It will mainly be about the books that I'm reading or have read with the kids.
Hopefully it'll give you ideas on what's good out there, and HOPEFULLY you'll throw suggestions back my way. I'm always looking for something else to read with the kids. We go through an upwards of 30 library books a week, and I'm running out of ideas to check out.
First up for this week are the little house books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I've been reading her books to the kids every night for months now.
So this is an overview of all that we have read so far.
First is Little House in the Big Woods.
Ethylwolfe really loves chapter books and he really loved this one.
KennaKat didn't start out too interested but even when she was playing with her doll pretending not to pay attention, if anything happened to Laura or Mary, she was quick to be concerned and show interest.
Book two, Little House on the Prairie.
Again, loved it. The details of what it was like being a pioneer family almost makes me want to build a place in the woods and live off the labor of my own hands..Almost. E noted "They sure are hard workers. They never have time to play." More exciting things happen and the kids were very interested about what was going on. Poor E was on the edge of his seat many times. And they met Indians, how cool is that!
Book three, Farmer Boy.
At first, E was upset because this book is about Almanzo, Laura's husband as an 8 year old boy. He wanted to know what happened to Laura and was mad that she wasn't going to be in this book. But Almanzo quickly earned our love. By the end, E loved the story and was sad for it to be over, KennaKat too. This was one of my favs so far.
Book Four, On the banks of Plum Creek.
This book is full of disasters for the poor Ingalls family. It was one thing after another for the family. But there was still fun and adventure. E enjoyed this story also. Laura was always getting into something and having fun. KennaKat's interest really raised once we got into this book. Almost every night she sat and listened instead of messing with something else while I read. She was constantly worried about the family.
Book Five, By the Shores of Silver Lake.
We are on chapter 6 of this book. My sore throat and loss of voice lately has slowed down my reading this week to only one or two chapters a night. Hopefully I'll be over this cold soon, and we can pick up the pace. The story starts out dim as the family prepares to move for the umpteenth time. They are further outwest and the girls are older. Laura is 12 now. I'm not sure how interested the kids will be with the rest of the books as they can't relate much, but I plan to finish the series anyways. We can always read them again in a few years.
Did you read Laura Ingalls Wilder's books when you were a little girl? If not, you should read them. They are interesting and insightful. I enjoy them now as much as I enjoyed them as a child. There are some parts that you may have to skim over, for instance all of the Christmas Celebrations in every book or some of the bits about the Indians. I generally just changed the words around and omitted certain phrases and songs and kept going. The kids hardly noticed. But other than that, they are good clean books to read to the kiddos, which is always hard to find. Also, Ethylwolfe was concerned about the family going to church in On the Banks of Plum Creek. But I explained to him that this was before Kingdom Halls existed, and they didn't know about Jehovah, but they were still good people and they were doing the best they could to stay that way. So he was ok with it. :) At the end of each reading session, I'm left with E begging me to read 'Just One More Chapter' so I'd say it's a good sign that your kids will love them too :)
What books have you enjoyed reading to your kids lately?
No comments:
Post a Comment