It feels like just yesterday that I was researching like crazy and trying to figure out what to use for Storyteller’s kindergarten year. Now, she’s done with third grade and Comedian finished kinder. We’re been using Sonlight and Bookshark since the beginning and yet again we end a year very pleased with all the books we got to share this year. I spread out all of them out and had the girls pick out their favorites from Bookshark’s Level 2 Reading with History and Level 2 Science programs as well as their favorites from a few read alouds for our co-op’s book club.
*** Note – I wrote this post almost a year ago but never got around to publishing it. As we near the end of another year, the girls have started talking about which books will make their favorites list this year. Since the post was pretty much complete, I thought I’d still finish and publish it. Hopefully, this year’s favorites won’t take me a year!
Even though this level was for Storyteller’s 3rd grade year, Comedian (kindergarten) followed along with everything so she picked out her favorites too. I asked them for their top 3 in each category but they couldn’t choose just three. After setting their favorites aside for a few days, I asked them to narrow it down and they still had a hard time…especially with the read alouds. I finally gave up, so here are their favorites along with some thoughts about them.
Favorite Bookshark-Level 2 Read Aloud Books
Storyteller’s Favorite Read Aloud Books
Castle Diary – She really liked this because it had the feel of a story about a real person long ago even though it wasn’t a real person. It’s a diary of a boy going through the training to become a knight.
The Apprentice – This is a story about a boy who wants a career different from the family business during a time when that just wasn’t done much. I love stories about kids who seek out and work towards some impossible dream. My girls enjoyed it but I was a bit surprised that it was chosen as a favorite. Storyteller loves stories that take place long ago so perhaps that’s what stuck with her.
Sir Lancelot the Great – This is a favorite of hers because it’s an adventure story. She picked this one and Castle Diary as favorites right way. She really liked learning about knights this year, so these two easily stood out for her.
Kildee House – This was very fresh in our mind being the second to last book of the year. I wasn’t looking forward to it because it’s one of the longer read alouds of the year and I was ready for summer break at this point. I’m so glad we didn’t skip it because it is such an adorable story. We moved quickly through the book because they kept begging for more. I also wanted to know what happened next so it was easy to pick up and read ahead of the schedule.
Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case – This is a collection of short stories with a mystery to solve. I loved these books as a kid and my kids loved them too. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t want to solve the mysteries. This level has both an Encyclopedia Brown reader and a read aloud. I refused to do the reader unless they made at least some effort to solve the mystery. They still weren’t that interested in solving it. It’s a good exercise in going back and skimming the story to check for clues but it was really hard to get Storyteller to do it.
Little Riders – She was really looking forward because it’s set in WW2. Twenty and Ten (also about WW 2) was in Bookshark’s level K, and she still talks about that book as one of her all-time favorites.
Tales of Robin Hood – Who doesn’t like stories about Robin Hood?
The Secret Garden – This is from our co-op’s book club and not in Bookshark. Adults usually say books are better than the movies but so far my kids usually say the opposite. We watched this movie after and I think it was the first time they preferred the book. They loved it!
Comedian’s Favorite Read Aloud Books
White Stallion of Lipizza – This was a difficult book to read aloud. It has a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary and foreign words. Have your phone ready to help with pronunciation. It’s a sweet story about a boy who is obsessed with something that he is told he can’t do. I loved the story but really didn’t like reading it aloud. However, it was the first book she picked as a favorite so I must not have butchered it too badly!
Kildee House – see above.
Encyclopedia Brown Crack the Case – see above.
The Door in the Wall – I won’t spoil the book by revealing what the “door in the wall” is but it was a powerful moment in the book for me. That alone makes it one of my favorites even though the girls didn’t understand that part. I really had to walk them through it so I was surprised that one of them picked it as a favorite.
Cricket in Times Square – We actually read this the previous year when Storyteller was in 2nd grade. We use Brave Writer for some Language Arts and I chose this for a Quiver of Arrows book. I guess I didn’t look ahead to see if it was in an upcoming Bookshark level. I know better now. Comedian still wanted to choose it as a favorite even a year later. I guess that says something
The Secret Garden – see above.
The One and Only Ivan – This is from our co-op’s book club and not in Bookshark. This is a very sweet but somewhat sad story. We were surprised that is based on a true story. We did this as a read aloud but it could’ve been a reader for Storyteller.
