The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh

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I am an active follower of the Read-Aloud Revival, a podcast (and facebook group) about reading aloud excellent books to children even once they're old enough to read on their own. I've read the science behind why reading a loud to kids makes such a difference, and I buy into it. The great thing about the facebook page is simply why we're all there--the excellent book recommendations. 

I saw a lot of people mentioning The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh on the forum, and I thought if so many people recommended it, it must be good! I really enjoyed the illustrations, and the simple story (50+ pages), and it gave us a lot to talk about including relationships between native peoples and the settlers. I found out it was based on a true story and I love true stories, especially when they are written well. 

This book would be excellent for a mid-elementary school resource or homeschooling and learning about pioneer times. The story involves a young girl, Sarah, age 8, who goes on a long trip to help her father (to cook for him, actually) for months while he builds their family's new house in a different location. They have to sleep in a cave, watch out for wolves, develop relationships with people who speak a different language, and get the work done before winter. It's short and sweet and it would be a great precursor to the Little House books because of it's size. 

Do your kids like historical fiction, or would they rather read sci-fi, fantasy, or a novel?

Grandma's Attic series by Arleta Richardson

*please note there are four books in the series, not just three!*

I first heard of Grandma's Attic by Jamie Martin of Steady Mom blog, years ago. I knew when I first put them on my amazon wishlist that they were too old for my kids at the time, but I wanted to keep them on there to remind my future self to not forget about them! 

Fast forward to this Fall, when One Stop Learning in Surrey, BC was going out of business, and I happened to be there at the right time. This education store was a great store, and I was sorry to see it go, but I did find some excellent materials, including games, kits, and plenty of literature. Not only did I find excellent material, including the four (only three shown above) Grandma's Attic chapter books, but everything in the store was 75% off because they were closing, and my purchase order number footed the bill! What a steal, indeed. 

We've finished these first three of the four, and once I have the next two books we're reading aloud done, we'll start on the fourth book. These books are similar to the Little House books in the sense that they are set in the same historical time period, happened to an impressionable young girl (and often her best friend, Sarah Jane, as well). They are dissimilar in the way that each chapter of the books are a 'lesson learned' by the author, who is telling her granddaughter these stories and goes into narrator after a brief introduction. As far as the 'series' goes, they aren't really a series as much as story following and building upon each book. They are just simple and lovely stories within each chapter, and if she wrote them all in one book it'd be huge, so they made them into 4 books instead, about 150+ pages each. 

Both my kids really enjoy these books and I quite love reading them aloud myself. They're easy to read and many are quite funny. Each chapter is about 12-15 pages, and they're just enough of a story to read right before bedtime, or one during lunch. The writing is excellent, and you can feel the warmth of Arleta's stories through the pages. These are excellent for kids ages 5 and up, and come highly recommended!

Perfect Summer Read: Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran

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As lovers of children's literature, we all have our favorite authors, and our favorite illustrators. I happen to love Kate DiCamillo and will read anything she writes. I will also beg the library to get any book Melissa Sweet 'decorates' the pages of. My all time favorite illustrator, though, is Barbara Cooney.

I'm not much of a collector. Sure I have a stash of yarn, and a large glass jar of washi tape, but aside from those two collections, I mostly just amass classic children's picture books. In recent years I've slowed that down, because I have a bookshelf full (and once something comes in, something else has to go out!), but have really just started honing in on a few of my very favorites. Barbara Cooney's books have found that precious real estate, and I try to collect a few every year. If I find one at the thrift store I don't currently own, I feel like I've struck gold. If, over the past year I didn't really find any, I'll order a few off amazon. Usually they're a penny a piece plus shipping, but if I can't find any for a reasonable price, I'll just buy them on prime for regular price. I think I've only had to do that once.

Roxaboxen might just be my favorite Cooney work. I think this is because not only do her illustrations shine, reflecting the simple nostalgia that a well-worn childhood exudes, but because the story that Alice McLerran wrote feels so personal and universal, and it matches the author's story so well.

The story of Roxaboxen is based on a true place. A dusty corner in the South West, it was a mound of dirt just waiting to be explored by the local children of the small town. At all different ages, the children played together to create a world that they dominated in the form of a town, a jail, a backdrop for large weeks-long games, stores, and homes. A place where children could be children, unfettered by rules, they created their own devices from the objects found in 'Roxaboxen', like old wooden crates, broken glass, stones, sticks, and spindly bushes.

It reminds me of my own childhood 'hideout'. My neighbor friends and I had a magical childhood filled with freedom, bikes roaming the neighborhood, and sack lunches; hours spent outside playing. The setting of Roxaboxen is perhaps 50 years before that, based on how the children are dressing, and the outline of faint houses found within the illustrations, but the story is nonetheless relevant to now. Kids need places where they can play, make up their own rules, create their own toys, and figure out how life works with one another, manipulating a place all for themselves.

It's such a beautiful story of childhood. It's perfect summer reading. Once you're done, go out and play!

James Herriot's Treasury for Children: Warm and Joyful Tales from the author of All Creatures Great and Small

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When I was little, one of the handful of jobs I wanted "when I grew up" was to be a veterinarian. I love animals and have always enjoyed their company. It's no surprise that I begged for a dog for decades, and one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received was a puppy from my husband in our first year of marriage. I'm jealous of those who call country bungalows 'home', and I have mighty plans to someday have property where I can house dogs, a cat or two, hens, bees, and a couple of ducks: Basil and Patty. Surely you'd expect me to have names! It should be no surprise, then, that I would absolutely adore James Herriot's  Treasury for Children . 

James Herriot was a pen name for British surgeon James Alfred Wight, who as a country vet himself, retold many of his semi-biographical stories in his book "All Creatures Great and Small". His Treasury is a book of 8 condensed stories with beautiful illustrations by Ruth Brown, miraculous and simple tales of animals and their people. I first heard about this book from the Sonlight catalogue, which I use for their wonderful lists of 'living books'. I ended up requesting it from the library, along with the audio version, because each story is fairly long, and I thought it would enhance the reading with characters' voices. It was worth it. 

The stories in this Treasury are all set in England or Scotland, where the author lived, and placed firmly in rural settings in the early part of the 20th century. Your entire family will truly love this compilation. You can even enjoy more of the stories on an older tv series created in the 70s, which 87 episodes on Netflix called "All Creatures Great and Small" are streaming free on netflix! Each story is truly endearing, whether it's about an orphaned cat, a frisky lamb, or old horses, and all have the theme of care for animals and each other; and what a responsibility and  honor it is to share lives with creatures--great or small.