Marshmallows and Mayhem…
As a mom, I believe reading together is one of the most important things you can do with you children. Reading stretches the imagination and builds a bond that goes past snuggling in the rocking chair. I’ve tried to stress the importance of reading to my children. I’ve taken them with me to the library since they were babies, let them choose their own books. Read to them. And still…
My children are like daylight and dark. Much to my regret, my son isn’t a reader. He won’t touch a book with a ten foot pole, unless someone makes him read (which defeats the purpose in my opinion.) My oldest daughter loves to read. She’s picky about the genre, but her tastes remain in fiction. While, in spite of all the Dr. Suess, Harry Potter and all the other popular children’s books out there, my youngest daughter would only read when required for school. That was until Howl.
Howl? What do I mean? I’m refering to Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Kayla is a movie kind of girl who loves sequels. When she watched Howl, she fell in love with the story and wanted to see the next movie. I hated to tell her they never made a movie of Castle in the Air, or House of Many Ways. (They should.) To soften the dissapointment, I mentioned the movie was made from the book which had so much more story the animators had left out. Her words? “Get it for me, Mom, please!”
I had to take a mental step back from the Twilight Zone moment. Weird. Here was my child, the non-reader, asking me for a book. Yes! “Okay. I have a copy here somewhere.” I came in from work the next day and the TV was off and Kayla had her nose in the book. Two days later, she asks, “Do you have any books I can read on your Kindle?” Now, I’m suspicious. Lol. And also intrigued.
Books on my kindle? For kids? Not so much. I love to read romance. It’s sexy, fun, full of drama and literally anything is possible with the paranormal factor added in, but at times I miss those less intense stories I read as a teenager. Looking through books online with Kayla made me remember what I loved about those books, but it also made me ask the question “What is wrong with books nowadays that our kids won’t read them?” As I suggested one book after another and she shot them down, I asked questions. Why not this one? Blurb? (This was followed by her asking what is a blurb?) Cover? What turns you away?
And she told me “Kids should get to tell what they like about a book and what they don’t, and the publishers should listen when we say something is boring or stupid. They’d make more money.” (Did I mention how opinionated she is? Lol.) Of course, she also thinks they should put cute guys on all the covers. Yes, we have our hands full with this one. *sigh*
Anyway, to make this long story short, we came up with a great idea. In addition to my reviews for You Gotta Read, Kayla and I are starting a blog called Marshmallows and Mayhem YA Book Reviews. For now, we are starting small, picking titles from Net Galley and the library that interests her. We will both read each book, I’ll write my review, then Kayla will have give her opinions on the book. We can’t wait to get started!
The site is still under construction, but we hope to share a few reviews with you soon.
http://marshmallowmayhemreviews.wordpress.com/
Happy reading,
Brynna
