My 11yo son has read many of these books and we have read 2 together. The first was a Dear America one about a young girl on the Oregon Trail, I didn’t notice any thing *adult*, but honestly, I wasn’t looking for that either, I was just glad he was interested in reading. The next one was Douglas Allen Deeds/A Donner Party Survivor, and again, I didn’t notice anything, but was looking for any unnecessary content. After these two he was hooked and he reads quite a bit of them, as a matter of fact he’s into one right now. This time I will read along with him or suggest another series altogether.
When you have a reluctant reader, and all of a sudden he/she becomes interested (and I don’t think it’s just the *content* in these books, he’s read other types of books, as well), you’re pretty much just excited that they *want* to read or be read to. I was elated when he finally caught on that reading could be entertaining/exciting/suspenseful without it always feeling like you are *suppose* to be learning something. But, now that he has caught on I will definitely be monitoring what he’s reading, especially when the books are suppose to be for young minds, but have content that we can pass on. Also, there are plenty of other books worth reading.
We are doing the 106’s days and he actually really likes the books that are suggested. He gets really irritated at his br.’s if they’re too noisy and he can’t hear. So all is not lost, he finds The Adventures of Buster Bear just as interesting as the Dear America books, whew!!!
What do any of you who have posted suggest for an 11 yo boy???
