What We're Reading :: Summertime

summer vibes

Me
Pearl Buck's Peony and Stratton-Porter's Freckles (finished last month)
C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet (not a sci-fi fan, but really trying to stick with it since this gets such good reviews)
Cold Sassy Tree (just started for local book club)
Nellie Allen's Asia and North America (just finished writing some geography guides for the CMEC)
Chrlotte Mason's Volume 4 and Volume 1 (for reading groups)

Vincent, age 13
His birthday books have been keeping him busy...

Learning to Serve, republished by St. Augustine Academy Press (he started serving Low Mass at the beginning of this summer and is now training his younger brother)
Eells' Tales from the Amazon
Yarnell's Through Forest and Stream
Bottom of the 9th (not a book -- it's a card game for my baseball-loving crew! They have been playing games all summer.)

Just as a reminder: I don't buy barely any of our books new -- they are all from used bookstores or online sellers. So when I link here to Amazon and their price is high, please know I am not recommending you purchase at that price! I just share in case you'd like to keep an eye out at the thrift store like I do. :)

Gianna, age almost-13
She has been doing bunches of re-reading this summer, including...
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Montgomery's Jane of Lantern Hill and the Emily of New Moon series
Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper
Kipling's Captains Courageous

But I did stock her with a few new ones too...
Stratton-Porter's The Girl of the Limberlost (she and I both devoured Freckles, so this one was next up!)
And all the Little Britches series (we delayed reading these because I didn't own them and our library owns only a few, so now I'm building our home collection)

Cate, age 10
Gentle Ben (she likes this a lot more than she thought she would -- that tends to be the case with her ;))
The rest of The Wizard of Oz series (after listening ot the first one on audio)
And the rest of Nesbit's Psammead series (also after listening to the first one on audio -- this is her MO!)

Xavier, age 9
Xavier's birthday books (plus a couple other goodies that made it into the photo)...

Pyle's Bearskin, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman (big winner!)
Babbitt's Kneeknock Rise
Gruelle's Raggedy Andy Stories
Hoffmann's The Bearskinner
He also got that pack of wool felt (from which he made his dagger!) and an over-the-door basketball hoop that has gotten lots of use so far.

Bridget, age 7
The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books (she did remark after reading that none of the mothers seemed to be very good mothers in these books -- ha!)
The Complete Brambly Hedge (my kids seriously never tire of this collection! they draw from it constantly too)
Burnett's A Little Princess, illustrated by Tasha Tudor (reading this after listening to it on audio)

Clara, age 6
All summer my non-reader Clara has been roping people into reading to her -- and mostly succeeding! She has been read to by Bridget and Cate every day, including...
The Moffats books (they all have their own favorites from this series)
Henry Cole's A Nest for Celeste
Genevieve of Alea (they love this one, written by Amber Vanderpol's daughter!)

The Little Boys, ages 5, 4, and 2
They are all in love with Lois Lenski. Who isn't? We added a couple more to our Lenski board book collection for Damien's birthday...

As you can see, they have already been taped together and creased. He shows his love by dragging these books around the house with him and it shows. ;) I have them all memorized from reading them over so many times! (We have other toddler books of hers NOT in board book format (vintage) and I really wish they would republish those too.)

And for Drew's birthday, he got a smattering of random goodies. He's such a funny little guy and I knew each of these would make him smile.

Lobel's As I Was Crossing Boston Common (fun one!)
Hague's Mother Goose (you really can never had too many good ones!)
Galdone's The Horse, the Fox, and the Lion (another for our Galdone collection)

As a Family

It has been a summer of audiobooks, mostly relistens to old favorites.

First, we finished the Swallows and Amazons series! So, so wonderful. Definitely one of our family's top audiobook series!

Then we moved on to re-listen to...
Burnett's The Secret Garden and The Little Princess (we liked those particular audio editions)
The Wizard of Oz, narrated by Anne Hathaway
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
Peter Pan, narrated by Jim Dale
Anne of Green Gables, narrated by Rachel McAdams

That's what happens when I am not feeling well. Every day I'd get the littles settled for naps, start the audiobook for the rest of the kids, and then go down for a nap myself for an hour! Life saver.

And Gianna read The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen aloud to everyone and is now working through Anne of Avonlea. I am so pleased to have such a good read-alouder in the house. Listening to her is a delight for us all!

There has also been a resurgence of interest in the Bobbsey Twins lately! I have a dozen passed down from my mom's childhood that we have held onto. They are my middles' first foray into mystery, which is why I think they are so attractive. They have been reading and passing them from one to another all summer.

In the Mail
School books arriving, of course! Most of them have gone straight onto the shelf as they have come in. A sneak peek...

Atlases and Buckleys...

 And inside one of those vintage lovelies on the right (swoon!)...

More on these as our school year unfolds. I can't wait to dig into my pre-reading!

What has your summer reading looked like this year?

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