Library

We have added a lot of books to the shelves this month! A lot of good books came up on the Facebook page from which I buy a lot, and a large pile was donated to the library. I haven’t read as many from my backlog this month as last, but I did get through a few that are being added to the shelves. This first picture shows books from the A. D. Chronicles series. Neither Esther nor I has actually read any of these books, but we had one of the series on the Adult Fiction Shelf, so I decided to take a chance on them. Have any of you read this series, or books by these authors, and care to offer your opinion on them?

Esther added these beautiful, small-format books to the Classics Shelf. She is working on collecting individual copies of all of Jane Austen’s books; she has an omnibus edition of all of them, but has decided that it is too hard to read from such a big volume.

Esther also bought Pippi Goes Aboard, to complete that series on the Independent Readers Shelf. The Pippi books are fun tall tales! We had Books 1 and 3; now we also have Book 2.

We have been using Sonlight Curriculum since about 2003 or 2004, when Esther was in Kindergarten or First Grade–I can’t remember exactly. We have collected almost all of the books that Sonlight uses, but occasionally I find one we didn’t have. Mostly, those are the Preschool books, since this year is the first time I have ever used that level (with my last child!). I was delighted to be able to purchase Mike Mulligan and More (used in Sonlight Preschool) and Stories From Around the World (used in the Pre-K level we’re working through right now). We have individual copies of three of the four Virginia Lee Burton books already, but they are Esther’s, so I wanted my own–and this includes the one we hadn’t gotten yet! We’ve been reading Stories From Around the World from Internet Archive, but it is much nicer to read a print copy. I’m putting both of them on the Picture Books Shelf. The same person was also selling Beverly Cleary’s Ralph S. Mouse series. Again, we had Books 1 and 3–now we also have The Mouse and the Motorcycle, which is Book 2, to add to the Junior Fiction Shelf.

The books I managed to read this month from the backlist included Tug of War and Between Two Worlds, about a family from Latvia who had to flee their home during World War II. The duology follows them as they travel from one refugee camp to another in Europe, and then immigrate to Canada after the war. Very interesting additions to our Young Adult Shelf! I don’t recall ever reading about people from Latvia before, although we had someone live for a time with our family several years ago who came from there. Survival: Blizzard is not a great book, but a good one for children who love stories about surviving in the wilderness. There are two main characters, a boy and a girl, so it will appeal to both genders. This one is on the Junior Fiction Shelf.

The next two books I read were Anastasia and A Night Divided. What really struck me in Anastasia was the vast divide between the luxurious life of the ruling class and the absolute poverty of the poor–and how the rich had no idea what life was like for the poor. The Tsar’s family seemed utterly unaware of the disparity and how the lower classes viewed them. A Night Divided is an amazing story. I’ve known about the Berlin Wall all my life; I remember studying about it in third grade. I haven’t read many, if any, stories about it and the effect it had on the lives of the people of Berlin, however. This book really pulled me in. I knew that, since it was a novel, the ending had to be happy–but until about three pages from the end I couldn’t be sure! It took me about a week to read this one, and at least twice it dominated my dreams at night as I tried to figure out how Gerta and Fritz could complete their task and escape–before they were caught by the Stasi, or secret police. These books have both been placed on the Junior Fiction shelf.

I also managed to read two books that have been on our shelves, unread, for several years. These are ones I bought from Sonlight Curriculum several years ago, but never got to. I read Code Talkers aloud to the children. What an amazing story! There are parts that are not so nice to read, as it describes World War II in the Pacific, but for the most part it is not too graphic. What I found most fascinating was the way the Navajo Indians used their language as a code to transmit radio messages, and how that code was never cracked by the Japanese. I remember my dad telling me about it, probably less than ten years after that story was declassified, but had never actually read anything about it. This book is a must-read for any study of World War II. The other book is also about World War II–actually, the time immediately after the war. I have been wanting to read this one for several years, and it perfectly fit a prompt in a reading challenge. This one is about a Jewish girl who survived the concentration camps and then found herself wandering through a hostile Poland where Jews were still not wanted. She was found by a Zionist group and helped to lead a large group of children to Palestine. There is some language, and a couple of romantic scenes that I would leave out if I were to read it aloud, but it is an incredible story. Both of these books are on the Young Adult Fiction shelf.

I needed something from Amazon recently, and they offered free shipping if the order was a certain size. Because I had some gift cards, I decided to use them to buy a few books I wanted that also offered free shipping (that’s hard to find to our location!). I came across the Tree Street Kids series a couple of months ago, and listened to the first three with the children while we were on a road trip. We all enjoyed them, and I was impressed with the family values and Christian worldview, so I decided to buy the series. These Junior Fiction books will be enjoyed by anyone who likes the Brady Street Boys series, or Sugar Creek Gang (which we don’t have). I still needed a few more dollars to get the free shipping, so I found Desert Dog. Some day, I want to have all of Jim Kjelgaard’s books on the shelf–one at a time!

Now, on to the donations! A local religious group who publish some books sent us a boxful of some of their titles.

