Books for Boys ~ Part 1

Hello! to those of you joining me from the Storyformed Podcast. Welcome to Mt. Hope Chronicles!

To my regular readers, check out the Storyformed Podcast. Today I’m talking with Holly and Jaime about Favorite Books for Boys.

For newcomers, book recommendations are sprinkled throughout the blog, but you can find most of them at the following links:

Picture Book Picnic
The Reading Child
and Literary Buffet

I’ve been wanting to share more comprehensive lists, and this seems like a good time to start. Favorites lists are always difficult, though. There are so many books to choose from, and I know I’m leaving many great ones off the list.

Part 2, coming soon, will include non-fiction books and book selections for teen boys.

For now, we’ll start with these family favorites!

Animals

The Great Mouse Detective by Eve Titus [This is a great easy chapter book series for beginning readers.]

Babe: The Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith [Dick King-Smith wrote a bunch of wonderful easy chapter books for beginning readers, but Babe is my personal favorite.]

Dominic by William Steig [Many readers are familiar with Steig’s picture books (Amos and Boris is a personal favorite), but few people have read his three short chapter books. Dominic is one of my most favorite children’s books, but The Real Thief and Abel’s Island are wonderful as well. Steig’s vocabulary is incredible.]

The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden [This is a delightful story and a favorite from my childhood.]

Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin by Marguerite Henry [This simple chapter book is a historical narrative about the artist Benjamin West’s childhood.]

Freddy the Pig by Walter Brooks [This series about a detective pig is incredibly witty and humorous.]

Humor

Little Pear by Eleanor Frances Lattimore [Follow along with Little Pear’s adventures and capers in this easy chapter book for beginning readers.]

Hank the Cowdog by John R. Erickson [This series is hilarious. The audio books read by the author are worthy listening.]

Half Magic (and others) by Edward Eager [Delightful and witty.]

Homer Price (and Centerburg Tales) by Robert McCloskey [Homer Price is always my first suggestion when someone asks me for book recommendations for boys! Homer is resourceful and always finds himself in the middle of adventures.]

Henry Reed, Inc. by Keith Robertson [More vintage schemes and adventures!]

Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat [Laugh-out-loud adventures of a boy and his pet menagerie.]

The Mad Scientists’ Club by Bertrand Brinley [More vintage capers.]

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster [This hilarious book is full of word play humor and a love of words and numbers.]

The Knights’ Tales by Gerald Morris [The four books in this series are perfect for knight-loving boys. Humor and chivalry make a great combination.]

Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey [Hilarious stories of the Gilbreth family, but a tear-jerker warning for the ending!]

Realistic and Survival

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare [A thirteen-year-old boy is left to tend his family’s cabin in the wilderness.]

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George [A boy leaves the city and survives alone in the wilderness with a falcon and weasel for company.]

Hatchet (and others) by Gary Paulsen [A thirteen-year-old boy finds himself alone in a wilderness after a plane crash.]

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls [A young boy and his two dogs become a hunting team. Tear-jerker warning!]

Little Britches and series by Ralph Moody [This autobiographical series is a family favorite.]

The Lonesome Gods by Louis L’Amour [Perfect for slightly older readers, this novel is full of adventure and survival—and a love of books.]

I Am David by Anne Holm [A twelve-year-old boy escapes from a labor camp and makes his way alone across Europe. This is one of my childhood favorites.]

The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong [A young Chinese boy is separated from his family during the Japanese invasion. He must begin a dangerous journey in order to be reunited.]

Fantasy

The Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan [This fantasy series is a top favorite for all three of my boys.]

The Squire’s Tales series by Gerald Morris [This series is at the top of my own favorites list, and my boys have loved them as well. Hilarious, witty, simple, stirring, and profound. Strong male and female characters. Full of virtue, chivalry, and what it means to be human (along with foils to show the opposite). Parental warning: these are retellings of Arthurian legends, so they contain romantic situations both positive and negative, including several affairs. The author treats the negative relationships appropriately, never explicit and always showing the steep consequences for actions.]

The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson [Another family favorite.]

The Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rogers [The story of King David loosely re-imagined in the swamps of “Corenwald.”]

The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander [A modern classic.]

Outlaws of Time (and others) by N.D. Wilson [I personally love the Western fantasy adventure of Outlaws of Time, but Wilson’s other books are worthy reading as well.]

Watership Down by Richard Adams [Watership Down may be a book about rabbits, but it probably belongs in the realistic survival genre. This is an excellent novel for slightly older readers as it explores the nature of leadership and various societal structures. Adams is a master at world-building. A classic!]

Siblings

The Moffats (series) by Eleanor Estes [Meet Sylvie, Joey, Janey, and Rufus in this classic family adventure.]

The Saturdays (Melendy Quartet) by Elizabeth Enright [Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver go for independent adventures in New York City circa 1940s.]

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome [This 1930 gem tells the story of the Walker siblings and their parent-less sailing trip to an uninhabited island.]

“Girl Books” Loved by (My) Boys

Jenny and the Cat Club (series) by Esther Averill [Jenny the darling black cat may be the main character, but her cat club friends are just as personable.]

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton [Quirky and delightful in every way.]

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin [Chinese folklore-inspired fantasy.]

Lola’s New Favorite: Jenny and the Cat Club!

I’m thrilled to have a child in the Jenny and the Cat Club stage again! These were Luke’s favorites, and now Lola is devouring them.

Books that help transition kids from early readers to chapter books are hard to find—especially quality transition books—but these books by Esther Averill are the best of the best.

Meet Jenny and her Cat Club:

Jenny Linsky is a small black orphan cat. She lives with the kind Captain Tinker, who knitted her a red woolen scarf. When she is too shy to join the Cat Club, in which each cat has a clever skill, Captain Tinker makes her a pair of silver ice skates and gives them to her on Christmas Eve. When all the other cats see her skating, they are enchanted and invite her to be a member of the Cat Club.

Jenny and the Cat Club is a selection of shorter stories: The Cat Club, Jenny’s First Party, When Jenny Lost Her Scarf, Jenny’s Adopted Brothers, and How the Brothers Joined the Cat Club. Each two-page spread has at least one small illustration, and the pictures are darling. Each cat has oodles of personality. The tender and quirky stories are accessible for young children, but they are beautifully written and full of wonderful vocabulary.

In the second story, Jenny’s First Party, readers meet Pickles, the Fire Cat. If younger readers have the good fortune to read The Fire Cat by Averill when they are in the early readers stage, they will be delighted to meet Pickles again in The Cat Club. Lola was so excited to see Pickles that she went back to The Fire Cat and discovered that Jenny appeared in a picture in that book as well!

The Cat Club was originally published in 1944, and it is still charming readers today! The New York Review Children’s Collection hardback books are lovely. Check out The Hotel Cat, The School for Cats, Jenny’s Moonlight Adventure, Jenny Goes to Sea, and Captains of the City Streets also in the collection.

We seemed to have missed adding Jenny’s Birthday Book to our collection, so I can’t wait to give it to Lola on her next birthday.

Jenny should be on every child’s bookshelf!

Between Shadow and Light

I read Kate DiCamillo for the first time this past month.

I started with The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

This quote by C.S. Lewis from The Four Loves expresses the book’s theme for me:

“There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.”

