Struggling to Persevere

My current book choice is Peter and the Starcatchers. While I have chugged along through the Percy Jackson series, and made my way through the first book in the Penderwick series, I've struggled to move through this one. Why is that? As I was reading some of the posts in my Google Reader, I came across one that hit the nail on the head. While she was reading an adult piece of fiction, she was having the same struggle I was having. Desire to finish, but the simultaneous feelings of love and hate.

I'm about 125 pages into the 400+ page book at this point. Who knows when I'll finish, as I've been reading it for about a week and my slow reading rate isn't what is holding me back. Instead I simply can't get into the plot, and don't really have the desire to know more about the characters. That is in stark contrast to my feelings with Percy Jackson or the Penderwick girls. While I thought the Penderwicks dragged, I was curious to see what trouble they might elicit because of the class differences with their hosts. Perhaps it was also the feeling of the latter two stories being written in a way I could relate to them, as they are set in more recent times (full disclosure: I'm also not a huge fan of boats, preferring land to sea any day).

All of that makes me wonder how some of my kids tackle books. I had a few kids this year that read books incredibly quickly, and were able to give fantastic retells with detail. But I also had a few other kids that just struggled to move their way through books, and had some books sitting on their desk for weeks on end. It makes me wonder whether the right thing to do when someone is struggling is to have that friendly conversation about their interest in the book. Why is it that you don't like it? Tell me about the book thus far? What do you think would make this better (and be specific)? I don't want to encourage kids giving up on books easily, but rather having them think critically about why a book doesn't work for them.

The Penderwicks

Just finished The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall. As a whole, I enjoyed it. This wouldn't be the first book I'd pick up though, largely because of content area. I prefer books with more humor or action. Why in the world did I pick it up? Well, I owe it to my kids to read some of the books that they like. Whether it is Charlie Bone, Percy Jackson, or the Penderwicks, I need to have familiarity with books of interest. Secondly, it was a National Book Award Winner... and I like award winners, largely because someone else has judged it to be good literature (so it is, right?).

General plot: 4 sisters and their father summer at a cottage not unlike the Kennedy compound (or so it seemed). The girls befriend the young boy who lives at the house (Arundel), and trouble brews because the rich mother is not pleased with who the boy is associating with. The chapters are almost like vignettes of mini-adventures.

I appreciated how the issue of class was woven into the story. My kids could certainly appreciate the notion that background doesn't determine who you associate with. Jeffrey, the boy, enjoyed being with the girls because of their sense of adventure. His mother had a vastly different opinion, entrenching the notion of the rich being pretentious.

I enjoyed it, and many of the girls in my classroom would as well. They can relate to the story, and the various characters. But I likely wouldn't read it again, as I wasn't captivated by the action or storyline.

Next up: Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan