Very few of the books above were completed in January, but (most) were done by February. I'm already quite behind in getting my monthly book titles out but I want to be a bit more faithful with posts.
A lot of my completed reading right now is tied with my kids' home school curriculum. We're studying the Ancients this year and we have SO many good books that we're reading. You'll see them below in the Read-Aloud section.
The Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet - This memoir is a story about a young widow who sailed all up and down BC's local waters with her 5 children (!) on a small, 25-foot boat each summer. The descriptions of the places they went back to each year, the unusual events and people met along the way, the wildlife run-ins, and the navigational ability of this woman was incredible. Each chapter is a mini essay and although the author puts the essays in chronological order, the book does not always feel cohesive and sometimes the kids' ages will increase significantly from one story to the next!
I enjoyed 'seeing' the local waterways and places of BC's past through this book, and highly recommend the 50th anniversary edition because it has a lot of the author's original photographs in it.
The Moment of Tenderness by Madeleine L'Engle - I don't read short story compilations, but here I am. If it has L'Engle's name attached to it, I'll put it on hold. I was surprised by my reaction to this book, as I liked the stories a lot, even though I only really recognized one of them.
This book's collection was compiled posthumously, and was a gathering of chapters that were changed, edited, or unused from previous works. I could feel L'Engle's tone come through each one, and it was thoroughly enjoyable-just mini stories equalling about a chapter a night before bed.
Canadian Geographic Jan/Feb issue - I always put these here because I learn so much from them, and I read them cover to cover. My favorite story from this issue was about Biocellection, a company I'd heard of briefly before, but delved more deeply into from this article. Local BC teens developed a way to break down plastics with a new technology using chemical reduction and now their company is finding a way to use the by-products of this process for product use. I'm 100% investing in this company. Read the article-this is the stuff of the future!
Read Alouds
A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck - This was a suggested title from our local librarian, who recommended it as a Christmas season read. We read it through Christmas break but finished it very early January, and it was laugh out loud funny. It's in a series that two of the other books have been Newbery Winner or Honor Award winners. The writing is excellent, and it's a hilarious and sweet story for middle grades. I'm quite interested in reading the first book, A Year Down Yonder, that won the Newbery in 2001.
Adara by Beatrice Gormley - This book was part of our Socials/Literature curriculum this year when we studied ancient Israel (between Egypt and the Greeks). It cleverly ties a few people from the bible together from the books of Elijah and also 2 Kings. It's a story about a slave girl named Adara from Samaria who helps her master. I can't give more details but the cleverness of the well-known bible stories intermixed with historical fiction made this a good read even if it was a bit below my kids' typical reading level (I'd place it more at 8-12 yo).
10 Boys Who Changed the World by Irene Howat - This book is the last of the 5 titles we read aloud from the Lightkeepers series. We read one of the girls and one of the boys books each year for 5 years during our Morning Time, and now we have a bank of over 100 Christians from around the world, throughout history, to draw inspiration and courage from. This book includes men from history including John Newton and Eric Liddell. I can't recommend this series enough. They meet kids right where they are at, and show how through trials, hardships, and God's leading, the 'girls and boys' grow up to do excellent work for the Lord in their adulthood.
10 Girls Who Changed the World by Irene Howat - This book of Lightkeepers set focuses on 10 girls who made the world a better place from history and modern day including Corrie ten Boom, Joni Earikson Tada, and Amy Carmichael. Each mini biography is about 7 pages long and tells about their life from childhood onward, and how God used them for a purpose.
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