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Yes. But not to love is a casket.

From Edward Tulane:

[all happy stories must end with love]

“But answer me this: how can a story end happily if there is no love? But. Well. It is late. And you must go to sleep.”

[one of my favorite themes in literature, the idea of being known]

And Edward felt a warm rush of pleasure at being recognized, at being known.

[being named, listening]

Edward knew what it was like to say over and over again the names of those you had left behind. He knew what it was like to miss someone. And so he listened. And in his listening, his heart opened wide and then wider still.

[sacrifice]

“Two options only,” he said. “And your friend chose option two. He gave you up so that you could be healed. Extraordinary, really.”

[the casket]

He prided himself on not hoping, on not allowing his heart to lift inside of him. He prided himself on keeping his heart silent, immobile, closed tight.

[hope, vulnerability, courage, journey]

“You must be filled with expectancy. You must be awash in hope. You must wonder who will love you, whom you will love next.”

“I am done with being loved,” Edward told her. “I’m done with loving. It’s too painful.”

“Pish,” said the old doll. “Where is your courage?”

“Somewhere else, I guess,” said Edward.

“You disappoint me,” she said. “You disappoint me greatly. If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless.”

.

I ached with a hopeful ache and moved on to The Tale of Despereaux.

From the very beginning, all I could think about was a Rembrandt painting. Darkness, darkness, a touch of light. Darkness, darkness, a touch of light. So masterfully painted.

The April sun, weak but determined, shone through a castle window and from there squeezed itself through a small hole in the wall and placed one golden finger on the little mouse.

[eyes open]

The light was shining onto the ceiling in an oval brilliance, and he was smiling up at the sight…

“The last one,” said the father. “And he’ll be dead soon. He can’t live. Not with his eyes open like that.”

But, reader, he did live.

This is his story.

[light]

Despeareaux’s sister Merlot took him into the castle library, where light came streaming in through tall, high windows and landed on the floor in bright yellow patches.

[story]

“Once upon a time,” he said aloud, relishing the sound. And then, tracing each word with his paw, he read the story of a beautiful princess and the brave knight who serves and honors her.

Despereaux did not know it, but he would need, very soon, to be brave himself.

[music]

“Oh,” he said, “it sounds like heaven. It smells like honey.”

The song was as sweet as light shining through stained-glass windows, as captivating as the story in a book… Despereaux forgot all his fear… He crept closer… until, reader, he was sitting right at the foot of the king.

[chiaroscuro]

… A rat named Chiaroscuro and called Roscuro, a rat born into the filth and darkenss of the dungeon…

Reader, do you know the definition of the word “chiaroscuro”? If you look in the dictionary, you will find that it means the arrangement of light and dark, darkness and light together. Rats do not care for light. Roscuro’s parents were having a bit of fun when they named their son.

[longing]

His rat soul longed inexplicably for it; he began to think that light was the only thing that gave life meaning, and he despaired that there was so little of it to be had.

“I think,” said Roscuro, “that the meaning of life is light.”

[brokenness]

There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again, once they are broken. Or if they do mend, they heal themselves in a crooked and lopsided way… Such was the fate of Chiaroscuro. His heart was broken… Speaking of revenge… helped him to put his heart together again. But it was, alas, put together wrong.

[courage]

And the passage was dark, dark, dark.

“I wil tell myself a story,” said Despereaux. “I will make some light. Let’s see. It will begin this way: Once upon a time. Yes. Once upon a time, there was a mouse who was very, very small. Exceptionally small. And there was a beautiful human princess whose name was Pea. And it so happened that this mouse was the one who was selected by fate to serve the princess, to honor her, and to save her from the darkness of a terrible dungeon.”

.

Light and Dark
Hope and Despair
Love and Loss

Suffering, longing, regret, abandonment, tragedy.

Song, story, beauty, forgiveness, courage, redemption.

Love, even though it hurts.
Love, even though it’s ridiculous.

Because life isn’t worth living without it.

.

I began to think about N.D. Wilson’s Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl.

Could we improve this picture? How can we make it not better but best? Remove the tension and the contrast. Remove the black. All of it. Remove the struggle and the inevitable end.

Leave the white. Only white. And now it is perfect. Perfectly blank.

If we live in art, struggling in the boundary between the shadow and the light, unable to see the whole, how can we begin to judge? How can we presume to talk about a better painting, a better novel, when we see only a single line, a single page, and it brings us grief?

…And so we speak. Each of us wanting our own position a little more comfortable. Each of us wanting to see a little more happiness, a little less contrast, wanting to skip the struggle, throw away the novel and save only the final page, the FINIS. A world of tombstones would have no wars, no hardships, and no complaints. So would a world without births or loves or creeping, crawling, walking, or growing things.

A better artist would have made this world more like the moon, only without the black space behind it, without the contrast of edges. A sprawling, near-infinite moon. Erase the craters.

The painting is blank. The art is numb. Perhaps it is the best of all possible numbness.

And later,

When men act out their lives within a tapestry, where meaning and beauty exist, where right and wrong are more than imagined constructs. There is evil. There is darkness. There is the Winter of tragedy, every life ending, churned back in the soil. But the tragedy leads to Spring. The story does not end in frozen death. The fields are sown in grief. The harvest will be reaped in joy. I see a Master’s painting. I listen to a Master’s prose. When darkness falls on me, when I stand on my corner of the stage and hear my cue, when I know my final scene has come and I must exit, I will go into the ground like corn, waiting for the Son.”

And then,

“Why do we so often ignore the beautiful in exchange for the cute?”

Kate DiCamillo’s writing is not cute, friends. It loves. It hurts. And then it sings with hope.

.

As if I needed the message pounded deeper, deeper, CiRCE Institute published this article by Greg Wilbur yesterday:

Chiaroscuro: A Contemplation for Holy Week
The dance of creation is resplendent with the pattern of chiaroscuro and with the musical motif of sorrow transforming into a melody of joy.

Rembrandt. Spring.

Creation. Words, song, bringing light. A cycle of night and day.

Death and resurrection.

I’m listening.

The theme of hopelessness turning into rejoicing, of weeping that lasts for the night before the joy that comes in the morning, forms the basis of fiction and story. If we did not feel the peril and potential loss of the knight as he battles the dragon, we would also not feel the thrill of the victory over what seemed to be hopeless. A hero that nonchalantly and easily dispatched dangers and foes would not stir the imagination, the blood, or our concern. In fact, he comes off looking a bit like a bully. His light does not shine brightly because the darkness is not deep and seemingly impenetrable.

American History and Literature Selections [Levi ~ 9th Grade]

Levi is reading American literature for his 9th grade year through Classical Conversations. The CC Challenge 1 Am. Lit. book list is hefty (full texts, not excerpts), but Levi is a strong and willing reader. Because his CC year ends in April, I decided to round out his book list with additional American literature selections to read May through July before he begins British literature in August for Challenge 2. It is my desire to present him with a robust variety of genres, complexity, and topics, even though I can’t fit everything on the list (obviously I tried, but so many books didn’t make the cut!). When compiling the master list, I chose to include a few relevant books he has read in the past couple years (particularly including CC Challenge A and B literature selections).

