I’m always astounded at the number of books we add to our library every month. This month is no exception!

The past two months, I have shared a quote from an old book. This time, I have a link for you. I just came across an article about getting into the habit of reading more. While I don’t need these tips (I read every chance I get!), maybe someone else will appreciate it. I like the author’s points about books and reading. Check it out here. By the way, the lady who wrote this post has a private lending library somewhat like ours!

I am trying out something new this month. A couple of weeks ago, Esther decided that it is time to close down the book reviews website (Ignite Lit) that she started over 11 years ago. It will still be live for the next year, but when the reviews we have written to date are all posted, by September, it will no longer be updated. Since I won’t be spending time anymore writing reviews for her, I decided to write more reviews of what I read on Goodreads. I’m going to start linking the titles I talk about here with the reviews I have posted there.

First up are some picture books I bought. I love using picture books to teach about historical events or people. The combination of beautiful pictures and a short story is great! That’s why I picked up The Day Gogo Went to Vote and Mandela. Before this, the only books on our shelves about South Africa were a middle-grade historical novel, Journey to Jo’Burg, and a book of animal stories. These two picture books work together nicely to talk about the end of apartheid. The Adventures of Madelene and Louisa is a beautiful book about two sisters in Victorian England who were avid entomologists, much to the dismay of their father and older sister. It is gorgeous–and hilarious! I paid more for it than I do for most picture books, but couldn’t resist it when I found it in a secondhand book shop.

I also found Dr. Seuss’ Sleep Book and I Broke My Trunk! at the secondhand book shop. I had fun reading the first to my youngest, and then sent it to one of my older children who was in hospital having surgery after an accident, to cheer him up (he loves Dr. Seuss). My youngest loves I Broke My Trunk! It is an easy reader, and she was able to read the whole thing–which she did, twice. She loved the repetition and the goofy story. Esther bought All You Ever Need to add to her collection of Max Lucado picture books. These are great to introduce Biblical concepts to children.

Some relatives sent gifts to us with my brother when he recently came for a visit. Among them was Blind Martha, the story of a Mennonite woman who went blind. It is a beautiful account of a life yielded to God, and shows how much even the blind can do if they work hard. I also added two more Heroes for Young Readers books to the library: Brother Andrew and Lottie Moon. My youngest discovered this set last week and wanted all of them read to her.

We happened upon two of The Church Mouse books. What fun they are! I’m not sure they are really children’s books; a lot of the humor seems to be aimed at adults. Totally impossible, but totally fun!

I purchased Bears in the Night, even though I don’t like the Berenstain books as a rule (the father is portrayed as a bumbling idiot, and Mom is the smart, level-headed one who saves the day), I like this one. It is an easy reader that my youngest had no problem reading. Hero of the Hill joins the other New Zealand picture books. It is about a locomotive that pulled trains up a hill in the North Island. I bought Leonardo’s Horse because I was intrigued by the cover and the unique look at Leonardo da Vinci’s life–and then realized that it was written by one of my favorite picture book history authors: Jean Fritz! It is delightful. Now, I want to make sure to get to Grand Rapids next time I’m in Michigan and have a look at the second copy of the horse. You Choose turned out to be greatly popular with my two youngest daughters. They enjoyed picking their favorite objects from the wide variety on each page.

My final purchase at the local secondhand book shop was Bear Stories, a Dolch reader from the 1950s. I remember enjoying these readers when I was young, but they are now quite scarce. I have added it to the Independent Readers shelf. The Blizzard Challenge and I Survived the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941 are also on that reading level, just above Easy Readers, but because they are about more intense situations than I like my 6-7-year-olds to read, I am keeping them with the Junior Fiction books. My Father’s Dragon also fits into this age level. I read it aloud to my youngest, and she absolutely loved it.

