My Bookshelf

We started school this past week, which means that we have a new daily schedule!  With this new schedule, I was able to build in some reading time for myself.  YIPPEE!  I found that Matthew and Jonathan go to sleep faster and sleep longer if I sit in their room until they fall asleep for their nap.  (Of course, I do have to remind them to be quiet, lie down, and close their eyes!)  So, now I sit in their room and read to myself while the girls are reading in the living room.  It's a good thing because I have a huge backlog on my bookshelf.  This is what I am hoping to read in the coming months during my reading time:

What We've Been Reading: February

In the month of February, I read two chapter books aloud to Mary and Maggie: Five Children and It and Rascal.  As usual, both books were recommended in Hand That Rocks the Cradle: 400 Classic Books for Children.



We chose to read Five Children and It because we enjoyed The Railway Children, also written by Edith Nesbit, so much. This book is about a family of five children, Robert, Anthea, Jane, Cyril, and Baby, who find a sand fairy (called a Psammead).  The sand fairy grants them one wish per day, which the children are super-excited about, but always leads to more trouble than any of them would have ever imagined.  In the end, the children learn to be thankful for one another and what they have and no longer wish for anything more, especially the trouble that accompanies the wishes!  We did enjoy reading this book, although I think if you are going to choose one book by Edith Nesbit to read, I'd go with The Railway Children first.



Rascal is a book about a boy who finds and adopts a wild raccoon to be his pet.  As you may imagine, a wild raccoon's mannerisms are very unusual and unexpected, especially to civilized folk.  After one year, the boys gives the raccoon the opportunity to return to the wild.  Some parts of this book were incredibly humorous, while others were somewhat long and drawn-out.  I definitely would choose to read the Lad books over Rascal unless someone really has a particular interest in a raccoon. 

What We've Been Reading--January

In the month of January, we read two wonderful chapter books: Lad, A Dog and its sequel Further Adventures of Lad both by Albert Payson Terhune.  These books are a collection of true stories about an amazing thoroughbred collie, Lad.  The stories were originally published in The Ladies Home Journal years ago.  I really enjoyed learning more about the psychology of the thoroughbred collie.  The three traits which come to mind are loyalty, devotion, and honor.  Not only was the content of the stories interesting, but the writing style and command of the English language were excellent.  Many times, my eyes were filled with tears at the heroism of this amazing collie.  I hesitate to detail the heroic feats for fear of giving away the surprising conclusion of any chapter.  If we ever do get a dog, I am now casting my vote in favor of a collie.  Even if you are not a dog-lover, these books will soften a spot of your heart towards them:)  By the way, the books are public domain and are available for free.  Enjoy!

What We've Been Reading

Well, we have only read one chapter book since my last post, but it was a great one!


The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit has been on our reading list for quite some time, yet another timeless classic that I had never read as a child.  Similar to The Saturdays, we came across some excerpts from the book in Mary's writing assignments from The Complete Writer and decided to read it in its entirety.  This is the story of a family consisting of a mother, father, and three children, whose lives are turned upside down when the father must go away for a time due to unexplained circumstances.  Mother and the children move away from their home.  Their new home is located near a railway, where the children spend the majority of their time.  They befriend workers at the railway and even passengers on the train and encounter many adventures.  They save a train from a crash, reunite a Russian political refugee with his family, and rescue a young man collapsed with an injury in a tunnel.  In the end, the father is able to return to his family and the reasons for his departure are explained. 

I want to share one small excerpt from the book.  This was my favorite part, a conversation between Mother and Peter:

"Don't you think it's rather nice to think that we're in a book that God's writing?  If I were writing the book, I might make mistakes.  But God knows how to make the story end just right--in the way that's best for us."
"Do you really believe that, Mother?" Peter asked quietly.
"Yes," she said, "I do believe it--almost always--except when I'm so sad that I can't believe anything.  But even when I can't believe it, I know it's true--and I try to believe..."

What We've Been Reading

I have once again fallen behind on what's supposed to be my monthly post on what chapter books we have been reading.  Since my last post, we read the sequel to Caddie Woodlawn, Magical Melons.  I have really enjoyed these stories about Caddie, a high-spirited, tomboyish pioneer girl.  I don't remember learning much about pioneer life in my schooling, but I really enjoy reading about it now with my children.  I like reading about the dynamics of attending school in a one-room schoolhouse.  I like reading about the visits from relatives only known through letters.  I like reading about a time when shopping trips were a rare and special event.


