Library

To start out, I’m going to share a quote from a book Esther listened to the end of December. The book is The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley, a sequel to Parnassus on Wheels. It was published in 1919. This passage is a newspaper clipping, and is from Chapter 3 of the book. It struck me funny, and I thought people who enjoy this post might like it, too.

ON THE RETURN OF A BOOK LENT TO A FRIEND

I GIVE humble and hearty thanks for the safe return of this book which having endured the perils of my friend’s bookcase, and the bookcases of my friend’s friends, now returns to me in reasonably good condition.

I GIVE humble and hearty thanks that my friend did not see fit to give this book to his infant as a plaything, nor use it as an ash-tray for his burning cigar, nor as a teething-ring for his mastiff.

WHEN I lent this book I deemed it as lost: I was resigned to the bitterness of the long parting: I never thought to look upon its pages again.

BUT NOW that my book is come back to me, I rejoice and am exceeding glad! Bring hither the fatted morocco and let us rebind the volume and set it on the shelf of honour: for this my book was lent, and is returned again.

PRESENTLY, therefore, I may return some of the books that I myself have borrowed.

Now, on to the new books for this month! Several of us had some fun sorting through a lot of boxes of books that a local used bookstore could not sell, which the proprietor offered to us for free. I like the format of the Ladybird biographies, and my little girls loved the book of flowers. These have gone on the Junior Biography and Science shelves. Those Were the Days looked interesting as a glimpse into New Zealand’s daily life nearly a hundred years ago; I’ve put them on the New Zealand History shelf.

This one about Captain Cook looks like it will be a good one to go along with a study of New Zealand history, too.

We read a few books from the shelf, too. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Carry On, Mr. Bowditch aloud for the third time (although it’s been at least 10 years since the last time). It’s a great, very interesting biography of the man who transformed navigation at sea. We also finished The May Series with The Fortunate Ones. This was a great way to see what life was like in rural areas in New Zealand during the 1920s, 30s and 40s. I also finally read Committed, which was a very interesting biography of a man who flew bombers during the Vietnam War.

I found a way to fit The Road From Home and Maniac Magee into a reading challenge this month. I think I read the first many years ago, before we moved to New Zealand, but didn’t really remember it. It’s an incredible account of the Armenian genocide in the 1910s. When I was young, we had a neighbor whose mother was caught in that, so the topic has always been of interest to me. I have reassigned it to the Junior Biography shelf, from the History shelf. Maniac Magee has been on our shelf for at least ten years. Now that I’ve read it, I’m wondering why I waited so long. It’s an amazing story that defies description. So many hard topics are covered here, within the context of a great story. It goes on the Young Adult shelf. Pure Joy is one that came home from America with us a few months ago. I’ve enjoyed reading through this devotional, and now it’s on the shelf for others to borrow.

I also bought some more books from a Facebook group. My girls were delighted to have another Amelia Bedelia book, and I was also glad to find Winky, another easy reader. There was also a Jungle Doctor book we didn’t have yet.

Sometimes I see some books on that Facebook page that I reserve as fast as I can. These five by Kenneth Thomasma are good examples. We already had three of his books on the shelf, and our children, at least, have loved them. I was thrilled to be able to add five more, and I’m looking forward to reading them. They are on the Junior Fiction shelf. I noticed Are You an Art Sleuth? on the page as well. We have never done much art study, but this one is a lot of fun. I’m still debating on which shelf to place it–the Junior Art shelf, where there are a lot of how-to books, or the Adult Miscellaneous shelf, where I put the Norman Rockwell book I recently purchased? Any input?

These five books from the Wonders of Creation series were also an immediate purchase. We already had The Weather Book, which I read to the children last year sometime. I found it very readable, quite interesting, and I learned a lot from it. I’m planning to work these books into our morning homeschool routine over the next year. They go on the Junior Science shelf. I was also delighted to find a copy of Genesis: Finding Our Roots. I borrowed a friend’s copy a number of years ago to study with some of the children, and loved it so much that I’ve been looking for my own ever since. It is on the Junior History shelf.

These next three books have just been added to the Young Adults Fiction shelf. We like most of Rosemary Sutcliff’s books, and have read Beowulf online. I love reading that legend from the persepective presented in After the Flood, which, sadly, is hard reading, that the dragon was a form of dinosaur. The Watsons Go to Birmingham is an engrossing, humorous, hard story about a Black family during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Rowan Farm is the wonderful sequel to The Ark–both make great family read-alouds.

Prudence and the Millers and Storytime With the Millers are good books to read as part of a morning routine, offering encouragement in Godly living. They are on the Junior Fiction and Independent Readers shelves. Encyclopedia Brown Saves the Day was given to us by someone who borrowed five other books in the series for her son–thank you! It will go on the Independent Reader shelf, along with the others in this series that children love. I bought Pink and Say because I love almost all of Patricia Polacco’s picture books. This one is not fuzzy and warm, though. It’s a war story, and has a sad ending. It was written to honor a person who gave his life for a friend–but we ended up with tears after reading it. “Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” Said the Sloth is a fun one about rain forest animals. Tracks of the Tiger is great for boys who need a high-interest story. I put it on the Junior Fiction shelf, but when I picked up the next Bear Grylls book I had bought, and pre-read it, I decided that one would not go on our shelf. I would recommend caution with his books, and I’m trying to be wise about choosing ones to keep.

We have several new books for adults! I bought the rest of the books I didn’t yet have in Chautona Havig’s The Agency Files series. These are unique thrillers with a small amount of romance in most of them. My mom and one of my sons are working their way through them right now. I plan to reread the entire series at some point, too. I also bought Ties That Blind to finish the Sight Unseen series by the same author. Trim Healthy Wisdom was my recent “continuing education” read; I learned of some amazing research about health. Gut healing has become a passion of mine in the past few years, since I’ve seen what a difference it has made in my husband’s life, and I learned a lot in this book.

