We didn’t add nearly as many books to the library this month as the last two! I’ve been eyeing Neighbors in Latin America for a few years when I peruse the Christian Light Education catalog. We buy a lot of our school books from them, but I don’t use their Social Studies, so I haven’t had a reason to buy this textbook. However, I saw it advertised secondhand recently, so bought it. I plan to read it as part of our morning routine at some stage. A Wilde Wind is written by Penelope Foote, sister of Rosie Boom; both of these lovely ladies spoke at a homeschool ladies’ retreat I went to recently. I loved Penelope’s first romance novel, The Disenchanted Club, so I bought its sequel/companion this year. It is really good, too–not funny, as the first one was, but much deeper. It goes on the New Zealand fiction shelf in our library. I borrowed Dirty Genes from a sister-in-law while I was in America. Soon after I started reading it, I decided I want it on our shelf, so I bought her a new one and had it shipped to her house. This is eye-opening as far as health and what might be behind a lot of illness. I have never seen a better description of myself than is written here! I am adding it to our Health shelf.
The Collier’s Junior Classics set was rather an impulse buy. I saw someone advertising these ten volumes for $20, and grabbed them. Aren’t they pretty? Beyond that, they are a great introduction to a lot of older books, with a chapter or two from each. When these books came in, Esther sat down and read the tables of contents. It was great fun to see how many of the books that are excerpted here are on our shelves! I also bought Freckles from the same person. I read this book over 30 years ago when I was recovering from appendicitis. I am looking forward to reading it again! This edition was in a New York City public library. It is an Anniversary Edition, published in 1914, 10 years after the initial publication.
When we received the Junior Classics set, we had to figure out where to house them. We had already combined the poetry books and anthologies into one Poetry/Anthology shelf, and decided to swap them with the cookbooks so that they will be more visible. Look at how many books are on that shelf!
I bought a few more books from Facebook listings about the same time. There were three picture books set on a farm near Hororata in North Canterbury, New Zealand. When I saw that, I pointed out to my little girls that we had driven through there the day before–fun! These books are fantasy. Smoky Mountain Rose is a fun retelling of Cinderella, set in the Appalachian Mountains in the USA. I love Diane Stanley’s picture book biographies, so I snatched up Cleopatra. I like the way the author handles Cleopatra’s death–it’s not graphic. These books are on the New Zealand Picture Books, Picture Books, and Picture Book Biographies shelves.
One of the books I picked up at the Bookarama was Uncle Trev. We already have Uncle Trev and the Great South Island Plan, and really enjoyed the ridiculous tall tales in it. This one is even better, although I removed the last chapter because I didn’t like it at all. It joins Comet in the Sky on the New Zealand fiction shelf. We just read that one aloud, as well. It continues the story of May Tarrant, which began with No One Went to Town and Black Boots and Buttonhooks. Sister, by Ellen Howard, was a Facebook purchase because the cover intrigued me. It turns out to be a glimpse into the life of a pioneer girl who had no idea how babies come into the world, but who had to take care of her family at age 13 after her mother had a baby and things went wrong. I placed this book on the Young Adult fiction shelf.
I chose Second-hand Children when I decided on all the books I would read this year for the Read Your Bookshelf Challenge. The November prompt was “food” and this book has food on the cover! It turns out to be a fun story about a family of fatherless children growing up in Wellington. The two youngest girls were quite the characters! This book is going on the New Zealand fiction shelf. I have loved books by Jean Fritz for a long time, so when I come across one I don’t have yet, I grab it. The Double Life of Pocahontas was quite an interesting story about her, as well as John Smith. I also enjoyed Chocolate by Hershey; I don’t think I had ever read about that man before. We found this Creative Minds biography at the Bookarama–what a find! That is a good biography series. Both of these book go on the Junior Biography shelf.
