100 Events, Very Good Book To Read

D has been reading a 100 Events That Shook Our World by the editors of LIFE Magazine. I really like how it introduces him in short articles to things most adults know about, he'll understand more references and conversations now. It helped a great deal that big A saw it and took off with it to read and D had to let him know it was part of his school and ask for it back for a short while. That showed him it's not just a boring history book Mom makes him read, it's of interest to adults. His brother didn't even have to read it but he just wanted to? Hmm, maybe there's more to this than he thought. (At least, I hope he thought that way about it. He doesn't complain or even seem annoyed anymore at having to read it.)

Actually, we've discovered he's NOT quite ready for this. I told him to look up words he didn't know so he could understand what he was reading - for most pages he writes down 5-10 words! These are not long articles either! I played with the idea of dropping this book until next year but I see the next two articles use his regular vocabulary words, the ones he's actually supposed to learn. The ones from this book were meant to be casually looked up when he occasionally ran across a word he didn't know. After these two next articles, I'll have him read from this book only once or twice a week instead of every day. I'm having trouble finding reading material that's a good level. I want him challenged but not completely lost. I'm definitely glad I chose to spend this year concentrating on reading skills and vocabulary. Like someone commented on here before, he's short on the knowledge that makes reading easy. Too concentrated on numbers to be aware of much of the rest of the world I think.