So many of my favorite home school memories involve reading good books aloud. For many years we began our days with me reading both devotional books and historical fiction to the children and ending the days with Daddy reading classics to all of us. When the books were riveting, the children often persuaded me to …
Trenton Lee Stewart has written a clever trilogy about four exceptionally gifted children chosen to save the world. Many children responded to Mr.Benedict's advertisement for "gifted children looking for special opportunities" but only Reynie Muldoon, George "Sticky" Washington, Kate Wetherall, pass the strange tests and are chosen. The three of them are joined by Constance …
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is a classic in British literature. Bronte creates vivid scenes and pathetic characters drawing us immediately into 18th century England. Jane is a lonely orphan, mistreated by her closest relatives. She's sent to a dismal boarding school where the abuse continues. Nevertheless, Jane finds a couple of friends who encourage …
Written in the first person, present tense, Tosca Lee places readers directly into the mind of her protagonist, Emily Jacobs. The problem is, Emily has erased her memory and self-discovery was never so dangerous. Revelation takes Emily, and us, on a crazy journey back in time and around the world. This fast-paced novel was thrilling. …
Lisa Ann Sandell has done a marvelous job retelling The Lady of Shallot by Tennyson. Song of the Sparrow is written in beautiful verse, which enhances the tale and keeps the reader turning pages. The heroine, Elaine of Ascot, lives in a British encampment with her father and brothers. She mends clothes and tends to …
Or Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz Jeanne, Gwenforte, William, and Jacob, are unlikely companions on a quest in thirteenth-century France. Adam Gidwitz weaves second-hand accounts in a style reminiscent of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The Inquisitor's Tale is set in the days of the Crusades, when economic, racial, and religious tensions were …
In the vein of To Kill a Mockingbird, Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk is the tale of a young girl in a small town exposed to events which change her life and the lives of her family forever. Annabelle and her family befriend Toby, a reclusive World War I veteran living in the hills of …
