More new books! I placed an order with Living Book Press for a few books. I remember loving The Burgess Bird Book for Children; I read it several times. I’ve never read The Burgess Seashore Book for Children before, but soon I hope to read it aloud. Both of these have been updated with color photographs instead of the original drawings. One Sunday morning, I noticed a picture book under someone’s arm, and asked to have a look at it. It turned out that she had brought it along to give to someone, and she gave it to us for the library! The Cat From Muzzle is a delightful true story of a cat who made his way home through rugged terrain.

Last month sometime, I watched a video that a fellow librarian in Wisconsin made, describing some older books she is reprinting. The books she was showing rang a bell, and I went to the shelf to have a look. Sure enough, this biography of Sir Edmund Hillary was from the publisher who originally brought out the books she was talking about! Not long after that, I saw six more books advertised on a page I follow, and I was able to get more of these wonderful biographies. Thomas Alva Edison and Paul Revere are from the Discovery series, which are the ones she was talking about; Hernando De Soto, John Smith, Roald Amundsen, and Ferdinand Magellan are from the other series, about World Explorers. All of these have relatively large print with a lot of white on the page, and reasonably easy vocabulary, but the stories are very interesting. Each has around 12 chapters. I am delighted to have these books on the shelf; some of them are about men that are hard to find information about.

These two Titanic books were bundled with another book I wanted (which hasn’t been added to the shelf yet). Finding the Titanic is an easy reader, while Titanic by Sean Callery is full of information about the ship and its sinking. A funny story about it: We took a long hike on a mountain track one Sunday afternoon, and our six-year-old said, near the end, that she was “tectonically tired.” She’s been studying the Titanic in this book! I grabbed No Lily-Livered Girl when I had the chance, as we already had the other four books in this series about the life of a girl in New Zealand in the early 1900s.

Awhile ago we read How to Pet a Porcupine in digital format. We loved this goofy book with its delightful illustrations and fun plays on words, so when I had a chance to buy a paper copy, I did. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi was an op shop find when my daughters were with a neighbor. It has beautiful illustrations, although I think I still like our other picture book version of this story better. Betsy and the Boys was my choice of one more book in an order to get free shipping. I would love to own all of Carolyn Haywood’s books! They are quite popular with 7-9-year-olds. Luciana was a book I received in a bulk lot and didn’t like the looks of, but when I read it, I decided to keep it. There are some good lessons about responsibility and friendship in this book.

I added Winning His Spurs to a stack of books I bought recently because I like G. A. Henty’s historical fiction, but was disappointed, when it arrived, to see that it was abridged. I’ll leave it on the shelf until I find a better copy. Cougar was a Bookarama find last year. It tells the story of a boy who adopted an orphaned cougar cub in the woods of Maine–and then had to figure out what to do with it! Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry has been on our shelf for many years, but I just ended up with this nice, nearly-new copy in a bulk lot and decided to replace my old one. Esther took it, because it matched another in the series that she owns.

We already had a copy of My Friend Flicka, but when I found this vintage hardcover with a beautiful dust jacket I decided to replace ours. With a new plastic cover over the dust jacket, isn’t it gorgeous? Mick the Disobedient Puppy is a fun small-format picture book. Out of the Dust has been on our shelf for a long time, but I finally got around to reading it. What an amazing way to feel like you have experienced the Dust Bowl in Depression-era Oklahoma! It also happens to be the first novel-in-verse that I have ever read.

I also read several more books that have been on the shelf for a long time. Where in the World and The Wondrous World of Violet Barnaby both deal with grief for the loss of a parent (one from a boy’s perspective, and the other from a girl’s), among other issues. Both are well done, although I found Violet more engrossing. The Dark Night is a typical example of 19th-century Sunday reading, telling a story with a very clearly-shown moral.

I loved getting to read some old favorites to my youngest children! The Light at Tern Rock is probably my all-time favorite Christmas story. The Story About Ping must be almost my favorite picture book. I’ve been reading this one aloud for well over 20 years, and still love it. By the looks of it, we may need a replacement some day. Secret of the Andes is a delightful story of a boy in the mountains of Peru. I hadn’t remembered how much of it centers around worshipping the sun, though. That made for a good thing to discuss!

