My Reading Spot

Summer reading in July was kinda lacking for me, but not for my kids. I have highs and lows when it comes to reading, and July was definitely a low.  I just couldn’t find many books at all that held my interest and life was super busy, which wasn’t helping much either.

One book that I really did enjoy was a nonfiction book, Unshattered, by Carol J. Decker .  I love to pick inspirational or spiritual books to read on Sunday mornings, when I wake up early and everyone else sleeps in. Unshattered was a Sunday morning pick. I couldn’t put this one down and finished it in one setting, although I think it would make an excellent book club book too! Carol went into the hospital pregnant with flu like symptoms and came home 3 months later a blind triple-amputee! I was surprised it was much more inspirational than it was spiritual. I kinda enjoyed that fact too – because this book could be for everyone, because haven’t we all had something hard we have to face at one time or another?  And how do we do that?  Do we let it take over, or do we face it head on?  How does one overcome tragedy? One of my favorite quotes from the book was near the end….

Seriously.  Everyone should read this book.  I would love to read it again with you if you do!

While I didn’t get a lot of fiction in July, my kids sure did!  They were constantly reading, so much I jokingly had to make a rule that phones (for adults) and books (for children) don’t come to the table at dinner. One big hit this summer was the Harry Potter series. My 14 year old finished the series, and my 11 year old and 9 year old have read (and re-read) the illustrated versions. Does anyone else LOVE those illustrated versions???  We joked with our 14 year old because he even attempted to take his books on two camp outs!

But truth be told, this is from the kid who was my slowest to catch on to reading. The kid who has admitted to me now that he couldn’t really read, even in 2nd grade. The kid who didn’t ever quite qualify for help but I knew he kinda needed it. The kid who worked double time to read like his younger siblings. We read the first four Harry Potter books out loud to our oldest boys a few years ago, because he was interested but couldn’t quite read them himself. This was a huge feat for him and as much as we joked he didn’t talk to us much because he always had a book in his hands, we were super proud. And then when he was done, we had a week of late night Harry Potter Movie marathons!

So for every mamma out there with a little boy who doesn’t love reading, or a little boy(or girl) who just isn’t getting it: I say just have faith! We spent extra time reading with him, we read out loud as a family, we still do! And we loved audible! It took being creative and finding books that kept his interest. But don’t give up!
Keep reading, keep encouraging and have faith.💙

August is already over half over, but I have read a couple great ones this month!  And school starts next week, can I hear a hallelujah!