Books to Inspire, Thrill and Engage Children
We have often teased our children about boxing them up and sending them to visit their grandparents via the post office. These conversations usually happen when they are missing their grandparents and we have no immediate plans to visit them. In Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell, that is exactly what happened! Little May wanted... Continue Reading →
Personally, I'm not a huge fan of holiday books - except a few select Thanksgiving & Christmas books. But at my local library I found a Valentine's Day book I really enjoyed. I have always enjoyed Nate the Great, the star of short mysteries for children learning to read. Nate the Great and the Mushy... Continue Reading →
Greenhorn by Anna Olswanger is a deceptively small, short book. Although it has pictures on almost every page, and the story is short, it's topic is rather heavy. Aaron is a student at a yeshiva in New York in 1946. His classmates and he are asked to welcome nearly two dozen boys from Poland who... Continue Reading →
Children just beginning to read will greatly enjoy reading any Elephant and Piggie book by Mo Willems - and better yet, their parents will enjoy listening to them! Mo Willems has a great sense of humor, which comes out in all his books. I reviews his Pigeon books earlier, but felt that the Elephant and... Continue Reading →
Rosalind wonders again and again, "How can kindness get you into so much trouble?" Her father is away at war, and her mother is sick, so Rosalind is left on her own. Well, not exactly her own. There are always plenty of servants around her house in British India. She gets rather tired of hanging... Continue Reading →
My family first discovered The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop as an audio book. We listened to it in the van, as we drove to church, on errands or trips. We all loved it. William does not want Mrs. Phillips to leave. His British housekeeper is going home to England after living with... Continue Reading →
I've never enjoyed ice skating - too cold of a sport for me. But reading Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed almost makes me want to skate. A cross between a picture book, a novella and a memoir, Twelve Kinds of Ice builds the anticipation for all the different kinds of ice for... Continue Reading →
Mitali Perkins takes readers to Bangladesh in her novella Rickshaw Girl. Naima is an artist. She loves to create the traditional designs the girls in her country create for special celebrations. But one day her artistry is thwarted when she sees how hard her father works, and feels sad she can do nothing to help... Continue Reading →
Johnny Tott knows that Kaspar is a special cat. He traveled to London's Savoy Hotel with his owner, a Russian opera singer. Johnny gets to know and admire Kaspar as he gets to know and admire his owner, the opera singer. But when tragedy befalls the singer, Johnny decides to care for Kaspar. Then Kaspar... Continue Reading →
Emmy loves her life in Illinois. She lives close by her grandparents, she helps her mother with the quilting bees, tying off the women's threads (which she doesn't enjoy as much), and she lives in a comfortable farmhouse. But Emmy's pa isn't so happy. He's just home from a trip west to the booming state... Continue Reading →
Cultivating Readers 