Chocolate Fever

Hank told me that all little kids should read Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith. Hank finished this book in less than a day (four chapters on the hour-long drive down to Silver Lake and the rest later that evening). I mention this only because Hank doesn't love reading like his older sister loves reading (i.e. to the exclusion of almost anything else some days). He likes it well enough, and as his confidence grows in what he's able to read (getting him over his fear of picking up a book longer than, say, a Magic Treehouse Book has been a challenge) he seems to like it even more, but Chocolate Fever was a real breakthrough for him in that it was longer than books he typically reads, the reading level was higher and-- the most important part-- it kept him engaged enough that he wanted to hurry and find time to get back to it.

A winner on all fronts, I would say!