Geronimo!!

We've always known Ruth was smart.  She has always had a large vocabulary and has been LOVING math. But I was starting to get a bit concerned about her reading.  In Kindergarten, Ruth hated reading.  She considered her 20 mins/day reading as one of her chores.  I tried to make it fun, but I was not successful.  When first grade started she somehow got some motivation and began doing well with reading.  She's tested off the charts with reading and comprehension.  She's even doing well with spelling (100% on EVER spelling test so far this year).  But her teacher brought up a concern (and I had noticed too) that Ruth still had trouble reading for a long period of time.  She would read a couple pages and then want to move on to the next book or the next activity. If she even looked at a Magic Tree House page or another page with more than a paragraph, she would feel overwhelmed.  Mrs. Peterson asked us to work with her on her sustained reading.  

I was at a loss as to how to go about doing that until I discovered the Geronimo Stilton series.  These are real chapter books with some pictures throughout.  The pictures are colorful and fun.  The stories are so fun and educational.  Now she can sit and read 30 pages and be sad that we're telling her to stop.  These books have given Ruth the confidence she needed and I think she's ready to venture on to more chapter books.  (Not that she wants to... she's perfectly content with Geronimo...and so am I).  If you have a young reader I HIGHLY recommend these books!