Books to Inspire, Thrill and Engage Children
The friendship between General George Washington & the Marquis de Lafayette is legendary. Author Selene Castrovilla tells the story of their first meeting in Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette. She starts at the moment Lafayette is in City Tavern in Philadelphia, ready to meet his hero, George Washington. She then... Continue Reading →
Boys have always been attached to their dogs. And Great-Grandfather was attached to Three Names, so called because everyone in the family had a different name for him. Three Names by Patricia MacLachlan isn't so much about the relationship between Great-Grandfather and Three Names, as it is about Three Names being a part of Great-Grandfather's... Continue Reading →
I almost squealed with delight when I discovered Hattie Ever After, the sequel to Kirby Larson's Hattie Big Sky. Of course, I immediately came home and devoured it, I was so anxious to find out what happens to Hattie after she leaves Montana. I appreciated Larson's treatment of Hattie - even though she loves a... Continue Reading →
Children ready for short chapter books will enjoy the I Survived... books by Lauren Tarshis (the author of Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree). These action-packed adventures tell the story of a child, usually a boy, who has survived a catastrophe - like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, 2005 Hurricane Katrina, etc. The stories... Continue Reading →
Unspoken, A Story from the Underground Railroad, a picture book by Henry Cole, is an unusual book. First, Cole illustrated it with graphite illustrations - no color on the page, except the ocher yellow of the paper itself. While a tad plain, Cole's drawings are striking - full of detail and emotion which draw the... Continue Reading →
Action. Adventure. And a female protagonist!? Yes! Bird McGill has always wanted to fly an airplane. Her current obsession is a P-40 Warhawk, the plane the US is flying when it first enters World War II. Born to Fly by Michael Ferrari tells Bird's story of not fitting in with the other girls, of finding... Continue Reading →
Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting tells the story of Marianne, a young girl heading West on the Orphan Train. Her mother left her at the orphanage years earlier, promising to come for her after she had made a home for them out west. She never came back. Marianne is convinced her mother will meet... Continue Reading →
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 →
Have you ever wondered why? When studying the American Revolution, I often wondered, Why did Benedict Arnold betray his country? If you have shared my curiosity, one of my favorite authors, Jean Fritz, has written a fascinating biography of him: Traitor: The Case of Benedict Arnold. From Fritz's research, it seems Arnold has a forceful... 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 