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Random Thoughts, Vol. 3: The Good Books for Kids Edition

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If I had a nickel for every time that friends have asked me for book suggestions, I would have … well, a lot of nickels.

But I do feel bad that I don’t often have an organized list. Often, perfectionism gets in the way–I want to share the best ten, or twenty, or hundred, books for kids, all color-coded and age-appropriate.  And –surprise!–those lists don’t write themselves.

So to get started, here is one list, very random. Because it is quite random, I’m making it part of the “random thoughts” series.

This is actually the list from one of the early years that my daughters and I hosted a Girls Book Group  at our house.   Even though they were read as part of a “girls” group, all these books are totally appropriate and would be enjoyed by both boys and girls–yes, even Baby Island and The Penderwicks.  Many times, if you like the book we read, you will often enjoy other works by the same author.

Feel free to share some of your favorites in the comments!

Andrew Clements is really the gold standard author when it comes to “school stories.”    Just a few weeks ago, one of my kids brought home a book from the “new book” section, and we both gave up on reading it after a few chapters.  As I said, “It’s like someone trying to write like Andrew Clements but not succeeding.”

Frindle is possibly his best, but I have some other Clements favorites, and (a few) that are not-so-favorite.  I’ll try to do a post on great Clements books soon.

Understood Betsy is one of my favorite books of all time.  We own multiple hard copies, and I have it in Kindle format and audio CD format. This is great to read-aloud to your children, just so you don’t miss out on how terrific this book is in every way.

When we read Understood Betsy for Girls Book Group, we made applesauce and butter, and the girls did virtually all the work themselves.  Wonderful.

 

All of Rumer Godden’s books are tinged with melancholy, but they are so worthwhile.  I’m not sure why I chose The Doll’s House rather than, say, The Kitchen Madonna.  I think it may have been one of the few in-print Godden books for kids at the time.  I think we made homemade dollhouse furniture as the girls do in the book.

Carol Ryrie Brink is amazing–I can’t think of any of her books that I do love and begin laughing and quoting when I call to mind a title. Baby Island is hilarious and improbable and so, so funny-two sisters who like to “borrow” babies are shipwrecked on a desert island with four babies.  I just now noticed it’s available on Kindle, and even though I can probably recite entire passages of it, it’s likely I will order a Kindle version at some point.

The Toothpaste Millionaire is the only Jean Merrill book I’ve enjoyed, but it’s really fun and worth reading, especially for an entrepreneurial-minded kid.

The Penderwicks is practically perfect in every way, a series that’s a worthy successor and homage to such fun old classics by authors such as E. Nesbit and Edward Eager.  There have been three so far in the series, and I was expecting the fourth to be published this spring, but it looks like it’s not coming out until 2015.  So hard to wait!

I am biased since I know author/adaptor Nancy Carpentier Brown in real life.  She actually visited our Girls Book Group and spoke with the girls about writing, G.K. Chesterton, and life in general, a memory we all cherish.  But it really is a great introduction for young people to Chesterton’s mystery series.

I love Jean Fritz, and The Cabin Faced West is one of her many terrific books.  I can’t recall why I chose this one in particular, but it mixes fiction and history so well you don’t realize how much you are learning about the Revolutionary time period.  She will be 99 later this year, and she is still writing! Wow.

Many, many more books to come, and future posts can be found under the “books for kids” category.  I will also try to make a tab of great kids books for easier “finding.”  Thanks for your patience as I get through these.

A note from me: this post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click through to Amazon from any of the links, and order a book (s), I receive a small amount.  It doesn’t change your cost, but helps support this blog.

Random Thoughts, Volume 2

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Last weekend, I was on a two-night campout with my younger daughter’s American Heritage Girls troop.  And truly, I had a great time.  I would say so even if my whole family, children included, did not read my blog.

But, to be honest, before this, I used to say to people, “You know, the closest I get to camping is Hampton Inn.”  I love the outdoors, but I really like to come home to my own bed, or a Hampton Inn.  Some of you will know what I mean.

Even though I was officially having fun, after the first restless night with lots of little girls tossing and turning and needing to go use the latrine, I was pretty tapped out during a lull on Saturday afternoon.  So I might have hiked the half-mile to the minivan to take refuge for a little bit of quiet and non-outdoors.  I am sooo glad that I did.  That’s because I caught the very end of The Moth Radio hour. I generally stay away from The Moth, as I generally find it a more pretentious and annoying version of This American Life.  While I love and find   so Catholic and catholic, so many of the stories on TAL, it can also occasionally veer into the annoying category.

So my first random thought is to share this and invite you to take a few minutes to listen to “Before Fergus,”  Lynn Ferguson’s story of when she was pregnant at an “advanced maternal age.”  Listen if for no other reason than to hear her Scottish brogue.  Lovely.  Sitting there listening to it, and having a few minutes of quiet, was just enough to help me get back to several dozen energetic girls, the campfire, and sleeping in a bunk.

