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Books We've Bought During the Covid-19 Pandemic



This extra time at home, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has NOT meant extra reading time for me. How about you? I've been pedaling the bicycle of life like a novice in her sister-in-law's spin class on Thanksgiving weekend.

Not only have we been adjusting to distance learning (which for my 3 school aged kids has meant 5 days a week of logging on to school-provided laptops, and for my husband and myself it has meant transitioning to teaching via video online), but also we have moved! And moving house is no joke.

Amidst it all, we've managed to do a little reading, and because libraries were closed, we bought a few books. The ones we bought from Books-A-Million came far faster than the ones we bought on Amazon. That's probably because I have a BAM membership and we don't have Amazon Prime, and because Amazon has prioritized essential items. Anyway, here's the rundown.



Benjamin (age 11)


Rebel Genius - A friend lent this book to Benjamin and he loved it. When we saw it on sale online we picked it up. I haven't read it myself, but I've been told I need to read it. 

Warrior Genius - The second book in the above series.

Dragonwatch Book 1  - We already owned books 2 and 3.

Because of Mr. Terupt - Benjamin's 5th grade teacher read this book aloud to the class and he adored it. I first read the book because of the Cybils awards (it won its category, which I helped to judge). Benjamin tried to convince his siblings we should read it aloud as a family, but they were in bad moods at the time.
Levi (age 9)





Legend of Zelda Ocarina and Songbook - I'm counting this because it came with a songbook...and because he spent money on it while his siblings were spending money on books. He's really enjoying the instrument, and can play a few tunes!

Warriors #1 - I believe this is the very first of all the Warriors books. What a confusing series! THere are so many side split-offs. Since I've never read any of them I can't keep track of them all. They're enormously popular and have been for a long time.

In addition to these books Levi has been reading lots of the books his siblings purchased, and reading more Warriors books online via the digital library his school offers.

Jubilee (age 7)


We got Jubilee a 3 month subscription to Bookroo's Chapter book box for her 7th birthday. She is loving it. The books come wrapped like gifts every time, and with handy cards the parents can read for a heads up on the book. 

Fortune's Magic Farm (via Bookroo) - This is Jubilee's standout favorite of her Bookroo books so far. I think she has read it 3 times on her own, and she and I are reading it aloud at night, too. 

Nana Cracks the Case (via Bookroo) - This one came with a reversible dust jacket, so you can make it look like you're reading The Joy of Napping, if you want to disguise it up. Cute! I think there may be more books in the series. 

Explorer Academy: The Nebula Secret (via Bookroo) - Benjamin gasped when he saw that Jubilee got this book and immediately began gushing about how good it is and that it has cool science stuff in it. I've started reading it. 

Song of The Deep (via Bookroo) - This one looks like an underwater adventure. Jubilee hasn't finished it yet. 

Amelia Sparklepaw's Party Problem - From the author of the Rainbow Magic Series, comes a magic cat book. Jubilee paid full price, happily.

We have 5 Worlds book 1: The Sand Warrior because of my Cybils reading, and Jubilee was very into it. I was surprised and delighted when she bought the next couple of books in the series, and her brothers have enjoyed them, too.  So now we've got 5 Worlds Book 2: The Cobalt Prince and 5 Worlds Book 3: The Red Maze. It looks like the fourth book just came out last month, so I'm sure we'll be reading that soon!

In the school's online library, Jubilee has been reading loads and loads of Snoopy books. 

Sam (age 2)



We haven't actually bought any books for Sam. He's in a fantastic playgroup though, and they give books to all of the kids regularly. They had bags for us to pick up, since nobody can come together right now. 


Jelly in My Belly - This is the worst book I've read in ages. Sam loooves it. I wonder if kids love the books we hate because we put on fake enthusiasm when we read them. My theory is they kids don't know it's fake enthusiasm and just enjoy the expressive reading, and all the muttering and exclaiming we do about the worst parts. So they pick our least favorite books every time. Regardless, this board book about a turtle who will only eat jello is a top fave of the little guy.

Ten Little Teddy Bears Splashing in the Bath - This one is kinda cute. The squishy teddy bear heads that stick out on each page make it fun to look at, and Sam particularly likes the page where one bear makes a huge mess of his toothpaste. It's no Very Hungry Caterpillar, but it's better than Jelly in My Belly.

Alysa


How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare - I can't remember where I first heard about this book, but it intrigued me. I felt like we needed something fun to work on as a family, so I checked out the free sample of this on Amazon. It's a pretty long free sample, and I liked it enough that I decided to buy the book. So now my kids can recite 3 passages from A Midsummer Night's Dream and are working on another. We're loving it. Lots of laughs so far.

Dragon Hoops - The latest book by Gene Luen Yang, one of my favorite authors. This book follows Yang on his journey from feeling meh about sports to loving them, on his journey to going full time as an author, and details the season of a top-notch high school basketball team. Bonus basketball history included! I really enjoyed this one, and Benjamin liked it, too. 

Bad Machinery Vol 8 - I mean I'm just a huge Bad Machinery fan. Working on completing my collection. I think there are 10 volumes, and #9 just came out. 

Paint By Sticker: Cats - I bought this for the kids to enjoy during the General Conference broadcast for our church. When I pulled it out and casurally started creating the cool cats, my kids were hooked.

Jacob


Kindle - Jacob saw Kindles on sale and we actually bought one this time. I mean, I can't tell you how many times we've thought and talked about getting a Kindle. But this is our first one. Ta-da!
Lord of the Rings - Jacob bought this for the kindle, because our paperbacks (his from childhood) are completely beat up. 

The Complete Works of Shakespeare (public domain) - Because we're learning Shakespeare, Jacob got this one for Kindle, too. We do have a hard copy of Shakespeare's works, as well. 

Saints vol 1 & 2 (free) - Jacob and I are about halfway through volume 2 of this nonfiction book about the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We both grew up in the church, so we know the basic story, but all the first-hand accounts and primary sources that have been incorporated here have brought things to life for us. 

Jacob said he's also got some other classics (Dickens, Austen) for the Kindle, too. Fun times!

Have you been reading? Have you bought more books because of Covid-19?

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