Library

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.

I thought it would be hard to top the number of books we added to the library the end of August/beginning of September when we brought suitcases full of books from America. However, this year’s local Bookarama had around 44,000 books on offer, and we went twice. I won’t tell you how many books we brought home altogether (because I don’t know), but here are the ones that went directly onto the shelves. There are also stacks of them that we need to preview before adding them.

First up: The picture books. I was pleasantly surprised to find this Jungle Doctor Picture Fable. We now have three of them, and they are delightful! The Saggy Baggy Elephant is just a fun classic picture book. I had never read a Lighthouse Keeper book, but we all loved this one when I brought it home. It is funny! I Went to the Zoo is a fun story for young children; it’s along the lines of Jack in the Beanstalk, with something added to the story on each page. The Old Cattle Dog is a wonderful tribute to working dogs and their relationship with farmers. Another Amelia Bedelia book? Yes, please! And then, we found several more Lynley Dodd books that we didn’t have yet. Those are always fun to read aloud.

More picture books! All of my children have loved the Magic School Bus books, and while Blows Its Top and Hops Home are not as informative as the first set, they are still educational. Snow is a very easy reader. Lonesome George Finds His Friends is a beautiful easy reader about the Galapagos Islands. I don’t often find picture book biographies at places like this, so I was happy to find one, even though I had never heard of Louis Sockalexis before. The Bantam and the Soldier is a poignant glimpse into the Anzacs in World War I. I got Helping Paws for my dog-loving little girl. Look Out! is a very easy reader. We don’t have any other books about elephants, so I bought that one for the gorgeous pictures. I saw Let’s Find Out About Fishes in a box that someone was preparing to send to the dump–I quickly asked if I could have it! My youngest loves the Can You See What I See books. Where’s Wally actually didn’t come from the Bookarama; it was rescued from a burn pile last year but only now got added to the library.

Lucy & Tom’s Christmas is a gorgeous picture book of a family celebrating together. We had a different Little Yellow Digger book, but not the first one. My littlest loves the series that Grandpa Kangaroo is in. I think the stories are rather silly, but the photography is amazing. Ships and Seafarers of the South Pacific is a good addition to our Junior History Shelf. The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive is one of the original, more informative series. Autumn Muster is a beautiful glimpse into high-country farming here in New Zealand.

I bought Skateboards, Scooters and Racers to add to the Art/Craft shelf. I had to reconstruct the back cover; it looked like it had caught fire! The Danger Zone books are intended as a humorous look at history. I had never come across a book about the Bediun people before finding B is for Bedu! What a fascinating peek into the lives of these nomads.

I also bought a number of classics. Isn’t this edition of A Tale of Two Cities beautiful? Notice the date on the label inside the front cover. I’ve been looking for an unabridged hardcover copy of Heidi for a long time, and finally found a beautiful one! I was delighted with these copies of The Swiss Family Robinson and Eight Cousins, as well. The Companion Library edition of Rip Van Winkle and Toby Tyler isn’t gorgeous, but I like Washington Irving’s stories pretty well, so I got it.

Window on the World is one of the books I sold about 10 years ago in a temporary fit of insanity and minimalism. This one is in nearly-new condition. I had been considering buying it new again to use with my youngest two daughters’ history/geography lessons. I bought Play It Again because sometimes we need ideas for new games. One of my children picked up Welsh Tales; she loves collections of stories.

These are some of the books we acquired earlier, and now have added to the shelves. I bought Baby Island because we love the author. It is perfect for baby-loving little girls who also like adventure stories! As I read it aloud, one of my younger boys was holding out for the cannibals to show up on the tropical island–what really happened was much better! We’ve read or listened to In the Presence of My Enemies several times, so when a copy was found at a secondhand shop, it was snatched up. I read The Trailblazing Life of Daniel Boone to my daughter for history. She was rather bored, but I liked the way it told the story of everything that happened in the colonies and the new United States during Daniel Boone’s life, rather like Genevieve Foster’s books.

My youngest has loved Lulu and the Dog From the Sea for a few years, requesting it to be read to her a couple of times, so when I saw two more Lulu books advertised on Facebook, I got them for her birthday. Then, I found another at the Bookarama! I’ve now read her two of them, and we’re halfway through the third. These are great for young animal lovers. They are on the Independent Readers shelf, for children who are transitioning from Easy Readers to longer books.

