Friday, March 6, 2015

What We're Reading :: Almost Spring

Me:
Hound of Heaven at My Heels: The Lost Diary of Francis Thompson (February book club selection--perfect for Lent!)
Wendell Berry's New Collected Poems (one a night, before bed)
Rumer Godden's The River (picked it back up after a hiatus and finished it up)
Goudge's Pilgrim's Inn (just started)

Vincent, age 8:
Henry's King of the Wind (an AO free read)
Dalgliesh's The Bears on Hemlock Mountain (another AO free read)
Lofting's The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle (a re-re-re-read)

Gianna, age 8:
Masefield's The Midnight Folk (from the Mater Amabilis reading list)
Wilder's Farmer Boy (reading to Cate)
Caddie Woodlawn's Family (a re-read after reading the series a few months ago)

Cate, age 6:
Still working through If I Were Going, a vintage reader from my mom's childhood

To the Big Kids:
Wilder's Little House in Town (on audio read by Cherry Jones, which I've mentioned before)
Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince (an AO Year 3.5 free read)
DeJong's The Wheel on the School (the last of our AO Year 3 free reads)
Marigold Hunt's St. Patrick's Summer (our Lenten reading together)

To the Kindergartener:
Neumann Press' Saints for Girls (such a sweet compilation)
Dobbs' More Upon-a-Time Stories (though the big kids like this one better than she does)

To the Littles:
Margaret Hodges' The Kitchen Knight (4yo Xavier's current favorite)
Baby Farm Animals, illustrated by Garth Williams (3yo Bridget's current favorite)
Museum ABC and Museum 123 (2yo Clara's current favorite--my kindergartener can "read" these to her and does very often!)

More for our shelves:
A few used gems in the mail and a few from the library bookstore...


A couple of these will make their way into Easter baskets, and a couple already have a home on our shelves. :)  What have you and your kids been reading lately?

13 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for always posting your kids' readings. My oldest (year 3) is becoming a stronger reader, so I like to know what other books might be good ones to use for "practice", aside from the listed AO readings, of course! He just finished a book by Ann Martin called "A Dog's Life: An Autobiography of a Stray". He really enjoyed it. It was a mixture of sad and happy parts. He read "The Bears on Hemlock Mountain" awhile back and loved that one :-)

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    1. I'll have to look that one up! My son is crazy for any books about animals. And I just *finally* found a nice used copy of the "Three Tales" at the thrift store--we have had that book out of the library so many times. I can't wait to read it to my 1st grader and K-er next year. :)

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  2. Oh, and I meant to add that Ruth Stiles Gannett's "Three Tales of My Father's Dragon" was a big hit as well!

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  3. We have been reading Dr. Doolittle and The Burgess Bird Book for Children. The Burgess Bird Book was my great aunt's when she was little and one of my favorites growing up! I am currently reading An Introduction to the Devout Life by St Francis De Sales as my Lenten reading. It is slow going, but well worth it.

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    1. How neat to have an heirloom copy of Burgess! I missed pretty much all these lovely AO books when I was growing up--at least I'm getting the chance to enjoy them now! ;) An Introduction to the Devout Life is my favorite spiritual book. In fact, I'm probably due for a re-read! Can never get enough of St. Francis de Sales' straightforward wisdom. :)

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  4. We just read Margaret Hodges' The Kitchen Knight last week. We chose it from the library when they didn't have the AO Free Read pick by Hodges (St. George and the Dragon?). The boys really liked it, especially since it connected with a Year 1 reading we did several weeks ago about King Arthur.

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    1. Yes, Hodges has several really lovely picture books for the boy crowd. :)

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  5. Love the poem before bed practice!

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    1. I think I got it from CM herself! Something about reading a poem so as to have something rich to think of while falling asleep? I get all my good ideas from her. ;)

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  6. Loved reading through this! :D We just got back from vacation and we enjoyed listening to The Penderwicks on Gardam Street and The Sign of the Beaver on the road. :) I'm reading so many it isn't funny. ;) I'm TRYING to whittle my pile down and focus on a few and quality, but it is just a futile battle for me. :P

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    1. I have The Sign of the Beaver on my pile for next year. I have such fond memories of that book growing up. :) And my pile--you know, I whittled it down a couple years ago because I began getting frustrated that I wasn't actually *finishing* anything. My reading time is fairly limited, and I like to only have enough going to actually be making progress. So I usually limit myself to 3-4 at a time, plus CM, of course. ;)

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  7. I just discovered your blog and have a feeling I will be checking in regularly. Thank you for this labor of love!

    We have just finished The Green Ember by S. D. Smith and LOVED it. We are currently reading Sugar Bush by Dorathea Dana about a community coming together for maple syrup season. Very sweet - we are enjoying it so far! Also, biographies on George Washington Carver (Landmark series) and Thomas Edison (Childhood of Famous Americans). We are taking a leisurely stroll through The Burgess Flower Book for Children and, of course, read lots of picture books throughout our week.

    Take care!

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    1. I got The Green Ember on Kindle and hope to pick it up with the kids soon. And I've never heard of Sugar Bush--I will have to check that one out! I have heard The Burgess Flower Book is longer and more detailed than his others and, as such, probably more geared toward nature-interested kids...which my kids are! So I will definitely need to hunt down a copy one of these days. :) Thank you for stopping by, Kelly!

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