Showing a page from "The Little Book of Lykke" by Meik Wiking
I feel behind in my reading. The libraries have recently reopened two weeks ago and I now have a stack of three books I can't wait to read, and yet, I'm struggling to read them. My brain won't sit still long enough to relax into a book. It has nervous energy and I'm finding sometimes reading feels like a chore. There is so much going on in the world and reading is my happy and relaxed place; somehow the firm boundaries of my mind have been disrupted and distressed to the point of just shoving away the comfort foods of words and paper and turning off the light instead.
This looks like a big list, but it is two months worth, and most of it was either already half-completed, or read aloud to my kids. I recently led our kids' co-op in an Upper Level Book Club (gr 5+) with two of these books, also helping my reading on track. I know I'm not behind in anything (in what?), but at this point in years past, I would have doubled the amount of books I could devour and think about. This is enough for now, but I'm hoping over the summer-we only just finished our official school year this past week for various reasons-my brain can have a break and I'll be flooded with mental capacity for reading. That's the hope, anyway.
Have any of you struggled with finding time/energy/joy in things you have always loved during this weird year?
Between Heaven and Hell * by Peter Kreeft - This was a book I bought myself for my birthday. I saw the subtitle: "A Dialogue Somewhere Beyond Death with JFK, C.S. Lewis and Aldus Huxley" and immediately wanted to read it. JKF was the historical figure I knew the least about out of the three, consuming lots of Lewis books, and having a personal favorite of Huxley's bibliography in high school, Brave New World. All three of these men believe different things about who God is, how culture behaves spiritually, and the like, and it did not disappoint! Kreeft creates a dialogue (sort of similar reading experience to a screenplay) between the characters and bases it on their singular belief systems, while comparing and contrasting them. It's not for everyone, but it hit my literary/academic buttons and I enjoyed it.
Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt - I have picked up this book, the next, and the final in the series (Teens) at thrift stores over the years and although I had skimmed some of the sections in this book before, I had never read it front to back until these past two months. It was a really good brain break: it was fluff, but it was book fluff, and it was just what I needed: essays and encouragement about great literature to share with my kids-just what the doctor ordered.
Buy this book if you'd love to have a handy booklist (hundreds of books) with blurbs sectioning them off by genre, age, and topic.
Honey for a Woman's Heart by Gladys Hunt - I read this book next for the same reasons as the one above, I just needed a bit longer of a brain break. I enjoyed the first one and though this book does not categorize books in list form, it's more like letters the author received over the years, and their recommendations (and blurbs). These are mostly broken up entirely into topic and genre.
Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish - This book was set aside months ago but was SO GOOD. Everything Faber + Mazlish is excellent as far as parenting books go. I don't think I read very many of them, but these two ladies are just so practical and real, with such excellent advice, I have a few of their books. Their most famous title is "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk". The last number of months (a year?) has been one of constant sibling bickering in our home. "Make a rule that she can't....!" and "Hey! He grabbed that out of my hands!" and cue the headache. I'm not sure if it's been the pandemic and their forced friendship or the practical strategies are starting to work, but we're having some success.
Read Aloud to the Kids
Number the Stars * by Lois Lowry - This short novel is based on a true story of a small fishing village helping smuggle Jewish people along Denmark's coast into Sweden , where they could be free of Nazi rule. We paired it with the 1970s Disney movie, Miracle at Midnight, which is also based on that time period and setting, but different than this specific novel. This was a book we read for our German country study.
Little Pilgrim's Progress * by Helen L. Taylor - This book was nearly finished when May started, but we did finish it during the middle half of the month. The kids, surprisingly, loved this retelling of the famous story Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. This version is for children, though I'd say no younger than 8 or 9, into early teens. It includes both Christian's and Christiana's journey from the city of Destruction to the Celestial City, and all the perils, adventures, and souls they meet on their spiritual road. If you love classical literature but aren't ready to engage kids with the original (written in 1677), this is an excellent version.
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr - This was such a gem of a book! Although it was added to our German country study (it was SO HARD to find books just about Germany for kids, that didn't include WWII. If you know of with English translations, please leave their titles in the comments!) it was so hilarious as the little girl's narration is perfect. This is the first in a trilogy and I've already earmarked the other two for future reading aloud. My kids laughed while I read this, and they were very somber at times. These are semi-autobiographical books of when Kerr's family had to escape Nazi Germany in the 30s because her father was a very hated political writer, and how many countries and cultures they had to navigate over the years of constant moving. Excellent writing and plot whether you're studying WWII or just need a great book to share with your kids.
The Sound of Freedom by Kathy Kacer - This story was another one of our read-alouds for Social study with Nazi Germany, but this time it took us to Poland and then to Palestine. This is a novel about the true events that brought Jewish Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman all over Europe in search of the cream of the Jewish crop of orchestra musicians, and moved them and their families to Palestine to escape WWII and create the still-performing Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, then known as the Palestinian Philharmonic. It was an excellent novel, although some parts with the main character were quite predictable. We paired it with short documentary Orchestra of Exiles, the true story of Huberman's life.
A Wrinkle in Time * by Madeleine L'Engle - This is one of my favorite children's books of all time. I first read it in either 7th or 8th grade and remember it was a book that opened my eyes to the spiritual realm. This book is very 'out there', and it's full of weird creatures, fantastical physics theories, space-travel, and family. L'Engle is one of my long-time favorite authors but this is the book that made her so. The co-op book club voted to read this one, although I was hoping to save it and the other 4 books in the Time Quintet for the Fall, as read-alouds during their school year, but so be it. Thankfully, both my kids and the kids in the book club really enjoyed this book. There is a lot to think about within it's plot, most notably, the theme of Good vs. Evil, and what is the ultimate good? Love. The writing is superb, and the fact that quantum physics are a good chunk of the plot makes for a great read. Then go watch all the great youtube videos about String Theory, and Tesseracts, and how to imagine the 10th dimension!!
Restart by Gordon Korman - This was the third book I helped lead with the co-op's book club, and it was the least liked by the whole group. The plot line was extremely predictable, but we all (mostly) agreed that the writing was fast-paced and the shared narration was an interesting way to keep the story moving. I personally felt it was a bit less challenging than the other two books we read for this group: Fahrenheit 451 and Wrinkle in Time, so the conversation was not quite as lively. It's a story about a bully named Chase who falls on his head, gets amnesia, and discovers his past life was one he did not want to repeat.
*books linked to Classical Education Books, where I get a small kickback if you're local and purchase from this store.
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