Some of these, especially the ones about New Zealand’s history, look pretty interesting!

A friend who patronizes our library donated this book about Michael Faraday. She picked it up somewhere, their family read it, and then she decided it would do better being in our library than languishing on her shelves. It looks quite interesting, and will help to fill out our Junior Biography Shelf!

We have acquired a lot of books this month, but most of them are stacked in my bedroom, waiting for me to read them before adding them to the shelves. Therefore, I have decided not to share pictures of our new acquisitions anymore, but only the books that are going on the shelves. I have started to tackle the immense task (and a fun one, most of the time!) of reading lots of children’s books to decide if they are worth keeping, and each month I’ll share the ones that make the cut. So, here are this month’s keepers.

Esther found this beautiful hardcover copy of Persuasion on a Facebook sales page. It does not appear to have been read. She is working on reading all Jane Austen’s books this year, and is delighted to have one that feels so nice in her hands. It will live in the container, on the Classics shelf.

I bought Thomasina a few months ago in a large stack of other books, and added it to the pile in my bedroom. A reading challenge I did this month requested a children’s classic that I hadn’t read yet, and since this was copyrighted in 1957, it fit. There were aspects of the story I didn’t like, but the overall story arc is wonderful, and I love the way the author writes about cats. I’m putting this one on the Young Adult Fiction shelf.

Another prompt in the reading challenge suggested a book mentioned in another book. I hadn’t decided if I would do that prompt yet, until one day when I was listening to the audiobook Leeva at Last and it mentioned One Crazy Summer. I had just added that book to my TBR pile. It had been on our shelf for several years, but not read. Recently Little Miss picked it up, but she didn’t know what to make of it and told me she would like me to read it before she finished. Well, it sure is a different type of story. It is an amazing picture of the turbulent year of 1968, with the Civil Rights Movement gaining traction, and three girls whose mother abandoned them. I like the way the girls cared for each other. It is on the Junior Fiction shelf.

Yet another prompt in the same challenge suggested a book that would help me grow in some aspect of my life as a woman, so I went to our Family shelf. The first book that caught my eye was The Girl Inside, which I bought sometime last year. It is a book of advice for girls about how to live for God in their mid-late teens and early twenties. It is written in a friendly, chatty way, and even I, as a middle-aged woman, found it inspiring.

The World of Christopher Robin was another of Esther’s finds on the Facebook page. We already have a couple of copies of When We Were Very Young, but we didn’t have Now We Are Six, and this is a beautiful hardcover copy with a number of colored illustrations. She will love reading this to her little sisters–they often read a few poems at bedtime. We’ll put it on the Poetry/Anthology shelf.

I also bought two books for the Adult Biographies shelf from that Facebook page. We already had four of James Herriot’s five books, but were missing All Things Bright and Beautiful, so I was delighted to be able to finish the set. I’ve also been working for several years to collect the books from the International Adventures series, and found Lords of the Earth. This is the story of a missionary working with a tribe in Papua New Guinea. I read it a long time ago, and look forward to reading it again.

Along with Lords of the Earth, I bought these two Jungle Doctor books. When they arrived, I immediately read the picture book to Miss Joy. She loved it, as she loves all stories. I liked the parable, and the salvation message at the end. It will be on the Picture Books shelf, of course, and the other goes on the Junior Fiction shelf.

Several of us went to town one day, and we went to a lot of secondhand shops. Miss Joy picked out this set of National Geographic early readers. She loves animals, and these are beautiful books!

Esther found this DVD at one of the shops. Our family has watched it on YouTube, and really enjoyed it–Buster Keaton is pretty funny.

She also found these three books. One of the boys already has a full set of the Chronicles of Narnia, but she is working on collecting them, too. Sadly, after she got home and I took this picture she discovered that there are a number of pages torn out of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, so she won’t be keeping that one We also have a copy of The Lantern Bearers, but she wanted her own.

I have also added six more books from the I Survived series by Lauren Tarshis. The more of these I read, the more I like them. Each one describes a significant historical event from the point of view of a fictional child who lived through it. The stories are intense, but written simply enough that 8-10 year olds can easily read them; while I was working my way through these six, Little Miss picked one up from my desk and started reading it. She was immediately engrossed, and for the next two days, while she read seven of the books, I had a hard time getting her to do anything else! If you need a high-interest story for boys, especially, have a look at these books. (Little Miss’s one gripe was that the main character in each book is a boy!). These books will be on the Junior Fiction shelf.

A Girl on Schindler’s List turned out to be a fascinating story of survival during the Holocaust. I’ve been curious about Schindler’s list for a long time, and now I finally know what it was and how Schindler saved so many people. This book is going on the Junior Biographies shelf. New Zealand Disasters is a collection of 20 short stories about disasters that New Zealand has experienced, from the train wreck at Tangiwai to the sinking of the Wahine, and many others in between–earthquakes, plane crashes, fires, and more. This book will live on the New Zealand History shelf. Champ: Gallant Collie has been on the shelf for a couple of years, but neither Esther nor I had gotten around to reading it. I finally did (it took all of half an hour!), and I like this story. It is a wonderful account of a dog redeeming himself after spending the first part of his life goofing off. It will go on the Independent Readers shelf.

