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She's only 13, but already she has published six books on Kindle

Ellie Firestone, the pen name of my daughter "Phoenix", has just published her sixth book on Kindle. 

Super Sporty: The Curse of the Delba is the fourth in a series about super-hero, basketball-playing horses.

For only pocket-money prices, the latest book is available as a Kindle edition and perfect for emerging readers or any pre-schooler who enjoys a read-aloud before bedtime.

Buy it in the UK from here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Super-Sporty-Curse-Delba-ebook/dp/B00ER7IRS4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1377538320&sr=8-2&keywords=ellie+firestone

Or from the US from here:

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Sporty-Curse-Delba-ebook/dp/B00ER7IRS4/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1377539173&sr=8-5&keywords=super+sporty+4

I'm just so proud of her in so many ways -- true to Charlotte-Mason-method homeschoolers, she finishes her school work in the morning, then spends her afternoons with her writing projects.  

Whether it's drawing and colouring the illustrations, editing the stories, coding the html, designing the next Scratch game tie-in, or even sewing plush toys of the main characters, Ellie is in complete control of her product from beginning to end, and I can't think of a better way to learn about a career.

Ellie's toys compared to their book illustrations

Please hop on over to your respective Amazon and get a copy of Ellie's latest book today. Your young readers will really enjoy them, and you'll not only be buying a book that instills the value of team work (always the theme of the Super Sporty series), you'll be supporting and encouraging a fellow homeschooler!

Remember:  If you don't have a Kindle, you can still get Kindle books for your computer, iPad, or Smart phone -- and then you're able to see the wonderful illustrations in full colour!

Oh My Gosh -- Is that Baldrick????

Is that ...? Is that ...?
It IS!!! Baldrick from Black Adder
(not that my mommy ever lets me watch that show!)

Through the Oxfordshire Home-Ed grapevine, we heard that the actor, Tony Robinson, was going to be giving a talk to primary-aged students in Oxford, sponsored by Blackwells, the local publisher and book shop.

Perhaps you know Tony Robinson as Blackadder's sidekick, Baldrick, or more recently, as the front-man for the documentary series about archeology, Time Team.

Tony Robinson explaining why we started a half-hour late:
it was a broken train!

Robinson has recently embarked on writing a series of Horrible-Histories-style books about the empires of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Great Britain, and is soon to release two books about the World Wars.

Although we have read the one about the Romans before and thought it was so-so (the highest marks went to the translation of "There's a banana in my ear" into Latin), we didn't want to miss a chance to hear an author talk about his work.

He was high-energy, interactive, entertaining. He finished off with a quick story about empires and their desire for gold, having the audience shout out "gold" whenever he held up the prompt on a placard.

It wasn't, however, like talks we've seen before at World Book Day such as those given by Chris Bradford (Young Samurai series) or Andy Cope (Spy Dog/Spy Pup) with their slide shows and demonstrations (Bradford showed us some ninja skills, and Cope brought his dog, who was the basis of the Spy Dog books).

Book Signing

Perhaps that was because Robinson was late, his train having been stuck behind a broken one, and couldn't set up anything all-singing and all-dancing.  Still, for about half-an-hour, the 100-plus kids were spell-bound and focused, and then there was the 15 minutes or so of obligatory book signing.

All in all, a good afternoon out, even if the event itself was rather short-lived. I suppose if the weather had been tipping with rain, I might think differently -- the sunshine meant we had a lovely walk in the ancient city of Oxford regardless.

Boys and Reading

If you’ve got a boy, then chances are that you are worried about his reading attainment.  Maybe it’s just a gut feeling, if you homeschool, or it’s there in black and white every time you receive a school report or have a parents’ evening.

You aren’t imagining things – boys often read less well than girls.

The statistics are sobering: the average boy reads 1-1/2 years behind the average girl; he reads less than 30 minutes a day; he’s likely to be 7-percentage points behind the average girl in reading assessment at the end of primary-school age.

Then there are the scare stories – men with poor literacy struggle with lasting relationships later in life; 43% live alone; 22% still live with their parents; only 50% are satisfied with their lives, while those with good literacy rank at 78%.

Something must be done, right? (You don't want your son living at home with you when he's grown, do you?)

Here are some quick tips for improving your son’s reading ability.

First, don’t panic.  Boys often read later than girls because physiologically their brains don’t finish developing till the age of 14 or so, whereas girls finish at about 11.  In other words, you probably still have time to nurture this important life-skill.

Second, if you want your son to read, then you need to model the habit yourself.

Third, it’s important that dads and other male influences are seen to be reading: your son doesn’t want to engage in an activity that’s “only for girls”.  Men often claim work pressures or lack of confidence as reasons for not reading to their children, but their role in this is absolutely essential.  Print out this article and show it to them -- their involvement matters!

Finally, you have to find the right material, so he’ll want to read.  This will vary from child to child, but there are two main categories.  No, I don’t mean fiction vs. non-fiction, although these are useful divisions. 

I mean, read-alouds or read-to-selfs.  Books for reading aloud can be trickier, harder, perhaps in editions with smaller print and fewer illustrations.  Those for reading alone might need to appear simpler so those young eyes can latch onto the words without straining.

With those two categories in mind, it’s important, then, that you make the time to read to your son.  The physical enjoyment of it is as crucial to the experience as is the intellectual stimulation.

I’ve included several websites in my Suggested Links section for choosing good boys’ books.  I also suggest the fantastic resource by Jim Trelease called the Read Aloud Handbook which covers the why’s and wherefore’s of reading to your children, and the reasons why you should do so till they’re well into their teens.

Finally, I want to list two popular authors with my own son: Frank Cottrell Boyce, and Steve Cole, whose Astrosaurs series is very popular here in the UK for its combination of dinosaurs and astronauts.

What are your favourites at home?

(Be sure to click on the comments link to tile-down the great things people are saying!)