News about the Hunger Games has been fast and furious lately with the filming of the first book beginning. It seems like everyone with a blog has written about whether Hunger Games is the “next Twilight” and how the fanbase will compare. But for those of us with young readers, the first question is whether The Hunger Games Trilogy is appropriate for them. The books are technically “Young Adult,” but that can include a really wide range.

I read all three of the books and have a daughter who is a pretty advanced reader for the age of 10. She’s read Harry Potter but I will not let her anywhere near Twilight. The Hunger Games falls somewhere in the middle. Although the reading level would not be too difficult, I am not sure about the subject matter. In fact, I’m actually less worried about the violence than the romance because my daughter isn’t really affected by “scary” stories or prone to violence in any way. Conversely, she is starting to hit that preteen “mooning” phase when it comes to celebrity boys and kids in her class are tossing around the word “boyfriend” more frequently. That’s the kind of subject matter that I do not want to expose her to yet.

I’m considering letting her read The Hunger Games trilogy once she turns 11 in December. That would give her plenty of time before the March release of the first Hunger Games movie.

What do you think? Is the Hunger Games appropriate reading for your kids? How old are they and what is your opinion? Are you a Hunger Games Fan yourself (I am!)?

As in years past, Borders has announced their summer reading program. The Double-Dog Dare Challenge kicks off officially Saturday, June 4. Kids under 12 years old are eligible and must read 10 books of their choice. Once they read the books and complete the entry form, they can turn it in for a coupon for a free book. Free book choices are as follows:

The Cat in the Hat: Cooking with the Cat by Bonnie Worth
Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff
B is for Books! by Annie Cobb
Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
Hungry, Hungry Sharks! by Joanna Cole
Ranger’s Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
The Dragon in the Sock Drawer by Kate Klimo
Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt by Megan McDonald
Ballpark Mysteries: The Fenway Foul-Up by David A. Kelly
Flush by Carl Hiaasen
Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go by Dale E. Basye
Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary
The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling
Loser by Jerry Spinelli
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall
Lone Wolf: Wolves of the Beyond by Kathryn Lasky
The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester
Warriors: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Forms must be completed and turned in to any Borders, Borders Express or Waldenbooks between 6/1 and 9/5. Quantities of books were limited last year, so get what you want quickly! My kids do the Borders summer reading challenge plus a couple of others every summer. It’s a great way to help them set goals and stay motivated to read throughout the whole summer.

Borders Double-Dog Dare Challenge information and form.

For those of you who are Disney fans (or fans of children’s literature in general), I have good news! The 4th book in the Kingdom Keepers series is due to be released on April 5. The official title is Kingdom Keepers IV: Power Play.

If you have never read the Kingdom Keepers books, they are basically a series about some kids who are used as holograms to be tours in the various Disney parks. Things start to go wrong and they find out that there are dark forces working again Disney (and the world!). It’s up to the kids to save Disney, along with some behind-the-scenes help.

One of my favorite reasons to read the books is that it reminds me of the Disney attractions when I can’t be there. It also adds an added dimension to the park with I do go. I’ll never ride It’s a Small World in the dark again without feeling creepy!

The newest book looks to take place at least partially at EPCOT, but it may cross over other parks as well. I am anxious to find out!

You can order Kingdom Keepers IV: Power Play either hardcover, Kindle, or audiobook from Amazon now.

My husband has been talking about wanting a Kindle for a very long time. I love to read (about a book a week), and he “likes” to read (a book every other month). We’ve been on the fence about the Kindle and finally decided to try the free Kindle Apps on our phones. We downloaded the apps and he paid to get his first book. I still wasn’t sold that I would even want to waste my money on one book. Luckily, I found free Kindle books!

At first when I was looking through the free Kindle books, it seemed that they were all old books. Things like “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” and “Treasure Island.” I decided that I would pick out an old book that I have not yet read just to try the app. Much to my excitement, I discovered that there are other free books as well. I downloaded “Compromising Positions” by Jenna Bayley-Burke because it looks cute and it has great ratings.

At any given time you can check out the Top 100 Bestsellers in Kindle Books and look specifically for those that are free. Let someone else do the work of reading through all of the book titles and ratings and just peruse the top 100. If you are on the fence still like I am, hopefully using a free Kindle app along with one of the Top 100 Free Kindle books will help you make up your mind.

Your kids can get a free book at Barnes & Noble this summer when they read 8 books and track them on the “Passport to Summer Reading” at Barnes & Noble. A parent or guardian will need to sign the Passport when it is complete. Passports can be turned in anytime between May 25 and September 7 and exchanged for a free book from a list of paperback titles. The list is actually pretty good and is broken down by grade level.

The program is being presented in conjunction with “The 39 Clues.” Click here to visit the Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program website for more details.

Updated: Click here to learn more about the 2011 Borders Summer Reading Program

Borders has announced their summer reading program, Double-Dog Dare. Jeff Kinney, author of the hugely popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, helped announce the program.