Jock’s Island was a Bookarama purchase. I’ve learned to take a second look at older Scholastic books, because most of them are fairly good. This one is about a dog who found himself abandoned on an island somewhere in the Atlantic when a volcano erupted. Flight of the Fugitives joins a few other Trailblazer Books on our shelf. I would love to have all 40, but I don’t have the money to buy them new! This one tells the story of Gladys Aylward. We already had a copy of My Side of the Mountain, a favorite of our boys, but one of them wanted his own copy–and he wanted the one that was on the shelf already because he liked the small size! So, he bought this one and swapped with me. A Hound for Hannah was an unknown when I bought it. I found the writing quality mediocre, but I liked that it described healthy family dynamics, life on a farm on a remote, off-grid island, and homeschooling. Also, it centers around a dog, which will make it appealing to my youngest.

A couple of months ago, I bought five of the seven books in The Russians series. This month, I needed a book with a weapon on the cover for a reading challenge, and noticed that Book 2, A House Divided, had a gun. Well, I don’t read books in a series out of order, if I can help it, so I read The Crown and the Crucible first. By the time I had read the first two, I had to find out what happened next, so I read Travail and Triumph. I’m thankful that it wrapped up the story fairly well, because we don’t have Book 4, so I have to wait a month or two to finish the series! These are Adult Fiction. I found Book 1 a bit slow-going, since there is a lot of history, but the pace starts picking up in Book 2, and by the time I got to Book 3, action didn’t let up and my new friends were in constant danger, so I kept turning pages as fast as I could.

We have had a book about McBroom’s Wonderful One-Acre Farm for a long time, but when I saw this book, including Here Comes McBroom, I snatched it up. It turns out that the book we had only includes part of the stories about the farm! These tall tales are outrageously exaggerated–but so fun to read! When the War Came Home is the story of a boy trying to survive the influenza epidemic in Auckland at the end of World War I. He found himself in some terrible and some quite unexpected circumstances. I was delighted to find Jungle Doctor’s Africa; I’m trying to source all the books in that series.

We finally have the entire My Side of the Mountain trilogy. I ended up spending a bit more than I usually do for middle-grade books to get Frightful’s Mountain. The Gold Dog was a Bookarama purchase. It’s a fun story about children living near the site of one of New Zealand’s gold rushes, in Otago, long after the gold was gone. Ambari! is a book I picked up sometime last year. It features two boys in Africa who got swept out to sea, and the perils they faced in trying to get home.

I brought Bright April home from America last year. I have always loved Marguerite de Angeli’s books. They are delightful, gentle stories, and her artwork is gorgeous. This one is a luxurious hardcover edition. Two in the Wilderness is a book I picked up at the Bookarama last year. It is the story of two children who were left to watch over the family’s new cabin and land in New Hampshire, far from any other humans, while their father went back to fetch their mother and siblings, and how they survived on their own.

Here are some of my more serious recent reads. I started reading The Read-Aloud Family as soon as it arrived here, and loved it. It affirms what I have found to be true in reading aloud to my children for a quarter of a century. The past few years, when people ask for advice about homeschooling, my first suggestion is to read aloud. After reading this book, I will certainly continue to recommend that! The Complete Gut Health Cookbook has some good suggestions, and a few recipes I might try. Wilderness Treasure, the source of the quote at the beginning of last month’s post about the library, is a fascinating story of early botanists exploring America. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

I was given these two volumes of The Bible Companion for review; they join three other volumes that I received previously. I have enjoyed reading these as part of my morning quiet time.

We read a few books that have been on the shelf for a long time. Fever 1793 tells the story of a yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia. It is the story of a girl who survived, and how she managed. The Apple and the Arrow has been a family favorite for over 20 years. I think we need to find a better copy! Timmy O’Dowd and the Big Ditch is a fun story of a boy whose family lives and works on the Erire Canal.

I read The Good News Must Go Out to my youngest. It is the amazing story of a woman who did mission work in Central Africa for many years. I read Doctor in Rags to all the children. I had read it before, but found it quite disappointing this time. Though it is a rare historical fiction featuring Paracelsus, an innovative doctor in the 1500s, the story felt rather flat to us. I also finally read String, Straight-edge & Shadow, a history of geometry. I was quite disappointed with the first two sections (six chapters); the author assumes that humans started out as stupid cavemen who gradually realized the passage of time and that things have shapes. After that part, the story got much better. I liked the way she presented the discoveries of the Greeks. Other than the first two sections of the book, this is a good way to learn geometry.

