What Faith is reading now

Faith finished The Cricket in Times Square and chose Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator for her next book.  I had forgotten how Strangelovian (or perhaps, in a more contemporary vein, Monsters-vs-Alien-ish) Dahl's portrayal of the U.S. government was.  It's really a bit cynical for an eight-year-old.  Of course, I remember thinking it was hilarious when I read it as a child.  She likes it because it has short chapters.

Ironically, after reading her one required chapter a day in that book, she sat down to re-read The Boxcar Children, which she finished and then started Surprise Island.  I've blogged before about my concerns about her reluctance to read one chapter a day when she'll turn around and pick up another book off the clock and rush right through it. I've realized it probably has to do with the fact that I make her tell me about what she's read when she finishes a chapter of a "required" book: She's hesitant to read more than one chapter for fear that she'll forget some of what happened when she has to tell me about it.  I'm hesitant to drop the requirement because there have been more than a few occasions when she hasn't really paid attention while reading and hasn't been able to answer basic questions about what she's read.  I suppose that's just the difference between required reading and reading for pleasure.  Perhaps I shouldn't worry about it and just let it be.