A Big First: The Boy Finally Likes Books!!

Thanks to Staples for providing the review item for this post. All opinions are my own!

I may have mentioned here a time or two that I am a voracious reader. I love, love, love books. The library was one of my happy places as a child, and still is really, although it’s more like DaytonMetroLibrary.org is my happy place because I LOVE requesting books online and then zipping in to pick them up at my local branch!

But I digress.

I’ve always read to the kids, from the time they were babies, hoping to instill a love of reading in them too. Sophie is her mother’s daughter, spending her free time reading – at 7, she can read an entire American Girl chapter book in a day. I know, crazy, right?

But despite the fact that he’s a great reader, Joshua has never liked to read for fun. I tried a couple different series to get him interested, but I never could come up with anything he LOVED.

Until this summer. Joshua had a BIG “first” (which is fitting since he’s about to have another big “first” – first day of middle school, eek!) – his first book series he loves. He devours these books, reading one in a day and then begging to go to the library to get another. What are these magical books you might add? Well, they are, of course, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. In just two weeks he has read 8 out of the 9!  Because the 9th isn’t out yet! We are just back from vacation so he can’t wait to get the last book. Which leads me to another “first” for him – his first tablet.

Shortly before we left for vacation, my friends at Staples asked if I’d like to test out a Kindle Fire HD for my kids to read on. Of course I said yes! Anything to keep the kids busy in the car and keep them reading! But also, it was great because I was nervous about taking (and losing) library books on vacation. We loaded the Kindle up with two Wimpy Kid books for both kids to share (Sophie loves them too and as soon as he’s done, she reads the one he has just finished) and also one American Girl book for Sophie (which Joshua is of course free to read if he’d like, but…yeah, he’s not going to do that!).

Let me just say, even with them sharing the Kindle, we had our best, quietest, friendliest road trip EVER – and it’s a 7-hour drive! It’s easy for both of them to operate without our help, which is awesome since we are waaaay up in the front of the minivan and they are waaaay in the back. The screen is clear as can be and it’s so lightweight. I was impressed with how well they took care of it, too – they are definitely proving that they can handle the responsibility of this new tablet.

I also love that I can borrow electronic edition books for them from the library on the Kindle – helloo, it’s a mom’s dream! They’re reading library books that I don’t have to hunt down and return on time. Wheeeee!!!

Some other things I like about the Kindle Fire HD include it’s great battery life and all the apps the kids can get from the Amazon App store to help with everything from education to entertainment (no more borrowing my tablet to play Minecraft = priceless!)

We are really loving the Kindle Fire HD in our house, and I’m so excited that it’s going to make it even easier for me to give the kids access to the books they love from the library as well as special titles I’d like them to own on Kindle. If you’re interested in one for the reader in your life, head on over to Staples to check oneout – you’ll love it! And while you’re there, you can get everything you need for another big “first” – the first day of SCHOOL!! Ours is coming up in just 8 glorious days!  From backpacks to pencils to big-kids supplies like combination locker locks, Staples has it all. AND they have a back-to-school 110% price match guarantee -whee!

And now that Joshua’s about done with the Wimpy Kid series, I could use some more suggestions? I’ve got him started on Origami Yoda  and Encyclopedia Brown – what other book series are great for 10-year-old boys?