Teen Reading: Book Series Recommendations from YOU!

As much as I wish that Jack was a bookworm, he’s more of a video game… worm. However, I feel that it is important that he keeps up with some reading over the summers, so I typically “assign” reading as part of his daily chores. {His summer chore list typically includes actual chores – like emptying the dishwasher, cleaning his room, and vacuuming – and also ‘annoying mom chores’ like read for 20 minutes and create art with something.}

Before the school year ended, I reached out to his ELA teacher to see if she had any book recommendations for the summer and she said that the class was enjoying the Peak series. Well, apparently not my kid. When I asked him, he said it was “meh and boring”. Sigh. So, I asked my Instagram friends what their pre-teen/teen kids were reading and you all did not disappoint!

Here’s what I was looking for:

  • Middle school reading level (8th grade)
  • Likes: video games, adventures, cartoons
  • Previously read: Last Kids on Earth series, Bad Guys series, Wimpy Kid series, Dogman series

In case you are looking for middle school reading level books, here is the list of books other teens are enjoying:

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau – 4 book series

Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan – 8 book series (also, a couple votes for ANYTHING by Rick Riordan)

Aru Shah and the End of Time series by Roshani Chokshi – 5 book series

Wings of Fire series by Tui T. Sutherland – 16 book series

The Brilliant World of Tom Gates series by L. Pichon – 23 book series

The Treehouse Books by Andy Griffiths – 14 book series

The Kingdom Keepers series by Ridley Pearson – 7 book series

The Inheritance Games series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – 6 book series

The Maze Runner series by James Dashner – 5 book series

Hilo series by Judd Winick – 10 book series

Cat Kid Comic Club by Dav Pilkey – 5 book series

We previously read the Hilo series and the Cat Kid Comic Club series – both are graphic novels, which are a bit more approachable to ‘non-reader’ kids and we liked them both!

I narrowed down the list and gave Jack the task of looking up a few of the books on Amazon, reading the synopsis and letting me know which looked interesting to him to start with. The winner was: The Kingdom Keepers, starting with Disney After Dark.

Here’s the synopsis: Five young teens tapped as models for theme park “guides” (using a new hologram technology developed by the Disney Imagineers) find themselves pitted against Disney villains and witches that threaten both the future of Walt Disney World and the stability of the world outside its walls.

I ordered a paperback and it should arrive any moment now. Fingers-crossed that it’s a winner!

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

3 Quick End of School Year Tips Every Parent Needs

As I’m doing the ‘end of school year’ dance, I figured now was a perfect time to share a few of my End of School Year Tips that make my life a bunch easier. I call them my ‘thanks past Joules’ tips… because once September hits and the kiddo goes back to school, I’m sending my past self all the hugs and kisses.

Tip 1: Wash the Backpack and Lunchbox

Very, very, very important. Grab your kids backpack and the lunchbox that they’ve used all year, empty them out completely and then throw them in the laundry with a few towels. I don’t know why, but the backpack just picks up a funky, stinky school smell, so the sooner you get that cleaned the less time you spend with it fermenting in your house. As for the lunchbox, even if there is a plastic interior, if the outside is any sort of canvas you can throw it in the laundry.

Once they go through a normal washing load, just let them air dry and they’re ready to go for next year!

Tip 2: Wash the PE clothes

This could almost be a subsection of the first tip, but I’m sure I’m not the only parent who has found old, stinky PE clothes shoved into a bag at the bottom of the kids backpack. Even if they didn’t wear them ONCE during the year (so glad I paid for them…) they still get that school funk. Throw them in the wash ASAP and save yourself the retching of finding them after 2 more months.

Tip 3: Do a School Supplies Review/Purge

My kid brought home two backpacks full of school supplies and crap that was in his locker. Put it all in a pile on the table. Then, have your kid go through everything and separate it into trash and keep piles. Then, you go through it and re-separate it into trash and keep piles.

I’m typically able to reclaim at least a few binders that are in good shape, some folders, scissors, pencil sharpeners, and an assortment of pens, pencils and markers. Those go into the ‘use next year’ pile that gets put away in the closet until August. Then, the stuff that is okay but not trash, gets absorbed into the house stuff (like mostly used post it notes and notebooks that still have a little life left in them). Anything broken, empty or gross goes into the trashcan or recycle bin.

BONUS POINT OPTION: As you’re sorting through the school supplies, make a list of items that can’t be reused for school next year. Keep this list in your phone. Over the summer as you are out and about and see things on sale, buy the things on your list. Or, if you’re an Amazon shopper, stick each item on a ‘wish list’ and then check to see if any pricing dropped for the Amazon Prime Day sales — this year’s sales run from July 8 – 11th (here’s a post about how I use their sales to my advantage here).

Happy Summer!

Family Adventure: Alpaca Yoga

I’ve done yoga in a studio. I’ve done yoga in a greenhouse. I’ve done yoga while following along with a Peloton instructor while Ollie tries to tackle me. But this weekend… I did yoga with alpacas.

Yes. Alpacas.

And it was fun. And a little stinky.

I signed Travis, Jack and me up for a yoga class at Black Barn Alpacas, which is exactly what it sounds like… yoga surrounded by fluffy alpacas. Typically, the class is offered outside in their fields; however, since it was a rainy day, our class was held in a large indoor alpaca barn.

Before class started, we had some time to mingle with the herd and get over the initial ‘why does it look like every middle school boy’ feeling.

Then, we rolled out our yoga mats and a nice instructor put a little pile of alpaca food at the end of each mat to encourage them to chill with our group.

Spoiler alert: They were NOT interested in us.

Instead, we enjoyed an hour-long yoga class and the group of alpacas that they let out of their pens just kind of swarmed around and moved from side to side of the barn. It was a weird mix of relaxing into stretches and hilarious when you’d accidentally make eye contact with an alpaca.

Fun fact: it’s a little hard to do deep breathing through your nose and out your mouth when it smells like alpaca poo. Just saying.

Anyways, Jack lost interest about halfway through the class, so he went and played with the alpacas. Which was SO MUCH better than having to listen to “is it almost over yet” a million times while trying to hold yoga poses. 5 out of 5 stars… highly recommend!

After the class, they handed out little cups of alpaca feed and let us go wild hanging out with the alpacas. We were allowed to go in any of the pens, feed them, pet them, and laugh at their silliness.

Family Verdict: WE LOVED IT! It was a fantastic, slightly ridiculous way to spend a Saturday afternoon and I highly recommend trying it out!