Four of these next books were also from the Bookarama! A Pony for the Winter is a delightful horse story for the Independent Readers shelf. An Elephant in the Garden and Fight for Freedom are both World War II stories. An Elephant in the Garden is historical fiction, about the bombing of Dresden, Germany late in the war. Though it is a war story, it is delightful. It will be with the Junior Fiction books. Fight for Freedom is a true story, set in Indonesia. It is not a nice story; the protagonist was badly mistreated by the Japanese. However, it is a glimpse into a part of the war I have never read about before. I bought this one because I recognized the author; he wrote The Silver Sword, one of our favorite books. It will be on the Junior Biography shelf. Danger on Midnight River is a fast-paced, short adventure story of survival in the wilderness. Reading it could actually help someone survive in a wild river–it is that detailed. I found two more I Survived books on the Facebook page. My 10-year-old was excited when she saw them, and couldn’t wait for me to read them before giving them to her!
Down Cut Shin Creek was one of the books I brought back from America. It is a wonderful story of one of Franklin Roosevelt’s relief programs during the Great Depression. I read it aloud to my youngest children one day when I was injured and couldn’t work, and they were enthralled with this true story, which will go on the Junior History shelf. I finished reading Heart to Heart With Rosie Boom recently. What a wealth of encouragement is between these covers! This book lives on the Adult Miscellaneous shelf. I read Hue & Cry to one of my daughters over the past several weeks. It has been on the Junior Fiction shelf for several years, but I hadn’t read it yet. It is a sequel to The Journeyman, which we had just read. What a wonderful story! I commented to my oldest daughter that it is a real treat to get to read aloud a book by Elizabeth Yates for the first time.
One Sunday afternoon I had the chance to sit down and read. I decided to quickly scan through the rest of the American Girls books that I brought home from America a few months ago, since my 10-year-old daughter wanted to read them. As I remembered from when I read them 35+ years ago, the Kirsten books were my favorites. These books tell the story of a Swedish girl whose family emigrated to Minnesota. They are lovely family stories! The ones about Kit and Addy are good, too, but it’s a little disappointing to only have one from each set. Maybe someday! I took a chance on the Bear Grylls Adventures books when I saw them advertised. I had read a review of them that intrigued me, because the review mentioned that these books are printed with the Dyslexia Font. I have several sons who have dyslexia, so that word catches my attention! The day these books arrived in our house, one of those sons picked up one of the books and read it in half an hour. That made me think these might be good choices for boys who struggle with reading! I did censor one of them a bit, deleting the references to millions of years. All the books in this set of pictures are on the Junior Fiction shelves.
I bought The Highly Trained Dogs of Professor Petit because I like some of Carol Ryrie Brink’s books. Apparently, she had fun writing somewhat fantastic/tale tale sort of stories! This is a fun book for young readers. Jericho’s Journey has been on our shelf for many years, but I hadn’t read it yet. It turns out to be an account of a family’s move from Tennessee to Texas in the 1850s, based on old diaries of the time. I liked the way Jericho grew up through the course of the journey. Old Ramon is one I found at the Bookarama and bought because I tend to like those older books. Then, I was reading through a list of Newbery Medal books, and discovered that this book was on the list. One of the boys chose it for a read-aloud, so it didn’t end up buried in the stacks. This book explores the relationship between an old shepherd and a young boy, as the old man tells the boy (who is never named) about his life and things he has learned, while they follow the sheep to new grazing. Both Jericho’s Journey and Old Ramon have coming-of-age themes. All three of these books are on the Junior Fiction shelf.
My mom just arrived for a visit, and brought me a few books that I received for review. I read With Mercy’s Eyes while we were there in August, but a niece wanted to read it, so I left it behind. See my review here. It will be on the Adult Fiction shelf. Be sure to read the warnings in my review before deciding to read this book. I also already reviewed the Bible Companion Book 5 here. I really like this series to read along with my Bible readings. It will be on the Devotionals shelf.
To borrow any of these books or others, please go to our catalog. Find out how we loan books on this page.
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