More randomness:

Do our Kids Get Off Too Easy? –Alfie Kohn, The New York Times.I found his book Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes

that I read many, many years ago, utterly fascinating, and it really informed how I parent, I think because I was parented this way, without my parents having the benefit of such a book.  “Other researchers, meanwhile, have shown that high self-esteem is beneficial, but that even more desirable is unconditional self-esteem: a solid core of belief in yourself, an abiding sense that you’re competent and worthwhile — even when you screw up or fall short.”

Always Hungry? Here’s Why–The New York Times “If this hypothesis (that “rapidly digestible carbs” are the cause of hunger & weight gain) turns out to be correct, it will have immediate implications for public health. It would mean that the decades-long focus on calorie restriction was destined to fail for most people. Information about calorie content would remain relevant, not as a strategy for weight loss, but rather to help people avoid eating too much highly processed food loaded with rapidly digesting carbohydrates. But obesity treatment would more appropriately focus on diet quality rather than calorie quantity.”

The ‘Casket Catechesis’ of John Paul II–National Catholic Register.  Not new but read-worthy.  A man inspired to start a simple casket business after seeing the casket of John Paul II. “I hope that Marian Caskets is a part of this spiritual awakening, where death is accepted but where it won’t have the last word. That’s what the casket catechesis of soon-to-be St. John Paul II is all about: facing reality with humility, acknowledging our sins and asking for God’s mercy.”

18 Reasons Why This Skeptical Pediatrician Came to Love Homeschooling Dr. Kathleen Berchelmann, Aleteia.  My brother sent me this article and I found it really interesting and well-argued.  I still felt a little exhausted just reading about this family’s schedule though!  Neat connection: Kathleen attended the 2012 Behold Conference.  I got to meet her but not spend much time with her.

Who Gets to Graduate? –Paul Tough, The New York Times magazine.  Helping the most-at-risk kids to graduate.  I haven’t finished this one yet, but I find it fascinating, and want my teens to read.

What have you read or listening to randomly this week?

Haphazard Random Thoughts

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We have a family joke that whenever Mom (that would be me) says, “I have a random thought,” everyone runs screaming, because it’s usually followed by, “… we should clean out the garage” or ” or some other maybe-not-too-pleasant thing that will happen since I am Mom and moms are all-powerful.  That’s not really how it works, but I love that my husband and kids enjoy making fun of me in a cute way.

So, I keep sharing articles and various other links on Facebook or (less often) Twitter, and then when I want to find them, I have to scroll back through my own feed to find them.  And my husband often (very often) shares articles via e-mail with me, and sometimes I get to them, and share them.  But it’s all haphazard.

The “haphazard” way I read and share online isn’t going to change, but there will be a post here every so often with a random assortment of links that have had me thinking and pondering, or that moved me in some way.

I don’t have a catchy name for this yet–thus, the “Haphazard Random Thoughts.”  But I want to get this started.   Any thoughts for a good name are welcome here.

So burdened last week with the news out of Harvard, and I was unbelievably glad when it was all over, saying prayers of thanksgiving at Mass & Adoration on Tuesday:

“Holy Hour in Reparation for Acts Committed Against the Eucharist”

and some follow-up:

“Describer of Planned Black Mass-Guess How He Died?” Elizabeth Scalia at The Anchoress. I was all set for this to be sad, and then it wasn’t.  Praise God.

“Satan: A Small Skirmish Won, but the Battle Goes On.” –Thomas MacDonald. “And while we do this, we must remember that the battleground of Satan is within us as well. As Solzhenitsyn wrote, the line separating good and evil passes right through every human heart. I’d rather not lose a single soul to Hell. Not one. Not even the soul of my worst enemy.”

“The Problem with Confidence” –David Brooks, The New York Times. Sometimes my husband e-mails me articles, and then when he tells me about them in person, and sends me back to my neglected in-box to read them, I know it must be very good.  This one was, and there is almost too much good to quote. “The person with the confidence mind-set is like the painfully self-conscious person at a dinner party who asks, “How am I coming across?” The person with an instrumentalist mind-set is serving a craft and asks “What does this specific job require?”

 

“Tolstoy and Miss Daisy,” Frank Bruni, The New York Times.  I cried at this one, and this was one I shared with my husband first, and then I forgot to share on Facebook and Twitter and to tag all my siblings and their kids.  “They were proof, these two, that a family can pass its painstakingly nurtured closeness down through the generations, and that there comes a moment when the values impressed on the youngest members of the brood — the values imposed on them, really — become the values they actually elect.”

“Running  Back from Hell” by Christine Fennessy, Runner’s World.  I read this in the paper version back when it arrived in our mailbox–Runner’s World is one of my favorite magazine subscriptions.  Many (not all) of the long articles in Runner’s World are top-notch.  This was one recent standout.  How running is helping soldiers manage and overcome PTSD.

