I recently had the pleasure of reading
Sanditon (which I have finally figured out is pronounced San- DEE-ton). This book is most interesting because the first eleven chapters were written by Jane Austen and were left as an unfinished manuscript at the time of her death. From what I gathered by researching on the Internet just how to pronounce this title ( I kept calling it SAND- i-ton and it sounded ridiculous), there are quite a few people who have used the original manuscript and then finished it as they saw fit. I thoroughly enjoyed this story about a group of young single folks of marriageable age who are staying at a seaside resort in England owned by a family which most of them are acquainted with. There are innocent flirtations and misunderstandings written in beautiful dialogue. The characters, who were almost all introduced in the original Austen work, really came to life! I would like to find this book finished by another author to compare it with this wonderful version.
I purchased and read this book
Christopher A Novel by David Athey which is about a young guy who meets three different young women as he goes through Middle, High School and beyond who all happen to be practicing Catholics. It describes the influences their consecutive friendships have upon him as he becomes a man. His own parents are ex-Hippies and it is so funny to see how the author treats their ideas as so dated and passe' because I remember when Hippies were up to the minute- but that was at least 40 years ago! The first girl he meets has a grandfather who lives with her family who is a scholar and has an extensive library that Christopher borrows books from. The second girl is a musician who sings "praise music"; the main character is also a guitarist. The third girl is kind of a punk rocker. with modern ideas. This was an entertaining read about this young man's search for a meaningful spirituality and he eventually realizes that he is in love and proposes to one of these young women.
Catholic Philosopher Chick Makes Her Debut is written by Rebecca Bratten Weiss and co- authored by someone that I have read a great many books by, Regina Doman . This story is about two subjects that I know NOTHING about, St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica and the world of fashionable clothing! A former fashion writer from NYC becomes a Catholic and enrolls in Graduate School at Dominican University of Houston (I don't know if this is a real or mythical school!). She takes a high level seminar on The Summa with seven guys and a fantastic professor. The book talks a lot about the "arguments" or points that she and her philosophy classmates discuss and study. It is also very funny because she talks about the guys in class and what they are like as well as a few close girl friends that she meets on campus. She LOVES clothes and changes at least twice a day. These outfits, including shoes, are described in detail. Even the men are very well dressed in tailored clothing from many name brands and designers, most of which I have never heard of! In this case I had no idea how completely ignorant I was about these topics so it was something new to be exposed to.
The last book I read is
Ginny's Gems 10 Essentials for Teaching Your Preschooler at Home written by Ginny Seuffert. I have heard Ginny speak at countless homeschooling conferences and she is HILARIOUS to listen to. She discusses old-school child-rearing methods with absolute common sense. She stated that if a mother knows her colors and shapes, she can teach her 3-5 year old everything they need to know without sending them out to a fancy preschool. One idea that I gleaned from this was that the best way to enlarge a child's vocabulary is to break things down into parts when you talk about them. A tree has roots and branches, leaves, twigs, bark etc... A car has wheels, tires, a windshield, a hood, engine and trunk. This made sense to me but I had never thought of it before!
One of our Read- Alouds this spring was
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater, illustrated by Michael Emberley. This book was written in 1938 and is a Newberry Honor Book. It has recently been republished because of the movie based on it that came out in the last year or so. We have never seen the movie but the book was terrific. It was about an under- employed house painter who is obsessed with Arctic expeditions and is sent at first one penguin and then a companion for it. Before you know it, the penguin couple hatches ten eggs and a touring performing act is born! The kids really enjoyed this classic.
Our next Read-Aloud was
Twenty and Ten written by Claire Huchet Bishop and illustrated by William Pene DuBois. I have owned this book for many years but had never read it. I've seen it on a few "suggested" reading lists for kids and thought we would try it. It is very short, only 76 pages. This story takes place during the Nazi invasion of France at a boarding school for twenty children run by only one nun. One day, ten Jewish children who are hiding from the Nazi's arrive through the woods . The children and their teacher take them in and share their meager food resources with them.The kids happen to discover an underground shallow cave on the school property and this comes in handy for the refugees to hide in while the Nazi's search the school. All ends well for the generous and discreet children as no one divulges the Jewish children's presence even under heavy questioning.
Today we finished
Gone-Away Lake written by Elizabeth Enright. It was fantastic! This was also a Newberry Honor Book which means that it was in the running for "Best Children's Book of the Year" when it was published. I read this book to myself a couple of years ago and I enjoyed it just as much the second time while reading it to the kids. It is an adventure story about a couple of cousins who discover during their summer vacation a nearby forgotten town that once bordered a lake which is now just a swamp. Best of all, an elderly brother and sister still live there and are delighted to meet the children who come every day to visit them. The senior citizens are very spry and resourceful and live in a very old fashioned way still wearing the outdated clothing that they owned from long ago and basically live completely " off the grid" as one would say these days. The children bring back many memories for them as they discover the old places that the seniors played in when they were children. This book is well written and was great fun to share.
Sam has been reading
a long way gone written by an African
man
, Ishmael Beah
, who describes in detail the civil wars in his country and how the brutal killers who decimated his own and countless other innocent villages turned him and his friends into "child soldiers"
who then killed many other people. He escaped from this lifestyle and has been in the United States rehabilitating. He is an excellent writer and the prose is very well expressed. Sam was having trouble keeping up with this story even though he reads very well out loud until he checked the audio version out of the school library. He now puts the CD on and reads along with it while following in the book. It seems to pace him and keep him going. I think he was getting distracted and off track while reading to himself. He has to wear earphones because this has some violent sections and I don't want the younger kids to hear it. I have read about seven chapters so far and it is so scary to think that this could happen here.
John thoroughly enjoyed
The Mysterious Benedict Society written by Trenton Lee Stewart. I read this book about two years ago and laughed throughout it because it is so clever and funny. I knew that John would love it and it pleased me that indeed, he did ! To paraphrase the book cover, this story is about four very intelligent children who volunteer to go out on a special mission that challenges their resourcefulness and ability to work together, each one using his own specific skills. This book allows the reader to also be clever in figuring out the clues and riddles! There are two more books in this series about the same group of kids that John will be borrowing from his cousin Luke who owns them! Good literature for young people is wonderfully entertaining and it is one of my favorite genres.
Miss J. has been on a Horsey book kick reading Mustang in the Midst by Ben M. Baglio and Summer Horse by Bonnie Bryant of the Saddle Club series. She likes to read in the evenings in her bed and is allowed to do so until she gets tired and then turns her light out and goes to sleep.
That is a synopsis of the books we have been reading this Spring. I know that you might be thinking, "It must be nice to have time to read..."
To which I respond, "It is!!!"