I’ve read The Love Dare on Kindle, and found it very good, so I got the copy I found at the Bookarama. I’ve been working on reading Astounding Truths of the Bible as a devotional for a long time, and finally finished it. I got Norman Rockwell’s American Family when I saw it on Facebook, and we all really enjoyed studying the pictures.

I’m hoping to find more of the spin-off books from the Little House series; my girls like them. So, I got On Top of Concord Hill. One of my boys, the only one who likes to collect books, picked up The Twelve Million Dollar Note at the Bookarama. He read it already and really enjoyed it. I found True Tales of Animal Heroes at a secondhand shop while we were in America, and read it to my littlest as a bedtime story; she loves this type of book. One of my girls actually bought Stories for Eight-Year-Olds a year ago, but somehow it never got entered into our library! Esther found Irma’s Big Lie some time ago, and finally read it. It sounds like one I would enjoy reading aloud. Apparently, the protagonist learns the value of honesty! We found a couple of Paddington books that we didn’t have. Esther is collecting those, so they came home with us to go on the Independent Readers shelf.

Some of my recent buys on Facebook included two Clyde Robert Bulla books for the Independent Readers shelf. We love his books! I remember reading these two when I was young. I was also able to complete my series of the Milly Molly Mandy books, more that my youngest loves. There is no real plot to them; they are simply lovely stories about a little girl and her friends. I also added A Girl of the Limberlost to the shelf for circulation, since we sourced dust jacket covers to protect the beautiful, but fragile, dust cover. And lastly, Indian Two Feet and His Horse, another lovely Easy Reader that I remember my siblings reading 30 odd years ago. It is delightful!

I spent a Sunday afternoon this month previewing some of the American Girls books I brought home from America. I remember reading and enjoying these books when they first came out, in the 1980s, so I bought some of them for my girls. I noticed that Molly had some bad attitudes, and treated others in ways that weren’t so nice, but each time she ended up seeing the error of her way and apologizing. About that same time I also preread these two new I Survived books. The American Revolution one is rather violent (quite realistic), but I really liked The Black Death–it’s probably my favorite in the series so far.

I found time to read a couple of books that have been here for several years without being read, as well. The Midnight Fox turned out to be a wonderfully heartwarming story of a boy who grew up one summer. The Boy on the Wooden Box is the story of a boy who was saved by Schindler, during the Holocaust. I read King George: What Was His Problem? to one of my children as part of our study of American History. It was a fresh, new look at the American Revolution; I liked the way the author wove the story of a particular soldier through the book. To Ride the Gods’ Own Stallion is one of the books I brought home from America, and so is The Ark. We just finished reading both of them out loud. The first is set in Ancient Assyria, so the violence that shows up is not surprising. For about half the way through the book, I was debating about keeping it, but by the time we reached the end, we knew it was a keeper. The changes that came about in the lives of the main characters were worth reading about. The Ark is one that I read some 30-35 years ago, from the library, and have wished to have on the shelf for many years. It has just been reprinted by Purple House Press, and they had a very good sale earlier this year. I loved having the chance to read this family story together–it’s special! I also brought The 40-Day Sugar Fast home with us from America. It is well worth reading and doing a fast, whether from sugar, or from books, as I did for 40 days after we came home.

And, to wrap up this month, here are a few more books from the Bookarama! I skimmed through these Magic School Bus books and then handed them to my 10-year-old, who loves them. She helped me to make sure we got all the evolutionary references marked out. And lastly, here is a hardcover copy of A Christmas Carol, which one of my boys picked up. It is a beautiful edition!

Here are the rest of the books we brought home in our suitcases from America–at least, the ones that have been added to the library right away!

My children have all loved Carolyn Haywood’s books; one of my boys especially loved the Eddie books when he was about six or eight years old. These books are hard to find, so I was delighted to be able to get five of them!

I also like the Heroes for Young Readers, adaptations of the Christian Heroes: Then & Now and Heroes of History books for older children. These are the stories of famous people told in rhyme, with full-color illustrations.

I was able to get the Eloise Wilkin Stories collection and the Mother Goose book when Sonlight Curriculum had their clearance sale. I love Eloise Wilkin’s picture books! My littlest loves the Mother Goose book. I had read it aloud to her already when I found it online, and she is enjoying it again. I got How to Eat a Poem to go with a level of Sonlight we’ll be using soon. I got The Valentine Cat because we love Clyde Robert Bulla. We also like the animal stories from Thornton W. Burgess. Both of those are on the Independent Readers shelf. My mom was sorting out books to get rid of, to make more room on her shelves, and I asked her for The Usborne First Thousand Words in Spanish, since we already had the same book in English.