I found ways to fit Jip and Jacob Have I Loved into a reading challenge in February. As with other books by Katherine Paterson, there are elements in each that make them unsuitable for reading aloud, but they are good for early teens who are ready for tougher books. At the Foot of the Rainbow is a romance set in Indiana over 100 years ago, describing the results of a lie in the lives of the liar and those he deceived.

Our read-alouds this month included several old favorites that are worth mentioning again. Adventures With Waffles is a very fun story, set in Sweden, of a boy and girl who live next to each other and are best friends–at least, Trille hopes Lena considers him her best friend! The escapades they get up to kept us laughing. Adoniram Judson: Bound for Burma is an amazing, inspiring account of the first missionary sent out from the United States to Asia. James Herriot’s Treasury is a wonderful collection of the famous vet’s picture books for children. If you haven’t enjoyed the gorgeous pictures and delightful tales in this collection, you have missed out!

And, here are a few more books that have been on the shelf for awhile that I finally got around to reading! I read The Silent Whistle aloud to the children. There are some accounts in here of terrible abuse–but all of the stories point to the power of Jesus to care for his people in Romania and Ukraine, when both countries were ruled by communist governments. Shadow of the Wall turns out to be a story from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. It was written to honor a man who did all he could to save as many children as he could from the Nazis. I have spent the last few months reading Captivating a few pages at a time and being inspired to be the woman God made me to be. I recommend this for every woman or older girl!

I’ll start this post with a quote I loved from a book I recently read, Wilderness Treasure. It is about several botanists who traveled around Colonial America/the young United States, collecting specimens. The first man, John Bartram, loved reading. He had a number of books, But always he pressed Peter [an Englishman for whom he collected specimens] for more. His friend began to wonder if John were neglecting farming and plant hunting for reading. “Remember Solomon’s advice,” he cautioned, “in reading of books, there is no end.” John replied, “I take thy advice about books very kindly, although I love reading such dearly: and I believe, if Solomon had loved women less, and books more, he would have been a wiser and happier man than he was.”

Several of us went to most of the secondhand shops in our small town one day. It turned out to be a good day for finding books! I got quite a few picture books. Grandma’s Bill is a lovely story of a grandmother showing her grandson pictures of his grandfather throughout his lifetime, and finishing with pictures of the little boy himself. The Sky Soldiers is about World War II in Crete, and the New Zealand soldiers who helped to liberate the island from the Germans. Beautiful pictures and a lovely story!

I was delighted to find two more books in the Chronicles of Paki series. These are graphic novels that tell the story of New Zealand’s history in a fun way. Torty and the Soldier is a beautiful picture book of a tortoise saved and brought back to New Zealand by a soldier in Europe in World War I; the tortoise is apparently still alive today! I also found two more of the Rancho Cucumunga Kids series. These are stories told by a grandfather to his grandchildren, and then turned into picture books. They are rather far-fetched, but fun, and set in Canterbury in an area we often travel through. I bought Itchy, Itchy Chicken Pox and Night Animals because they are easy readers, and I am always on the lookout for more realistic books for that shelf. I like books like the Polar Animals one, too, for the Art shelf. Esther picked up this Curious George book on a different occasion, but it slipped through the cracks and didn’t get entered into the library until now.

We actually bought some brand-new books, too! I added Cornmeal Samaritan and Fitting In, Frankly to an order of school books. The first is a picture book about how an Amishman saved the lives of six elderly Native Americans in Indiana in the 1820s. The second is written for third-culture children, those caught between the country of their citizenship and that of the country in which they live. I found it absorbing, and could relate in a lot of ways to Francisco (Frank) and the way he couldn’t fit in completely either in Guatemala where he was born, or in Canada where his grandfather lived. Several of us went together to buy The Grace Stories for my daughter for her 11th birthday, after she devoured three of the books in the series and was desperate to find out what happened next.

