{What We're Reading}

Me
Beryl Markham's West with the Night (a CMEC selection for high school geography)
Cather's Death Comes from the Archbishop (first read this ten years ago -- time for a revisit!)
Alcott's Little Women (re-reading for my local book group)
Verne's Michael Strogoff  (just finished this exciting and satisfying story, which ties in wonderfully with our focus on Asian geography this year too)
Mason's Volume 4 and Volume 1 (for my reading groups)
...And of course I am keeping up with the coursework for our Mother's Education Course through the CMEC, which includes dipping into the volumes but also reading some new-to-me Parents' Review articles each month -- what a joy!

I have been reading quite a bit lately as the weather has finally turned colder and I'm spending more time indoors at the end of this pregnancy.

As a Family
Hawthorne's A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales (I planned these as literature selections for my Form 1 and 2 kids this year, but it turns out the Form 3 kids have been listening in the whole time anyway, even though they have already read them many times on their own! We just started Book 2.)

...And I'm trying to choose a good Advent read for us all together! We are already reading The Way to Bethlehem and The Christmas Rose, as we do every year, but I'm seeking out something fresh to add in. I went through my shelves last night and am thinking Alice Dagliesh's Christmas might be a good fit this year!

Vincent, age 13
Betz's Yankee at Molokai (he has been on a biography kick)
Montgomery's Rilla of Ingleside (I wasn't sure he would make it through the Anne books but he did!)
The Story of the US Coast Guard (probably to balance out all the Anne -- LOL)
Tolkien's Tales from the Perilous Realm (started it right after Gianna finished it!)

Gianna, age 13
Tolkien's The Silmarillion (first time and adoring it)
Rankins' Daughter of the Mountains (tie in with our geography focus on Asia this year)
Gaskell's Cranford (I handed it to her when I finished it last month)

Cate, age 10
D'Angeli's The Door in the Wall (a re-read many times over!)
Sarah, Plain and Tall series (she read the first and then never picked up the sequels -- until now)
Lenski's Strawberry Girl (pulled back out when a penpal recommended it :))

Xavier, age 9
Henry's Stormy, Misty's Foal (he couldn't believe it when I told him Chincoteague was a real place!)
Ransome's Swallows and Amazons (we have listened to the whole series on audio, but this is his first time reading it)
Reynolds' Winston Churchill (one of his biographies from this term and a big favorite)

Bridget, age 8
Wilder's Farmer Boy and Little House in the Big Woods (reading aloud to her little sister -- they always have one or more Little House books going)
The Borrowers series (fun, as always)
The Light Princess (she just fell in love with MacDonald and I'm guessing The Golden Key will be next!)

Clara, age 7
She was determined to get out all the seasonal books the first day it really rained hard for the season -- and that was just this past week. Since then, she has been carting these around...
Tudor's Around the Year and Beskow's Around the Year
Over the River and Through the Wood, with woodcuts by Christopher Manson (love)

The Little Boys, ages 5, 4, and 2
They are still on a singalong songbook kick, so our folk song picture books are in HEAVY rotation!

Drew spends a lot of time following Big Kids around and requesting to be read to, especially Chicka Chicka 123 (not one of my usual picks, but he has been on a numbers kick lately), The Fire Engine Book, and Krauss and Blair's I Can Fly (one of my personal faves).

Justin got just a couple books for his birthday that have become fast friends...

The Mother Goose Songbook and Gregory Griggs and Other Nursery Rhyme People (selected and illustrated by Lobel).

And Damien's current selections: Eloise Wilkins' Poems to Read to the Very Young (a new pick for him but always popular with my older kids) and Lois Lenski's Small books (constantly!).

In the Mail
I have been on a bit of a buying moratorium lately since the holidays are coming up and I can't use the very good excuse of "school shopping" this late in the year. ;) But there have still been a couple very exciting arrivals lately...

Riverbend Press has reprinted all five volumes of Mason's The Saviour of the World in beautiful hardcovers. For now, I bought the one volume my Form 3 kids are using this year, but I plan on buying them all in the new year. :)

And it's always a happy day when Common Place Quarterly arrives!

That's what we have been up to -- how about you? What are you reading? Are you buying books for gifts? I have been doing a bit of book-related shopping...so far new Bibles for my older kids are en route and I have a bunch of classics like The Enormous Egg, The Cricket in Times Square, and Rabbit Hill ready to go for nephews. Still brainstorming a bit for my own kids, but I know some of Lois Lenski's Regional America books are on the list, and I'm hoping to finally get the beautiful saint books illustrated by Lydia Kadar-Kallen. We'll see what ends up under the tree! :)