50 Chapter Books Down!

I am so excited!  We just finished our 50th chapter book.  When we started this chapter book challenge a year and nine months ago, I had no idea that this time during our day would become my favorite time during our day. It has become the part of the day that I look the most forward to.  I love settling on the couch together and opening the pages of our book to see where the story will take us. Our past 50 books have taken us to The Hundred Acre Woods, Narnia, and the deep south in the 1930's. We have read survival tales, stories about man's best friend, and about children who hold the incredible power to make a difference.  We have covered divorce, abuse, adoption, racism, autism, bullying, disabilities, and death. And every single book we have read together has opened doors for discussions that may have been difficult, uncomfortable, light, or  even silly.

I cannot wait to see where our next 50 books will take us!

Here is the list of books we have read so far:

1. Matilda By Roald Dahl
2. From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler By E.L. Konigsburg
3. Ramona Forever By Beverly Cleary
4. The Boxcar Children By Gertrude Chandler Warner
5. Little Cabin in the Woods By Laura Ingalls Wilder
6. Freckle Juice By Judy Blume
7. Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective By Donald J. Sobol
8. Nate the Great By Marjorie Weinman Sharmat 
9. Three Tales of My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
10. Holes By Louis Sachar
11. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
12. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
13. Stuart Little by E.B. White
14. The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
15. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
16. The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards
17. George's Marvelous Medicine By Roald Dahl
18. Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
19. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
20. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
21. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
22. The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
23. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson
24. The Borrowers by Mary Norton
25. The BFG by Roald Dahl
26. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
27. How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Crowell
28. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Patterson                                                 

   Finished in 2014

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29. Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown
30. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
31. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
32. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
33. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
34. Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
35. Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary
36. The Enormous Egg by Oliver Butterworth
37. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
38. Winnie-the-Pooh By A.A. Milne
39. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
40. Frindle by Andrew Clements
41. Ramona and her Mother by Beverly Cleary
42. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
43. Homer Price by Robert McCloskey
44. The Field Guide: Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi
45. The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo
46. Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
47. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
48. Loser by Jerry Spinelli
49. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
50. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

                                        

At the end of 2014, I wrote a post about my top 5 books for the year.  Four out of the Five were books I had never heard of before our reading challenge.  You can read that post HERE. 

If you are interested in making read a part of your routine, I recommend a blog that I just recently found out about.  Amongst Lovely Things Read Aloud Revival Podcast.  It is so encouraging and a great way to help you introduce reading into your day.  

And if you want to see an amazing story about what positive outcome reading can have in your child's life, listen to the podcast by Author Alice Ozma.  I was one minute into the podcast and had tears streaming down my face.  Reading can have a HUGE impact on your child's life.  Her story is heartwarming, so check out The Reading Promise. 

Now it's time for us to start book #51!  Happy Reading.

What are your favorite books from our list so far?