Dead bones and deadly animals, oh my!

One of the things I think the Nook would be terrific for is introducing my reluctant reader to other forms of media. He's already quite proficient at looking things up online and reading about what he wants to know (namely about Wizard101, but whatever). I think that reading on the Nook color might get him a bit more interested than a "boring" paper book. To that end, I keep an eye out for books on NetGalley that he might enjoy. He's not a fan of a lot of fiction his age, and we're not really interested in pushing a religious theme on him, so I mainly look to NetGalley for non-fiction.  I have recently requested two books that I hoped he'd enjoy. Sadly, he wasn't interested in either one, but you might be.

Bones Never Lie: How Forensics Helps Solve History's Mysteries by Elizabeth MacLeod had lots of promise. As most boys (I assume), he's fascinated by creepy things and actual bones fit that bill. I had thought that he might be able to push past the more mature theme in order to read cool things about bones, but he has little interest.  This doesn't mean that *I* didn't sit and read half the book one evening. So many interesting things about ancient bones, Napoleon, crime scenes, forensics, etc. This is clearly written for a younger audience, but I still found it incredibly interesting and would recommend it to slightly older kids. Bones Never Lie was released on February 4, 2013.

I hoped that his fascination with mythological creatures would allow him to enjoy Deadly Adorable Animals , but turns out he has zero interest in real animals. Duh. Not the same thing, MOM. This one is probably more his age level (he is 8) but I could not interest him at ALL. I admit, this one didn't interest me much either, and I didn't read the entire book. Deadly Adorable Animals was released on March 5, 2013.

Part of the problem with both of these books is that the pictures, which are vital, did not show up on the Nook. The NetGalley format is not a great choice for books with pictures, as to really read them you have to sit at a laptop. You would assume this would make make my computer loving kid more interested, but in the end it did not.  I may try again with Bones, as I do think he'd enjoy it, but for now we'll go back to pushing the paper version.

Both books received from NetGalley in exchange for my review.