Monday, January 13, 2014

What We're Reading :: Post-Christmas Edition

Me:
Anthony Esolen's Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child (yes, still savoring slowly--I'm literally reading a page or two a day!)
Charlotte Mason's Home Education series (started Volume 6, which I'll be working through for the New Year)
Laurie Bestvater's The Living Page (just started this one after succumbing and ordering it for myself)

With the children:
Dr. Dolittle, on audiobook, read by Roy Trumbell via archive.org
Anne Eaton Parker's The Animals' Carol and Phyllis McGinley's A Wreath of Christmas Legends (both wonderful Christmas poetry/story compilations)

Gianna, age 7:
Lucy Perkins' The Italian Twins and The Swiss Twins (she's making her way through them all on the Kindle)
Opal Wheeler's Mozart, the Wonder Boy (which she gave a fabulous spontaneous narration of to me this week!)
Nesbit's The Phoenix and the Carpet and The Story of the Amulet (sequels to Five Children and It, which we listened to on audio last month)
Rumer Godden's The Holly and the Ivy (she got her own copy from Grandma for Christmas)

Vincent, age 7:
Windeatt's St. Paul the Apostle (his Sunday reading)
Eleanor Estes' The Sleeping Giant (finishing up the Estes binge they have been having)
Ralph Boggs' Three Golden Oranges and Other Spanish Folk Tales
Steele's The Perilous Road (he got his own copy from Grandma for Christmas--one of his very favorites)

To the littles:
Museum ABC and Eloise Wilkins' Christmas ABC (4yo Cate's current favorites--someone is learning to read and a bit obsessed with letters!)
Burton's Calico the Wonder Horse and Leaf and Lawson's The Story of Ferdinand (3yo Xavier's current favorites--apparently he is in a black-and-white phase)
"More More More" Said the Baby and Pienkowski's The First Christmas (2yo Bridget's current favorites)

And to share some of the Christmas haul:
I usually stash away (mostly used but new-to-us) books here and there throughout the year and then gift a pile to each child for Christmas, depending on their age and particular interests.  If you knew my children, you could tell right away whose is whose!  :)  Here are some of the gems we wrapped up for them this year:

For Vincent

For Gianna

For Cate
For Xavier
For Bridget (and Baby Clara)

Do you see any special favorites?  Gianna got a lovely cloth-bound copy of Just-So Stories to replace the banged-up paperback version we used in Year 1, and Vincent got a nice hardback of The King of the Golden River, which we borrowed from the library for free reading last year.  And we gave Cate a few of my favorite Neumann Press titles for littles that I had set aside since summer--she adores that wee missal.  

So what are you all reading at the start of this new year?  

2 comments:

  1. I have slowly been reading through "The Ten Way..." also. I can only do a few pages at a time and then have to reread. I love the idea of collecting stacks of books for Christmas, might even have to add daddy's name to the list! I have a 6 year old who just finished reading her 1st chapter book so the excitement level is high and everyone is carrying around books! Love it.

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    1. I forgot to take a photo of my husband's stack, but yes, I try to do one for him as well! He's not a reader himself, but he *loves* reading picture books to the kids. So when I see nice hardcover copies of favorites of his or when I'm able to snag our own copy of one he usually has me check out of the library for him to read, I gift those to him. :) This year, he got a few hardcovers of the Little House picture books that I got used online. He also likes Richard Scarry, Eric Carle, Byron Barton...It's fun to make a little pile for him as well, as he don't really exchange gifts otherwise. :)

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