I also brought home a lot of adult fiction books–mainly women’s fiction. The Heart of Christmas and Song of Grace are anthologies of about half a dozen novellas by as many different authors. In each one, I enjoyed most of the stories. I wrote a review of The Thomas Sisters earlier this year, as well as The Daughter of Rome, The Aftermath, and What I Left for You. Esther and I both read and reviewed The Atlas of Untold Stories–easily my favorite of all these titles!

Sometime in the past year, my favorite author, Chautona Havig, offered a number of her books at half price because she had too many on her shelves. I jumped at the chance to get some I didn’t have in print yet. Under the Hibiscus, The Title Wave, and Trust Fall are a series set on a Pacific Island. Trust Fall is also a spin-off of The Agency Files. The New Cheltenham books are a fun series of Christmas books. Induction is the prequel to the entire Agency series, though written much later. I really liked Dial I for Identity–what is our identity in Christ? Clock Tower Bound is the fourth book in the Bookstrings series. Warning: It may make you want to read a lot of other books! I downloaded an audio book after reading this one. And Moore’s Code? Well, it’s the only Santa Claus book I have ever even wanted to read–and it’s fun! It is not a Christian story, but it does show character growth. And, it’s just plain fun.

We have a couple of new picture books! I Can’t Sleep is a delightful wordless book about a family who all apparently suffered from insomnia. The Practical Princess was given to us by a private lending library in the United States who partnered with Purple House Press to give a copy to each library registered on Biblioguides. I happened to be in the United States when they made this offer, and there was just enough time for them to send me a copy before we returned home. I am not big on fairy tales, but my little girls love them, and this is a delightful story. The book is sheer pleasure to hold, too; it is a well-bound hardcover. I recently bought a roll of dust jacket covers, so I have protected the beautiful cover that way.

We added a few more books to the Junior fiction shelf. I was able to get two more Jungle Doctor books. We are reading a Jungle Doctor book aloud in the mornings now, and really enjoying it. Raiders From the Sea is the first book in a series that I read to the children about 10 years ago. I bought the set in Kindle format, and we raced through them as fast as I could read. After reading each one, I paused long enough to write a review of it before moving on to the next–much to my children’s dismay, as they wanted to find out what happened next! I’m hoping to find the rest of the series eventually.

I found this copy of Now We Are Six at a secondhand shop one day. We love A. A. Milne’s poems! We also love Encyclopedia Brown. I actually bought four at once, but three were borrowed before I remembered to take a picture of them or had a chance to put them on the Independent Readers shelf. Esther just read Dreams Of Victory. This Junior Fiction book reminded her of Anne of Green Gables in a modern setting!

I bought this Easy Reader adaptation of The Black Stallion because I knew my youngest, who is starting to read, would love it. Speaking of Easy Readers, notice the crayon on the spine label? I color-coded the easy readers recently, hoping that will help choose the right books for beginners. I sorted the books into four levels, doing my best to match the ones with similar amounts of text on the pages. This one is in the third level. From Fear to Freedom is another book that Esther recently read. It is an inspiring account of a missionary and her life in New Guinea and will be on the Adult Biographies shelf. I bought The Dolphin Rider to add to our Classics shelf because twice in a few months my boys needed to read an adapt a Greek myth as part of their Language Arts curriculum.

When we did an inventory of our books to make sure that what we have on the shelf matches what is in the catalog, we came across In the Footprints of the Lamb, and Esther realized it should be on the Devotionals shelf instead of with the classics. It looks like a good one!

We got home from our trip to America a few days ago. The bulk of our luggage was books–see the pile we had to add to the library?

Not all of them are going directly on the shelves, but over half are. I’ll highlight part of them here, and save the rest for next month.

First up: the books that will go on the Junior Fiction shelf. A number of families around here have been eagerly waiting for these last two books in The Brady Street Boys series. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole series, and the ending was satisfying. See my reviews of the series here and here.

I also acquired the fifth and sixth books in the Tree Street Kids series. We listened to the first few books in this series and I decided that we needed all of them in our library. I’m looking forward to reading these! The Goldtown Adventures series by Susan K. Marlow, for 10-12-year-olds follow the Goldtown Beginnings series for 6-8-year-olds. This series is about the same person, a few years older. I was in a discount grocery store in Michigan that has a book corner (they actually bought out my bookstore 18 years ago), and saw this series. Since I had been thinking about getting the series anyway, I bought it then.