We also read The Secret Garden.  I never read this book as a child, but I so loved reading it to Mary and Maggie.  In case you don't know the plot, this is the story of a little girl, whose parents die in India, and is sent to live with her uncle in England.  The little girl, who was previously spoiled rotten, has to learn to do things for herself and occupies her time in the gardens of her uncle's estate.  She seems to come alive when she finds her way into a locked garden which has been unkempt for years.  In twists and turns that you really must read in the book, she and two friends bring the garden back to life and grow and mature themselves along the way.  Although I heartily recommend this book, there was one chapter with some really weird mystical kind of spirituality.  Even my four-year old and six-year old recognized it as such!  I don't necessarily shy away from such things.  I figure they spark some great conversations!


We also read The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright.  Honestly, I had never before heard of this book or the remaining three volumes that comprise the Melendy Quartet.  We came across it in our writing program, The Complete Writer, and were intrigued.  Simultaneously, we were unable to obtain copies of two books on our reading plan, so we substituted The Saturdays. The Melendy family consists of four children, Mona, Miranda, Rush, and Oliver, who live with their father and nanny in New York.  One Saturday, the children are bored and decide to create a club, the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club or ISAAC.  They combine their weekly allowance and give it to one member of the club to use towards an adventure of his or her choosing.  Even little Oliver goes off on an adventure all alone.  Each adventure highlights the unique personality of each child and results in a life lesson.  We really enjoyed reading this book and will likely read the remaining books of the quartet in the future. 

Picture Books We Love: James Herriot's Treasury of Inspirational Stories for Children

Since all of our books have been packed up in boxes, we have been relying upon reads from the local library over the past few weeks.  Two weeks ago, I went to the library with a long list of books to supplement our school lessons in history, science and health.  After finding all of those, I picked up about seven books for Maggie to read to me.  (Our long-standing joke is that I have trouble sleeping if she doesn't read me a bed-time story.)  Then, I stared at the bookshelves, looked at my watch, and started to get really upset that I had no plan for enjoyable short-stories to read aloud to Maggie.  UGGHH!  Fearing that I had left David alone with all four children for way too long, I quickly scanned the bookshelves for a book with a thick binding.  James Herriot's Treasury of Inspirational Stories for Children caught my eye immediately, simply because someone hadn't pushed it all the way in.

We loved these stories and plan to read more of James Herriot's books in the future!  This particular book is a beautiful collection of true animal stories encountered by a veterinarian in his practice located in the countryside or Yorkshire.   I don't know if I enjoyed these stories so much simply because they are beautifully unique animal stories or because of the country setting, having been an urban-dweller for all of my life!  Every story depicts a wonderful bond between man and animal, such that will bring tears to the eyes of a pregnant lady with pendulum-ish emotions.  If I had to pick a favorite from the eight stories included, I would choose the one in which a kitten nuzzles up alongside a litter of pigs to nurse, with neither animal concerned that something was amiss.  The Mobley family is looking forward to reading more works by James Herriot!

What We've Been Reading

Amazingly, we have been keeping on track with our read-aloud plan for the year!  For us, read-aloud time comes in the afternoon--after all our other schoolwork is completed and while the boys are snoozing.  I love curling up on the couch with my girls and getting lost in the pages of a book.  I love when we get to the end of a chapter and they beg, "Read, more, Mama.  More!  PLEASE!"  This school year, we have read three excellent books.


Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is the story of a young girl who is sent from her home to live with her spinster aunts, Jane and Miranda, in the town of Riverboro.  Rebecca has a way of charming everyone she meets with her creativity, imagination and energy.  While we did enjoy the book, it did become difficult for Mary to follow the plot, especially in the later chapters.  I plan to read this wonderful book again when the kids are a few years older.


Who hasn't heard of Peter Pan and Tink and Wendy?  Certainly, I was familiar with the story of Peter and Wendy, but I had never actually read it!  We laughed at the idea of having a dog for a nanny and thoroughly enjoyed flying away with Peter to Neverland.  The girls were riveted during the big fight scenes and may have acted it out one too many times.  I could probably blame the pregnancy hormones for my pendulum-like emotions lately, but I cried reading the last chapter.  If you haven't read the book yourself (really, skip the movies and read the book), I will totally ruin the ending if I go into an explanation for my tears, so please read the book for yourself.  I promise, you won't be disappointed.  One sort of funny thing I want to share is that Mary read this book on her Kindle before I had the chance to read it aloud.  Tink is very cute in Disney's portrayal, but she is really very crude and cruel in the book.  A few times, she calls Peter a "silly ass."  Rather than read it as written, I would just say, "silly," but my Mary, with the amazing memory, would correct me and say, "No, Mama, it says, 'silly ass!'"  We had a discussion about vulgar words!


