie Matilda, an oldie that I can't believe I hadn't seen before (comes from the book Matilda). The movie features Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman, and was delightful. We thoroughly enjoyed George's Marvelous Medicine, where a boy makes his own concoction for his evil grandmother, from all kinds of things found in the house, garage and barn.

But Dahl has written a bunch of other books that we're plowing through. My favorite so far was Danny the Champion of the World. There's just the right amount of wickedness and fun with a boy living with his dad in a little trailer behind an auto shop. Dad's love of catching pheasants illegally leads to trouble. I love that Dahl's characters are not black and white, and even the heroes have vulnerabilties and quirks. Since we finished that, I'm reading BFG to my son now - Big Friendly Giant. The giant's voice is so much fun to read aloud. We are only a few chapters in.

After visiting our school's used book sale, we now look forward to Fantastic Mr. Fox (we haven't seen the movie yet) and The Witches.

Our other favorite author is Louis Sachar. I was introduced to him when my mother-in-law send Sideways Stories from the Wayside School. The stories are original and funny. And we loved loved loved Holes, which was also made into a movie (on our list). It's about a middle-school age boy who gets sent to a work camp for a crime he didn't commit. And a mystery follows.

As a reminder, there are a few summer reading programs out there.

Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program - Your kids can join Barnes & Noble summer reading program, and read 8 books and get one free.

Scholastic Summer Challenge - encourage the kids to read and win prizes through the 
Scholastic Summer Challenge. 

Check with your library for other free summer reading challenges