We listened to several of the Clementine books a few months ago, so when I found a couple of copies to buy, I snatched them up. My mom read one of them while we were still at her house, and loved it.

I also brought home a lot of picture books. We love the Frances books, and books by Ezra Jack Keats, and books by Patricia Polacco…

I was tickled to find a hardcover of In the Small, Small Pond at a secondhand shop I went to with my mom. This book has been a favorite of our family since it was given to us by one of my aunts who worked in a school library for many years. She sent us a boxful of books a few weeks before my third baby was born, and it was great to have new stories to read my two older toddlers while I was feeding the new baby. That copy, though, is nearly worn out, so now we have one that will keep going for many years.

I also brought home some more easy readers. We now have all the Frog and Toad books, and two Henry and Mudge books–both quite popular with my youngest!

I found a lot of books to add to the Junior Biography section, too. The two about Ben Franklin are easy readers, and very fun stories. I got the one about Teddy Roosevelt because I love that author’s style of presenting history. I also like Jean Fritz’s books, and the Scholastic biographies. The Childhood of Famous Americans books are good for children who need books just above the level of the books we have on the Independent Readers shelf. Wangari’s Trees of Peace is a beautiful picture book about a woman in Africa.

Then there are some miscellaneous books that I’ll add to this post. I got What Am I Feeling? because it is part of a level of Sonlight Curriculum that I am doing with one of the girls. The Search and Rescue Files is a review book, and I really enjoyed it. I had Elijah read it, too, and he reported that it is pretty accurate. It goes on the Young Adult Fiction shelf. I got When God Writes Your Love Story because there has been some interest in it among our young people. It’s a book I had many years ago, but when someone borrowed it, someone else burned it. Treasures of the Wise and The Bible Companion Book were both review copies. I used both as daily devotionals and liked them. I got The Constitution of the United States to go with another level of Sonlight Curriculum. I actually ordered it well over a year ago for Esther and the boys to bring back from the States, and it didn’t arrive at my mom’s house till about 9 months after I ordered it.

That’s all for now! I’ll write another post about the rest, sometime in the next month. I have a lot to catch up on after being away from home for over five weeks.

I was surprised to hear of a book sale only half an hour’s drive from us in the beginning of the month. There is normally one in early October every year, run by the Rotary Club, but this year a different group did one as a fundraiser now. Mr. Sweetie and Little Miss went with me to see what treasures we could find. We spent an hour searching the boxes and tables, and found a lot of books to bring home!

We already had these three books, but I replaced our worn copies of Freedom Train and Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express, and was delighted to find a hardcover of The Great Wheel.

I brought home several picture books, some to go on the Picture Books shelf, and some for the Science shelf. Miss Joy loves Too Much Noise; she went and found our copy of It Could Always Be Worse to compare the similar stories. Fishes and Animal Life in North America are delightful 1960s-style books.

I added four books to the Easy Reader shelf, and was very happy to find a Milly Molly Mandy book and another by the author of the Encyclopedia Brown books. My children all love those mysteries!

Mr. Sweetie found a box full of Companion Volume books, and chose four that he wanted. I am putting them on the Junior Fiction shelf.

One of the children thought about Miss Joy with these books–she loves babies, and she loves Anne Geddes’ books.

I got A Treasury of Little Golden Books and The Bedtime Book of 365 Nursery Rhymes because Miss Joy loves poetry and stories so much. They are going on the Picture Books and Poetry shelves.

We’ve gotten some laughs out of The Big Book of Boy Stuff. First, I noticed that it indicated a reversible cover, so I opened it–to find the Exercise Book cover inside the dust jacket, and the title Science on the book. Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Imagination have been having fun reading this book, which is chock-full of experiments, stories, jokes and recipes. When they lose interest, it will go on the Junior Miscellaneous shelf.

Of course, we also got books in the mail. The one that is going directly onto the shelf is The Return, one of the few Amish Fiction books I have ever enjoyed. Find my review of it here, as well as some of my reasons for disliking Amish fiction in general! An interesting note–I didn’t realize this was a hardcover large print book when I bought it!

I also found time to read some of the books that have been on our shelves for many years without being read, and some of the ones on my massive stack that needs to be read before going on the shelves. First, the ones I have read aloud to the children!

Many years ago, we read the first book in The May Series, No One Went to Town. I decided to read the series again, since we now have four of the five books and a friend has the other. We started with the first one, and enjoyed this account of a family pioneering in the bush of the North Island of New Zealand.

