Bedtime Stories

I have been really getting into reading to the girls recently since I decided to ditch the cheesy picture books and dive into chapter books with them. They have been eating them up, too. I find myself reading to them much longer and pushing them to make it through "just one more chapter". It is quite the change from me barely making it through reading them some random story.

So far, I have read them all of the American Girl stories we own. Those are mostly the ones for Samantha and Nellie. Ava is absolutely enthralled by their adventures and can't wait to hear what will happen to them next. We also read through the children's version of The Odyssey written by Mary Pope Osborne who writes The Magic Treehouse series. The interest in this came from a friend of mine that had been reading it to her children and her oldest daughter insisted on playing a game involving Circe's "magic soup" that had Ava intrigued.

Since we have started this, I have been on the hunt for more stories to read to them. I came across the Shoe books by Noel Streatfield. I immediately requested a copy of Ballet Shoes from the library to read to them. I know Ava will be thrilled with my choice since she is all about ballet right now. All she draws anymore is pictures of Odette from Swan Lake since they are about to do a children's production of it next month in which she will be a forest fairy complete with sparkling wand.

Once I have finished this, I will have to decide where to go next. I am thinking about The Secret Garden, but I am not sure I want to do that one, yet. I am also holding off on Little Women until they are a little older. I am just so excited to share with them some of my favorite books growing up. It is really reigniting my passion for reading that had been stagnant pretty much since having kids. I just have not found the time to really sit down and enjoy books. I am glad it is coming back to me.

Oh, and if you have any suggestions, PLEASE let me know!