Levi has discussed the CC Challenge literature in class and has written essays on many of the novels.

[I have a post coming up with Levi’s full course descriptions for 9th grade and the upcoming high school plan.]

I’ve noted Challenge literature selections with asterisks.

*Challenge A (roughly 7th grade)
**Challenge B (roughly 8th grade)
***Challenge 1 (roughly 9th grade)

Children’s Historical Fiction

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Set in Colonial Connecticut in 1687) ***

Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (Biographical story; c. 1710-1801) *

Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by Lois Lenski (Biographical story set in 1755)

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Set in Boston before and during the American Revolution, 1776)  ***

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Biographical story of Nat Bowditch; 1773-1838) *

A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32 by Joan W. Blos (not a favorite of mine, but I’m including it here because it is a CC Challenge A novel) *

The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (Set in the Maine wilderness) ***

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (Set in the hills of the Ozarks) **

Little Britches (and series) by Ralph Moody (also listed under memoirs, but a must read for every human—perfect for a family read-aloud) **

[I’ll list many more children’s American historical fiction selections this coming year as Leif studies American history in 6th grade.]

Literature

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Tales by Washington Irving (published in 1820)

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper (published in 1826; set in 1757 during the French and Indian War)

Gold-Bug and Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe (published in 1843) ***

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn (1850) ***

Moby Dick by Herman Melville [*graphic novel* not unabridged novel] (1851)

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)

Little Women, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)

Billy Budd, Sailor by Herman Melville (published posthumously in 1924, but he began writing it in 1888; Levi did not care for this one, but I’m including it here since it is a CC Challenge 2 literature selection) ***

Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, The Prince and the Pauper, and Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain (published in the late 1800s; Pudd’nhead Wilson is my personal favorite, especially for late middle school or high school students; only Tom Sawyer on CC Ch 1 list) ***

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (published in 1895; a war novel taking place during the American Civil War) ***

The Call of the Wild by Jack London (published in 1903; set in Yukon, Canada, during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush) ***

Freckles (and others) by Gene Stratton-Porter (published in 1904)

The Short Novels of John Steinbeck (1902-1968) (The Pearl, for sure; not certain about the others)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (1943; set in early 1900s in Brooklyn, NY; coming of age story of a young Irish-American girl)

The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway (published 1952) ***

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (published in 1960; a masterful novel and absolutely essential for cultural literacy) ***

The Chosen by Chaim Potok (published in1967; set in 1940s Brooklyn, NY; a coming of age story about a Jewish boy—excellent)

The Lonesome Gods (and others) by Louis L’Amour (published in 1983; set on the California frontier (Mojave and Colorado Deserts) 1800s?)

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (published in 2001; set in small-town Minnesota in the early 1960s with an endearing child narrator with a precocious sister and wise father reminiscent of Scout and Atticus Finch—one of my favorite novels of all time)

Short Stories

“The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry ***

[Many other classic short stories were read last year in Challenge B] **

That Distant Land: The Collected Stories (Port William) by Wendell Berry

Poetry

“The Song of Hiawatha” by H.W. Longfellow (1807-1882) ***
“Paul Revere’s Ride” by H.W. Longfellow ***
“The Courtship of Miles Standish” (one of my favorites from high school) by H.W. Longfellow

Selections from American Poets:

• Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
• Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
• Robert Frost (1874-1963)
• Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)
• Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)
• E. E. Cummings (1894-1962)
• Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
• Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
• Wendell Berry (1934- )
• Mary Oliver (1935- )

Drama

[We’ll also be watching film versions where available.]

Harvey by Mary Chase ***

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

The Glass Menagerie by Tennesse Williams

Autobiographies/Memoirs/Essays

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771-1790)

Self-Reliance and Other Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1840s) ***

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) ***

Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau (1854) ***

The Wild Muir (John Muir 1838 - 1914; Scottish-American naturalist)

Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington (1901) ***

Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes by Gilbreth (1948)

Little Britches by Ralph Moody (series published in 1950-1968; the first book begins when his family moves to Colorado in 1906—excellent) **

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson (Des Moines, Iowa; 1950s. I am NOT recommending this book to other students without serious parental guidance, but it is the funniest book I have ever read in my life and it contains so much fascinating information about life in mid-century America.)

Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot (1957; Elisabeth’s husband was killed in 1956 while attempting to make missionary contact with the Auca of eastern Ecuador. She later returned as a missionary to the tribe members who killed her husband.) ***

Born Again by Charles Colson (1976) (Chuck Colson served as Special Counsel to Richard Nixon in 1969-1973; he became a Christian in 1973, just before his prison sentence, and later founded Prison Fellowship.) ***

Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour (1990)

Biography/Non-Fiction

April 1865 (Civil War) by Jay Winik

Mornings on Horseback (Teddy Roosevelt; 1858-1919) by McCullough

The Man Who Talks with the Flowers-The Intimate Life Story of Dr. George Washington Carver (1864-1943) by Glenn Clark

The Orphan: A Story of the Life of Austin Monroe Shaffer (1884-1961) by Helen Shaffer Dunbar (A biography of Levi’s great-great-grandfather (whose father was named Levi), written by Levi’s great-grandmother)

The Boys in the Boat (1936 Olympics) by Daniel James Brown

I'm Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers (1928-2003) by Tim Madigan

Elon Musk and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Young Readers' Edition (1971- ) by Ashlee Vance

Speeches

“The Spirit of Liberty” by Judge Learned Hand (1944) [Levi memorized and presented this speech in his Challenge class.]

“I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963) ***

[Many More American Documents, Essays, and Speeches for American Government] ***

Sermons

“A Model of Christian Charity” by Winthrop (1630) ***

“Essays to Do Good” by Mather (1710) ***

“The Method of Grace” by Whitefield (1700s) ***

Sci-Fi/Futuristic/Fantasy/Dystopian

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (published in 1953; a relevant dystopian novel that everyone should read for cultural literacy)

The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov (published in 1953; a futuristic science-fiction detective novel, recommended by a friend)

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (published in 1959; a military science fiction novel exploring military and societal ethics) ***

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (another novel published in 1959; a realistic apocalyptic novel from the nuclear age, set in the U.S.)

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (published in 1985; another futuristic military science fiction novel—one of my favorite explorations of the nature of leadership)

The Giver by Lois Lowry (published in 1993; a YA utopian/dystopian novel followed by 3 more books in the series)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (the trilogy published 2008-10; YA futuristic dystopian/apocalyptic novels set in the U.S.—excellent for discussing government and qualities of leadership)

 

[I’m choosing to wait on The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, The Jungle by Sinclair, and The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger.]

 

Did I miss any of your favorite selections for American literature (appropriate for a 9th grade student)?

Let me know in the comments!

Skunks and Snails and the Science of Relations

Charlotte Mason says that "education is the science of relations" and that children should build a relationship with the things that they study.

I think we can check the box for "nature study" recently. Lola adopted 8 motherless babies who had been meandering around our house, porch, and yard last month. [We did eventually get rid of them, but it was a pretty darling relationship for a couple days.]

This relationship led Luke to read Kildee House (a book we read together as a family several years ago). It a darling chapter book that just happens to be illustrated by Barbara Cooney, my favorite illustrator.