One of the children chose The Lost Prince for me to read aloud. I was surprised by how much they all enjoyed this story! Because of some content concerns, however, I will be putting this book on the Classics shelf out in the container. See my review for details.

I read Night Preacher to the children for our history study. We enjoyed this perspective on Menno Simons and the early Anabaptists in Holland. This book is on the Junior Fiction shelf.

I read the Little Prairie Girl books to my youngest. She loved these stories about a Russian Mennonite girl growing up on the prairies of Manitoba, Canada. She got annoyed with the recipe that is at the end of each chapter–but didn’t want me to stop reading them! These are on the Independent Readers shelf.

My 10-year-old daughter chose Blue Willow. It’s been on the shelf, unread, for many years, and my co-librarian wanted to discard it a year or two ago. I knew it was a gem, so we kept it, but I had forgotten just how special it is. Friendship and family–those are the main themes. It’s a good one! It is on the Junior Fiction shelf.

The Lighted Heart is the best memoir I have read in many years! I bought it because we love the books we have by this author, especially Mountain Born, A Place for Peter, and The Journeyman. What a delightful story this one is, as Elizabeth Yates tells about the year when her husband went blind, how they changed their lives to accomodate him, and the highlights of the next few decades of their life in New England. It is full of humor, and sprinkled with gems of wisdom. This one goes on the Adult Biography shelf.

These next three books have been on our shelves for some time, but we haven’t gotten to them. Children of the Oregon Trail is a retelling of the story of the Sager children; we have a different version on the shelf, as well. This one is harder to read, and graphically describes some of the extreme dangers the children faced. Man-Shy is a story about wild cows in Australia, and what happened to them when the land was fenced. Have you ever come across a book about cows? I haven’t! Not for children who can’t handle sad endings. Walk Two Moons fit into a reading challenge I’m doing, so I finally read it. Wow, this is a good story. It’s actually two stories in one, both with similar themes, and girls who try to work through hard things that have happened to them. The author did a masterful job of keeping me in the dark until the very end, although I should have figured out what really happened near the beginning. This one is on the Young Adult shelf; the other two, on the Junior Fiction shelf.

I have loved David Macaulay’s books about architecture for over 30 years. I collected most of them when I was in the United States about eight years, but hadn’t found one of my favorites, Underground. I was excited when I saw it come up on the Facebook group! I probably paid way too much, but I think the collection is complete now. Bound for Oregon has been on the shelf since that trip eight years ago, and I finally read it. I loved this account of the Oregon Trail! It is based on the recollections of a woman who made the trip with her family as a child. It’s a lot gentler than the one in the last group of pictures.

I picked up a couple of the Who Is?/Where Is? books at the book sale, but held them back until I had read them myself. They are all right–not great, but all right, and very informative. I found them fairly engaging, written on an Independent Readers level. The one about the Brooklyn Bridge tells a story I haven’t come across before, and I enjoyed learning about how it was built. These books are going on the Junior Biography and Junior History shelves. I picked up The Diddakoi a year or two ago at a secondhand shop without knowing anything about it. It turns out to be a very good story about a gypsy girl who had to integrate into English society. A gentle romance runs through the story, along with themes of bullying and friendship. This is a special story! It will be on the Junior Fiction shelf.

I was also able to find some more I Survived books. As with the others I have read, I am impressed with how this author is able to take such a hard topic, with many people dying, and create a story that I feel like I can allow my children to read. These are written on the level of our Independent Readers, but due to the hard content, I am shelving them with the Junior Fiction books.

One day while I was in town with some of the children, Miss Joy spent an hour or two in the garden entertaining Esther while she was digging potatoes. Miss Joy was picking up the earthworms she found and relocating them to a different bed. She was blown away when Esther told her that earthworms are both boys and girls. Because of her interest in them, I offered to read her the book I recently bought about earthworms. It has nine chapters, but kept her interest all the way through. None of the children have yet read The Wild Whale Watch, but now that I have vetted it I expect Little Miss to snatch it up. Both of those will be on the Junior Science shelf. One of my recent purchases was Lyla, the story of the February 22, 2011 Christchurch earthquake from the point of view of a 13-year-old girl. It’s rather weird to read a historical fiction story about an event that I have lived through. Because of where we lived during the Kaikoura earthquake of 2016, I could relate to her feelings, especially to the way she reacted to tremors and even the rumble of trucks afterwards. Despite some language (which I have censored), I found this an engrossing story, and very real.

More new books (no one except Esther and I get excited about book mail–it happens too often)!

