My elder one is now into adventure and mystery books. She has gone past Cam Jones, Jigsaw Jones , Third Grade Detectives and is now devouring Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven books and the Five Find-Outers series. I am thrilled! I used to love a number of these books too.

When she reads so rapidly,it’s hard for me to keep track of what she’s learning from her reading. I don’t have the time to read through each of her books so I cam up with a short mini-guide that I can use to err..check on her reading skills ( pertaining to adventure books).

The mini-guide goes something like this:

- Location: Where did this story take place?

-Characters: Who are the main characters in this story? Which one is your favourite ? Why? WHo are the villains? What do they want? Why can’t they have them? What’ll they do to get it?

- What happened? Tell me the story. Which one is the most exciting part? Which one is the most important part? Why? What if you change this part to…?

- What happened in the end? Did you like the ending? How would you have written the ending?

- What lessons did the characters learn at the end of the story? Which part did you find puzzling?