Book #25 was The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart. We bought this book for my oldest son last Christmas, and started reading it in February, after we finished a How to Train Your Dragon book. We didn't read this book every night, but we also didn't take many breaks from reading it either - it is a long book to read aloud! It was a change for us, as the How to Train Your Dragon books are clearly written with the idea that they are likely to be read aloud by the adult. The Mysterious Benedict Society is not as suited for reading aloud, but I also think many young readers would struggle to read it independently, so I'm left a bit unsure as to what age group the book is intended for. My son, who was turning 6 when we started it, and is now almost 7, was able to follow along fairly well, although he did forget some characters who are prominent in early chapters and then disappear until the final chapter. The characters are well developed, and my son found the children's plotting and tricks hilarious. He is eager to start the next book in the series, but we have convinced him to take a break with this series, and we'll come back to it in a year or so.
My son wants to read The Chronicles of Narnia next. I'm excited to read them to him, but am also a bit disappointed that I won't be able to count them towards the 2013 Reading Challenge, as only new reads count. My goal for 2012 was 30 books, and it doesn't look like I'm going to make it.
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