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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English Teachers Ruin Literature
English teachers ruin literature. It’s a bold claim, I know. I used to be an English teacher. Well. I still am an English teacher. I’ve been guilty of this. We ruin good literature. We put books that are inappropriate for their age or for their life experience into students’ hands and command, “read“. That’s the first offense. And the second offense? Oh – I think it is even worse. We talk about the books to death. We tell them (gasp!) what the author meant! We tell them what to think about Jane Eyre’s escape from Mr. Rochester. We tell them why Virginia Woolf uses imagery. We tell them so much…
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Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution — Book Review
Reading is a cornerstone to our school here. (Speaking of school – did I ever share a photo of Riley’s diploma? Someone somehow remind me to do that one day. Kevin did a fabulous job on it – it looks like a lovely work of art. And the official name on the official document? After much deliberation and various suggestions, we landed on Wildwood Halls of Ivy.) But back to my original subject. Reading. With Ambleside Online, assigned read-alouds make up a large portion of our curriculum base. This term our history focus has been the Revolutionary War period and the beginning of democracy in America. We’ve read through Natalie…
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Book Club: Island of the Blue Dolphins
Book Club. I’ve been loving it since it began. February brought us Island of the Blue Dolphins. I think Scott O’Dell should have put the author’s notes in the front of the novel this time instead of the back. It wasn’t until after I read the entire book that I realized that the fascinating story was based on true events. This was the first novel that London, Mosely and I each read separately. London first. Mosely second. Me third. Surprisingly, London was a big fan. She actually discussed this book on her own, pre-book club. (She reads books and usually responds with – “it wasn’t my favorite”.)…
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book reviews, other blogs, helping hands
I’ve been singing the praises of our favorite children’s museum for as long as we’ve been living in South Carolina. We’ve been visiting Hands On! with friends and alone for years now. And I’ve often joked that they should pay me to support them. In fact, I make that joke a lot with any company/brand/organization of which I am overly fond. (Keen. Nalgene bottles. You name it.) But this time, my joke is sort of working out. I’ve been partnering with Hands On! since February to help promote the museum through social media. (Yep – be my pal and hop over to their Facebook page and like them. And, if…
Keep Reading . . .
Five Finds Friday (a lot of Otto and a little about a pipe bursting, also a bit about grilled cheese sandwiches)
an ode to not making time to write: and it’s not okay
five finds friday (shower curtains, carnitas, earrings and how I’m either denying reality or crying – so little in between)
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Book Review: The Help
So I’m late to the party. I just finished reading Kathryn Stockett’s novel The Help. I know, I know already. It’s a movie. It’s in the theatre right now. Oh well, I’ve never been a bandwagon girl. Everyone knows that – right? So maybe I put off reading the book until now. (Actually, I never heard of the book until after it became a movie so I really never made a conscious choice about it in any direction at all.) One sentence: I adored this novel. It made me cry. And maybe I am a glutton for punishment – that is possible – but I love a book that makes…
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Henry Huggins: A Book Review
Aren’t there just a few authors from back in the day that just seem to stick? A few names that everyone was reading in fourth grade? I don’t know who your names were, but a few of mine were Judy Blume, Cynthia Voigt and Beverly Cleary. Beverly Cleary created that pesky little icon Ramona. The kids and I have listened to loads of tales from Ramona while traveling in the car. For school Bergen Hawkeye and I read out loud to one another from various books. We take turns reading each paragraph. (I love hearing his inflection and watching him laugh when he gets a written joke. Plus, I am…
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Mozart – The Wonder Child: A Book Review
The School of Keigley is back in session. (And we still need a better name I think. It just hasn’t been a priority.) I know I’ve mentioned that we use Ambleside Online as our primary curriculum guide. Each year we study three composers. (One per twelve-week term.) Last year one of our three guys was Beethoven. (Remember London’s terrific artwork?) And this year we kick it off with Mozart. We listen to Mozart and we try to read a handful of books about the composer – if they’re available. And it’s often pretty hard to locate great kid reading material about dead composers that doesn’t read as if it’s dead…
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Book Review: Bird by Bird
It has been over a month or two since I have finished any book my hands have touched, not counting novels the children and I are reading for school. So it is with great enthusiasm that I announce, I have finally completed Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. This was a book that everyone in the world seemed to know about except me. And when I was amongst writing folk and mentioned that I had never read this work, I was treated as if I earned my degree from Sears Roebuck or from a dude named Cappy’s. After cracking this book open and spending the…
Keep Reading . . .
tuck in
from the cabin: Bergen Hawkeye at Lost Valley
When Buying Local Is So Cute
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The Burgess Animal Book For Children: A Book Review
The majority of books that I read to the kids for school purposes come from a list on Ambleside Online – our primary homeschool curriculum source. Last year we read Thornton W. Burgess’ Bird Book for Children so I was already familiar with this author’s style. Burgess creates animal characters and a storyline for his creatures. In The Burgess Animal Book for Children the woodland animals gather each morning to attend school with Old Mother Nature, who serves as the teacher for both the animals in her school and for the readers of the novel. Each of the forty chapters covers several animals in the same family group and describes the habits and characteristics…
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The King’s Christmas List: A Book Review
After I finished reading and reviewing Dave Ramsey’s The Money Answer Book, I hopped on over to booksneeze and had them send me another little tome to ponder. This time it was a children’s book entitled The King’s Christmas List by Eldon Johnson. Even holding the book in my hand, I felt like it was going to be a hard sell kind of book. 1. It is published by Tommy Nelson. 2. It is promoted on the back cover by blood:water mission and World Vision. I really wanted to like this children’s story about a little girl offering true and pure gifts to a king. I mean, the gold sticker…
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Dave Ramsey’s The Money Answer Book: A Book Review
(Above you will see the progression of my attitude toward the book I am holding and am currently reviewing now. It’s okay if you laugh. In fact, please do.) Let me tell you what I know about Dave Ramsey. His face is plastered on a huge billboard I drive by at least weekly. He’s grinning on the sign but I always feel as if he is shouting at me and judging me and that he somehow knows the amount of money I waste on Tostitos. My friend Nate Rector thinks Dave Ramsey’s pretty great and even loaned us a gargantuan set of Dave Ramsey cds for our listening pleasure. I…
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Book Review: A Year Without “Made In China”
Remember that sweet adventure I was able to take with Beth? I brought a book with me. Because I thought I might actually be able to read it. And – you know what? I did read it. I really did. It literally jumped out at me from the library’s shelf. I was looking for a novel – some escapist literature, if you will, for an escapist trip. But I picked up Sara Bongiorni’s A Year Without “Made in China” instead. In the end, I am really glad I did. Bongiorni is a reporter and a mother and a label checker. She and her husband made jokes for years about the…
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Crazy Love: The Book Review
I’m not a bandwagon girl. I’m more of a if-everyone-likes-something-then-maybe-I-won’t-like-it-just-to-be-different girl. (I’m not saying that’s a good thing. It probably isn’t.) That tendency, however, explains the reason why I am just now finishing Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love. It was really popular. Last year. So I didn’t want to read it last year. I think there’s a reason why I read it now, instead of then. The full title is Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. And I have been discovering something about God’s pursuit. Because God works like that – you know? I had to plow through the first sixty pages or so before I was involved in…
