First Book

Last night Ally completed reading her first chapter book, ALL BY HERSELF!!!

She read Ivy + Bean, by Annie Barrows (book 1)

Ally was so excited and so proud of herself.  It was late – about 715pm when she finished – she had been reading for 45 (which is 30 more than her 15 minutes) she had gotten so engrossed in the book. At the end of the book there was a section called “Preview” which was an intro into the next book in the series. Ally was super excited to learn there were other books. Even though it was late, bedtime actually, I called our local bookstore to see if they had the next book, and  then Ally and I drove over to the store.

I don’t think I’ll forget the huge grin on her face when she saw that there 10 books in the series. Here she is holding book #2.

We also bought books 3 & 4. On the way home she started reading book 2. There was a chapter about a Gymnastics Club – and Ally thought it was so funny that they called Back Bends “Back Bend-Overs” She giggled, told me about it and kept on reading. She was quite tired by the time we got home – between finishing book 1 and starting book 2 she had read for over an hour. Straight to bed she went and was sound asleep quickly.

This morning she continued on with reading book 2. I’m starting to think I need to get the rest of the series ASAP. She is reading up a storm.

Becky and I are so proud of her.

The Ivy + Bean books are about two 7 year old girls, who are opposites. Bean is scraggly and adventurous, and has an older sister Nancy she does not like very much, and Ivy is studious and neat and an only child. They never thought they would be friends, but they are.

We’ve tried a couple of different series and types of books for Ally. She loves the National Geographic early reader series, but they are non-fiction, and we tried My Little Pony books, and The Magic Tree House (which Becky is reading to her – they are on book 19 of that). None of those seemed to be the right level or interest for Ally. But this Ivy + Bean did the trick. Its so fun to see her so engaged in reading.

I decided I should read the books too, so far I am about half thru book 1. They are pretty interesting. And the author wrote one of my favorite books The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel.