Finding Inspiration In The Every Day-3

Last week someone suggested a book I should read.
Nothing unusual about that. As many of you know, I am a bookaholic and always looking for recommendations, as I know you are.

What was different about this situation was the person who recommended it - my 11 year old son and the book he had chosen - a children's book he thought I would enjoy.

Now, when's the last time you read a children's book for your own pleasure? -Not to your child or grandchild, not so you could assess its appropriateness for your students or as a gift for a nephew or niece? 

We adults are really good at recommending books to kids we think they will or should like. It was quite a table turner to have Jacob suggest to me,  that I should read When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. 
Why did he think I would like it? 

His reasoning -because I had really enjoyed Holes by Louis Sachar and how at the end all the pieces came together perfectly.  When You Reach Me worked the same way -all the pieces of the story puzzle coalesce in the last few pages. Jacob's teacher had read it to his class when he was in 3rd grade. (A challenging book for that age group). He told me he had loved the way he and his classmates had acted like detectives trying to work out all the clues and make sense of the unfolding story.

So I thought I'd read it. To please him really. It didn't take me long. 

And he was right. I LOVED it for the reasons he said I would and many others. 

But what was really the ultimate joy in this whole little scenario was that as a tween he had successfully used his reading experience, his knowledge about other books I liked and his enthusiasm for a wonderful piece of fiction to open up a new reading horizon to me. He was the expert, I was the novice.

 And my favorite part of the whole experience? We got so much mutual pleasure from dissecting the story puzzle, reading the author interview on Amazon and marveling together about the characters, clues and conclusion.  

So next time you need a book to read-ask a child/ tween or teen you know, to recommend one.

 An every day question might turn out to be quite inspirational, in more ways than one.

Has a child recommended a book you have enjoyed? If you have asked a child this question? What did they choose for you? 

If you haven't, why don't you?

Let me know? I'd love to read it too. Leave me a comment below so others can benefit.

Happy reading!
Gilly

Many thanks to you all for your support of  Brainstorm. Please help spread the blog readership by sharing this post or others to your face book page. It's very simple to do. Click on the F icon at the very bottom of this post, write a comment if you like and post the link. 

Thank you! 

 Please email me at gilly@bringingbooksofcomfort.org or leave a comment on this post below. I'd love to have your feedback. 

     *******************************************************************************

Thank you for visiting Brainstorm. If you want to receive future posts by email please enter your address on the right hand side of this post,where it says "RECEIVE BLOG BY EMAIL."  Remember to look for the verification link from Feedburner when it comes into your inbox or hides in your spam folder.