Esther was delighted to be able to get this beautiful edition of The Story Girl. It’s hardcover, and the perfect size to hold, and matches some of her other classics.

I found some more Jungle Doctor books. We now have 11 of the chapter books, and two of the picture books. The chapter books are on the Junior Fiction shelf.

I have also been able to read a few more books that I bought in the last several months. These are good enough that I added them to the shelves (there were some that didn’t make the cut, unfortunately, for one reason or another). Goodnight Mister Tom is a heart-wrenching story, set during the London Blitz–but that is not the hard part. The main character is a little boy who had been terribly abused by his mother, and has now been sent to live with a crusty old man whose love died many years ago along with his only child. As with many of the My Story books, Plagues and Federation has some attitudes I don’t care for, but I decided to keep it because it tells of a time and place in history that I had never read about before. This book about William the Conqueror is an amazing glimpse into a time long gone–I learned a lot about that famous man!

Circle of Gold is a beautiful story about a girl’s love for her mother, and about being honest even when it’s very hard to do so. The Dolphin Crossing describes the rescue at Dunkirk, near the beginning of World War II, from the perspective of two boys, one of whom had been evacuated. I loved the way the two boys cared for the mother of the one when she badly needed help. These two books are on the Junior Fiction shelf. Treasures Beneath the Sea was a book I picked up at a local secondhand shop recently. It describes the search for treasures from ships that sank while carrying large amounts of gold. I’ll put it on the Junior History Shelf. Arctic Hero is the amazing story of Matthew Henson, who accompanied Robert Peary to the North Pole; it goes on the Junior Biography shelf. Both of those are the same reading level as our Independent Readers, a step above Easy Readers, for those who are ready for short chapter books. The Secret Three is a delightful story about three boys who created adventure together. It will go to the Easy Reader shelf.

Lisa Settles In is a delightful story about a little girl who moved to a new place and had to figure out how to make friends. She did wrong things a few times, and always made them right. Interestingly, this book was translated into English from some other language! I am placing it on the Independent Readers shelf, for children who have grown past the Easy Readers but are not ready for Junior Fiction yet. Swallows and Amazons is a classic from the 1930s, about a family of children who enjoyed a summer of freedom, camping on an island and sailing a small boat about the lake. It will be on the Junior Fiction shelf.The Red Pony has been on my TBR stack for a long time. It is called a children’s book, but because of the subject matter I’m putting it on the Classics shelf instead. I picked up The Magic School Bus: The Fishy Field Trip because my children enjoy those books. It is a chapter book about the Great Barrier Reef. It would go on the Independent Readers shelf if I didn’t keep the Magic School Bus books together on the Junior Science shelf. Trina is another delightful story of a little girl trying to make friends. Trina and her family are Mexicans, living in a small town in Wyoming because her father works on the railroad. Her problem with making friends is that she can’t speak English, so her father sets to work to help her.

Here are a few more books we bought secondhand, recently. I loved Encyclopedia Brown books when I was young, and my children love them, too, so I was delighted to find two that we didn’t have already–and one of them is hardcover! The two books in the next photo are written with a second-grade reading level, what we here call “Independent Readers.” However, the subject matter is for a much more mature audience, so I decided to put them on the Readers shelf, which is above eye level for most children. They are books that I will offer to mothers who have early-mid teens who struggle with reading. Then there are three hardcovers from the Narnia series that Esther was delighted to find! She will keep them on the Classics shelf.

I also found a copy of Shakespeare’s Globe, a pop-up model of the famous theatre. I’ve seen this in the home of a couple of friends, and thought it would be great to have on hand when we read The Shakespeare Stealer again, so we can see the setting.

We also reread a couple of books that have been on the shelf for many years, which I decided to feature here. We are studying the Reformation for history, and have reached the Anabaptist movement, so I picked out all the books from the shelves that cover that time and had the children choose the ones they wanted me to read aloud. Fire in the Zurich Hills is the story of the first Anabaptist congregation, in a small village near Zurich, Switzerland, in 1525. It really brings the history of that time to life. Not Regina is a fictional story of a young woman who lived near Zurich in 1525 and had to figure out for herself what the truth about the Anabaptists was. Forever With the Lord tells the story of Michael Sattler, one of the early martyrs of the Anabaptist movement.

Esther spent a weekend with some friends, and they all went op shopping together. Esther found these beautiful hardcover copies of the Winnie the Pooh books and Wind in the Willows, and couldn’t resist. Then, she found Tactics, which Elijah had just listened to and decided he want to buy a physical copy of. He was delighted!