It seems as if a switch has flipped in Lola’s brain in the last few months. She is paying attention and is interested in so many things. Together we’ve watched deer as well as an adult squirrel and two babies in our yard. Since she started playing with her bird cards, she has pointed out a robin and an eagle to me when we were outside and she was pretending to be a baby ruby-throated hummingbird (but she didn’t think it was quite fair that only males had ruby throats) while picking out a tiny rock that could be her egg.

A while back I posted this video on my FB page and then in one of my blog posts:

A kind reader, upon watching the video, suggested that we might enjoy The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. When one can’t make a direct relationship with nature, making a relationship vicariously through another person’s direct relationship is the next best thing. And what a delightful relationship it has been. The book has caused more rabbit snail trails than I can count. Lola and I had already memorized this lovely haiku by Kobayashi Issa:

O snail
Climb Mount Fuji,
But slowly, slowly!

I originally chose that haiku because we learned the location of Mount Fuji this past year, but it turns out that Kobayashi Issa wrote 54 haiku about snails! We’ve been enjoying the picture book Cool Melons—Turn to Frogs! The Life and Poems of Issa. It’s a gentle reminder to pay attention to nature and savor it.

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is full of literary references—Issa, A.A. Milne, John Donne, Emily Dickinson, and so many more. We’ve looked up definitions for words like humus (not to be confused with hummus); we’ve discussed the words sinistral and dextral and wondered if the word sinister originally had to do with left-handed people. We have been allowed to see life from the eyes and mind of someone who is bed-ridden; we have have been taught to slow down and see that a small thing can be very large indeed if you take the time to look.

We are now in search of our very own snail to love.

Luke, as I’ve mentioned, has enjoyed baking and experimenting in the kitchen this past year or two. My sister, knowing his love of baking and his love of interesting science facts and his love of reading, gave him What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained for his birthday at the end of May. Luke sped through it and loved it, and then Leif devoured it as well. Chemistry in the kitchen—a perfect relationship.

Knowing how much Luke enjoyed that book, I ordered The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements. He had already enjoyed The Mystery of the Periodic Table and had spent hours poring over the exquisite Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe, so I thought this would be a great next read. I was right—he loved it!

From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes incredible stories of science, history, finance, mythology, the arts, medicine, and more, as told by the Periodic Table.

The Disappearing Spoon reminded me of Salt: A World History, so I grabbed that one off the shelf and handed it to Levi. Who knew that salt was so involved in world history, from ancient to modern times? Kurlansky’s Cod and Paper are on my wish list.

As soon as we finish reading aloud The Sound of a Wild Sail Eating, we will start on The Wild Muir: Twenty-Two of John Muir's Greatest Adventures. We’ve read several picture books about John Muir, but this will be the first time we have read about his adventures in his own words.

We may not be successful nature journal-ers, but we’ve had a rather successful summer of living books and outdoor exploring. I call that a win.

Give Your Child the World

Jamie has done it! Her book is finally in my hands, and it’s beautiful.

Jaime Martin of Simple Homeschool has given us guidebook—a way to tour the world with our children, to savor the flavors and explore the riches of the people and places on earth, without leaving our couches! Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time belongs on the shelf with other excellent book lists such as Honey for a Child’s Heart.

In Part I, Jaime shares with us the story of her own global family, coming together from four different continents. She gives us many simple but effective ways to invite the world into our own homes. And she challenges us to embrace a good story as a powerful way to enlarge our hearts and minds.

In a lengthy Part II, Jaime shares a feast of stories. The generous book list is conveniently sorted by region (Multicultural, Africa, Europe, Asia, Middle East, North America, Latin America, and finally Australia, Oceania, and the Polar Regions). Within the regional lists, she further sorts the books into target age ranges (4-6, 6-8, 8-10, and 10-12). A quick review accompanies each book selection.

The Index section is particularly helpful with an index each for authors, country/region, and titles, as well as a historical index with books sorted chronologically!

As I perused the book lists, I spied many favorite titles but also many that are new to me. I look forward to discovering new family favorites.

Jaime and Sarah Mackenzie of Read-Aloud Revival have teamed up to create the Read the World Summer Book Club for those of us interested in joining others on the journey. Kids and parents are encouraged to read one book a week, one region a week. The book club is in its second week, so don’t delay! Enjoy weekly themed recipes and videos at Simple Homeschool and enter to win prizes!

The Lonesome Gods [Or, I’m Naming My Next Son Johannes]

The Lonesome Gods. It moved me. It stirred my soul. I’d pause and clasp the book to my heart and sigh. I wanted to stand up and shout. And bow down with respect.

Today, Father’s Day, seems like the perfect day to talk about this book because one of the main themes of the story is the legacy that a father leaves his son.

Louis L’Amour.

Whenever I heard that name, the first thought that came to my mind was “cliche Western.” I had never read a Louis L’Amour book until this month.

I had no idea.

I had no idea that Louis L’Amour was himself a wandering man who loved books and stories. This is a man who lived. From the biography at the end of this printed edition:

Mr. L’Amour left home at the age of fifteen and enjoyed a wide variety of jobs, including seaman, lumberjack, elephant handler, skinner of dead cattle, miner, and an officer in the transportation corps during World War II. During his “yondering” days he also circled the world on a freighter, sailed a dhow on the Red Sea, was shipwrecked in the West Indies, and stranded in the Mojave Desert. He won fifty-one of fifty-nine fights as a professional boxer and worked as a journalist and lecturer. He was a voracious reader and collector of rare books. His personal library contained 17,000 volumes.

I had no idea.

In his memoir, Education of a Wandering Man, L’Amour wrote:

We are, finally, all wanderers in search of knowledge. Most of us hold the dream of becoming something better than we are, something larger, richer, in some way more important to the world and ourselves. Too often, the way taken is the wrong way, with too much emphasis on what we want to have, rather than what we wish to become.

Guess which book just sailed straight to the top of my to-read list.

He said,

I think of myself in the oral tradition—as a troubadour, a village taleteller, the man in the shadows of the campfire. That’s the way I’d like to be remembered—as a storyteller. A good storyteller.

Indeed. Let me tell you: I inhaled The Lonesome Gods.

“It was a story to make a boy lean forward.” [as Leif Enger would say, So Brave, Young, and Handsome]

And, indeed, my twelve-year-old son inhaled all 545 pages of it in one day, as did my husband over a couple days.

It has character. It has wisdom. It has action.

G.K. Chesterton once wrote,

The thing which keeps life romantic and full of fiery possibilities is the existence of these great plain limitations which force all of us to meet the things we do not like or do not expect… To be in a romance is to be in uncongenial surroundings. To be born into this earth is to be born into uncongenial surroundings, hence to be born into a romance.

The Lonesome Gods is a romance in the the most beautiful and broad sense. It is about a very young boy, born into uncongenial surroundings. He and his father are heading west at the beginning of the story. From there, the boy is met with great plain limitations which force him to meet challenges.

I have a list of my favorite men in literature—fathers in particular. Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, Jeremiah Land in Peace Like a River, John Ames in Gilead, Charles Moody in Little Britches. When I finished reading Far from the Madding Crowd earlier this year, I wanted three more sons so I could name them Gabriel, Oak, and Sheppard.

