Tales of a (Formerly) Reluctant Reader: Episode One

Today I would like to tell you about the Black Lagoon Adventures #11: The Snow Day from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler. I picked this book because we had a blizzard right before Christmas, school was canceled, and winter break started early!

Hubie hates snow.  He hates winter. He only wants it to snow once, right around Christmas.  He hates it because it’s so cold, and because of all the clothes you have to wear to go out in it.  By the time you are all bundled up, you have to go to the bathroom!When Hubie sees on the news that they are getting a horrible snow storm, he starts to freak out!

When he wakes up, the entire town is covered in snow.  His mom makes him get all bundled up to go out and play in the snow.  His friend Eric comes over and they go sledding and have a snowball fight.  Hubie begins to see that snow isn’t as bad as he thought.  Once the snowball fight is over, Hubie and his friends go inside his house. It begins to snow again so they have to stay inside. They play board games and roast marshmallows in the fireplace. They tell spooky ghost stories to one another, including the tale of Sammy the Ghost who couldn’t scare anyone.

The next morning, the snow has been cleared and school is open again. Hubie’s teacher, Mrs. Green, asks the kids to write about what they did on their snow day.  This book is Hubie’s report.

What I liked about this book:

There are a LOT of illustrations in this book.   This really breaks up the book and almost seems like you are reading a comic book instead of a chapter book. Here are a few of them:

Second, the book is made up of more than just a story!  It has funny knock-knock jokes and drawing. Here’s an example:

Finally, the words are large and easy to read.  This helps out a lot when I’m reading in bed at night!  And I liked that I didn’t need to use a dictionary or ask my mom to help out with some of the words.  They were perfect for a kid my age.

The only problem is that most of these Black Lagoon Adventures books are hard to find in bookstores, which is sad because I really love them!  My mom says they are out of print.  She was able to find a few of them in the local bookstore but had to place a special order for the rest.

*Edit: After a little of research, I found a site where you can purchase The Black Lagoon Adventures books.  Some of the series can also be purchased directly from Scholastic.

I hope you have enjoyed the first review in my new feature! Check back in a few weeks for another episode of TALES OF A (FORMERLY) RELUCTANT READER!!!

All Tales of A (Formerly) Reluctant Reader episodes are written by my ten-year old son, John. FTC: These books were all purchased out of my son’s allowance!