We have added a lot of books to the library this month. The first shipment was these two books from The Penderwicks series. We already had book 1, The Penderwicks, and had borrowed all of them from a friend to read together. When I saw them offered for sale, I knew we wanted them! They are on the Junior Fiction shelf.

I managed to read a few more books from my stack in the bedroom that are waiting for a judgment about their worthiness. Esther gave me Climb Every Mountain for my birthday last year. I have been wanting to read it for over 30 years, so I was delighted that she found me a copy! It is an inspiring biography of Paul Brand’s mother. We finished reading Blood on the River last week. It’s not a fun, easy read; the settling of Jamestown was a violent time. However, it’s a good way to learn history. The My Story book about Pompeii is one that I read aloud to my family in one day many years ago, while we shelled four or five bushels of peas one day. It’s another one that is not fun and easy, but true to history. Meet Grace falls into that category, too. It is the story of an orphan girl living in London in the early 1800s who ended up on a convict ship. This book ends with her going on board the ship; there are several more books in the series. It reminded me of the American Girls books, but set in Australia. This is a series I’ll be watching for. All three of these books are going on the Junior Fiction shelf.

Several of us went to town last week. One of the children had a dentist appointment midmorning, so we canceled school for the day and went secondhand shopping after the appointment. Along with some clothing and household items, we found a number of books–of course! These first few pictures are books that the children picked out. Three of the children each chose one book–the Roald Dahl and Encyclopedia Brown books. Miss Joy found five books that she wanted! She loves books, and do you see the common theme in these five books? There are animals on every cover!

Esther found some books she was delighted with. This edition of The Pilgrim’s Progress is easier to read than the other one she has–and it contains both Part 1 and Part 2–and it has illustrations! It joins The Tenant of Wildfell Hall on the Classics shelf. Rosette and the Muddy River is a delightful picture book of a girl and her father. Gospel Patrons is a book that she listened to at some stage, and when she found it in the free box at the Op Shop she grabbed it. I’m not sure yet which shelf it will go on, since I haven’t looked at it. I noticed And the Shofar Blew by Francine Rivers among the books in the shop, and she was delighted to get it for only a couple of dollars to add to her collection by that author, on the Adult Fiction shelf.

And here are the books I found! Pawprints in the Butter is a delightful collection of poetry about cats by a New Zealand author. Drawing books are rarely used here, but occasionally someone gets in the mood to use them and then I’m glad to have a selection on the shelf. Same with the Build it With Boxes book–once in awhile someone finds that kind of book laying around and is inspired. And then there is The Velveteen Rabbit. I got that just because it is a classic. The original publication date is 1922!

Esther went to town with someone. They had car trouble, so decided to go shopping while they waited. She made the mistake of going into the local used book shop, and came out with quite a stack. She was delighted to find hardcover copies of Emma and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. She bought Propeller Island because she wants to read Jules Verne. She’s actually reading a digital copy of The Whisper of Glocken aloud right now, so was surprised and delighted to find a paper copy. She’s also collecting books by the Brontes for our Classics shelf, and we all love Astrid Lindgren. This hardcover of Eric and Karlsson On-the-Roof is a actually a first edition!

Another book she found at the book shop was Jungle Doctor’s Fables. I was tickled that she found a hardcover with the dustcover in such good shape–I wish I had mylar covers to protect it! These books are delightful. I added it to the Junior Fiction shelf.

On the Facebook page from which I buy a lot of books, I found The Animals of Doctor Schweitzer. I remember reading a book about Albert Schweitzer when I was fairly young, and being fascinated by him, but hadn’t read anything else since then. However, when I saw this book, and that it was written by Jean Fritz, I knew it was one I wanted on our shelf! I read it to several of the children while we were traveling, and they all thoroughly enjoyed the antics of some of the animals that Doctor Schweitzer adopted. The illustration, ink drawings, are beautiful. I have placed this one on the Junior Biography shelf.

I also found Lynn Austin’s A Proper Pursuit. Esther has an extensive collection of her books (which she plans to read, someday!), and she didn’t have this one yet, so she was delighted to get it. It will be on the Adult Fiction shelf. Starting Strong was also listed that day. We used to have this one, but I hadn’t kept it during one of our moves. However, I was considering buying it again from Sonlight Curriculum to go along with the next level I plan to go through with one of my girls, so decided to get it while it was being offered for a fraction of the new price. It goes on the Junior Theology shelf with the other devotional books for children.