Well, now I need another son, and I’ll name him Johannes.

Throughout the story, Johannes embodies his father’s legacy. His father said,

“Much of what I say may be nonsense, but a few things I have learned, and the most important is that he who ceases to learn is already a half-dead man. And do not be like an oyster who rests on the sea bottom waiting for the good things to come by. Search for them, find them.”

“But read. There are books here, read them, all of them. Find others. Many a man has done well with no more of an education than what he can have by reading.”

And later,

There was a time when a man spoke very impatiently to my father. He had seen a copy of the Iliad lying on the table. “You are reading this? he asked.

“I have read it many times. Now I read it to my son.”

“But he is too young!” The man protested, almost angry.

“Is he? Who is to say? How young is too young to begin to discover the power and beauty of words? Perhaps he will not understand, but there is a clash of shields and a call to trumpets in those lines. One cannot begin too young nor linger too long with learning.”

More, more beautiful words and then,

“Men need stories to lead them to create, to build, to conquer, even to survive, and without them the human race would have vanished long ago. Men strive for peace, but it is their enemies that give them strength, and I think if man no longer had enemies, he would have to invent them, for his strength only grows from struggle.”

Johannes grows strong in stature and endurance, in intelligence, in wisdom, and humility. His father also had advised him,

“These are rough boys. If they push or shove you, don’t talk, don’t call names, don’t argue. Hit them first, and hard.”

“I don’t want a fight, but if we get one, we’ve got to win it or die.”

[Another character about his father] “Just knowin’ how to shoot is one thing, knowing when to shoot is something else again, an’ your pa has savvy.”

This story is not only about book-learning.

“The farmer, the hunter, or the deep-sea fisherman always had his eyes upon the heavens. He lived with their vagaries as much as with the trails he followed or the furrows he plowed. He could read the weather in the clouds, locate distant islands or lagoons by their appearance. He knew the flight of birds and which lived upon land and which upon the sea. Long before there was a compass, he understood how to locate the sun on an overcast day. He who sits at a desk and tries to understand by logic often loses touch with the realities… Remember this: the poor peasant, the hunter, or the fisherman may have knowledge that scholars are struggling to learn.”

More from his school teacher:

“All education is self-education. A teacher is only a guide, to point out the way, and no school, no matter how excellent, can give you an education. What you receive is like the outlines in a child’s coloring book. You must fill in the colors yourself. I hope, in these classes, to give you an idea of where you came from, how you got here, and what has been said about it.”

And his adopted mother [the strength of her character is praise-worthy] :

“Neither age nor size makes a man, Johannes. It is willingness to accept responsibility.”

I just want to cry just thinking about it.

Learn. Read. Live life. Admire artistry. Be humble. Be strong. Be quick. Listen more than you talk. Be wise and discerning. Pay attention to your surroundings. Know nature. Accept responsibility.

Do not be afraid.

Sob.

 

 

Okay, I’m finished swooning.

Luke is my son who loves wilderness survival-themed books. His other favorites include My Side of the Mountain, Hatchet (and other Paulsen books), the Little Britches series, Where the Red Fern Grows, and The Sign of the Beaver. The Lonesome Gods was a perfect book to transition him from children’s books to grown-up books now that he is twelve. I’m adding more L’Amour books to our shelves this year.

Books for Word Lovers

:: Ox, House, Stick: The History of Our Alphabet

This delightful history of the alphabet belongs on every child’s book shelf next to The History of Counting (unattractive cover, but wonderful book) and About Time: A First Look at Time and Clocks. Ox, House, Stick details (with gobs of text and helpful, attractive illustrations) the history of our alphabet beginning with picture writing (Chinese, Sumerian, and Egyptian) and the various cultures from which we borrowed our alphabet (Rome, Greece, Phoenicia, Sinai Peninsula, and Egypt). The history of each letter of the English alphabet is then covered in surprising depth for a picture book! Tucked in with the history of each letter are short explanatory notes on topics such as the origin of the name “alphabet,” the order of the alphabet, consonants and vowels, reading left to right, writing materials, and Johannes Gutenberg.)

:: The Word Snoop

A step up from Ox, House, Stick, we have The Word Snoop. This is an illustrated chapter book that will enthrall any language-lover, young or old. Invent your own alphabet, find out why English is so strange, play games, crack codes, solve puzzles, and explore punctuation, anagrams, palindromes, oxymorons, puns, onomatopoeia, euphemisms, cliches, tautology, malapropisms, and so much more. My boys think this book is great fun!

:: The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus

Now that we have words, which one shall we use? The right one!

I can relate to Peter Roget. As a boy he loved books and he loved to write, but he didn’t write stories. He wrote lists! [My favorite assignment in my high school creative writing class was a list of things that made me smile.] Peter wrote lists of Latin words. Inspired by Linnaeus, Peter wrote lists of plants and animals. (Are you listening, CC students?) He saw Napoleon lead his troops through Paris. Peter (shy, though he was) had to give a presentation in front of a crowded room. He managed to speak “concisely, with clarity and conviction!” (Hello, alliteration!)

“In 1852, Roget published his Thesaurus, a word that means ‘treasure house’ in Greek.” Now everyone can find the right word whenever they need it!

This beautiful picture book is illustrated in a scrapbook style by one of my favorites, Melissa Sweet.

:: Enormous Smallness: A Story of E.E. Cummings

When the right words are put together, what do we have? creativity. poetry. magic.

In this gorgeous picture book, we meet e.e. cummings. E.E., Estlin, said his first poem at the age of three. His mother began writing down his poems.

“As Estlin grew, he drew many pictures from the great circus of his imagination. But even more than drawing elephants, trees, and birds, Estlin LOVED WORDS. What words say and how they sound and look. He loved the way them hum, buzz, pop, and swish.”

 

A grown-up word-lover on your list? Try this one:

:: Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences

I can’t help it. Diagramming sentences is a blast. It’s a combination of word puzzle, language, logic, and art. What could be better? This book is an entertaining romp through the English language via the history of sentence diagramming and a wide variety of sentences (Groucho Marx, Lewis Carroll, Gertrude Stein, Henry James, Hemmingway, James Fenimore Cooper, Twain, Updike, Fitzgerald, and more).

“I do believe that clarity in speech and precision and consistency in writing will never cease to be important. Language exists so that we can communicate with each other, and surely it continues to be true that…we communicate better when we speak and write clearly, and that when we communicate better, we understand each other, and that when we understand each other, life in general is greatly improved.”

31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 31: Conclusion!

31 Days, oh my!

I’m slightly shocked that I made it to the end, since I’m not all that great at follow-through.

I hope that these Book Detectives posts have been helpful for a few of you. If nothing else, I hope it has taken a little of the intimidation out of analyzing picture books.

Remember, I don’t have the “right” answers. Literary analysis is not about right and wrong but about exploring the ideas in a book. You may come up with different conclusions about the conflict or the climax or the themes in a story, and that’s okay. I could be way off base on a few of these. [grin] The most important thing is that you go back to the text to support your ideas.

I tried to share a wide variety of styles and stories. In the coming year, I will try to share more chapter books as well as analysis using the 5 Common Topics and an ANI chart.