I read a few more books that have been languishing on the shelves for many years, waiting to be read. Keeping Score is a moving story about a girl in love with baseball, and when the man she enjoyed it with is sent to Korea, with devastating results, she learns a lot about life. A Rat’s Tale is a fun, tongue-in-cheek story of thousands of rats who act a lot like humans. I haven’t read Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy yet, but Esther did and liked it.

My 11-year-old didn’t totally enjoy listening to me read Across Five Aprils to her, but I thoroughly enjoyed this intimate view of the American Civil War from the perspective of a young boy on a farm in Illinois. Race to the Pole is a quick, easy read about Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton and how they raced to the South Pole. It is great for 7-10-year-olds who like nonfiction. The Snow Goose was another quick read. It turns out to be the story of the rescue at Dunkirk, centered around a snow goose and the outcast man who saved the bird’s life.

We found another Church Mouse book. These are very fun! The humor is decidedly adult-level (totally clean, but things like “escaping the rat race”), but children love the overall story. I read American Adventures to one of my children as part of our trip through American history. There are stories in this book that I’ve never seen elsewhere (did you know that there was an Emperor in San Francisco once upon a time?). Ballet Shoes was included in a bulk lot of children’s books I purchased. I didn’t think I would keep it, but when I started reading it and laughing, I soon changed my mind. Then, I realized that, instead of being modern as I thought, it was actually first published in 1936!

We just finished reading a book I brought home from an op shop in Michigan last year, and one that we picked up at the Bookarama. The Grizzly turned out to be a very intense survival story, great to suck boys in. It is much more than that, though. It is an amazing journey of a boy whose parents are estranged; his mother has made him afraid of his father and of anything that might be dangerous or scary. I ended up really liking this book. It will be on the shelf as soon as I can get the cover repaired. Boy made us very thankful not to be in an English boarding school in the 1930s. The brutality was unbelievable. However, we did understand more where Roald Dahl came up with some of his stories and characters. I also read Joanna of Checkerboard Hills, which has been on the shelf since it was given to us a couple of years ago. It is a typical book from Rod & Staff Publishers, depicting a strong Christian family and perfect role models.

We now have three books on the shelf about William Wilberforce. I think One Voice is my favorite, even though it doesn’t work very well as a read-aloud unless the person being read to is right there looking at the page. That’s because it is written in free-verse style. It was a very effective way to get the message across, if it is seen. Esther found The Story of Doctor Dolittle at a secondhand book shop. The cover had come loose, so they didn’t charge her for it, but I was able to glue it together easily. I read it to my youngest, and she absolutely loved it. We had just finished studying the Elizabethan period when I noticed Mary Queen of Scots on the shelf forgotten, waiting to be read, so we backed up in our history studies. I have added some content warnings about it to our catalog, so have a look at that.

We also added four new Adult Fiction books! Esther picked up Gold For Prince Charlie at an op shop. She loved this glimpse into the life of Bonnie Prince Charlie. I would love to read it… as well as Waves of Mercy. Esther read Waves of Mercy awhile ago, as a review book. Lynn Austin is one of her favorite authors, so much so that she not only read this one but listened to it. The Holy Thief is one of the books we rescued from the dump in Rotorua when we were there a couple of years ago, and we found The Potter’s Field at the Bookarama last year. I really enjoy the Brother Cadfael books! I would call them cozy mysteries, though they are murder mysteries, and all that I have read have a thread of romance in them, even though they are set in monasteries. They are pure fun! I like the way they are written, too; though they were written recently, they sound like old stories.

To borrow any of these books or others, please go to our catalog. If that link doesn’t work, find another view of it here, and then email me through the contact form on this blog. Find out how we loan books on this page.

After Dark is a gorgeous book of colorful paintings of New Zealand’s nighttime wildlife. The pictures are described with rhyming text, each page giving clues to the next page. I also added New Zealand Native Trees to the New Zealand Nature shelf; it’s the kind of field guide we’ve often wished we had handy. A Day in Pompeii describes the archaeological finds from that ancient city. It was written and published by Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand!

I recently had the chance to buy two of the Betsy-Tacy books. They quickly went to the top of my TBR stack, because I knew my daughter would enjoy them. They are delightful stories of little girls in a small town around 1900. Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown is the fourth book in the series; I’m hoping to collect the others at some stage. Across the Frontier was a Bookarama find. It is a story about a boy in a Communist country in Eastern Europe right about the time that communism fell, and is quite a comparison between communist countries and England. I really liked the way the main character cared for his grandmother.