Another book I found on the Facebook page was All Through the Ages. I have a weakness for book lists. This one has some very interesting articles about historical trivia sprinkled throughout, along with lists of books for each time period or geographical region. It goes on the School Shelf.

I also purchased a few books for the New Zealand shelves. All About New Zealand Machines and Inventions is nearly a history of New Zealand in itself. At Home in the Bush is basically a field guide of plants and trees. A Children’s Guide to the Common Insects & Garden Animals of New Zealand is just what it sounds like–a field guide! It’s good to have these on hand for those times when someone needs to identify something–right now!

I took the children to a small secondhand shop while we were in town one day. My 5-year-old spotted a children’s cookbook, and requested that I buy it for her. That’s the kind of request I can’t bring myself to deny, so it came home with us. It’s on the Cookbooks Shelf.

I read several books from my stack in the bedroom that are waiting to be screened before going on the shelves. Trapped on Devil’s Peak is one from a series I’ve been seeing for a number of years; in fact, we have two of the books in the series in our Kindle library. I’ve never read them, though, and didn’t get around to reading the one I checked out from the local library. So, when I bought a print copy recently, I made a point to read it so I would know what this Christian series, set in New Zealand, is like. And what do I think? It’s rather melodramatic. My sons would not like it because it is unrealistic (a live volcano near Nelson? really?). I can see a lot of other boys loving it, though, as well as girls; the protagonists are two boys and two girls. For people who want high adventure with Christian values, this is a great choice. Just don’t expect realism!

My next read was also set partly in New Zealand. Beyond the Narrows features two boys and a girl traveling from England to New Zealand on a ship (date not specified, but flying was common, and the book was published in 1985. This one turns out to be sci-fi, involving experimental gene therapy. The New Zealand setting of the story is Fiordland, near Te Anau, and is depicted pretty accurately. I normally don’t like sci-fi, but this style suits me. One thing I liked was the friendship that was shown here between the children, and how they worked together, and how the father of two of them was involved in the action. Both of these books have found homes on the New Zealand Fiction Shelf.

I picked The Freedom Machine up at a secondhand shop recently, when I recognized the author after having just purchased two of her other books (mentioned in last month’s post). This isn’t a great story, but good enough to stay on the shelf. It is set in Scotland, and the main character runs away from home with his bicycle to get away from the aunt he can’t stand. He meets up with several (very plausible) adventures, makes a new friend, and learns a lot about friendship, family relationships, and love. The biggest thing I didn’t like was the two times he thought he saw a ghost, which could easily be chalked up to imagination. He spends a lot of time talking to his bicycle, and the bicycle talks back to him–but that is obviously imagination, as well. I put this on the Junior Fiction Shelf.

One of the children chose We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea for me to read aloud. We really enjoyed it! It is a great story of resourcefulness, and of children doing their best to honor their parents, even though they ended up doing the opposite of what their mother wanted (they had no choice in the matter). I also liked Land of Promise. The My Story books are a mixed bag. Some are really good, and some have bad attitudes on the part of the children who are the main characters. This one describes the trip by ship from England to New Zealand, and then the early days of the settlement of Wellington. I really liked the way the history was presented. This book will reside on the New Zealand Fiction shelf.

I also read The Wind Blows Free. It’s a lovely story of a family pioneering in the Texas Panhandle. The main character is the oldest daughter, 14 years old when they moved there from East Texas in 1893. She could hardly wait until she turned 16 and would be able to go back to attend a finishing school–but something happened to her during that two years of living where the wind was always blowing. This book is a wonderful addition to our Young Adult Fiction shelf.

When I saw a friend advertising her copy of Trim Healthy Mama Plan, I decided to get it. I have the original Trim Healthy Mama book, but decided this would be a good book to have on the Health Shelf.

A friend who is a frequent patron of the library donated two books to us. I love the beautiful illustrations in Mr. Lincoln’s Boys! We have a number of picture book biographies now on the Junior Biography Shelf. The Companion Library book with Gulliver’s Travels and Treasure Island makes a wonderful addition to the Classics Shelf.

I visited a new bookstore, Pure Books, in Timaru that some friends of mine opened last year. I bought several books there. God’s Missionary caught my eye because I have always been fascinated with the story of Thomas–and a picture book about him? Yes, please! I shelved it with the Junior Biographies. I bought The Fortunate Ones because I already have the first three books in the series, and have borrowed the fourth one from a friend, so when I had the chance to buy the fifth I did. This one goes on the New Zealand Fiction shelf.

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!