With a recent order for schoolbooks, I also ordered a few reading and picture books. These included Tell Me the Stories of God and His People, a beautiful Bible storybook; Zainab’s Miracle, about a child in a refugee camp; and Money in the Cow Feed, a true story that happened to the author’s father. All of these are gorgeous, full-color, hardcovers. Beautiful books and wonderful stories!

The Mystery of the Date Palm and Fitting In, Frankly were also in that order. The first is a picture book retelling of an old parable. It is another beautiful, colorful, wonderful hardcover story. The second is an exploration of what it really means to fit in–and how much do we want, as Christians, to fit in with the people around us? It is especially meaningful for missionary children. As I read it, I constantly compared it to our family; our children don’t feel like they fit in with their relatives in America–but they don’t totally fit in here, either. I really enjoyed this book! It is going on the Junior Fiction shelf.

I have also been doing some reorganizing. We have many wonderful nonfiction picture books on our shelves, which are rarely, if ever, read. I decided to pull them out of their slots and put them all together in one section. Look at all these fun resources for learning about all sorts of subjects! While I was at it, I also pulled out the nonfiction books that are at the same reading level as the Independent Readers, and put them in their own area, and also the Graphic Novels (which are mostly nonfiction!). As of writing this post, I haven’t gotten the shelf assignments relabeled in our catalog, nor made new spine labels for them, but that will come soon.

To borrow any of these books or others, please go to our catalog. Find out how we loan books on this page.

Graphic novels are not my style of book! I would much rather read a book with no pictures than this style. However, I have typical children who love any sort of comic book, so we have a few. I have just added these three to our shelves, and am thinking about whether maybe I should collect all the graphic books we have in one dedicated section. I’ll report it in one of these posts when/if I do that!

I was able to source some more I Survived books! I think we have all except 7 of them now. My 10-year-old is delighted every time she gets to read a new one, and can hardly wait for me to get through it first. I brought this Hank the Cowdog book home with us from America. I love the Hank stories–his use of language is fun, and the dog is so dumb, while thinking he’s incredibly smart, that I have a lot of fun reading these aloud. The one problem with them (other than the language, which I have censored) is Hank’s thoughts about “women.”

George Stephenson is an easy reader biography that I picked up at the Bookarama. I think it is the second one in this series that we have, and I will certainly keep my eyes open for more. I’m in a quandry–do I put a book like this with the children’s biographies, or with the easy readers? It fits in both places! If you have an opinion, please comment. I would like to know what other people think. Her Own Song is a very different book. Mellie’s father got hurt, and she was on her own, and the only person who helped her was a Chinese man–in Portland, Oregon in 1908! She learned a lot of disturbing things about her past in a short time. This book covers racism, adoption, family, and friendship. When I bought Ramona Quimby, Age 8, it meant that our set of Ramona books was complete. I read through all eight of them in a week to make a decision what to do with them. I remembered enjoying them, but a couple of other people I talked to couldn’t stand them. I have decided to keep the set, but because we are running out of space, I will put them on the shelf in the container. I like the way the author is able to get into a little girl’s mind and help me, as an adult, to understand the way a child thinks and sees the world. I also like the way she portrays Ramona growing up and changing from a spoiled brat at age 4 to a responsible young woman at age 9, at the end of the series. These are available for anyone who wants to borrow them, but I would recommend parental guidance for children under the age of about 10.

Esther finally read Someday You’ll Write and really liked it. She recommends it for middle-grade children who are interested in writing. I’m putting it on the Adult Miscellaneous shelf. I posted a review of Start Little, Dream Big, which you can see here. It is on the Adult Biography shelf. I have finally found a way to get myself to read inspirational books! I chose one slot of time in my day when I generally take five minutes to read something, and I read a couple of pages of one of these books at that time. In that way, I got through Prayers and Peanut Butter, which has been on the shelf for a few years. It is a wonderful book of encouragement to mothers. I put it on the Adult Devotional shelf.

We added several picture books to the shelf. One day when several of us were in town, the used book shop happened to be open. I had never been in there, but my oldest daughter had a couple of times. What a gem! That is a shop I plan to visit whenever I can. We found Rechenka’s Eggs in a basket of children’s books, and since I love Patricia Polacco’s books, that one was quickly added to our stack. As we talked with the owner after paying for our purchases, she picked up A Christmas Story by Brian Wildsmith and gave us this copy, because the corners were scuffed. Do we care about scuffed corners with such beautiful artwork? No! (Even though the story is rather fanciful.) One of the younger girls found this gorgeous copy of The Poky Little Puppy for free, too, there. The same day we received a package of books I bought, which included two by Ezra Jack Keats, one of our favorite picture book authors. They are delightful! I also got five Billy and Blaze books by C. W. Anderson that day in the mail. If you have a young horse-lover, don’t miss these. The illustrations are gorgeous, even though the stories are somewhat lame. We already had old hardcover copies of two of these, but they are so old the pages are becoming brittle, so I was quite happy to find better ones. A friend who uses our library a lot had a cleanout, and she gave me The Road to Tuapeka, among other books. It’s a fun fantasy about wekas, which are a troublesome bird in our area. Except for the last one, which is on the New Zealand Picture Books shelf, these are all with the picture books.