The reading program is open to kids under the age of 12. They must read 10 books (completely of their choice) and then list them on the form available on the Borders website. Once they read the books and complete the form, they can exchange it for a free book. (Last year it was for a coupon for 50% off any book). Free book titles include the following but may change:

Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary ISBN 0380709597
Miss Daisy is Crazy! by Dan Gutman ISBN 0060507004
Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown ISBN 0060097914
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary ISBN 0380709589
The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan ISBN 0142417440
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen ISBN 0440419395
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth
George Speare ISBN 0440495962
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes ISBN 0440442508
The River by Gary Paulsen ISBN 0440407532
Kristy’s Great Idea by Ann
M. Martin ISBN 0545174759

The form must be completed, signed by a parent, and returned to a Borders or Waldenbooks location by 8/26/2010. There is no purchase necessary to take advantage of the program. I love when companies do summer reading programs because it gives the kids a goal throughout the summer. The rule for my kids is that they cannot duplicate books for different programs. If they want to earn multiple prizes, they have to read that many more books. So far it hasn’t been a problem because they love to read! How about your kids? Do you participate in summer reading programs? What has your experience been?

Click here to visit the Borders website for more information about their Summer Reading Program.

Looking for a tip to help your family stay connected in this fast-paced world?  Start a parent-child book club to simply and economically make connections with your children through a community of books.  Busy moms will appreciate how this activity will easily blend into their already full lives.

To get started, find a few like-minded friends and their children who are interested in joining you on this adventure.  Agree on the goals and ground rules for your family book club.  Choose a first book that will be challenging and engaging to read.  The host adult for each meeting can draft open-ended discussion questions that will ideally stimulate a rewarding and meaningful book discussion.  You can share your values and thoughts about situations that arise in the books, and your children can share their feelings and ideas through discussing situations that the book’s characters faced.  Also, the host can create enrichment activities such as book-inspired art or science projects, snacks, field trips, movement or sports activities, and games or puzzles.  These types of experiences truly enhance the book discussion and provide a hands-on experience that everyone will remember.  Enjoy reading the books that your group has selected, and bonding with your family through discussions and related activities.  It works for me!

Melissa Stoller

Co-author, The Parent-Child Book Club: Connecting With Your Kids Through Reading (Melissa Stoller & Marcy Winkler, HorizonLine Publishing, 2009, www.parentchildbookclub.com).  This is a comprehensive resource book with step-by-step instructions for organizing and conducting your family book club.  The 20 Book Club Model Guides provide everything families need to get started!

With four kids I do a lot of reading.  I’ve taught each one of them to read with phonics my way.  However, as they outgrew the phonics program we started to read together each night.  I realized that reading together can do more than just benefit your kids – it benefits me as a parent.

READING TO TEACH

When my kids were toddlers until second grade I would read a book with them each night.  I did it to teach them to read.  It was the icing on the cake of our lessons.  I realized that my younger children learned to read and memorize words even earlier than my older children.  It was an enlightening benefit to reading with them so early.  Also, they used that for their cuddle time with mommy or daddy.  Both my husband and I would take turns reading to them.  Before we knew it, they wanted to read to us.

READING FOR BONDING

Even though reading offered a learning opportunity, it also offered a time to bond with our kids.  During the reading of stories we would ask questions.  Then as the kids got older (I have a 6, 9, 13, and 15yr old) we would act out stories that we repeated.  The kids loved, loved, loved this.  Even the older kids would play with us, just to get a kick out of scaring the little ones.  It was a way to move our reading to a family bonding experience that pulled the older kids into playing with our younger ones.  Not to mention it is just darn fun.

READING FOR EVOLVING

As an avid reader all of my life, my husband and kids encouraged me to write stories for them.  It was an inspiration for writing my books Explorer X-Alpha and The Pack.  My kids became my beta readers and active in story development.  Our reading together turned into us writing together.   All of my kids come up with story ideas, and my older two have even started writing.  My oldest son has entered a contest or two, and my oldest daughter beta reads for other authors also.  My youngest two kids, love to give me story ideas and even came up with the idea for the world I built for THE PACK and BANDITS by throwing suggestions at me.

THE OVERALL BENEFITS

Reading with your kids has given me so many gifts.  It’s been a teaching tool, a bonding tool, a safe platform for conversation, and the beginning of my career as a writer.   Try it for at least a year and you will be surprised how much reading just ten minutes a day can benefit you and your family.

By LM Preston, author of Explorer X-Alpha and THE PACK, http://lmpreston.blogspot.com/

One of the hottest book series for pre-teens and teens this year is Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Not only is the book series on fire, but a Percy Jackson and the Olympians movie is set to be released soon. The series is a mixture of fantasy and adventure, based on Greek Mythology. Some of my adult friends are reading the series and loving it as well. If you haven’t added it to your family book list yet, you should definitely check it out.

If you already have Percy Jackson and the Olympian fans in your house, you might want to consider these Percy shirts now available at Hot Topic:

Percy Jackson And The Olympians The Lightning Thief Poster T-Shirt

Percy Jackson And The Olympians The Lightning Thief Hero T-Shirt

Click here to find more Percy Jackson and the Olympians merchandise.

Looking for a way to motivate your kids to read this summer or reward them for a job well done? Borders has started up its Summer Reading Program again this summer.

You simply need to visit the Summer Reading Program page on the Borders website and print out the worksheet (one for each kid). Once they read 10 books, they take the completed worksheet to any Borders or Waldenbooks store by August 26 to get a free book.

The program is only for kids under the age of 12. We won’t be doing it this summer because my daughter is reading the last of the Harry Potter books and will be lucky to get through 2 or 3 of them this summer. But I can’t complain about that.