This month’s post is not as long as next month’s will be. There is a box of over 100 books waiting to finish being added to the library, and the annual Bookarama is happening this week. There are some real gems in here, though!
Our read-aloud time included a variety of books. The Red Pencil is a new one I got this year from Sonlight’s clearance sale in January. It turns out to be a free-verse novel about a girl in Sudan; her life was changed forever when her village was attacked. Heartwood Hotel: A True Home is a much gentler story about animals in the forest. I read it to my youngest, and even though she has heard it before, she loved it as much as my older children did the last time I read it aloud several years ago. She also enjoyed The Very First Americans, a beautiful picture book featuring a few different tribes of Native Americans from various parts of the United States.
I had never read New Kid, so I was glad when it was scheduled in one of our literature courses. It will never make my top favorites list, but is a good choice for people who like graphic novels. This was my second time to read The Missing Mummy. It’s a fun, easy-reading mystery; we keep it on the Independent Readers shelf for those who are ready to move on past Easy Readers. We’re currently learning about the earliest English settlers in North America, so I chose Captain John Smith as a read-aloud. What a story! His life reads like an adventure novel.
I brought a few books by Jean Fritz home in luggage when we went to American last year. I like her way of writing about a person’s life. She has a way of finding funny stories and of making the person come alive. I knew a lot of the story of Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher Preachers already, but Make Way for Sam Houston and You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton? were new stories to me.
Early in the month, Esther and James returned home from a few weeks in America. They didn’t bring many books back with them, compared to last year’s trip, but these are among the ones they did bring. I had gotten This Promised Land and Ladies of the Lake for review a few years ago, and because I liked them so much Esther listened to the audiobooks–and fell in love with the author! We also both read The Bitter End Birding Society last year when it was published and loved it.
I also had Esther bring these books home. The biographies are very interesting reprints from the 1950s and 1960s, written for early readers. They fit with our Independent Readers, just up from the Easy Readers. The same people are reprinting the Cowboy Sam books. We have four of the original hardcovers of these, and they have been so much loved that I got all the ones that we didn’t have. My youngest has already read all of these Cowboy Sam books to me. One of them (and two of the Discovery Biographies) are printed with the Dyslexia Font (see the last picture in the sequence), and she is sure that one was much easier to read. (I have only reviewed Henry Hudson of these books.)
The Farm is a very early reader. It only has a few words on a page, with quite large type, and my little girl noticed, much to her delight, that it is a counting book! Birds of a Feather is all about feathers of all types. It’s beautiful! Animals at War describes what animals, mostly dogs but also pigeons, horses, and even a cat, did to help soldiers in the two World Wars.
The church a friend of mine has been going to is closing, and she asked if we wanted to take any of the books from their library. I offered to try to sell the books, in exchange for keeping the ones we wanted. My youngest badly wanted some books, so I told her she could choose three from the stack of picture books that I didn’t think were in good enough shape to sell. She chose these three.
We kept these for our library. I have always liked the Lion Story Bible, and we didn’t yet have Ruth’s New Family. We also like My Bible Friends, and I hadn’t known there were more than the five we had. This is #10, though. They are pretty easy readers. The Rescue Squad and Why God Sent Jesus are by the author of the Jungle Doctor books. They are delightful fables. I kept The Christ Child because of the illustrations. They are by Maud and Miska Petersheim, and are gorgeous! The text is quoted directly from the Bible.
We also kept Well With My Soul, the stories of four famous hymn-writers. Both Esther and I had read and enjoyed this. We were excited to find Exodus to a Hidden Valley among the church library books. I read it as a child, and then read it to my family a few years ago. It is an amazing story of a missionary family going with the people they ministered to, through the jungle to find a safe place to live. I kept Sergei to replace my tattered copy of The Persecutor, which is the same book published in a different country. I’ve been considering buying D is for Dinosaur for 30-odd years, ever since it was published. Finally, it is in our hands! One of my sons wanted The Genesis Flood. Finally, I have stuck a photo of My Heart is Home in here because I needed one more to fill out the section! See my review of it from last week.
I read a few memoirs this month that got added to the shelves. Rabbit Stew and a Penny or Two turns out to be the story of the life of a Romany, or Gypsy, woman. Most of it is about her childhood during the 1950s when her family still traveled around England, but she also tells what her life was like as an adult when she had to settle down, and how she helped her people. I really enjoyed this book. Any Fool Can Be a Dairy Farmer is the account of the author’s attempt at farming, and all the things he did wrong. It was interesting to compare dairy farming in England with the way it is done here. A friend gave me Last Horse Standing awhile back, and when I started reading it I knew why she recommended it–this is an incredible story of survival in one of the most inhospitable regions of Australia! I know a book is good if I talk about it a lot, and this is one I keep telling people about.
I also read these books, which likely came from the 2026 Bookarama. Attack at Shark Bay is an exciting adventure story set in a fictitious place in New Zealand. It’s a rather unlikely scenario, but kept me reading to find out how the children would get out of the fix they found themselves in. The Growing Summer tells about four children whose parents had to be away, so the children were packed off (from England) to a great-aunt they had never met, in Ireland, and she expected them to care for themselves. Edith Herself is the story of a little girl who developed epilepsy soon after her only living parent died, leaving her in the care of an older sister who had an overbearing husband.
A Distant Prospect turned out to be, probably, one of my top reads of the year–if not my very favorite. I loved the story, but even more, I loved the author’s way of using language. Her descriptions are so much fun to read! I kept reading excerpts to Esther. It is a very long book, but held my attention to the very end. I was able to add The Bible Companion Book 9 to the library; it arrived here in luggage. I really like this series. I found Tamales 101 at a secondhand shop. I have eaten tamales a few times, and want to learn how to make them. Maybe next summer when we have corn husks!
We replaced a few books that were not in the best shape. The Little House set I bought before I got married has been falling apart for years. I am watching for hardcover copies, but took this paperback in the meantime. I covered it with plastic to help it stay nice for a little while. We already had these two Jungle Doctor books, too, but when I found ones with dust jackets I grabbed them. They would have been destroyed if I hadn’t taken them; I went to a bookstore that was closing down, and filled a box with nearly 100 books that were slated for destruction if not taken that day. You’ll see more of them next month, after they have been processed into the library.
To borrow any of these books or others, please go to our catalog. Find out how we loan books on this page.