The day we went to town, we went to all the secondhand shops around, as well as the book shop. One of my finds was this gorgeous copy of Uncle Remus Stories! The cover doesn’t look like much, but just see the artwork! I’m looking forward to reading it to my littlest girl. We have a newer version of these stories, which I read to her last year, and she loved it. I also picked up The Lost Seal. It’s a story about a seal in Antarctica that lost its way and was helped back to safety by scientists–a true story, apparently. It is a bilingual book, both English and Maori. I found Red Fox and His Canoe in a listing on Facebook. My youngest is at the perfect stage for this I Can Read Book, and she enjoyed having one she hadn’t seen before. The same person was selling The One and Only Dr. Seuss, and one of my older sons snatched that one up; he loves Dr. Seuss. Looking for Solid Shapes was another gift from my friend. It’s a good introduction to geometry. Every one of these books goes on a different shelf: Junior Fiction, Easy Reader, Picture Books, Junior Science, and Junior Miscellaneous!

My friend also gave us all these easy readers that her family had finished with. Once again, it was great to have some new ones for my youngest to practice with. She spent a long time studying the pictures in all of them, and organizing them after I showed her the numbers on the covers indicating their order in the series.

I have continued working my way through the stacks of books on my dresser. Still More Two-Minute Mysteries joins the other books like this by Donald J. Sobol, who wrote the Encyclopedia Brown books that I loved when I was young and most of my children love now. I picked up Secret Admirer in the A to Z Mysteries series from the Bookarama. I wasn’t at all sure I would keep a book about Valentine’s Day, but I loved it! The House on the Volcano is set on the slopes of Mount Pele in Hawaii, and though I don’t love the Hawaiian mythology, I love the story and the glimpse at what it’s like to live beside an erupting volcano. El Blanco and Flaming Star are both perfect for young horse-lovers. The first is set in Mexico, the second in England. Emil and the Detectives is a fun mystery about a boy who was traveling alone to visit his grandmother in Berlin, and was robbed on the way. Because he had recently done something he shouldn’t have, and had a guilty conscience, he couldn’t ask the police for help; instead, he ended up with a lot of new friends. Norton was given to us a number of years ago by a friend. I debated a little about keeping it, but decided that cat-lovers would like it, so I’ll put it with the animal stories on the Junior Science shelf. A Grain of Rice is not new, but after reading it (for about the sixth time) this week, I decided to feature it because I love it so much. This is a wonderful love story, which also illustrates exponents. Then there is The Great Trouble. This is a great story about a medical mystery: how did cholera spread? Everyone in the slum area of London was sure it was spread by the terrible-smelling air–but one doctor believed it came from water. Eel made it his mission to help Dr. Snow prove his hypothesis.

When we went to the used book shop in town, I noticed The Gully That Gabriel Found in a box of free books outside. It is the story of a discovery of gold, written in the style of “The House That Jack Built.” My oldest daughter also found Endurance there. She had just listened to it, and said it was a very good book. I’m looking forward to reading it. We already had a copy of We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea, but when I was able to get one in better condition along with more books in the series, I took it. (The old one has insect holes boring through many pages!). This series (Swallows and Amazons) is delightful. I’m planning to read them all aloud over the next year.

I have been going through American History with my 10-year-old. We just read The White House is Burning. This is a fascinating description of two or three days during the War of 1812. We also read The Constitution of the United States to learn about that document and how it was drafted, and then read The Bill of Rights to go along with it.

The day that we went secondhand shopping, one of my boys picked up Friends to the End and The Blue Day Book. They have beautiful photographs of animals along with sparse, witty text. I did take out a page or two in each of them that were not appropriate. This edition of The Pilgrim’s Progress is a graphic novel based on an animated film. My family has spent a lot of time studying the pictures in this book!

Colossal Creatures is a book packed with information about a number of different large animals. Dinosaur’s Day is an easy reader, perfect for children who love those creatures! Alamo All-Stars is a graphic book about the war between Texas and Mexico. I read it aloud to my daughter as part of our study of American history, and many others in the family have picked it up, too.

And yet more books from my stacks! One of the boys picked Page Boy of Camelot to read aloud; as I read the first few pages, I realized that I read it to them a few years ago from an online library. We enjoyed this King Arthur story again, and then I glued it back together, since it fell apart as I read it. The Wild Boy in the Bush is a story about pioneer life in New Zealand, and children who found moa bones. Mystery of the Empty House is a fun story about some children who solved a puzzle that revealed secrets from the American Revolution.

The last book I read from my stacks this month is Escape From Stalingrad. I don’t think I had ever read anything before about the battle for Stalingrad, when Hitler threw his troops against that Russian city. Whew! That was a terrible time in history. Turkey for Christmas is a recently-reprinted book that I brought home from America. I read it to the family on Christmas evening, and we enjoyed it.

To borrow any of these books or others, please go to our catalog. Find out how we loan books on this page.

We didn’t add nearly as many books to the library this month as the last two! I’ve been eyeing Neighbors in Latin America for a few years when I peruse the Christian Light Education catalog. We buy a lot of our school books from them, but I don’t use their Social Studies, so I haven’t had a reason to buy this textbook. However, I saw it advertised secondhand recently, so bought it. I plan to read it as part of our morning routine at some stage. A Wilde Wind is written by Penelope Foote, sister of Rosie Boom; both of these lovely ladies spoke at a homeschool ladies’ retreat I went to recently. I loved Penelope’s first romance novel, The Disenchanted Club, so I bought its sequel/companion this year. It is really good, too–not funny, as the first one was, but much deeper. It goes on the New Zealand fiction shelf in our library. I borrowed Dirty Genes from a sister-in-law while I was in America. Soon after I started reading it, I decided I want it on our shelf, so I bought her a new one and had it shipped to her house. This is eye-opening as far as health and what might be behind a lot of illness. I have never seen a better description of myself than is written here! I am adding it to our Health shelf.

The Collier’s Junior Classics set was rather an impulse buy. I saw someone advertising these ten volumes for $20, and grabbed them. Aren’t they pretty? Beyond that, they are a great introduction to a lot of older books, with a chapter or two from each. When these books came in, Esther sat down and read the tables of contents. It was great fun to see how many of the books that are excerpted here are on our shelves! I also bought Freckles from the same person. I read this book over 30 years ago when I was recovering from appendicitis. I am looking forward to reading it again! This edition was in a New York City public library. It is an Anniversary Edition, published in 1914, 10 years after the initial publication.

When we received the Junior Classics set, we had to figure out where to house them. We had already combined the poetry books and anthologies into one Poetry/Anthology shelf, and decided to swap them with the cookbooks so that they will be more visible. Look at how many books are on that shelf!

I bought a few more books from Facebook listings about the same time. There were three picture books set on a farm near Hororata in North Canterbury, New Zealand. When I saw that, I pointed out to my little girls that we had driven through there the day before–fun! These books are fantasy. Smoky Mountain Rose is a fun retelling of Cinderella, set in the Appalachian Mountains in the USA. I love Diane Stanley’s picture book biographies, so I snatched up Cleopatra. I like the way the author handles Cleopatra’s death–it’s not graphic. These books are on the New Zealand Picture Books, Picture Books, and Picture Book Biographies shelves.

One of the books I picked up at the Bookarama was Uncle Trev. We already have Uncle Trev and the Great South Island Plan, and really enjoyed the ridiculous tall tales in it. This one is even better, although I removed the last chapter because I didn’t like it at all. It joins Comet in the Sky on the New Zealand fiction shelf. We just read that one aloud, as well. It continues the story of May Tarrant, which began with No One Went to Town and Black Boots and Buttonhooks. Sister, by Ellen Howard, was a Facebook purchase because the cover intrigued me. It turns out to be a glimpse into the life of a pioneer girl who had no idea how babies come into the world, but who had to take care of her family at age 13 after her mother had a baby and things went wrong. I placed this book on the Young Adult fiction shelf.

I chose Second-hand Children when I decided on all the books I would read this year for the Read Your Bookshelf Challenge. The November prompt was “food” and this book has food on the cover! It turns out to be a fun story about a family of fatherless children growing up in Wellington. The two youngest girls were quite the characters! This book is going on the New Zealand fiction shelf. I have loved books by Jean Fritz for a long time, so when I come across one I don’t have yet, I grab it. The Double Life of Pocahontas was quite an interesting story about her, as well as John Smith. I also enjoyed Chocolate by Hershey; I don’t think I had ever read about that man before. We found this Creative Minds biography at the Bookarama–what a find! That is a good biography series. Both of these book go on the Junior Biography shelf.

Four of these next books were also from the Bookarama! A Pony for the Winter is a delightful horse story for the Independent Readers shelf. An Elephant in the Garden and Fight for Freedom are both World War II stories. An Elephant in the Garden is historical fiction, about the bombing of Dresden, Germany late in the war. Though it is a war story, it is delightful. It will be with the Junior Fiction books. Fight for Freedom is a true story, set in Indonesia. It is not a nice story; the protagonist was badly mistreated by the Japanese. However, it is a glimpse into a part of the war I have never read about before. I bought this one because I recognized the author; he wrote The Silver Sword, one of our favorite books. It will be on the Junior Biography shelf. Danger on Midnight River is a fast-paced, short adventure story of survival in the wilderness. Reading it could actually help someone survive in a wild river–it is that detailed. I found two more I Survived books on the Facebook page. My 10-year-old was excited when she saw them, and couldn’t wait for me to read them before giving them to her!

Down Cut Shin Creek was one of the books I brought back from America. It is a wonderful story of one of Franklin Roosevelt’s relief programs during the Great Depression. I read it aloud to my youngest children one day when I was injured and couldn’t work, and they were enthralled with this true story, which will go on the Junior History shelf. I finished reading Heart to Heart With Rosie Boom recently. What a wealth of encouragement is between these covers! This book lives on the Adult Miscellaneous shelf. I read Hue & Cry to one of my daughters over the past several weeks. It has been on the Junior Fiction shelf for several years, but I hadn’t read it yet. It is a sequel to The Journeyman, which we had just read. What a wonderful story! I commented to my oldest daughter that it is a real treat to get to read aloud a book by Elizabeth Yates for the first time.

One Sunday afternoon I had the chance to sit down and read. I decided to quickly scan through the rest of the American Girls books that I brought home from America a few months ago, since my 10-year-old daughter wanted to read them. As I remembered from when I read them 35+ years ago, the Kirsten books were my favorites. These books tell the story of a Swedish girl whose family emigrated to Minnesota. They are lovely family stories! The ones about Kit and Addy are good, too, but it’s a little disappointing to only have one from each set. Maybe someday! I took a chance on the Bear Grylls Adventures books when I saw them advertised. I had read a review of them that intrigued me, because the review mentioned that these books are printed with the Dyslexia Font. I have several sons who have dyslexia, so that word catches my attention! The day these books arrived in our house, one of those sons picked up one of the books and read it in half an hour. That made me think these might be good choices for boys who struggle with reading! I did censor one of them a bit, deleting the references to millions of years. All the books in this set of pictures are on the Junior Fiction shelves.

I bought The Highly Trained Dogs of Professor Petit because I like some of Carol Ryrie Brink’s books. Apparently, she had fun writing somewhat fantastic/tale tale sort of stories! This is a fun book for young readers. Jericho’s Journey has been on our shelf for many years, but I hadn’t read it yet. It turns out to be an account of a family’s move from Tennessee to Texas in the 1850s, based on old diaries of the time. I liked the way Jericho grew up through the course of the journey. Old Ramon is one I found at the Bookarama and bought because I tend to like those older books. Then, I was reading through a list of Newbery Medal books, and discovered that this book was on the list. One of the boys chose it for a read-aloud, so it didn’t end up buried in the stacks. This book explores the relationship between an old shepherd and a young boy, as the old man tells the boy (who is never named) about his life and things he has learned, while they follow the sheep to new grazing. Both Jericho’s Journey and Old Ramon have coming-of-age themes. All three of these books are on the Junior Fiction shelf.

