By Marci Tate, Vangergriff Elementary
It’s time to get the chili on the stove and enjoy these cool fall evenings! There’s no better time to “Fall into Reading”. Here are a few of my back-to-school suggestions:
This one’s a great resource for every parent — The Organized Student: Teaching Children the Skills for Success in the School and Beyond. Donna Goldberg with Jennifer Zwiebel will help the hectic mom help her hectic child. The author realized her son was falling behind because he was not turning in his homework, yet she saw him do it every night. It was lost in his backpack in a jumble of notebooks and papers. The author sets out these keys to know if your child is disorganized – frequently loses papers, doesn’t hand in assignments on time or at all, has a backpack full of crumpled paper and random objects, misses deadlines, and disrupts home life with frantic searches. Tips are given on time management, filing systems at home and in the backpack, using planners, and more.
Another book parents might want to take note of this school year is The Financially Intelligent Parent: 8 Steps to raising a successful, generous, responsible children by Eileen and Jon Gallo. The book is broken into eight chapters ranging from encouraging a work ethic to the importance of being a charitable family. One of their recommendations is that allowances should not be tied to chores. The authors make an interesting argument for this point. If nothing else, this book will make you think about how you influence your child’s perception of money.
For one of those “curl up in the corner of the couch nights”, try Libby Langdon’s Small Space Solutions: Secrets for Making Any Room Look Elegant and Feel Spacious on Any Budget. Her ideas are affordable and easy for those smaller rooms in your own home. She demonstrates use of color, what to hang on the wall in certain rooms, how to layout a floor plan, and plenty more.
If you like thrillers, then you must try Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo. After the first chapter, I was afraid it was going to be too graphic and violent for me to enjoy, but I kept going and it turned out to be great debut from this author. I hear that there will even be a mystery series featuring the main character, Kate Burkholder. Kate grew up in the town in which she is now the chief of police. Many of the town’s residents are Amish and Kate was once a member of that community. Sixteen years after a serial killer terrorized their small town, it seems he is back. Events surrounding the original murders are what led Kate to leave the Amish life. Now that the murders have started again, Kate is battling her inner demons to track down the killer. The story is well written and the peak into the Amish life adds an interesting element. This one should be the top of the list for mystery/thriller lovers!
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz is a quirky mystery that has been compared to a Harriet the Spy for grown-ups. Izzy Spellman is working for her parents P.I. firm and in this family, everyone is a P.I. It is a web of family dysfunction as everyone is always spying on each other to get the upper hand. Her teenage sister, Rae, seems to be the best snoop of all. Izzy feels like she is stuck in a dead-end spot in her life, but with this family it is all fun for the reader.
Marci Tate of Fayetteville is a busy wife, mom of two, avid reader (when time allows) and Library Media Specialist at Vandergriff Elementary School.
