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I took a few books on vacation this year. Some were for the kids to read and I wanted to read them first. I also brought Septimus Heap books 3 and 4, since I’ve read only 1 and 2. But I didn’t get to them. What I did read were these:

• Soup Ahoy
  One of the Soup series by Robert Newton Peck. This was my favorite of the series, and the first one I read. If I had known it would be my favorite, I would have read it last so that I could enjoy the others better.
• Soup
  The first of the Soup series by Robert Newton Peck. After I started reading this, I remembered parts of it and realized that I had read this back when I was about my son’s age. Still entertaining now though.
• Soup on Fire
  One of the Soup series by Robert Newton Peck. It was fine, but the plot was too similar to Soup Ahoy.
• A Squire’s Tale
  The first of the The Squire’s Tales series by Gerald Morris. I look forward to reading some of his The Knights’ Tales series next year, and then reading the rest of this series. I liked the characters he added, the extra magic, to the stories of the knights of Camelot. I recommend it for, say, 5th grade and up.
• White Fang
  The classic by Jack London. After reading newer books targeted for younger kids, I thought this one started out rather slowly. Page after page of descriptions of tundra. I wondered how tedious the book would be and if I would have the motivation to finish it on my vacation.

  It didn’t become a classic by being boring.

  The initial descriptions are there to set the stage. There is richness in the details. They help engage the reader, who must actually read the story and not just peruse it.

  I read it more quickly than I thought I would. Good book.

• A Series of Unfortunate Events – The Bad Beginning
  The first of the Lemony Snicket series. I thought I would read it to see if I wanted Alpha to read the series. I knew they were popular, so I started looking at it in the library. Alpha saw me holding it and mentioned that he was on book 3 of the series. So much for staying ahead of the curve. Apparently, they read the first two books in class last year (3rd grade).

  I checked the book out of the library anyway.

  I didn’t like it.

  Other than the mistreatment of children, which was correctly presented as something bad (think Oliver Twist), there was not much objectionable in this book. It was just not captivating. I think it seemed too gloomy or depressing, which Mr. Snicket did warn me about before I started reading. I just didn’t think it would be as bad as it was.

  Other books that I have tried, such as the Septimus Heap series or the Percy Jackson series or The Knights’ Tales series, have left me eager to read the subsequent books in the series. Lemony Snicket did not.

  If you’re wondering for a series to read and you’ve exhausted all other options, maybe try it. Alpha can read the rest of the series if he wants, but he’s on his own.

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That was it for this summer – 6 books. Time to start planning for next year.

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