My mom just arrived for a visit, and brought me a few books that I received for review. I read With Mercy’s Eyes while we were there in August, but a niece wanted to read it, so I left it behind. See my review here. It will be on the Adult Fiction shelf. Be sure to read the warnings in my review before deciding to read this book. I also already reviewed the Bible Companion Book 5 here. I really like this series to read along with my Bible readings. It will be on the Devotionals shelf.

To borrow any of these books or others, please go to our catalog. Find out how we loan books on this page.

I thought it would be hard to top the number of books we added to the library the end of August/beginning of September when we brought suitcases full of books from America. However, this year’s local Bookarama had around 44,000 books on offer, and we went twice. I won’t tell you how many books we brought home altogether (because I don’t know), but here are the ones that went directly onto the shelves. There are also stacks of them that we need to preview before adding them.

First up: The picture books. I was pleasantly surprised to find this Jungle Doctor Picture Fable. We now have three of them, and they are delightful! The Saggy Baggy Elephant is just a fun classic picture book. I had never read a Lighthouse Keeper book, but we all loved this one when I brought it home. It is funny! I Went to the Zoo is a fun story for young children; it’s along the lines of Jack in the Beanstalk, with something added to the story on each page. The Old Cattle Dog is a wonderful tribute to working dogs and their relationship with farmers. Another Amelia Bedelia book? Yes, please! And then, we found several more Lynley Dodd books that we didn’t have yet. Those are always fun to read aloud.

More picture books! All of my children have loved the Magic School Bus books, and while Blows Its Top and Hops Home are not as informative as the first set, they are still educational. Snow is a very easy reader. Lonesome George Finds His Friends is a beautiful easy reader about the Galapagos Islands. I don’t often find picture book biographies at places like this, so I was happy to find one, even though I had never heard of Louis Sockalexis before. The Bantam and the Soldier is a poignant glimpse into the Anzacs in World War I. I got Helping Paws for my dog-loving little girl. Look Out! is a very easy reader. We don’t have any other books about elephants, so I bought that one for the gorgeous pictures. I saw Let’s Find Out About Fishes in a box that someone was preparing to send to the dump–I quickly asked if I could have it! My youngest loves the Can You See What I See books. Where’s Wally actually didn’t come from the Bookarama; it was rescued from a burn pile last year but only now got added to the library.

Lucy & Tom’s Christmas is a gorgeous picture book of a family celebrating together. We had a different Little Yellow Digger book, but not the first one. My littlest loves the series that Grandpa Kangaroo is in. I think the stories are rather silly, but the photography is amazing. Ships and Seafarers of the South Pacific is a good addition to our Junior History Shelf. The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive is one of the original, more informative series. Autumn Muster is a beautiful glimpse into high-country farming here in New Zealand.

I bought Skateboards, Scooters and Racers to add to the Art/Craft shelf. I had to reconstruct the back cover; it looked like it had caught fire! The Danger Zone books are intended as a humorous look at history. I had never come across a book about the Bediun people before finding B is for Bedu! What a fascinating peek into the lives of these nomads.

I also bought a number of classics. Isn’t this edition of A Tale of Two Cities beautiful? Notice the date on the label inside the front cover. I’ve been looking for an unabridged hardcover copy of Heidi for a long time, and finally found a beautiful one! I was delighted with these copies of The Swiss Family Robinson and Eight Cousins, as well. The Companion Library edition of Rip Van Winkle and Toby Tyler isn’t gorgeous, but I like Washington Irving’s stories pretty well, so I got it.

Window on the World is one of the books I sold about 10 years ago in a temporary fit of insanity and minimalism. This one is in nearly-new condition. I had been considering buying it new again to use with my youngest two daughters’ history/geography lessons. I bought Play It Again because sometimes we need ideas for new games. One of my children picked up Welsh Tales; she loves collections of stories.

These are some of the books we acquired earlier, and now have added to the shelves. I bought Baby Island because we love the author. It is perfect for baby-loving little girls who also like adventure stories! As I read it aloud, one of my younger boys was holding out for the cannibals to show up on the tropical island–what really happened was much better! We’ve read or listened to In the Presence of My Enemies several times, so when a copy was found at a secondhand shop, it was snatched up. I read The Trailblazing Life of Daniel Boone to my daughter for history. She was rather bored, but I liked the way it told the story of everything that happened in the colonies and the new United States during Daniel Boone’s life, rather like Genevieve Foster’s books.

My youngest has loved Lulu and the Dog From the Sea for a few years, requesting it to be read to her a couple of times, so when I saw two more Lulu books advertised on Facebook, I got them for her birthday. Then, I found another at the Bookarama! I’ve now read her two of them, and we’re halfway through the third. These are great for young animal lovers. They are on the Independent Readers shelf, for children who are transitioning from Easy Readers to longer books.

I’ve read The Love Dare on Kindle, and found it very good, so I got the copy I found at the Bookarama. I’ve been working on reading Astounding Truths of the Bible as a devotional for a long time, and finally finished it. I got Norman Rockwell’s American Family when I saw it on Facebook, and we all really enjoyed studying the pictures.

I’m hoping to find more of the spin-off books from the Little House series; my girls like them. So, I got On Top of Concord Hill. One of my boys, the only one who likes to collect books, picked up The Twelve Million Dollar Note at the Bookarama. He read it already and really enjoyed it. I found True Tales of Animal Heroes at a secondhand shop while we were in America, and read it to my littlest as a bedtime story; she loves this type of book. One of my girls actually bought Stories for Eight-Year-Olds a year ago, but somehow it never got entered into our library! Esther found Irma’s Big Lie some time ago, and finally read it. It sounds like one I would enjoy reading aloud. Apparently, the protagonist learns the value of honesty! We found a couple of Paddington books that we didn’t have. Esther is collecting those, so they came home with us to go on the Independent Readers shelf.

Some of my recent buys on Facebook included two Clyde Robert Bulla books for the Independent Readers shelf. We love his books! I remember reading these two when I was young. I was also able to complete my series of the Milly Molly Mandy books, more that my youngest loves. There is no real plot to them; they are simply lovely stories about a little girl and her friends. I also added A Girl of the Limberlost to the shelf for circulation, since we sourced dust jacket covers to protect the beautiful, but fragile, dust cover. And lastly, Indian Two Feet and His Horse, another lovely Easy Reader that I remember my siblings reading 30 odd years ago. It is delightful!

I spent a Sunday afternoon this month previewing some of the American Girls books I brought home from America. I remember reading and enjoying these books when they first came out, in the 1980s, so I bought some of them for my girls. I noticed that Molly had some bad attitudes, and treated others in ways that weren’t so nice, but each time she ended up seeing the error of her way and apologizing. About that same time I also preread these two new I Survived books. The American Revolution one is rather violent (quite realistic), but I really liked The Black Death–it’s probably my favorite in the series so far.

I found time to read a couple of books that have been here for several years without being read, as well. The Midnight Fox turned out to be a wonderfully heartwarming story of a boy who grew up one summer. The Boy on the Wooden Box is the story of a boy who was saved by Schindler, during the Holocaust. I read King George: What Was His Problem? to one of my children as part of our study of American History. It was a fresh, new look at the American Revolution; I liked the way the author wove the story of a particular soldier through the book. To Ride the Gods’ Own Stallion is one of the books I brought home from America, and so is The Ark. We just finished reading both of them out loud. The first is set in Ancient Assyria, so the violence that shows up is not surprising. For about half the way through the book, I was debating about keeping it, but by the time we reached the end, we knew it was a keeper. The changes that came about in the lives of the main characters were worth reading about. The Ark is one that I read some 30-35 years ago, from the library, and have wished to have on the shelf for many years. It has just been reprinted by Purple House Press, and they had a very good sale earlier this year. I loved having the chance to read this family story together–it’s special! I also brought The 40-Day Sugar Fast home with us from America. It is well worth reading and doing a fast, whether from sugar, or from books, as I did for 40 days after we came home.

And, to wrap up this month, here are a few more books from the Bookarama! I skimmed through these Magic School Bus books and then handed them to my 10-year-old, who loves them. She helped me to make sure we got all the evolutionary references marked out. And lastly, here is a hardcover copy of A Christmas Carol, which one of my boys picked up. It is a beautiful edition!

Here are the rest of the books we brought home in our suitcases from America–at least, the ones that have been added to the library right away!

My children have all loved Carolyn Haywood’s books; one of my boys especially loved the Eddie books when he was about six or eight years old. These books are hard to find, so I was delighted to be able to get five of them!

I also like the Heroes for Young Readers, adaptations of the Christian Heroes: Then & Now and Heroes of History books for older children. These are the stories of famous people told in rhyme, with full-color illustrations.

I was able to get the Eloise Wilkin Stories collection and the Mother Goose book when Sonlight Curriculum had their clearance sale. I love Eloise Wilkin’s picture books! My littlest loves the Mother Goose book. I had read it aloud to her already when I found it online, and she is enjoying it again. I got How to Eat a Poem to go with a level of Sonlight we’ll be using soon. I got The Valentine Cat because we love Clyde Robert Bulla. We also like the animal stories from Thornton W. Burgess. Both of those are on the Independent Readers shelf. My mom was sorting out books to get rid of, to make more room on her shelves, and I asked her for The Usborne First Thousand Words in Spanish, since we already had the same book in English.

I also brought home a lot of adult fiction books–mainly women’s fiction. The Heart of Christmas and Song of Grace are anthologies of about half a dozen novellas by as many different authors. In each one, I enjoyed most of the stories. I wrote a review of The Thomas Sisters earlier this year, as well as The Daughter of Rome, The Aftermath, and What I Left for You. Esther and I both read and reviewed The Atlas of Untold Stories–easily my favorite of all these titles!

Sometime in the past year, my favorite author, Chautona Havig, offered a number of her books at half price because she had too many on her shelves. I jumped at the chance to get some I didn’t have in print yet. Under the Hibiscus, The Title Wave, and Trust Fall are a series set on a Pacific Island. Trust Fall is also a spin-off of The Agency Files. The New Cheltenham books are a fun series of Christmas books. Induction is the prequel to the entire Agency series, though written much later. I really liked Dial I for Identity–what is our identity in Christ? Clock Tower Bound is the fourth book in the Bookstrings series. Warning: It may make you want to read a lot of other books! I downloaded an audio book after reading this one. And Moore’s Code? Well, it’s the only Santa Claus book I have ever even wanted to read–and it’s fun! It is not a Christian story, but it does show character growth. And, it’s just plain fun.

We have a couple of new picture books! I Can’t Sleep is a delightful wordless book about a family who all apparently suffered from insomnia. The Practical Princess was given to us by a private lending library in the United States who partnered with Purple House Press to give a copy to each library registered on Biblioguides. I happened to be in the United States when they made this offer, and there was just enough time for them to send me a copy before we returned home. I am not big on fairy tales, but my little girls love them, and this is a delightful story. The book is sheer pleasure to hold, too; it is a well-bound hardcover. I recently bought a roll of dust jacket covers, so I have protected the beautiful cover that way.

