Hawkrider123's money saving 2008 book reading challenge

Savvy_Sue

Well done lilacgirlie. Is it that you just don't have the reading bug (yet), or do you find it a bit of a struggle?

If it's just that you haven't got the bug yet, I'd suggest that you might enjoy books by Alan Garner (The Owl Service is the first in a series, I think) and also there's a series by Susan Cooper: The Dark is Rising. Also Ursula K LeGuin - the Earthsea series.

If you like animals, then the Redwall series by Brian Jacques might suit you, and they might be an 'easier' read. And there was a series on TV a few years ago, based on The Magician's House quartet of books by William Corlett.

If you like history, then Rosemary Sutcliffe is brilliant - The Eagle of the Ninth.

If you like funny, then Terry Pratchett is! Truckers, Diggers, Wings (not necessarily in that order ...) and then moving on to the fantastic Discworld series - you can read them in any order although there are back references, and you might find you prefer some of the 'strands' to others. What you might realise as you're reading them is that there are references to 'classic' literature, and that might inspire you to read the real thing ...

My Moneysaving suggestion is to join your local library and make friends with the librarian ... If you say what you've enjoyed, they may be able to point you to other things you'd like.

Another question: do you like short or long? Collections of short stories can be good for helping you work out what you like. If you feel put off by the sheer size of a book, then make a point of looking out for an easy to read typeface.

At your age, btw, I was at boarding school and could only take two books per term with me. I was very worried how I'd cope with that, so my first two books were the Collected Short Sherlock Holmes stories, and the four Long SH stories. The equivalent of nine books in total ... Yup, I was a bit weird!

lilacgirlie

Thanks for all your ideas
I have never really found an author I like apart from the author of the Humphrey series( but I can not remember her name) but a few mounths ago my mum gave me one of her other books to read but it was 500 pages long so I guess like short and easy going books as i didn't read it. I think the lybairy is a good idea because in the summer hoildays they used to have a reading scheme I atchally don't know if they do it any more. I used to do it and mainly all i read on the scheme of 8 books was Sheltie and Mogi i can remember in Mogi my mum cried when i was reading it to her! :rotfl:
I will have to tell my mum about joining our local lybairy and again thanks for all your ideas they were great.:beer:
5o pages of Humphrey left at last victortey is in sight!

Savvy_Sue

Humphrey: Betty G Birney, by the look of it. I haven't met Humphrey before, shall have to look out for him.

OK, so you don't (yet) like long books (and I can understand that) so don't be afraid to read under your age, IYSWIM.

You see, you're 12, and that's a difficult age. A lot of people would be directing you to 'teenage' reading, but there's nothing wrong with re-visiting 'younger' books if that's what you enjoy. When I was a student, my tutor lent me all her children's books to cheer me up! And I loved them! And I could race through them!

So, some of your friends (and your sister) might be ready for JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, but for you The Hobbit might be about right. CS Lewis - the Narnia books - you might enjoy, some talking animals if you like that kind of thing.

another suggestion is to listen to books - you can borrow CDs from the library too, and you might find if you listened to a few things you might want to read them yourself (they sometimes leave the best bits out!) Then if you can listen to radio online, BBC7 have a series called 'Big Toe' which serialises children's books: they're going to tempt me away from Radio 4! :rotfl:

See what's in your school library too. Look at what's on bookshelves whenever you go visiting. (I LOVE houses with bookshelves in the downstairs loo ...) If you see something you fancy, see if you can borrow it, or make a note to look for it in the library.

And don't feel you have to finish everything you start. I had the best job in the world once, a braille proofreader, but even I gave up on one book, the memoirs of someone who really got up my nose! :rotfl:

Enough again ... I do go on once I get started. But I am rather fond of books!

lilacgirlie

I finished reading Trouble According to Humphrey :T and here is my review:

Humphrey is a class hamster in room 24 of Longfellow school he was joined by a frog called Og ( earlyier on in the series) Humphrey helps people with their problems without them knowing of course!
As he is such an intelligent hamster he has learnt amazing things and has a lot of secrets like his cage door he calls the lock that doesn't lock but in this book as well as helping people he gets him self into trouble. :cool:

My favourite word is twanged its a word that sounds just like it should. Humphrey uses it to discribe his fellow class pet Og!

I'm going to rejoin my local libary as my school libary does not have a lot of choice. I have dicided to read The silver dolphin from the Mermaid curse series by Louise Cooper

Savvy_Sue

lilacgirlie wrote: »

My favourite word is twanged its a word that sounds just like it should. Humphrey uses it to discribe his fellow class pet Og!

That's called onomatopoeia. And I've just learned how to spell it ...

Well done lilacgirlie, enjoy the next book!

lilacgirlie

Hi I am reading my next book now but I was wondering how you were getting on with your next book Hawkrider123?

lilacgirlie

I changed books to the mum minder by Jacqueline Wilson because I got bored of the other book. I have just finished reading the mum minder and here is my review:

It was an easy going book. It is about a girl called sadie who is writting a dairy of her half term week. Her mum is a child minder and looks after three other kids and Sara her own. Sadie says she doesn't need minding as she is nine and can look after her self. Half way through the hoildays her mum is ill with the flu so everyone (all the parents) puts there heads together to think of a plan.

My favourite word is trouble as there is plenty of it in this book. It means you are doing something you shouldn't do.

The next book I am reading is called cool and it's author is Micheal Morpurgo.

Savvy_Sue

Great review, lilacgirlie. I know hawkrider really enjoyed some of Michael Morpurgo's books.

Oh, and don't worry about swapping books. In time, you may develop the habit of having several on the go at once. DH has one in his coat pocket, one in his briefcase and one next to our bed, so that there's always one to hand. I can really only cope with one at a time, which means if I take my book out I have to remember to bring it back upstairs at the end of the day because I'm a 'fall asleep reading' kind of girl. But if a book is boring, you can take it in smaller doses if you've got a fun one to enjoy more. That might be worth remembering when you have to read books for school - you're allowed to read other books at the same time!

hawkrider123

Hi everyone

umm...(where to start) Well firstly the main reason that i haven't been able to read books or do book reviews lately is because i have been helping out overtime on the farm, with clearing unwanted stuff out. I tell you, you don,t realise how much until you need to actually clear out. Also the trouble is that now they trust me to drive things on the farm, probably since i got my own tractor, there tends to be a lot more things available to do. I,m hoping to get back into the habit of reading but only time will tell!
bye have a good day!

Oh! and lilacgirlie hope you're getting on alright with your challenge bye

Savvy_Sue

THEY LET YOU DRIVE YOUR OWN TRACTOR! Way to go, hawkrider ... :rotfl: