What We're Reading :: Late Summer 2020

Like I have mentioned, we started back to lessons a couple weeks ago (here and here for some peeks at our school year so far), so I'm squeezing in this summer break post right at the end here to share what we read over the past couple months or so.

Our libraries were closed due to COVID this summer, so we were SO grateful to have our own stocked shelves to "shop" for summer reading. (Can anyone else relate?!)

Amy shared with me that each student in her house creates a summer reading stack for themselves -- so we decided to do the very same thing! I had the kids grab a stack of books from our shelves that they wanted to read through over the break. We kept the stacks on the bookshelf in our entry for easy access and it worked really well.

Me
Zena Hitz's Lost in Thought (was reading with friends online)
Cather's The Song of the Lark (started this in the spring and have come back to finish it)
Don Quixote (Form 4 novel for Term 1 -- we're using an edited version the PNEU assigned)

Belloc's Characters of the Reformation (also for Form 4)

Montgomery's Jane of Lantern Hill (just fnished re-reading for my Form 2 students' novel -- so good!)

Vincent, age 14

Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel

Knowles' A Separate Peace

Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days (he also read a bunch more Verne)

Caras' The Forest (out of print, but it was a recommendation from Amy)

And he spent a good amount of time rereading some Walter Farley books and Bethlehem Books' historical fiction, which is perfect summer reading!

Gianna, age almost-14

Gilbreth's Cheaper by the Dozen (my kids found this very relatable -- LOL!)

Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby (I have been giving them a Dickens to read each year)

Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth

Austen's Sense and Sensibility (re-read) and Pride and Prejudice (first time!)

The last few books in the Betsy-Tacy series

Mother Loyola's Home for Good (I mentioned this in my Catholic books post for this year)

Verne's From the Earth to the Moon (the Sea Wolf Books reprints are really nice!)

Cate, age 11

Montgomery's Emily of New Moon series (I have the older versions which I can't link to - but there's this one-volume option that looks ok...)

Eloise Jarvis McGraw's Mara, Daughter of the Nile (a favorite of my big girls)

Long's School of the Woods

Pyle's Otto of the Silver Hand (after reading King Arthur this past year, she pulled it from the shelf)

Buck's The Big Wave

Alcott's Little Women (her first read-through!)

Xavier, age 10

He has been obsessed with Redwall this summer, as you can see!

Bailey's Miss Hickory (his sister told him he had to read it)

Lawson's Rabbit Hill

Crusader King: A Novel of Baldwin IV and the Crusades (a birthday gift for my knight-loving boy)

Hilda van Stockum's The Winged Watchman and Pollard's Beorn the Proud (both related to last year's history reading)

Bridget, age 8

McCloskey's Homer Price

Stoutenburg's American Tall Tales

The Father Finn books (Vincent got a set for his birthday and the kids have been passing them back and forth since)

Estes' Pinky Pye (she read Ginger Pye last year)

Campbell's Fiddlesticks and Freckles

Pyle's The Wonder Clock

Clara, age 7

I dedicated a bit of daily time to Clara's reading lessons each day with the Treadwell Readers. She made lots of progress and decided to paint little cards of each story as she goes!

The Little Boys, ages 6, 4, and 3
We did lots and lots of picture books together this summer. Here's one evening's selections by Damien:

Byron Barton's Airport

Orchard's Little Yellow Book of Nursery Rhymes

Flack's Ask Mr. Bear and Angus Lost (the Angus series is among my very favorites to read aloud)

Lenski's The Little Auto

On audio
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (the Term 1 novel for my Form 1 kids)
They also listened to a couple of the Redwall books this summer, which inspired lots of drawing and story writing -- like these maps by Xavier!

(I don't know about you, but I'd like to live at Redcrest if I could! :))

There was also lots and lots of pre-reading and books in the mail this summer. I'll have to sprinkle those in through the year as there are too many wonderful ones to share here!

{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! :)

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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What We're Reading.... and Playing and Crafting :: Christmas 2018!

Me
Annie Dillard's An American Childhood (just started for my local book club)
Dorothy Sayers' Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon (just finished both -- so fun!)
Goudge's The Bird in the Tree (just finished and adored)
Jacobs' How to Think (on recommendation from a friend, so far so good)
In Memoriam (for our local CM study group)
Norms and Nobility and Formation of Character (for online study groups)

As a Family
No read aloud going right now, but we are listening to The Big Six on audio and the kids are saying it might be their favorite Swallows and Amazons book so far! Do yourself a favor and get these books on audio (either Audible or as mp3 CDs). They are so delightful!

~~~

For the kids, I am going to share the "books and things" that entered our home this Christmas before I forget!  I take these pictures so I remember what I gifted the kids at various ages. It has been so helpful for me to look through when I am looking for a gift idea for a younger sibling, nephew, or young friend, or when people ask me for book suggestions for various ages. My memory is terrible, so this is such a nice record to have! So if you are looking for gift ideas, I hope this will be useful for you too. :)

All of the kids got agendas (small Blue Sky weeklys) and craft supplies (the boys got sailboat kits, the girls got embroidery projects, they all got needle felting kits) purchased through our charter school.

We also added to the Schleich animal collection like we do every year. One of our very favorite toys here!

Vincent and Gianna, age 12

Farley's The Blood Bay Colt and Son of the Black Stallion
Tales from Watership Down
Tolkein's The Simarillion
Gene Stratton Porter's Freckles
The Jolly Tailor, a collection of Polish folk and fairy tales

And they each got their own copy of the newly-released The Golden Key, published by Riverbend Press and Nancy Kelly. They are so pleased about having their own version of The Cloud of Witness, which I read every morning.

Cate, age 9

Caleb's Story and Skylark, the sequals to Sarah, Plain and Tall
de Angeli's Elin's Amerika
Father Lasance Prayer Book

Xavier, age 8

Lattimore's Little Pear

Stories from Nature: Thirty One Animal Tales

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

and his own adult-version missal for the Traditional Latin Mass (he has been using a children's one)

Bridget, age 7

Walter de la Mare's Mr. Bumps and His Monkey

My First Oxford Book of Poems

...and she also got her own missal. It was her favorite gift!

Clara, age 6

Flack's Angus and the Cat (I had been looking for this in hardcover!)

Joseph Jacob's The Stars in the Sky, with illustrations by Sendak

McKissack's Flossie and the Fox

Instead of the more handicrafting supplies, Clara got these little plastic needlepoint kits and a refill of our favorite colored pencils for littles, her own set of markers, and a couple blank notebooks from my stash. :)

The Little Boys, ages 4, 2, and 1

The little boys got "special boxes" of their own (each of our kids has one of these to keep treasures in under their beds) and a worm farm, as well as some great books for littles...

Mr. Fix-It Man, a vintage book
Margaret Wise Brown's Red Light, Green Light
Peter Spier's Noah's Ark
Mickelthwait's Spot a Dog
Prelutsky and Lobel's Circus

For the Family

My parents sent us the soap carving book, safety gloves, and carving tools, and I added the soap and some balsa wood.

Some other fun handicraft gifts: more kite paper for window stars, needle felting refills (finger guards and new needles), more beeswax sheets for candle rolling, and some new candle holders. And a snuffer, which was a surprise hit!

My mom sent us some other goodies too...

Lois Lenski board books for the baby boys -- which immediately vaulted to their favorites!
The Glorious Christmas Songbook and Golden Book Christmas Carols for the little girls.

Two sets of headphones (one big, one small, both adjustable) have been great to have for audiobooks, and the molecular kit will be so fun for the Big Kids to play around with as we continue our explorations in chemistry.

They also got a double dutch jump rope and new aprons -- solid color and gender neutral!

I know Christmas was over a month ago, but what were your best gift selections? I have two birthdays coming up this week and then a couple more in spring, so I am always on the hunt for great ideas!

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{What We're Reading} :: September

Sneaking in a post before the month ends to catch up on what we have been reading lately...

Me

Stegner's Angle of Repose (just finished -- wow, what a book!)

Goudge's Bird in the Tree (the first of the Eliot trilogy)

In Memoriam, Norms and Nobility, and Formation of Character for various study groups

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (read the first half last year with the kids thanks to AO Year 6-- finally finishing the rest on my own)

As a Family

Secret Water from the Swallows and Amazon series, on audio

Vincent, age 12

His birthday books...

Marguerite Henry's Black Gold and San Domingo

Garnett's Blood-Red Crescent (historical fiction about the Battle of Lepanto)

and two books from the Catholic Tom Playfair series: Tom Playfair and Harry Dee

(He also got his first wrist watch -- which has been a HUGE hit. He times himself for everything now. LOL)

Gianna, age just-turned-12

Her birthday books...

Guerber's Myths of Greece and Rome (a vintage hardcover)

Natalie Babbit's Goody Hall (trying to find good middle-grade mysteries -- I will have to give Gianna's review once she has read it!)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again (super light reading, but Gianna read the original to Cate last month so I thought she would appreciate the sequel)

DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux

(We decided 12th birthdays are the time for watches -- so she got one too! :))

Cate, age 9

Spyri's Heidi (she looooves it, and I haven't told her I have some more Spyri books for her waiting on the shelf!)
de Jong's Along Came a Dog (also from the AmblesideOnline list)
Cole's A Nest for Celeste (such a lovely book)

Xavier, age 8

Men of Iron, on audio

Little Folks of Many Lands (a Riverbend reprint -- I love that is has the Philippines!)

Happy Times in Noisy Village (a many-times-reread)

Bridget, age just-turned-7

Her birthday books...

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (beautiful illustrations)

Favorite Fairy Tales (my girls just don't tire of fairy tales!)

Favorite Stories and Songs (she loves these compilation books)

My First Book of Poems

Clara, age just-turned-6

Aaaand HER birthday books!

Bill Martin Jr.'s Ten Little Squirrels

Rumplestiltskin and The Magic Porridge Pot (to round out the Galdone folk tale collection!)

The Golden Book of Fairy Tales

To the Baby Boys

Ed Emberley's Yankee Doodle and London Bridge is Falling Down (4yo Drew's current favorites)

The Farmer in the Dell and The Glorious American Songbook (2yo Justin's current favorites)

Can you tell they are into singalong books right now? :)

...and Damien's favorite is whichever he can swipe from a sibling and gnaw on before anyone catches him! ;)

In the Mail...

Obviously our mail for weeks was overflowing with book boxes as we began the new year. Most of those hopped right on our shelves, but I corraled a few piles to share here. Did your mail look kinda similar in August?

That new May Mallam brush drawing book reprinted by Riverbend Press at the bottom of that pile is gorgeous, by the way!

Edwin Way Teale's A Walk Through the Year (planning to put this into our Morning Basket at some point!)
Rumer Godden's In This House of Brede (a hardcover to add to my collection)

And then I got this reference book series from my friend Virginia Lee's bookshop that I think will be useful: The Golden Book History of the United States.

And some special book mail: some borrowed Gouin books from a friend that came with a gift: Flowers of Coast and Sierra. If you are in California, check out this book! The writing is top notch and the illustrations are lovely.

What are you reading? I did a fair amount of reading over the summer but have slowed down on fiction now that school has begun. But the pre-reading I am doing weekly now DEFINITELY counts! :)

What We're Reading :: Spring

Catching up on some current reads for me and gifted books for the kids from the past couple months. There are few things I enjoy talking about more than books! :)

Me

Elizabeth Goudge's Green Dolphin Street and Lord of the Rings (both finished for my local book club -- loved them both!)

The Month of St. Joseph (spiritual reading with the kids for Term 3)

The Cloud of Witness (always!)

Karen Glass' Know and Tell (finished last month with my local CM study group)

Norms and Nobility and Formation of Character (for online book groups)

On to the kids' Easter and birthday books...

Vincent, age 11

Pyle's The Story of Sir Lancelot and His Companions (total mom fail because we already own this! I was actually looking for the second book in the series. I promised him I'll switch. :))

Saint Patrick: Apostle of Ireland (a new release from my favorite Catholic publisher, St. Augustine Academy Press)

Natalie Babbitt's Jack Plank Tells Tales

Gianna, age 11

Lindbergh's The Midnight Farm (because she adores Jeffers' illustrations)

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

