Books to Inspire, Thrill and Engage Children
The Granddaughter Necklace by Sharon Dennis Wyeth is loosely based upon a necklace handed down from her grandmother. She imagined it had been handed down from the most distant relation she was able to find - a woman who had immigrated to America from Ireland. Instead of starting with Frances, the most distant relative, Wyeth... Continue Reading →
The cover illustration of children riding stone winged lions through the air caught my attention. It looked interesting - and unusual. And Through the Skylight by Ian Baucom certainly was both interesting and unusual. Set in modern-day Venice, siblings Jared, Shireen and Miranda are stuck exploring every. single. art. exhibit. in this Italian city. Their... Continue Reading →
A fairy tale written by George MacDonald, The Light Princess has echos of Sleeping Beauty - a forgetful king does not invite a guest he should have invited to his daughter's christening. But there the similarities end. The king forgets to invite his own spiteful, but terribly clever, sister. She comes anyway. In her clever... Continue Reading →
Most people are familiar with the American folk song, Yankee Doodle: Yankee Doodle went to town, riding on a pony... (Are you singing it now?) Even if you're not familiar with the song, you'll enjoy reading Tom Angleberger's book Crankee Doodle. In this picture book, the soldier of the American Revolution is - you guessed... Continue Reading →
If you have only heard of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, but haven't read any of their stories, please do! You don't need to read the original stories in the ancient English. Gerald Morris has done a great job of retelling the old stories for modern ears. The stories are a... Continue Reading →
Hillary is an ordinary girl, living an ordinary life - until her neighbor Sara-Kate tells her elves have built a village in her backyard. Could it be true? Hillary isn't sure, but the idea of elves is too interesting to ignore. So against the advice of her friends at school, Hillary ventures through the backyard... Continue Reading →
Some of my kids are afraid to attend the public schools because they've read so much about bullies. It doesn't matter what I say, what their public-schooled siblings say - they have seared into their brains the stories they've read or listened to about bullies at school. Bully by Laura Vaccaro Seeger will be a... Continue Reading →
You know you have found an excellent book when everyone in your family loves it - including your 15-year-old and your husband who doesn't enjoy listening to audio books. My 10-year-old picked out A Whole Nother Story by Dr. Cuthbert Soup to listen to in the van. The children and I keep an audio book... Continue Reading →
I just realized that I've been writing book reviews for nearly three years and have not written anything about one of my favorite series of all time - The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis. Perhaps it goes without saying, except it's worth saying again, how delightful these books are. Originally, The Lion, the Witch... Continue Reading →
My cousin is having a baby, and instead of cards they requested that we give books. I scoured my shelves, looking at the board books and picture books I had saved from when my children were tiny. Of course I couldn't find a single book I could give up! In my scouring, I came across... Continue Reading →
Cultivating Readers 