Favorite Bookshark Level 2 Readers
Storyteller’s Favorite Readers
The Littles – I was happy when she picked this one because the T.V. show was a favorite of mine when I was a kid.
Encyclopedia Brown Boy Detective – see above.
Jake Drake Bully Buster – Jake deals with a bully and very clearly says that he (or any other kid) can’t go to teachers or parents about the problem, so he has to figure out a way to deal with it himself. He talks about several years during which he has a different bully in his classes and finally in 4th grade he encounters a super bully. It’s really sad that he has to deal with this alone. It does resolve nicely but I would’ve rather had a book that showed a positive outcome of asking an adult for help. On the other hand, it does show a kid successfully dealing with a bully without adult intervention. She can’t really articulate why she liked this book, so those are just my thoughts about it.
Comedian’s Favorite Readers (that she listened to)
The Littles – see above.
Encyclopedia Brown Boy Detective – see above.
Tippy Lemmey – This was one of her favorites because she likes dogs.
Tornado – And this is another dog story. That alone makes it one of her favorites.
Favorite Bookshark Level 2 History
Storyteller’s Favorite History Books
A Child’s History of the World – It seems that some people have issues with this book for several different reasons. The biggest reason I’ve heard that concerned me was that they didn’t like how it read…the tone of the book it seems. However, we loved it and just for that reason. It was very easy to read aloud and it flowed quite well for us.
Usborne’s Book of World History and Usborne’s Time Traveler – I’m really very happy that she picked all three spines as favorites (these two and A Child’s History of the World). I sometimes hear that the spines of different levels are dry and textbook-y but that definitely isn’t the case for these.
Michelangelo – This was a tough book for both girls. They had a hard time following the time line of the story and most times it seemed like they weren’t paying attention at all. They both still picked it as a favorite which surprised me. Storyteller loves books about real people so perhaps that’s why it’s one of her favorites.
Comedian’s Favorite History Books
Good Queen Bess – This is a favorite of hers because it’s a history book that doesn’t go into much detail about battles. Over the last two years, they’ve learned that history is filled with battles and conquerors. This was a nice change. There are more than battles and conquerors in this Bookshark program but this book came at a time when we needed a break from all that.
Peter the Great – This is one of her favorites because it includes a dancing monkey and bears. She’s obsessed with teaching our very old cat to do tricks so the idea of dancing monkeys and bears was quite memorable for her!
Michelangelo – see above.
Favorite Bookshark Level 2 Scienc
Storyteller’s Favorite Science Books
What’s Physics All About? – This was the first science book in all of the Bookshark levels we’ve done that has really challenged her. The amount of reading from this book really jumped compared to the rest of the year. The content was a bit difficult for her. She seemed a bit lost at times, but did very well on the worksheets. It’s clear she understood the material even though she had to work harder.
Marie Curie’s Search for Radium – I really love that Bookshark includes stories of the people behind the science. Actually, I wish there were more books like this included each year. There’s only one in each level in levels K, 1, and 2.
Comedian’s Favorite Science Books
Magic School Bus Inside the Earth – We already own and had read this book a few times so I was going to skip it but they love Magic School Bus so we read it yet again. It was an easy favorite.
What’s Physics All About? – As mentioned above, this is an in depth book for Storyteller’s age range (3rd grade). This was the first book in all of Bookshark levels 1 and 2 that Comedian didn’t actively follow along with. She was still in the room but clearly focused on something else. I was really surprised that she picked this one as a favorite but she was very persistent about it.
Usborne Book of Science Activities Volume 3 – She has loved all of the books in this series (this is the 3rd one we’ve used). She’ll often grab it off the shelf and page through it looking for experiments to do.
Usborne Book of Knowledge – I was really shocked that this was picked as a favorite. It’s outdated and really quite boring. This was used in the first part of the year for animals and it really dragged even though it’s a popular topic for kids. However, Comedian really enjoyed the final unit of the book about mechanical and electrical science, which was particularly outdated. She’s naturally very curious about how things work. On the other hand, Storyteller was not at all interested in the last part of this book and had a really hard time following along. But I’ll include it in our list of favorites because Comedian clearly enjoyed it and picked it as a favorite.
Whew! I think it might have been easier to ask them about the books they didn’t like. It would have been a much shorter list. That’s a fantastic sign that Bookshark is a great match for our family! We are looking forward to new adventures with Bookshark’s level 3. Storyteller is very excited to dive deeper into American history.
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