My Sister, Saint Therese (a biography written by the sister of her favorite saint)

Favorite Fairy Tales (love the classic illustrations)

Cate, age 9

Estes' The Middle Moffat

Cinderella, illustrated by Arthur Rackham (she is fascinated by silhouettes, and you can't go wrong with Rackham!)

Palmer Brown's Beyond the Pawpaw Trees

And for her birthday... Cate fell in love with Little Bo from the library, so I decided to get her a couple others from the series for her birthday (Little Bo in London, Little Bo in France, and Little Bo in Italy). She had no idea there were sequels, so she was so excited!  

Funny enough, she also received A Nest for Celeste, one of Gianna's old library favorites that we didn't yet own; we noticed after the fact that all the books are illustrated by Henry Cole! Such an odd but fun coincidence.

And I just love the watercolor bookmark Gianna made her for a birthday gift. :)

Xavier, age 8

Carolyn Haywood's Little Eddie and Robert Rows the River

Saint Vincent de Paul and Saint Anthony of Padua from the Footsteps of the Gospel series (I knew these were out of print, but it looks like they aren't available used on Amazon either!)

...and his birthday books:

Cooper Edens' Robin Hood (Edens always compiles the most fabulous illustrations!)

For the early reader non-fiction shelf: Animals Do the Strangest Things, Insects Do the Strangest Things, Fish Do The Strangest Things, Reptiles Do the Strangest Things, Plants Do Amazing Things

And more of the Eddie books: Eddie's Green Thumb and Eddie and the Dog Holder

Bridget, age 6

This beautiful set is from St. Augustine Academy Press -- a new release and it is just perfect for Bridget! Beautiful pictures and thick, durable pages. The content is delightful.

Clara, age 5

Burgess' Old Mother West Wind (we have this in hardcover, but I found this paperback at the thrift store to meet her desire for her own copy)

Hansel and Gretel, illustrated by Eloise Wilkin

The Little Golden Mother Goose

The Baby Boys

Virginia Lee Burton's Choo Choo (one of the only Burton books we didn't have in hardcover)

Five Little Firemen and Tootle (I'm a sucker for the vintage Golden books)

Fletcher's The Big Book of Cowboys

and then some tiny books for tiny hands :)

And newly-4yo Drew's birthday books ...

Richard Scarry's Funniest Storybook Ever (my little boys loooove Scarry)

Smithsonian Handbooks: Horses (an illustrated "field guide" for my horse-loving boy)

Yankee Doodle, illustrated by Ed Emberley (we love folk song picture books!!)

Marjorie Flack's Angus Lost (finally found this in hardcover -- it is one of my favorite series!!)

For the Family

As usual, my kids get a stack of books at our exam celebrations. Some for the free read shelf, some for reference. Here are the books from Term 2...

Daughtery's The Magna Charta (Year 2 tie-in)
The Art of Chinese Paper Folding (for my boys' handicraft for Term 3)
Ryan's Echo (Year 6 tie-in)
Morpurgo's War Horse (Year 6 tie-in)
an abridged version of Kipling's Jungle Books (for the illustrations by Nicola Bayley-- Year 3 tie-in)
Animals Marco Polo Saw (we just finished Marco Polo this term for Form I)
Seal Pup Grows Up and Manatee Winter (reminded us of the White Seal in The Jungle Books -- to add to our Smithsonian nature book collection of hardcovers)
The Atlas of British History and The Atlas of European History (references for my Form II kids' mapwork)
Diane Stanley's Leonardo da Vinci (Year 3 tie-in)
Draw 50 Buildings and Other Structures (related to our architectural sketching)
and a bunch of Dover coloring books connected to this year's time period (given by a friend -- these have useful line drawings for the Book of Centuries!)

In the Mail
First, a friend went thrifting and brought me home this! (Great friend, right?)

In the mail: The Oxford History of the American People. A friend is using it with her high schoolers and I wanted to give it a look-through. Seems like a great one to have on the shelf even if I don't schedule it formally.

And I was excited when I saw a lovely (and affordable) copy of Amy Steedman In God's Garden, which we have read off of my tablet during Morning Basket. Aren't the plates beautiful? (You can buy the paperback sans-plates here.)

Last but not least: The First Book of the Great Musicians came in, thus completing my set!

I loooove seeing previous owner's names in the cover, especially when they're old. Aren't the scripts charming? I love how they used to sign and date their books.

So, that's a lot of books! But it's summer break here, so we have all been doing quite a bit of reading -- these new books have sure come in handy.

Did I mention I got four new bookshelves too?! :)

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