Most recently, we completed Caddie Woodlawn.  Caddie is a red-haired tomboy running in the woods of Wisconsin in the late 1800s.  Because Caddie's sister Mary died in Wisconsin after the long journey from Boston, Caddie's father requested that Caddie be permitted to run wild with the boys rather than be made into a lady.  Amid the crazy escapades of Caddie and her brothers, Tom and Warren, there are some wonderful life lessons.  I especially enjoyed the chapter "Father Speaks" and even became teary-eyed (again blame the pregnancy hormones!)  We really, really, really enjoyed reading this book and are really excited about the sequel: Magical Melons.

Picture Books: Froggy Goes to the Doctor

I know it has been a really long time since I have posted about any books we have been reading.  Honest, we have still been reading a plethora of books.  We have really been enjoying visiting our local library every week. There is a huge well-organized children's section and really helpful staff.  We have even been able to participate in two summer reading programs since our arrival here.  In spite of the noise that comes with twin boys in a stroller, I think we have won the favor of the librarians since we check out so many books every week:)

One day, Maggie picked a Froggy book off of the shelf and asked if we could borrow it.  She enjoyed it so much that we have been reading more of the Froggy series by Jonathan London.  Until we read Froggy Goes to the Doctor, I thought the books were ok but nothing spectactular.  But, oh my goodness, this one is so incredibly funny!  Funny like we were rolling on the floor laughing and had to take a break to get all the giggles out.  When David came home from work, I asked him to read it also.  The book had the same effect on him!  All I can say about the story is exactly what is revealed by the title: This book is about Froggy going to the doctor for a check-up.  If I say one more more, I fear the hilarity rating will be adversely affected.  This one is worth reading, but you should definitely visit the restroom beforehand!!

Picture Books We Love: My Favorite Fairy Tales

Can I really call My Favorite Fairy Tales a picture book?  I'm not sure. It's actually more of an oversized board book, but it's one my girls love and it does have pictures. 

There are so many different fairy tales books out there.  We certainly have our fair share of them, but this is among our favorites.  What makes this book stand out is the play-along aspect.  Each two-page layout includes the fairy tale on one side and a felt play area on the other.  Children can use the accompanying felt pieces to act out the fairy tale while you are reading or afterwards or whenever.
There are six fairy tales included in this book: Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Gingerbread Man, The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel.   

I have to say there is one downside of this book and fairy tales generally speaking.  The other morning Maggie woke up very upset because she had a bad dream about a witch chasing her.  My husband looked at me with a quizzical look as if to say, "Where has she been learning about witches?"  Fairy tales!  Even so, this is a fun book among the most popular in our home!

Picture Books We Love: Green Eggs and Ham

Some of you may have been wondering when I was going to get around to a Dr. Seuss book.  I LOVE reading Dr. Seuss' books to my kids.  They enjoy the rhymes so much and the whimsical illustrations, too!  We have many, many, many Dr. Seuss books and I was delighted to find Green Eggs and Ham in a stack of books that a friend gave us a while back.  I don't know if I can pick one of Dr. Seuss' books to be my favorite, but this one has a special place in my heart because I remember reading it over and over as a child.

Sam tries to offer green eggs and ham to Mr. No Name and simply will not take no for an answer.  He persists in offering them in different ways, like on a boat or in a tree or with a mouse.  Finally, just to get Sam to stop pestering him, Mr. No Name tries them and finds that he does like them!  I thought after reading this book that I would try to get more veges into my kids by making green eggs, a.k.a. spinach quiche.  It didn't go over very well, but we still love reading this book!  When my kids are leery of trying something new, I remind them of Mr. No Name, who thought he would not like green eggs and ham but found out he did.  Sometimes it helps; sometimes it doesn't.

Picture Books We Love: Good Night, Little Bear

We acquired Good Night, Little Bear by Patsy Scarry from some friends whose children had outgrown it.  I had never heard of it before, but it is a really cute book.  It is time for Little Bear to go to bed.  He rides on Father Bear's shoulders into bed, but he doesn't climb down.  Father Bear pretends to wake up from a dream and begins to look for Little Bear everywhere.  Under the pillow.  Under the blanket.  Under the kitchen stove.  Outside.  In the woodbox.  On the china shelf.  Then, he steps in front of the mirror and "discovers" Little Bear on his shoulders!  No longer lost, Little Bear enjoys a piece of chocolate cake, my kind of Bear, before Father Bear tucks him into bed.  Little Bear asks, "Did I really fool you, Daddy?"  This is such a cute story.  We always get a chuckle out of it. 