For two days this month, two of my schoolchildren were away, leaving only two here, so instead of our normal read-alouds, we chose a couple of short books to fill in. Because one of the two who were home loves animals, she chose Nobody’s Dog, which turns out to be a wonderful story of how love transformed a bully. We still had a bit of time after finishing it, so I chose The Upside-Down Cat, which is a gentle story about a cat who got lost and the people who became friends as a result. Phebe Fairchild: Her Book was one that I brought home from America last year. We have always enjoyed Lois Lenski’s books, and this was no exception. It is simply the story of a girl who had to go live with her father’s Puritan family for most of a year, and how she adapted to living in the country with them. It is set in Connecticut in the 1830s.

A few months ago, a friend gave me several Life of Fred books. I started reading them to my youngest, and she loved them so much, and I enjoyed them so much, that I started buying more when I found them secondhand. We’re on the third one now, and she is enjoying it more than ever. This is a very fun way to look at and learn math concepts.

I finally got around to reading several books that were on the shelf for a time, and then pulled off till I could get them previewed. They are good–they go back on the shelf now! I read several We Were There books when I was young, and enjoyed them. I’m delighted to have been able to purchase these recent reprints (which are again out of print), and wish I could find more. Find my reviews of these here and here and here.

Several months ago, my daughter read a book in the Our Australian Girl series and loved it, so I’ve been watching for those books. Not long ago, I found an auction with four of the four-book hardcovers, so I bought them for her. Sadly, two of them didn’t meet my criteria for the library, but I liked The Alice Stories and The Lina Stories. These are books that most girls will love. Alice centers around World War I and ballet. Lina centers around the Melbourne Olympics and journalism. Escape to West Berlin has been on the shelf for a few years, since a friend gave it to one of my boys. It is a thrilling story of life in divided Berlin–just before the Wall was built.

Occasionally, someone wants to know what sort of rock he or she has found. That’s why I decided to buy The Macdonald Encyclopedia of Rocks and Minerals. One more gap in our collection has been filled! I also bought a few more picture books. Handa’s Surprise is a delightful story of a Kenyan girl taking a gift to a friend. There are very few words on a page; the pictures tell most of the story. I have been wanting my own copy of The Librarian Who Measured the Earth for a long time. This was one of the earliest picture book biographies I read, back in Michigan when my oldest children were small. It tells the amazing story of Eratosthenes and how he figured out how big the earth is. History, geography, and geometry, all wrapped up in an engaging story with beautiful pictures!

Johann Gutenberg and the Amazing Printing Press isn’t as engaging a story, but the illustrations are wonderful and I am delighted to have a resource on hand about the invention of the printing press. Song of the River is a beautiful story of a boy discovering where the sea comes from. Not realistic, but fun.

We finally finished reading a few books that have been in progress for 1 1/2-2 years! I really liked Famous Men of the Renaissance & Reformation. Each chapter is about 1-3 people who made history during that era, and tells their story in an interesting way. The Beginner’s American History is quite similar, about the discovery and exploration of North America, and the growth of the United States, until the discovery of gold in California in 1849. We also enjoyed reading all different sorts and styles of poetry, in A Child’s Introduction to Poetry. Many different poets are introduced here.

After reading a few other books by Loreen Plett, I knew The Miner’s Song would be good. I wasn’t prepared for how good it was, though. This is an amazing story! If I didn’t know it was true, I would think a good novelist had been looking for ways to torture her characters. I was surprised by how engrossed all of us were as I read The Story of the Amistad. I discovered that I really didn’t know anything about that event! This book is a page-turner–and from the research I did, it appears to be quite historically accurate. Shelley and the Bushfire Mystery is great for girls who love cozy mysteries. To make it even better, it is set in Australia, and one minor character is an Aboriginal boy.

We also reread a lot of books that have been on our shelf for a very long time. Twenty and Ten has always been a family favorite. My youngest tensed up as we reached the climax, but she loved the ending, and had a lot to say about her thoughts on the story. All my children have loved Living Long Ago, a history of the world based around the themes of food, clothing, houses and transportation. I hadn’t read this revised version of The Landmark History of the American People, but it is much better than the original, which I read to my oldest many years ago. It’s a great introduction/overview of American history.

To borrow any of these books or others, please go to our catalog. Find out how we loan books on this page.