Monday, September 24, 2007

Read Aloud #46 - Secret Seven Mystery

I've decided to keep track of our read-alouds on this blog. I'll be writing brief reviews of the books I read aloud to our 7yo and keeping tally of the books dad is reading to him.

Secret Seven Mystery by Enid Blyton
Ninth of the Secret Seven series


Pages: 87
Finished: Sept. 24, 2007
Reason for Reading: we are working our way through the series, though not in any particular order
First Published: 1957
Genre: children's mystery
Rating: 3/5

First Sentence:

Peter and Janet were having breakfast with their father and mother one lovely spring morning.


Comments: I don't really have a lot to say about this one. They are pretty much formulaic with one being pretty much like another. But the seven year old is enjoying them and cannot figure the mysteries out yet. I am asking him every now and then as we read the mysteries for his opinions and he is pretty ingenious with some of the things he comes up with. This story revolves around a girl (around the age of the secret seven) who has been accused of stealing some money from her teacher and then runs away. The secret seven, upon their father's suggestion, decide to try and find the girl. The 7yo found this more tame than the others we've read, which involved kidnappings and circuses, and didn't enjoy it as much but still wants to continue reading more. This is a good little series of books (there are 15) and I think he's spot on at the targeted age for them.

Dad has just finished reading the 13th Magic Tree House book, Vacation Under the Volcano which ds enjoyed very much. The theme was Pompeii and Ancient Rome and he found it very exciting.

In non-fiction, we've just finished up the Tropical Rain Forest book, part of the One Small Square series. We really love this set of books! Here is the review I wrote for this book on Library Thing:

Beautiful illustrations are the main focus on each page drawing the child into the book. An engaging text, combined with the illustrations, encourages one to linger over the pages. My 7yo enjoyed the book, especially the last few pages which has a guide to all the animals found throughout the book. Recommended for any age from 7 and up.

1 comment:

lazy cow said...

I read all of the Secret 7 books as a kid, and preferred them over The Famous Five. My daughter has recently discovered them, so I'm happy. Great idea to record the read-aloud books, I should do that too.