We added a few more books to the Junior fiction shelf. I was able to get two more Jungle Doctor books. We are reading a Jungle Doctor book aloud in the mornings now, and really enjoying it. Raiders From the Sea is the first book in a series that I read to the children about 10 years ago. I bought the set in Kindle format, and we raced through them as fast as I could read. After reading each one, I paused long enough to write a review of it before moving on to the next–much to my children’s dismay, as they wanted to find out what happened next! I’m hoping to find the rest of the series eventually.

I found this copy of Now We Are Six at a secondhand shop one day. We love A. A. Milne’s poems! We also love Encyclopedia Brown. I actually bought four at once, but three were borrowed before I remembered to take a picture of them or had a chance to put them on the Independent Readers shelf. Esther just read Dreams Of Victory. This Junior Fiction book reminded her of Anne of Green Gables in a modern setting!

I bought this Easy Reader adaptation of The Black Stallion because I knew my youngest, who is starting to read, would love it. Speaking of Easy Readers, notice the crayon on the spine label? I color-coded the easy readers recently, hoping that will help choose the right books for beginners. I sorted the books into four levels, doing my best to match the ones with similar amounts of text on the pages. This one is in the third level. From Fear to Freedom is another book that Esther recently read. It is an inspiring account of a missionary and her life in New Guinea and will be on the Adult Biographies shelf. I bought The Dolphin Rider to add to our Classics shelf because twice in a few months my boys needed to read an adapt a Greek myth as part of their Language Arts curriculum.

When we did an inventory of our books to make sure that what we have on the shelf matches what is in the catalog, we came across In the Footprints of the Lamb, and Esther realized it should be on the Devotionals shelf instead of with the classics. It looks like a good one!

We got home from our trip to America a few days ago. The bulk of our luggage was books–see the pile we had to add to the library?

Not all of them are going directly on the shelves, but over half are. I’ll highlight part of them here, and save the rest for next month.

First up: the books that will go on the Junior Fiction shelf. A number of families around here have been eagerly waiting for these last two books in The Brady Street Boys series. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole series, and the ending was satisfying. See my reviews of the series here and here.

I also acquired the fifth and sixth books in the Tree Street Kids series. We listened to the first few books in this series and I decided that we needed all of them in our library. I’m looking forward to reading these! The Goldtown Adventures series by Susan K. Marlow, for 10-12-year-olds follow the Goldtown Beginnings series for 6-8-year-olds. This series is about the same person, a few years older. I was in a discount grocery store in Michigan that has a book corner (they actually bought out my bookstore 18 years ago), and saw this series. Since I had been thinking about getting the series anyway, I bought it then.

We listened to several of the Clementine books a few months ago, so when I found a couple of copies to buy, I snatched them up. My mom read one of them while we were still at her house, and loved it.

I also brought home a lot of picture books. We love the Frances books, and books by Ezra Jack Keats, and books by Patricia Polacco…

I was tickled to find a hardcover of In the Small, Small Pond at a secondhand shop I went to with my mom. This book has been a favorite of our family since it was given to us by one of my aunts who worked in a school library for many years. She sent us a boxful of books a few weeks before my third baby was born, and it was great to have new stories to read my two older toddlers while I was feeding the new baby. That copy, though, is nearly worn out, so now we have one that will keep going for many years.

I also brought home some more easy readers. We now have all the Frog and Toad books, and two Henry and Mudge books–both quite popular with my youngest!

I found a lot of books to add to the Junior Biography section, too. The two about Ben Franklin are easy readers, and very fun stories. I got the one about Teddy Roosevelt because I love that author’s style of presenting history. I also like Jean Fritz’s books, and the Scholastic biographies. The Childhood of Famous Americans books are good for children who need books just above the level of the books we have on the Independent Readers shelf. Wangari’s Trees of Peace is a beautiful picture book about a woman in Africa.

Then there are some miscellaneous books that I’ll add to this post. I got What Am I Feeling? because it is part of a level of Sonlight Curriculum that I am doing with one of the girls. The Search and Rescue Files is a review book, and I really enjoyed it. I had Elijah read it, too, and he reported that it is pretty accurate. It goes on the Young Adult Fiction shelf. I got When God Writes Your Love Story because there has been some interest in it among our young people. It’s a book I had many years ago, but when someone borrowed it, someone else burned it. Treasures of the Wise and The Bible Companion Book were both review copies. I used both as daily devotionals and liked them. I got The Constitution of the United States to go with another level of Sonlight Curriculum. I actually ordered it well over a year ago for Esther and the boys to bring back from the States, and it didn’t arrive at my mom’s house till about 9 months after I ordered it.

That’s all for now! I’ll write another post about the rest, sometime in the next month. I have a lot to catch up on after being away from home for over five weeks.

I was surprised to hear of a book sale only half an hour’s drive from us in the beginning of the month. There is normally one in early October every year, run by the Rotary Club, but this year a different group did one as a fundraiser now. Mr. Sweetie and Little Miss went with me to see what treasures we could find. We spent an hour searching the boxes and tables, and found a lot of books to bring home!

We already had these three books, but I replaced our worn copies of Freedom Train and Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express, and was delighted to find a hardcover of The Great Wheel.

I brought home several picture books, some to go on the Picture Books shelf, and some for the Science shelf. Miss Joy loves Too Much Noise; she went and found our copy of It Could Always Be Worse to compare the similar stories. Fishes and Animal Life in North America are delightful 1960s-style books.

I added four books to the Easy Reader shelf, and was very happy to find a Milly Molly Mandy book and another by the author of the Encyclopedia Brown books. My children all love those mysteries!

Mr. Sweetie found a box full of Companion Volume books, and chose four that he wanted. I am putting them on the Junior Fiction shelf.