Did you have a favorite book that I shared? Did you try to go through the story and come up with your own analysis? I’d love to hear about it, especially if we have different ideas about the book!

Be sure you caught the introduction in which I share my resources and inspiration. In the first analysis post I also gave more details about how we discuss each element in a book club setting.

Here is a list of all the posts in the series for reference.

• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 30: The Mystery of the Missing Lion
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 29: Dominic
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 28: The Family Under the Bridge
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 27: The 13 Clocks
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 26: The Story of Holly and Ivy
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 25: The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 24: Christmas Farm
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 23: Tree of Cranes
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 22: The Sign Painter
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 21: The Boy Who Loved to Draw
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 20: The Memory Coat
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 19: The Treasure
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 18: How I Learned Geography
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 17: The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 16: The Kitchen Knight
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 15: The Gardener
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 14: The Yellow Star
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 13: Ming Lo Moves the Mountain
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 12: Andrew Henry’s Meadow
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 11: Many Moons
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 10: One Grain of Rice
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 9: Amos & Boris
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 8: Lentil
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 7: The Language of Birds
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 6: The Master Swordsman
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 5: Seeker of Knowledge
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 4: Temple Cat
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 3: Gilgamesh the King
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 2: Lugalbanda
• 31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 1: Introduction

We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programing tomorrow, November 1st. [So glad to be gaining an hour tonight. Whew!]

31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 30: The Mystery of the Missing Lion

[Click here to read other posts in the series.]

Our last book of the series! Tomorrow I’ll share a wrap-up post. I can’t believe the month is coming to an end.

Have you read The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency? It’s honestly one of the most delightful modern series for adults that I’ve ever read. Set in Botswana, the series chronicles the creation and continuation of Precious Ramotswe’s detective agency. Now, the author, Alexander McCall Smith, has given us a way to include our children in the fun. He’s created an early chapter book series for kids based on the childhood of his fictional heroine, Precious.

Not only are the stories charming and adventurous, but they are a fascinating look into the culture and geography of Botswana. Did you know that Botswana, located just above the country of South Africa, is roughly the size of Texas?! It is so easy to forget just how large and diverse the continent of Africa is! And did you know that the Okavango River flows backward—away from the sea—and eventually spreads out and disappears into the sands of the desert?

Three books in the series are available so far, beginning with The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe’s Very First Case. I think my favorite of the three is The Mystery of Meerkat Hill, but today we will be discussing The Mystery of the Missing Lion. Our protagonist, Precious, is a strong female role model, but all three books include a boy character. If you are interested in a series with a boy protagonist, try McCall Smith’s early chapter book series Akimbo.

The illustrations by Iain McIntosh are bold and fun and each book contains additional geographical, cultural, and educational information at the end.

Crime Scene [Setting]

Where?

Botswana in southern Africa

The Kalahari Desert

The Okavango Delta in northern Botswana

Eagle Island Camp

When?

Modern Day

A few days

Precious’s childhood

Suspects [Characters]

Who?

Precious Ramotswe—a nine year old girl who lives in Botswana, wants to be a detective, pays attention to detail, smart, great problem solver, asks questions, very intuitive about people, kind, adventurous and brave

Aunty Bee—Precious’s aunt, creative, story teller, fun, generous, works at a safari camp

Obed Ramotswe—Precious’s father, kind

Khumo—boy, about 9 years old, friendly

Filmmakers [Tom]—Nice to children

Teddy—tame lion, actor, obedient, playful

31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 29: Dominic

[Click here to read other posts in the series.]

Ah, I’ve been waiting for this day. I hope my life never depends on my choosing a single most favorite children’s chapter book, but if it ever does, Dominic will be in the running for the prestigious position.

This is our second book by William Steig, and one of three fabulous simple chapter books by the author. I previously shared notes from The Real Thief. Don’t miss out on Abel’s Island, as well.

Dominic is adventurous. He is indomitable. He is cheerful. He is dashing. He is courageous. He is kind. He is curious. He is selfless. He is wise. He is high-spirited. He is philosophical. He is the personification of joie de vivre.

He is a Renaissance Man Dog.

Dominic—the story—is illustrated with quirky drawings and bursting at the seams with adventure, buried treasure, and brilliant vocabulary.

Charming.

He owned an assortment of hats which he liked to wear, not for warmth or for shade or to shield him from rain, but for their various effects—rakish, dashing, solemn, or martial.

Cheerful.

“What a wonderful world!” thought Dominic. “How perfect!” Had it been up to him when things were first made, he wouldn’t have made them a whit different. Every leaf was in its proper place. Pebbles, stones, flowers, all were just as they ought to be. Water ran where water should run. They sky was properly blue. All sounds were in tune. Everything had its appropriate smell. Dominic was master of himself and in accord with the world. He was perfectly happy.

Philosophical.

Dominic went out for a long walk and did a lot of thinking. He was still walking when the stars came out. Mournful, he lay down on the ground and looked at the stars. Life was mysterious…

He fell asleep under the vast dome of quivering stars, and just as he was falling asleep, passing over into the phase of dreams, he felt he understood the secret of life. But in the light of morning, when he woke up, his understanding of the secret had disappeared with the stars. The mystery was still there, inspiring his wonder…

Then he leaned on the shovel to rest, the wooden handle warm with his work. The moment he stopped being busy, he felt his heart quake. He had to cry. Life was suddenly too sad. And yet it was beautiful.The beauty was dimmed when the sadness welled up. And the beauty would be there again when the sadness went. So the beauty and the sadness belonged together somehow, though they were not the same at all.

If you don’t love life after reading this book, I don’t know what to do with you. [grin]

[FYI: There is a witch-alligator in this story just in case that is a deal-breaker for anyone. There is also a jackass.]

Steig uses many literary devices such as alliteration:

“But soon his legs began to weaken and wobble, and he wished that wealth didn’t weight so much.”

And the characters names are ironic: Bartholomew Badger the pig, Elijah Hogg the jackass, Lemuel Wallaby the turtle, Matilda Fox the goose, and Manfred Lyon the mouse.

Crime Scene [Setting]

Where?

Fantasy/fairytale world of talking animals

Forest, cottages, Crystal Ballroom, enchanted palace

When?

A timeless fantasy world

Suspects [Characters]

Who?

Dominic—dog, adventurous, indomitable, cheerful, dashing, courageous, kind, curious, selfless, wise, high-spirited, philosophical, joyful

Witch-alligator—friendly, tells fortunes

The Doomsday Gang—fox, ferret and weasel; they rob, ravage, cheat, and attack innocent creatures and travelers; full of damaging mischief; evil villains

Bartholomew Badger—pig, 100 years old, dying, kind, appreciative

Elijah Hogg—jackass, kind, lazy, likes a simple life

Lemuel Wallaby—turtle, 158 years old, likes to exaggerate, very slow

Barney Swain—wild boar, about to be married

Matilda Fox—goose, a widow with children to look after, great cook

Manfred Lyon—mouse, artist

Rabbits—incapable of inflicting harm, somewhat cowardly

Phineas Matterhorn—sleepwalking goat

Mwana Bhomba—magic pygmy elephant

Evelyn—sleeping beauty dog

31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 28: The Family Under the Bridge

[Click here to read other posts in the series.]

