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.
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