Book Reviews
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
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never and always . . . words on parenting
In one of their songs, the Wood Brothers sing a lyric that says, “Sometimes I feel like I’m never and always alone.” In some ways, I think that’s the anthem of motherhood, particularly for the mother of young children. You’re never actually alone. Fingertips are reaching under the door of the bathroom, for the love. And yet the early years of motherhood can be some of the loneliest years of a mom’s life. You remain unconvinced that anyone else really understands how hard it is to begin (and to lose) a battle with a toddler or to negotiate snack time or to change eighty bazillion diapers or to read…
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Love Him Anyway: A Book Review and a Blog Tour
It was a first for me. An unsolicited invitation in my email inbox. “Would you like to read this book and review it?” I think I might have said yes just based on the sheer novelty for me of the question. Also, I like reading books and I already write frequent reviews for what I pick up from the library book shelf on my own. So this seemed like a perfect opportunity. The publisher is local and the author has local ties as well. (And you all know how I feel about local.) As it turns out, it was actually a little more than just a request to read…
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Five Finds Friday (a homemade hamburger bun and a novel thrice read)
It’s been one of those weeks that has been both filled and empty. Both speedy and long. And now it’s over. (This week, I mean.) FUNNY You can have two funnies this week. Buy one get one free. The Lego Batman movie. It was indeed rather hilarious – even to a non-cartoon fan such as myself. And the second funny — In our small group this week there was a neat activity where everyone had a piece of paper with their name on it. The paper was passed around and everyone had a chance to write encouraging words or a sweet sentiment for that person on their…
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Raymie Nightingale: A Book Review
Kate DiCamillo. It’s a name in children’s literature that you can count on. So many of my favorites have been penned by her hand. (I read that DiCamillo faithfully writes five pages five days a week. I feel so undisciplined, Ive wasted forty three years already. How many pages would that have been? Someone do the math for me so I can feel worse about my unproductively.) Because of Winn-Dixie. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Flora and Ulysses. The Tale of Desperaux. The Magician’s Elephant. Tiger Rising. The Mercy Watson series. (You guys, have you read Edward Tulane? My word. It’s beautiful.) Raymie Nightingale was sitting on the…
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Things to Say to a Dead Man: A Book Review
It probably wasn’t the best book to pick up post midnight when the sleeplessness was taking over. The name of the author had drawn me in when I saw the little collection of poems. Jane Yolen has been a favorite children’s author in our family for years. She’s written young adult historical fiction we have enjoyed – a book about the holocaust whose name is currently slipping my mind. She’s written dozens of children’s books we check out over and over again at the library. All of those great dinosaur books about manners, books about birds and so many more. I don’t think I was even aware…
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Brown Girl Dreaming: A Book Review
For the longest time I’ve noticed a poster hanging on the end of the shelves at our local library. It featured the novel Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. While the kids search for their allowed number of books on our library visits, I sometimes peruse the cookbook shelves or the poetry shelves. I scan the non fiction children’s section looking for a title that might fit what we are already studying. I grab a few books from the easy readers section for Otto and Piper. As I was walking around and adding interesting choices to my bag, my eyes fell on Brown Girl Dreaming on the shelf,…
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Uncle Sam and You: A Timberdoodle Review
I’ve always enjoyed our Ambleside and Charlotte Mason inspired history “curriculum”, which is actually not a traditional curriculum at all, but a guided list of non text book readings about history and historical characters. The past two years we have enjoyed the whole family approach of the Simply Charlotte Mason history guides. I admit, I did find myself a little nervous when I found myself staring at the trio of middle schoolers and wondering if we had studied history “enough”. Pretty sure this is a common homeschooling parent’s fear and, although it plagues me from time to time, it is not one that rests too heavily for too long…
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The Excellent Lombards: A Book Review
Sometimes a book finds you. It’s been a while since I finished a novel purely for pleasure. I’ve been reading novels for Book Club and non fiction books for teaching and learning and whatnot, but I have been missing just reading for fun – the kind of reading I encourage my children to do every day. Our town’s library has a shelf with new releases. It’s a shelf I usually veer away from as the new releases are due to be returned in 14 days or less. Which might seem like a perfectly reasonable request to perfectly reasonable people. Of whom I am not. Jane Hamilton’s name popped out…
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Doodle Lit: A Timberdoodle Review
Oh you guys, this book hits on all the fun things for me. My favorite parts of homeschool. It’s called Doodle Lit and it comes in Timberdoodle’s 8th Grade Curriculum Kit or you can buy it solo on their website as well. It’s a pretty straightforward book that is a fun take on literature. Lots of classic authors are included – Mark Twain, Shakespeare, Charlotte Bronte, Herman Melville, Jane Austen and so many more. For each author there is a cleverly drawn portrait of that author and then a handful of pages for your student to doodle, draw or create in unique and interesting ways. …
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Five Finds Friday (incredible sauce & lifetime friendships)
FUNNY Our world is full of funny things. Outside of a store in our little downtown I saw this mannequin with this name tag. FASHIONABLE You don’t have to wear all of your fashion, now – do you? Whatever. I’ll share what I feel like here. I make the rules. (In this tiny square footage, that is. Just here. I make the rules right here. It’s tiny, but it’s mine.) My friend Beth (who named my bag Sean Penn) is a super talented artist and probably a super talented nurse. I say probably because I’ve seen Beth’s art. Her nursing – well, I’ve never been…
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Teaching From Rest: A Book Review
Sarah Mackenzie. Mother. Writer. Homeschooler. Blogger. Speaker. Etc. She’s like the homeschool mom I would want to be if I wasn’t already the homeschool mom I actually am. (What I really mean by that is — I really like so much about Sarah Mackenzie and what I read and hear from her. Our styles (and some of our weaknesses) align well and I find her inspiring and interesting. I also want to be free from comparing myself to other women so in my effort to NOT compare, I want to say – I’m fine with me – but I really like Sarah Mackenzie’s words and writings and thoughts.) My friend…
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Book Review: Homecoming
There are some characters in novels that stick with you all of your life. Do you know what I mean? We all remember Ramona Quimby – right? People fall in love with Harry Potter and Frodo and Lucy Pevensie. Maybe you can’t forget Oliver Twist or that one big guy in Of Mice and Men. I remember a girl named Dicey as if we were next door neighbors or first cousins. She and her siblings are the main characters in a book series by Cynthia Voight. The first novel is Homecoming and the storyline shocked me as a kid and stuck right in my gut somewhere and I’ve never forgotten…
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For the Love: A(n audio) Book Review
So all of my friends are going to stop talking to me soon because I say the name “Jen Hatmaker” too often in conversation lately. For years I’ve told myself that I don’t have time to listen to audio books just for me or to listen to podcasts just for grown ups. And for years that’s kind of been true. But lately, as my Littles morph into Bigs, I find myself here and there standing in the kitchen alone. Folding laundry in the bedroom by myself. Baking cookies when no one else is around. How did this happen? I don’t know. They tell me it will keep happening more and…