For our second simple chapter book of this series, we head back to Christmas with The Family Under the Bridge, written by Natalie Savage Carlson and published in 1958.

Christmas, Paris, homeless children, and a charming old hobo—what more could you ask for? [grin] This book is a quick, uplifting story with delightful pictures by Garth Williams. It is available inexpensively at Amazon and most libraries should have it, so it makes a great book club selection, particularly in December when the book takes place.

The Family Under the Bridge may be a good example of multiple protagonists in a story. Armand needs some self-respect and a family to love (man vs. self) and the Calcet family needs a home and a grandfather after their father died (man vs. fate). Madame Calcet also needs to overcome her prejudice (man vs. self).

Crime Scene [Setting]

Where?

Paris (all over as they walk through the city)—cold and gray, but not cheerless

Under a Parisian bridge

In a gypsy camp

Real world

When?

One late morning in December, cold day, gray sky

Through Christmas until New Year’s Eve

1900s (maybe 1950s according to the style of cars in illustrations and publication date)

Suspects [Characters]

Who?

Armand—old hobo with all his belongings in a baby buggy, ragged clothing, lives under bridge, cheerful, polite, ready for adventure, relishes freedom and lack of responsibilities, no pride, hides his heart under a gruff exterior

Children—fatherless, poor, homeless, redheads: Suzy, Paul (has a bit of a swagger), and Evelyne; Armand calls them “starlings”

(Dog—Jojo)

Madame Calcet—“Mama,” widow, proud, hard worker, prejudiced

Gypsies—kind, generous, free-spirited

31 Days of Book Detectives ~ Day 27: The 13 Clocks

[Click here to read other posts in the series.]

I promised we’d get back to James Thurber, and here we are with our first short, illustrated chapter book of this 31 Days series, The 13 Clocks.

The 13 Clocks is a Gothic-style fairytale with dark humor, so choose your audience wisely. Thurber writes, however, with an immense vocabulary, a wild imagination, and a brilliant, biting wit, and adults should find this story highly entertaining.

Wickedly scheming, he would limp and cackle through the cold corridors of the castle, planning new impossible feats for the suitors of Saralinda to perform. He did not wish to give her hand in marriage, since her hand was the only warm hand in the castle. Even the hands of his watch and the hands of all the thirteen clocks were frozen…

The cold Duke was afraid of Now, for Now has warmth and urgency, and Then is dead and buried..The Duke was afraid of Now, but he tampered with the clocks to see if they would go, out of a strange perversity, praying that they wouldn’t.

Tinkers and tinkerers and a few wizards who happened by tried to start the clocks with tools or magic words, or by shaking them and cursing, but nothing whirred or ticked. The clocks were dead, and in the end, brooding on it, the Duke decided he had murdered time, slain it with his sword, and wiped his bloody blade upon its beard and left it lying there, bleeding hours and minutes, its springs uncoiled and sprawling, its pendulum disintegrating.

Thurber also invents words with a Seuss-like proficiency.

“Come on, you blob of glup,” the cold Duke roared. “You may frighten octopi to death, you gibbous spawn of hate and thunder, but not the Duke of Coffin Castle!” He sneered. “Now that my precious gems have turned to thlup, living on, alone and cold, is not my fondest wish! On guard, you musty sofa!” The Todal gleeped. There was a stifled shriek and silence.

Students should be able to point out many instances of alliteration and other literary devices, which Thurber employs liberally.

The brambles and the thorns grew thick and thicker in a ticking thicket of bickering crickets. Farther along and stronger, bonged the gongs of a throng of frogs, green and vivid on their lily pads. From the sky came the crying of flies, and the pilgrims leaped over a bleating sheep creeping knee-deep in a sleepy stream in which swift and slippery snakes slid and slithered silkily, whispering sinful secrets.

You may also want to draw the students’ attention to the end of the book where Thurber writes:

The Duke’s…eye moved glassily around and saw the Golux. “You mere Device!” he gnarled. “You platitude! You Golux ex machina!”

This is a great opportunity to teach the literary device Deus ex machina. Not many authors will blatantly identify their “Device” with such wit.

Crime Scene [Setting]

Where?

Coffin Castle—a cold, gloomy castle on a lonely hill

A fairytale world

When?

Once upon a time

Time frozen at 10 minutes to 5

Always Then, never Now

Suspects [Characters]

Who?

Duke—cold, aggressive, evil, wicked, cruel, limping, 6 foot 4 inches, 46 years old, wears a velvet patch on one eye and a monocle on the other, afraid of Now

Princess Saralinda—warm, nearly 21, “loveliest princess on all the 1,000 islands of the ocean seas”

Prince Zorn of Zorna—disguised as a minstrel named Xingu--a “thing of rags and tatters,” youngest son of a powerful king

Golux (“Listener”)—little man, hat, wide eyes, beard, magical, invisible

The Boys’ Summer Reading ~ June

The boys are continuing to read through the summer, partly from their summer reading list challenge (books marked with *).

Leif

The Light Princess and The Golden Key by George MacDonald

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord

(Re-read) Ranger’s Apprentice books 1-6

*Gentle Ben by Walt Morey

The Great Turkey Walk by Kathleen Karr

Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen [This and the following two books are hefty books!]

The Search for the Red Dragon

The Indigo King

Moby Dick (Campfire Classics graphic novel)

The Black Star of Kingston by S. D. Smith (prequel to Green Ember)

The Green Ember by S. D. Smith

 

Luke

Fahrenheit 451 (last month)

*Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene

Robert E. Lee: Young Confederate (Childhood of Famous Americans)

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

*To Be a Slave by Julius Lester

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord

(Re-read) The Indian in the Cupboard, The Return of the Indian, The Secret of the Indian, and The Mystery of the Indian

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen

*What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge

*A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Moby Dick (Campfire Classics graphic novel)

The Black Star of Kingston by S. D. Smith (prequel to Green Ember)

The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong

The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keattey Snyder

 

Levi

[Levi spent a lot of time this past month writing and drawing and less time reading. He may have read or reread other books or listened to audio books, as well.]

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park

Murder on the Orient Express (re-read)

*Little Women (re-read)

Invincible Louisa: The story of the author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs

Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman

Brian’s Winter by Gary Paulsen

The Black Star of Kingston by S. D. Smith (prequel to Green Ember)

Moby Dick (Campfire Classics graphic novel)

Where the Red Fern Grows (Challenge B)

Back to Ancient History (and Classical Conversations, Cycle 1)

 

We are finishing up Modern history this summer and preparing to hop in the “Way Back Machine” in the fall. We get to return to Ancient history! [This marks the beginning of my 3rd tour through history!]

After much consideration and a few years of experience, I’ve chosen option #5 from this post exploring ways to integrate Classical Conversations history sentence memorization and The Story of the World. This means that we study world history chronologically by reading all four volumes of The Story of the World over a period of three years, roughly corresponding to the CC history sentences memory work in Foundations and more closely corresponding to the themed writing in Essentials. The beauty of this schedule is that my kids will go through world history twice during 1st - 6th grades (once as a light introduction with some picture books and a second time as an in-depth study with integrated writing) before beginning the Challenge program in 7th grade.