I think much of this book's appeal to our children has to do with their own fascination with hiding from Daddy.  As soon as they hear him open the garage door to put his bike away, they shout, "Quick, quick, time to hide.  Mama, tell Daddy you don't know where we are."  Then, they go to their "usual" hiding places and wait for Daddy to find them.  It will be a sad day when Maggie realizes she can actually just hide quietly instead of shouting, "I'm here, Daddy!"

What I've Been Reading--January

My in-laws gave Good to Great by Jim Collins to my husband some time ago.  Again, my husband questioned my choice of reading material.  The truth is that I have seen this book referenced in other books I have read, so I was intrigued.  Jim Collins and his team researched and analyzed eleven companies that transitioned from good to great (measured by cumulative stock returns) while other comparison companies in the same industry did not.  The companies selected were Abbott, Circuit City, Fannie Mae, Gillette, Kimberley-Clark, Kroger, Nucor, Philip Morris, Pitney Bowes, Walgreens and Wells Fargo.  The team drew seven somewhat surprising conclusions from their extensive research.  One that I found particularly interesting was that the good to great companies first found the right people and then decided where they were headed.

In the final chapter of the book, the author then concludes that by applying the findings in this book to your life and seeking greatness in some area, you can have a meaningful life.  I simply don't agree.  I think, like the Teacher in Ecclesiastes, we will even find that seeking greatness is even meaningless.  He concludes: "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13).  I believe that our true meaning is found in loving and serving our Creator.

Yes, we read another delightful book by Marguerite Henry!  You might guess from the title Stormy, Misty's Foal that the renowned movie star Misty of Chincoteague is pregnant!  Before she births the foal, though, the island is devastated by a hurricane.  When the Beebe family is forced to evacuate, they lead Misty into Grandma's kitchen.  Later, they exercise caution and transport her to an animal hospital in Pocomoke, where she births her mare colt Stormy.  Unfortunately, the wild ponies of Assateague were almost completely wiped out by the hurricane.  Paul and Maureen agree to a unique fundraising endeavor to replace the wild herds.  Misty and Stormy go on a special tour where Misty's movie is showing with all the proceeds from ticket sales going to replace the wild herds and clean up the island.  I found this story so touching and it brought me to tears many times, especially the letters and donations from children described in the Epilogue.  This is a wonderful book.
Since I love Crystal Paine's blog, MoneySavingMom, I was really excited to read her book Money Saving Mom's Budget!  Funny thing, I just couldn't sleep for some reason the night before its release, so I actually started reading it the moment it was delivered to my Kindle, at around 12:01 am on January 10!  I think this is an excellent book to read if you are looking for ways to cut back your budget, especially your grocery budget.  Since I read Crystal's blog daily, there was no information in this book that was new to me, but I still think this is a great resource because all of the information is collected in one place.  There is information in this book about how to set up a budget, many tips for reducing household budget items, how to find and use coupons, other ways to lower your grocery bill, and how to save on entertainment.  There are even tips on how to reduce clutter and have a successful yard sale.  My favorite chapter was the chapter on choosing to be content.  The information in this book is very much common sense, but, let's face it, we lack it often, especially in the area of finances.

I borrowed The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh from the library to read to Mary.   In this book, eight-year-old Sarah and her father set out in 1707 to build the first house in New Milford, Connecticut.  Before leaving her mother told her, "Keep up your courage, Sarah Noble!"  Sarah found this difficult to do.  There were strange noises and wild animals and Indians.  Truly, the most difficult part comes when her father leaves her with an Indian family in order to bring her mother and siblings to the newly completed house.  She finds her father's words to ring true, "To be afraid and to be brave is the best courage of all."  We enjoyed this book and it is a great one to teach children about befriending people who look and speak differently as well as to face difficult situations.

I have had Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer sitting on the bookshelf for a long time but only read it this month.  I had been having a very difficult time with my thought life and found this book to be really helpful.  I felt like Joyce really understood me and my thoughts.  I appreciated her biblical counsel in how to recognize and overcome ungodly and unproductive thought patterns.  I also liked that the chapters were very short, and I could read an entire chapter in one sitting without interruption (and interruptions are frequent as you probably can imagine with four children five and under!)