What’s on your Bookshelf – Featuring the Aharon Family

What’s on your Bookshelf – The Aharon Family

Or perhaps, more appropriately, what’s NOT on the Aharon bookshelf?  To call the members of the Aharon family avid readers might be the understatement of the century.  Read below about what Jack (KA), Nili (Grade 3), Mimi (Grade 5), Catie (Grade 6), Marcy (Grownup) and even their Savta are reading and what they recommend.  Dad Daniel was busy balancing the NSHA budget during our meeting.

First off, what book would you recommend and why?

Catie (Grade 6):  I recommend I will Always Write Back, by Caitlin Alifrenka and Martin Ganda because you see both sides of a story.  It’s based on a true story about a girl whose doing a pen pal project for school and she meets this boy from Zimbabwe (Martin).  One person is writing a letter to somebody across the world.  They’ve never actually met each other in person but they still treat each other like a brother and sister.  I’m almost at the end. The fact that her family treats his family like they’re all a part of the same family is what I like best about the book.  She and her parents take care of his family so it’s a lesson about how one letter can make a big difference.

Mimi (Grade 5): I recommend Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin.  It’s full of surprises.  Rump is on a journey with gnomes and pixies and he’s magical.  They encounter a curse and the curse gets deeper all the time. He has a friend named Red and in his world your name is your destiny.  Red is Rump’s only friend and she’s helping him because she’s magical.   I haven’t finished the book yet so I don’t know how he’s going to break the curse. I love the suspense and all of the surprises.

Nili (Grade 3): I recommend the book Sisters by Raina Telgemeier.  I recommend this book because it teaches you about family and tells you how to act around your sisters.  The book tells about Raina and her sister Amara and Raina has to go on a road trip from San Francisco to Colorado.  They learn what true sisterhood means like getting along, loving each other and having people by your side and standing up for you.  It’s a non-fiction book based on a true story of the author.

Jack (Kindergarten): I recommend Tell Me The Story of the Parsha.  I like this book because it tells the Parsha.  I love the pictures.  My mom, my dad and Savta read this book with me.  Sometimes we read it at the table or sometimes we read on the couch.  It tells the Parsha but it has different pictures from the Parsha book we use in school. My favorite part so far is Parshat Vayeira because it talks about Avraham and the really hot desert.  Gerald and Piggy and Mother Bruce are also two of my favorite books.

Marcy: My current favorite book is The First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie.  It’s fascinating.  It  tells the true story in a fictional tone of Patsy Jefferson, the oldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson.  When Jefferson arrived in the White House, he was not married and daughter served as the acting First Lady and influenced policy, politics and fashion.  Her story is a powerful one for our nation but few people know it.  It’s written by an author and a history professor. It changes your whole perspective on American History.

Savta: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabelle Wilkerson. It’s about four African American people moving from the south in the 1950’s and the true stories of their experiences.

You guys are clearly really into reading – do you read as a family, share book recommendations etc?

Marcy: We read as a family. Our default activity in this house is reading.  Shabbat is a big reading time and during the week if the kids stay up late, we’re usually reading or doing crossword puzzles.  I think my kids are into reading because I do it myself.  I read them the Olameinu stories and lots of things I liked as a child.   I love to read.  It’s my favorite thing to do, It’s my mother’s favorite thing to do and it was probably her mother’s favorite thing to do!

Catie: I’ve definitely gotten suggestions from my mom. She recommended the book I’m reading now.

Mimi: Catie has recommended books to me too!

Savta: I like getting book recommendations from everybody. Catie told me to read Wonder and it was great.

Kindle or Hard Copy?

Unanimous: Hard Copy!

What’s your favorite type of book to read?

Mimi: I like graphic novels and science fiction books.

Catie: I like fantasy because it allows me to travel anywhere I want and I forget everything around me. I also like scary books because you can picture it in your mind without it being real.

Nili: I like graphic novels and non fiction books.

Jack: My favorite kind of book is any book that is funny.

Marcy: I read everything but my favorite genres are historical fiction and science fiction, like The Martian.

Savta: I like historical fiction and non-fiction that’s well written. I’m not a science fiction lover but sometimes I will read is sometimes.

What book are you going to read next?  

Catie: I’m going to read the thrd book of the Twilight series

Mimi: I’m going to read the next book related to Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s library

Jack: After I finish the parsha, I’m going to read Gerrald and Piggy.  Mo Willems is my favorite author

Nili: I don’t know what I’m going to read next!

This What’s on Your Bookshelf reporter didn’t leave the Aharon library empty handed.  She headed home with a great book and a whole bunch of kid tested recommendations for her own children.  If you or your child would like to be featured on the next “What’s on Your Bookshelf?” contact Abigail Weiss at aweiss@nsha.org.