CC Foundations cycle 1 history sentences cover a broad range of civilizations and geographical regions from ancient to modern, only roughly chronologically due to the various lengths of time each civilization was flourishing (and a few of the sentences really jump around on the timeline because they are grouped by geographical region rather than chronologically). We’ll be focusing on the ancient civilizations for our in-depth studies, but we’ll be placing each one of the history sentences along with the facts from the history timeline (which students memorize in full from ancients to modern every year) in our new timeline book.

I am tutoring an Essentials class this year, and both Luke and Leif will be joining me. So we will using the Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons from IEW and writing papers using literature selections from and non-fiction sources about Sumer, Egypt, Israel, Babylon, Greece, and Rome.

Our last time through the Ancients, I posted an extensive list of literature selections, so I’ll focus on mostly non-fiction books and resources for Ancient history and geography in this post. I’ll share our resources for cycle 1 math, science, Latin, English grammar, and fine arts in an upcoming post.

If you wish to read Our Big-Picture Educational Scope and Sequence Integrated with Classical Conversations, check out this link. It covers our progression in all subjects from Pre-K through 6th grade.

Honestly, our children are so blessed to have so many excellent books and resources available to them in this day and age. This list could have been much longer, and I know there are many other beautiful, informative, fascinating, or hilarious books out there that we don’t have (yet, ha!)! This is a wide range of books from simple picture books to longer chapter books. Some are serious. Some are meant to be funny and entertaining. I prefer a wide variety!

[I do not formally schedule or read aloud most of these books. I set them out when we are covering that civilization or time period and the boys grab them and read independently whenever they have time or I tell them it’s time to read. I’ve had these books out in stacks this past week while sorting and planning, and I could not keep the boys out of them!]

Ancient History

(Click here for more literature and historical fiction selections.)

General:

The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History

The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

Classical Acts and Facts History Cards from Classical Conversations

The Story of the World: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor

Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons [IEW]

Famous Figures of Ancient Times: Movable Paper Figures to Cut, Color, and Assemble

Sun-Day, Moon-Day: How the Week Was Made (includes Babylonian, Greek, and Roman stories)

100 Things You Should Know About World Wonders (Short paragraphs of information not just about the 7 wonders of the ancient world, but also wonders in the Americas, Africa, the East, Easter Island, Stonehenge, natural wonders, and a few modern wonders)

Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander (A fun fiction chapter book. Jason and Gareth travel to Egypt and Rome/Britain as well as more modern time periods.)

Pages of History (volume 1; up to Martin Luther) (A time-traveling history book from Veritas Press)

YouTube series:

Horrible Histories, History Teachers, Crash Course History [All hilarious. Parental guidance suggested.]

PBS - Pyramid - David Macaulay (Hour-long show, much of it animated)

PBS - Roman City - David Macaulay (Another of Macaulay’s Early Civilizations shows)

Games:

Educational Trivia Card Game - Professor Noggin's Ancient Civilizations

Educational Trivia Card Game - Professor Noggin’s Countries of the World

Educational Trivia Card Game - Professor Noggin’s Wonders of the World

The Classic Historian Ancient History Go Fish

BrainBox Horrible Histories Awful Ancients

 

Pre-History

Archaeologists Dig for Clues (Simple, fun presentation, but very informative!)

Discovery in the Cave (Step Into Reading 4) (Lascaux cave paintings in France)

First Dog by Jan Brett (A simple, sweet picture book about a cave boy)

 

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia (DK Eyewitness Books)

Science in Ancient Mesopotamia (and Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, Early Islamic Cultures, and India in series)

 

Egypt

Discovering Ancient Egypt (interactive website with activities—the hieroglyphic typewriter is fantastic)

Ancient Egypt TOOB by Safari (I love the Safari TOOBS with miniature figures, and this one is great fun for ancient history studies!)

Uncovering History: Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt (This is one of my favorite general books on Egypt.)

Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile by Tomie dePaola (A cute picture book for younger kids)

Story of the Nile: A Journey Through Time Along the World’s Longest River (This is a beautiful picture book.)

Ralph Maseillo’s Ancient Egypt Drawing Book

Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphs by James Rumford

Hieroglyphs (The included stencil makes this book extra fun.)

Tutankhamen’s Gift by Robert Sabuda

Tut’s Mummy: Lost… and Found (Step Into Reading 4)

Egyptian Diary: The Journal of Nakht (This series of books by Richard Platt is quite entertaining.)

Temple Cat by Andrew Clements

Egyptian Gods and Goddesses by Henry Barker (A great easy reader for independent reading!)

Secrets of the Mummies (Eyewitness Readers Level 4)

Chester Crab Comix: Ancient Africa (Egypt, Mali)

 

Greece

I Wonder Why Greeks Built Temples and Other Questions About Ancient Greece by Fiona Macdonald (Also Egypt and Rome in series)

You Wouldn't Want to Be a Slave in Ancient Greece! (And others in series for Sumer, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Mayan and more)

History News: The Greek News (Get your history, newspaper-style! Check out Egypt and Rome in the same series.)

Good Times Travel Agency: Adventures in Ancient Greece (And more in series)

TOOLS OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS: A Kid's Guide to the History & Science of Life in Ancient Greece (Also Rome in series)

Chester Crab Comix: Greeks, Romans, Countrymen!

The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky (One of my favorites!)

What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras? (Math)

Herodotus and the Road to History by Jeanne Bendick (A short, illustrated chapter book about the first historian)

Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick (Another winner from this author about the ancient mathematician)

Basher History: Mythology: Oh My! Gods and Goddesses

Greek Myths by Deborah Lock (DK Readers Level 3)

 

Rome

Rome in Spectacular Cross-Section (This is a beautiful oversized book with detailed illustrations by Stephen Biesty. Check out Egypt and Greece in this series, as well.)

Augustus Caesar’s World by Genevieve Foster (An excellent longer narrative)

Chester Crab Comix: Greeks, Romans, Countrymen!

Pompeii… Buried Alive! (Step Into Reading 4)

Pompeii: Lost and Found by Mary Pope Osborne

Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #14: Ancient Rome and Pompeii: A Nonfiction Companion to MTH #13

Roman Diary: The Journal of Iliona, A Young Slave (Another book in the entertaining series by Richard Platt!)

Galen and the Gateway to Medicine by Jeanne Bendick (A wonderful short, illustrated chapter book about the greatest doctor of the Roman empire)

Asterix and the Laurel Wreath (And a bunch of other ancient-history themed Asterix books—classic comic books!)

Saint Valentine by Robert Sabuda (Neat mosaic illustrations)

 

China

Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #31: China: Land of the Emperor's Great Wall: A Nonfiction Companion to MTH #14

The Great Wall of China

If I Were a Kid in Ancient China (Children of the Ancient World series) (This series has Egypt, Greece, and Rome versions, as well.)

Good Times Travel Agency: Adventures in Ancient China (And others in series)

Confucius Speaks: Words to Live By (Confucius in comic strip form)

Confucius: The Golden Rule

 

India

Prince Siddhartha: The Story of Buddha

I Once Was a Monkey: Stories Buddha Told

 

Ancient American Civilizations

Chester Crab Comix: The First Americans (includes Anasazi and Moundbuilders)

DK Eyewitness: Aztec, Inca, and Maya