Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library

My kids and I read together every night. We are currently reading - and almost done with - Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein. It's a wonderful book. We thought it was part of a series and we looked it up to find out. It IS part of a series so we are very excited about that! It's the first book in the series so thank goodness for that. Also, while doing our search we found out that there is a movie based on the book. The above is the trailer for said movie. We will be watching it once we have finished reading the book. 

24in48 readathon

 I will be participating (for the first time) in the 24in48 readathon this weekend. In fact, it begins at midnight so just a couple of hours now. This means that I will read for 24 hours of the 48 hour weekend. I just decided to do this tonight so technically I haven't prepared., However, I'm a lifelong bookworm so I have plenty of books to choose from to read. I have two on the go right now that I will finish this weekend I'm reading and will finish Diary of an Accidental Wallflower for myself and will finish reading The Magic Misfits to my kids. Both have been highly enjoyable books so far. 

After those two books are done I will of course choose others. Actually, I'll let my kids choose the  next book I read to them. I'm not sure exactly what I wil grab for myself either but will check in with updates over the course of the weekend. 

Have any of you ever participated in this particular readathon?

Teaser Tuesday: Beyond the Kingdoms by Chris Colfer

Teaser Tuesday is newly hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. To play along, just do the following:

- Grab your current read 

- Open to a random page 

- Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 

- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 

- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teaser. 

My teaser this week is from page 397 of The Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms by Chris Colfer -

Conner tried summoning his magic like he summoned his creativity. It started in his imagination, not his heart. He visualized magic as an idea for a new story. 

The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge

The Christmas Spirit reading challenge is happening once again this year. It runs from today, November 21, 2016 until January 6, 2017 (twelfth Day). This is an incredibly fun challenge based entirely on Christmas. Pretty much anything goes, too. It is required to read Christmas books but you can choose your level. I'm choosing the Mistletoe level which is to read two to four books with a Christmas theme. So far I know I will be reading The Trouble with Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis, Marry Me at Christmas by Susan Mallery and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - this one I'll be reading with my kids for the first time. If you wish to join in the fun go to The Christmas Spirit and sign up.

Harry Potter!

To say that I am excited about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a major understatement! My kids are excited about this book, too! We are going to our local Barnes and Noble this evening to celebrate the release of the book and to purchase it at midnight! My children have been to the Harry Potter release parties in the past. One vaguely remembers and the other was an infant so definitely does not remember being there. They have been looking forward to this as much - and possibly even more - as I have. They came to me earlier in the week and said that they didn't have Harry Potter t-shirts for the party and could we please get some. OF COURSE I said yes and we went shopping for them. So tonight we'll all be wearing our new Harry Potter t-shirts and celebrating the release of the new book.

I heard someone talking about the Harry Potter excitement on the radio today. She said with so many disheartening things going on in the world it is so nice to see so many people excited about reading and getting a book. I completely agree with her! Also, I read that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the highest selling book (at Barnes and Noble, at least) since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released nine years ago. To me that is an amazing fact! So, is anyone else excited about this book? If so, are you going to any of the celebrations or buying it at midnight?

Reading with my kids

Around Christmas of 2015 I started reading with my kids again. I used to read to them most every day when they were smaller. However that slowly went away as they got bigger and became independent readers. It was something I missed so much, though. Then, by chance, my oldest asked me to read to them one night during Christmas break. I was thrilled and happily read to them before they went to sleep. The next night they asked me to do it again. About the fourth or fifth night in they wanted to know why we'd stopped reading together at night and if we could start it up again. So we did and we haven't stopped.

It has been so wonderful reading to and with my kids again each night. It is something we all look forward to every night. So far this year we have read the first two Land of Stories books. Now we're reading a book called The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd. It is a wonderful book - a little sad, though. Still, we're enjoying the adventure in the book and the time to spend together each night.

Reading with kids

They say that if you want your children to be readers then read to them when they're young. Well, I have read to my kids since I was pregnant with them and they are definitely readers. They are also independent readers now and have been for some time. So, when they asked me in December to start reading to them again each night at bedtime - I was extremely thrilled! We had purchased our oldest child a signed copy of Chris Colfer's The Wishing Spell. It is the first in his Land of Stories series. We will finish the book tomorrow night and I must say it has been a delightful book to read. It is a well-imagined book about an alternate universe set in a land of fairytales. To me it was a bit redundant in places but still, as a said, a delightful book. I am definitely looking forward to reading more of the series with my kids.

The next book I'm going to read to them is Star Wars: Before the Awakening by Greg Rucka. I admit that this book is as much for me as it is my kids. They chose it but I think I'm as excited to get to it as they are. This book gives some history about the new characters - Rey, Poe and Finn - that are introduced in The Force Awakens. We were (surprisingly) able to see the movie the night it opened (December 18, 2015) and we've all (including my husband) been anxious to know more about these new characters. So, the reading of this book will hopefully help all of us to understand and know these characters better.