One of the children thought about Miss Joy with these books–she loves babies, and she loves Anne Geddes’ books.

I got A Treasury of Little Golden Books and The Bedtime Book of 365 Nursery Rhymes because Miss Joy loves poetry and stories so much. They are going on the Picture Books and Poetry shelves.

We’ve gotten some laughs out of The Big Book of Boy Stuff. First, I noticed that it indicated a reversible cover, so I opened it–to find the Exercise Book cover inside the dust jacket, and the title Science on the book. Mr. Sweetie and Mr. Imagination have been having fun reading this book, which is chock-full of experiments, stories, jokes and recipes. When they lose interest, it will go on the Junior Miscellaneous shelf.

Of course, we also got books in the mail. The one that is going directly onto the shelf is The Return, one of the few Amish Fiction books I have ever enjoyed. Find my review of it here, as well as some of my reasons for disliking Amish fiction in general! An interesting note–I didn’t realize this was a hardcover large print book when I bought it!

I also found time to read some of the books that have been on our shelves for many years without being read, and some of the ones on my massive stack that needs to be read before going on the shelves. First, the ones I have read aloud to the children!

Many years ago, we read the first book in The May Series, No One Went to Town. I decided to read the series again, since we now have four of the five books and a friend has the other. We started with the first one, and enjoyed this account of a family pioneering in the bush of the North Island of New Zealand.

One of the children chose The Lost Prince for me to read aloud. I was surprised by how much they all enjoyed this story! Because of some content concerns, however, I will be putting this book on the Classics shelf out in the container. See my review for details.

I read Night Preacher to the children for our history study. We enjoyed this perspective on Menno Simons and the early Anabaptists in Holland. This book is on the Junior Fiction shelf.

I read the Little Prairie Girl books to my youngest. She loved these stories about a Russian Mennonite girl growing up on the prairies of Manitoba, Canada. She got annoyed with the recipe that is at the end of each chapter–but didn’t want me to stop reading them! These are on the Independent Readers shelf.

My 10-year-old daughter chose Blue Willow. It’s been on the shelf, unread, for many years, and my co-librarian wanted to discard it a year or two ago. I knew it was a gem, so we kept it, but I had forgotten just how special it is. Friendship and family–those are the main themes. It’s a good one! It is on the Junior Fiction shelf.

The Lighted Heart is the best memoir I have read in many years! I bought it because we love the books we have by this author, especially Mountain Born, A Place for Peter, and The Journeyman. What a delightful story this one is, as Elizabeth Yates tells about the year when her husband went blind, how they changed their lives to accomodate him, and the highlights of the next few decades of their life in New England. It is full of humor, and sprinkled with gems of wisdom. This one goes on the Adult Biography shelf.

These next three books have been on our shelves for some time, but we haven’t gotten to them. Children of the Oregon Trail is a retelling of the story of the Sager children; we have a different version on the shelf, as well. This one is harder to read, and graphically describes some of the extreme dangers the children faced. Man-Shy is a story about wild cows in Australia, and what happened to them when the land was fenced. Have you ever come across a book about cows? I haven’t! Not for children who can’t handle sad endings. Walk Two Moons fit into a reading challenge I’m doing, so I finally read it. Wow, this is a good story. It’s actually two stories in one, both with similar themes, and girls who try to work through hard things that have happened to them. The author did a masterful job of keeping me in the dark until the very end, although I should have figured out what really happened near the beginning. This one is on the Young Adult shelf; the other two, on the Junior Fiction shelf.

I have loved David Macaulay’s books about architecture for over 30 years. I collected most of them when I was in the United States about eight years, but hadn’t found one of my favorites, Underground. I was excited when I saw it come up on the Facebook group! I probably paid way too much, but I think the collection is complete now. Bound for Oregon has been on the shelf since that trip eight years ago, and I finally read it. I loved this account of the Oregon Trail! It is based on the recollections of a woman who made the trip with her family as a child. It’s a lot gentler than the one in the last group of pictures.

I picked up a couple of the Who Is?/Where Is? books at the book sale, but held them back until I had read them myself. They are all right–not great, but all right, and very informative. I found them fairly engaging, written on an Independent Readers level. The one about the Brooklyn Bridge tells a story I haven’t come across before, and I enjoyed learning about how it was built. These books are going on the Junior Biography and Junior History shelves. I picked up The Diddakoi a year or two ago at a secondhand shop without knowing anything about it. It turns out to be a very good story about a gypsy girl who had to integrate into English society. A gentle romance runs through the story, along with themes of bullying and friendship. This is a special story! It will be on the Junior Fiction shelf.

I was also able to find some more I Survived books. As with the others I have read, I am impressed with how this author is able to take such a hard topic, with many people dying, and create a story that I feel like I can allow my children to read. These are written on the level of our Independent Readers, but due to the hard content, I am shelving them with the Junior Fiction books.

One day while I was in town with some of the children, Miss Joy spent an hour or two in the garden entertaining Esther while she was digging potatoes. Miss Joy was picking up the earthworms she found and relocating them to a different bed. She was blown away when Esther told her that earthworms are both boys and girls. Because of her interest in them, I offered to read her the book I recently bought about earthworms. It has nine chapters, but kept her interest all the way through. None of the children have yet read The Wild Whale Watch, but now that I have vetted it I expect Little Miss to snatch it up. Both of those will be on the Junior Science shelf. One of my recent purchases was Lyla, the story of the February 22, 2011 Christchurch earthquake from the point of view of a 13-year-old girl. It’s rather weird to read a historical fiction story about an event that I have lived through. Because of where we lived during the Kaikoura earthquake of 2016, I could relate to her feelings, especially to the way she reacted to tremors and even the rumble of trucks afterwards. Despite some language (which I have censored), I found this an engrossing story, and very real.