I had the chance to buy both of The Gift of Values books. I love Rosie Boom, both as a friend and as an author, so I knew I wanted them when I saw them. These go on the Junior Devotionals shelf.

Esther lived in Timaru for several weeks, and had the chance to go secondhand shopping a couple of times. She brought a number of books home with her, which I’m working on previewing. Summer Pony and The Valley of the Ponies are great for middle-grade horse-loving girls, and Shark Lady is for children who have graduated from easy readers and want true stories.

I bought a few beautiful nature-study books. Want to learn about Ants? What about New Zealand Insects and Other Creepy-Crawlies? Or maybe all the small creatures that inhabit gardens, the bush, or other areas of New Zealand? Look no farther!

This was an unexpected find! About a year ago, we read The Story of the Trapp Family Singers together and loved it. When I saw Around the Year With the Trapp Family, I knew I wanted it on the shelf. It has a very Catholic slant, of course, but I love the way Maria talks about the feasts and other special days of the year. There are many songs sprinkled throughout this book, too.

I’m working on the backlog of books waiting for previews! This month I read Gordon Korman’s Everest trilogy. These three slim books must be read together; the story is not complete without that. It is the story of four teenagers who won a contest to climb Mount Everest and what they learned about life and themselves along the way. I struggled to put these books down.

The Radical Book for Kids was one of the books I brought home in August, and I decided to use it for part of our morning homeschool routine. It talked about many different topics relating to the Bible, and we enjoyed it. Esther bought The Blue Castle not long ago, and read it, and loved it. She recommended it to my mom, who read it and loved it, so I read it, and loved it. The ending is funny!

My brother came to visit, and of course I sent some books for him to bring us in his suitcase. Here are some of the picture books. Planet Earth is an easy reader for the young readers who want something scientific. A Child’s Book of Art is a beautiful, large-format book. A couple of years ago, I found it online and enjoyed it with my little girl, but it’s much better when it is a physical copy (and be sure to look at the page of the senses; the “smell” picture is hilarious). Guess Why God Made the Rainbow was a book sent me for a review; it joins the others in the same series with the Christian picture books we have.

I received Plague of Lies for review. (Notice the Not for Resale banner across it?!) It turned out to be very good–see my review here. Homer Price was a bargain book I bought. Such fun stories!

We managed to read aloud a few of the books that have been on the shelf for a long time, as well. Ho-Ming Girl of New China was in a box of books handed to us by an elderly neighbor who was clearing everything out of her house about four years ago. We moved on almost all the books, but noticed that this one was by the author of Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze, which we had, so we kept it. It turns out that “New China” is the 1920s or 1930s, around the time of a massive flood on the Yangtzee River, and it basically tells, in story form, what life was like for rural families at that time, and especially for girls. Justin Morgan Had a Horse has always been a favorite of mine, and I was delighted to get to read it aloud again. We also all found South Pole fascinating. The chapters in this book alternate between telling the story of Scott and of Amundsen, as they raced to be the first to reach the South Pole. This meant that we would enjoy one chapter, and the next would make us very sad. It was quite well done, and I recommend this for people who like to read about exploration or Antarctica.

I spent the last year and a half slowly going through Talking With Your Kids About God with one of my children. It brought up a lot of very important topics, which I was glad to get to discuss with her. We just read The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt By Day, about William Tyndale, and enjoyed this perspective of him from the point of view of a smuggler who took the newly-translated Bibles into England. I chose The Mission and the Cross to fill a prompt for a reading challenge, and really enjoyed this glimpse into the Catholic missions in California in the 1770s.

In Grandma’s Attic has been a favorite of mine for many years, and I was delighted to get to read it to my youngest recently. When a young girl came to the library to borrow a few books, I recommended it to her, too. Another of my favorites is The Lewis and Clark Expedition, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it to my girls over the past month. Then there is The Bible Smuggler–one of the first historical fiction books I ever read, over 40 years ago!

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