Speaking of the Independent Readers shelf, that is something new in the library this month, too! A five-year-old friend of our family started borrowing books from us a couple of months ago, taking five at a time, and swapping twice a week. When we learned a few weeks ago that she was reading Pollyanna, we realized she needed more than the picture books we were sending–although, as we explained to her father, picture books often have a more advanced vocabulary than “easy readers.” We looked over the shelves for books that would be suitable for someone who has advanced beyond our Easy Readers shelf but needs gentle stories that are still pretty easy. We found so many that we decided to create a section of the library just for the 6-8-year-old range. After discussing labels for the section for a day or two, we settled on “Independent Readers.” Look at the wonderful books in this section!

When I order school books from Christian Light Publications, I usually add a few extras. This time, we got Something Extra for Ryanne, and Sidetracked. I ordered the first because we now have a nephew who has Down Syndrome and I wanted to help my children understand him better. I can’t remember why I ordered the other–I don’t even remember adding it to the order! It looks very good, though, and I plan to read it one of these days.

We went to town one day, and went to the one op shop in town that wasn’t still closed from the Christmas holidays. Esther found a couple of books she had been wanting:

I found a couple of the I Survived books offered on a Facebook page, and jumped at the chance. I haven’t read these particular ones, but I bought and read a few others several months ago and found them very easy to read and quite interesting. One of the children who doesn’t necessarily read a lot picked one up and read through it without stopping. That made me want to buy these books when I can.

Esther stopped at a business in a small town close to here, and had a look in the book swap housed in an old refrigerator there. She actually found two books she was interested in! I was amused that I already had a copy of one of them, but she hadn’t seen it because it is in my bedroom waiting for me to read it.

I bought this book for Little Miss for her birthday. She loves to read, so I hope she will enjoy it.

Esther went to Nelson for a friend’s baby shower, and while she was there she did some secondhand shopping. She found these books–a couple of classics; Jane Austen’s last book, finished by someone else; and two children’s books. Miss Joy is excited about the Paddington book; Esther has been reading her one of the other books in that series and she loves it. Good Charlotte is an unknown quantity; we’ll have to read it to decide if it’s staying or not.

Back in January, I took advantage of Sonlight Curriculum’s annual clearance sale, and bought a number of books at 50% off. One that I considered buying but didn’t get to in time before someone else purchased the last one at that price was The Mozart Season. A few weeks later, someone here in New Zealand offered it for sale; she had accidentally bought two of them! She had just borrowed a stack of books from me, so I bought that one and she put it with my books, to send all at once when they were finished. It’s here now, and I’ve added it to my stack to read before putting it on the shelf–I have no idea what the story is like!

Just before that same person mailed our books back, she advertised a number of other books. One that caught my eye was William the Conqueror, so I asked her to send that one along, as well. Again, I have no idea what it is like, so it, too is on my TBR stack. I’m planning to do the Read Your Bookshelf Challenge again this year, and one of the prompts is “Royalty.” I hadn’t found a book yet for that prompt, so was delighted to find one I wanted to read about a king. (I decided that for this year’s challenge, I was going to try to find books for each month from my stack of ones I want to read before they go on the shelf–and I found one on that stack for each of the twelve prompts!)

One evening, a neighbor stopped Gayle and asked if we homeschool. When Gayle, wondering what this was about, answered that we do, the man said that he is the caretaker of the local area school (just behind our house). The teachers were in the process of doing a cleanout and had instructed him to burn piles of old, unwanted books, so he wondered if we wanted them. We took them, and I sorted through them. Two big boxes were old maths textbooks, multiple copies of each, which I am not interested in. Another box was other maths supplementary books, which I don’t need for the most part. There were also many reading and phonics and spelling books, but my last child is learning to read right now and I don’t need them. (I’m trying to give them away!) Then, there were stacks of dictionaries and thesauruses. We were delighted to find a thesaurus that is easier to use than our Roget’s, so we kept one of those, and a fascinating Reverse Dictionary. Esther flipped through that and found a page of French terms. She was quite amused by the definition I circled in this picture.

Another book I kept was this one full of brain teasers. I copied a page of it and, without telling anyone, taped it to the whiteboard in the kitchen. It quickly got attention, as various people sat down and worked out the problems. I plan to post more, at random times, for anyone who wants to work them out. It’s a fun family activity, as it turns out!

There were around 15 copies of each of these picture books, so I kept one of each. They are simple, but beautiful; they’ll make a good addition to our shelf of New Zealand picture books. If you live in New Zealand and want either of these, pay me the postage and I’ll send you a copy of each!

One evening, I noticed someone selling almost the complete set of the Anne of Green Gables books on a Facebook page. I knew Esther wanted them, so I showed her, and she bought them. She already had a copy of the one that was missing, the first book. It didn’t match these–but one of her brothers had one that did, so she swapped with him and now, much to her satisfaction, she has the whole set in print.