And let’s throw in a recipe for good measure:

“Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp Bars” Deb Perlman, The Smitten Kitchen. Our garden is producing lots of rhubarb this years from ancient plants we inherited when we bought our old house 20 years ago. I am looking for new recipes to try. I adapted this from another recipe of hers (I didn’t want “crispy” bars in any way–just yummy) and we cannot stop eating this one.

Celebrating St. Patrick Through Books {Lent Book Series}

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The Lent Book Series today features Katie Young, a homeschooling mom of seven, blogger and lover of all kinds of Catholic feasts.  Today she and her children share some book ideas for St. Patrick’s Day.

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Growing up, I thought St. Patrick’s Day was all about the wearing the color green or else you’d be getting pinched all day long. Youch!! So, if I bump into you today and you’re not wearing green, you better watch out.

As the years have gone by, thankfully, the Spirit plants a desire to learn and grow in faith more, and my celebration of St. Patrick’s Day has evolved.

Early on in our marriage, my husband and I started the tradition with our kids of learning about the lives of the saints and celebrating feast days. We do this by reading books and stories about their lives, eating fun/themed foods, singing songs, making crafts, and more.

We found St. Patrick to be one of those “easy” saints when jumping into this new learning experience together. There is so much information and ideas out there to really celebrate his feast in a meaningful way.

Our family has really enjoyed getting to know St. Patrick, while keeping some of our own silly Irish traditions. The following four books are ones that we always pull out and read this time of year. I not only shared a little bit about what *I* think about the books, but also asked each of my older children to read and offer some thoughts and a review as well (great homeschooling assignment, no??)…

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St Patrick’s Day by Gail Gibbons

“This book tells a little about the life of St. Patrick and also about the reasons for the decorations, symbols, and celebrations and how they came about. It’s a better book for younger kids because it is a more of an introduction, but I wanted a little more detail on his life.” ~Lillian, age 9

I agree with Lillian about this book being more appropriate for the younger crew – this book is probably best for ages 2-7. What a great description of his life, the symbols of St. Patrick’s Day and also some legends surrounding the saint. The pictures are bright and fun and the flow of the book definitely will keep little ones attentive. One legend was new to me – “It is said that the sun didn’t set when Saint Patrick died and that it shone in the sky for twelve days and nights.” Cool!!

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The Story of Saint Patrick’s Day by Patricia A. Pingry

“It tells you the story of St. Patrick and why you celebrate it. I liked it because it’s a good book and you celebrate that feast the day after my birthday.” ~Elizabeth, age 7

This adorable little board book is one that the littlest ones can grab and look through many times, without ripping it – yippee! I love how on each page, there is a word or two highlighted to point out the main idea of the page. Great for those first readers to notice and understand even more. The pictures are lovely and the words are very simple for little ones to understand and enjoy.

A little warning…. we do have some little leprechauns that come to our house and make a mess on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, but they are also nice enough to leave some green goodies (Andes candies, tic tacs, Lucky Charms, a dollar bill, etc…). On one of the pages, it says, “Leprechauns are make-believe” – we had to kind of ad lib when we read this part. Our tradition is all in fun and the kids look forward to the visit of St. Patrick’s little friends each year.

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Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland by: Tomie dePaola

“Tomie dePaola’s St. Patrick book expresses a good example of St. Patrick’s life. DePaola is a good and devoted man. His books really express God and the lives of the saints.” ~Jonathan, age 12

We are big Tomie dePaola fans in our house! Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland is one of many saint books that he has blessed us with. He beautifully takes the life of a saint and creates a story for kids to sit down, read and enjoy, year after year.

The artwork is lovely as always too In his great story-telling format, he takes appropriate names for the land and culture to make the story come to life- for example, Dichu and Odran were some names in this book.

One neat part of Tomie dePaola’s saint books is that he usually includes a letter written to us at the end of the book to show how he was first introduced to the saint and how he has grown in knowledge of him or her. Reading this book is a great way to “meet” good ole St. Patrick!

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Patrick, Saint of Ireland by: Joyce Denham and Diana Mayo

“ I was surprised that a small book like this could hold so much information about St. Patrick. The illustrator was a good artist too!” ~Matthew, age 11

This book is woven together from both the writings of St. Patrick and the legends that are attributed to his name. Like Tomie dePaola, Denham & Mayo draw you in to the life of the saint through a story. The illustrations and text of this book are very well done and informative.

My favorite part is that it includes some of St. Patrick’s actual writings and prayers – what a meaningful element added to help understand who this saint was and how much He loved and trusted God!

In celebration of Saint Patrick’s feast day, we will most definitely be reading these four books together, as well as singing this song…

“The Trinity Song” is from the Dogma Dogs CD, and the kids learned the motions from this song from one of our very own Peoria-diocese seminarians – Matt Deptula, who helped lead a Trinity VBS at our church a couple summers ago).

How else will we celebrate? I’ll serve the traditional corned beef and cabbage for dinner that night, probably Trinity sandwiches at lunch time (triangular shaped sandwiches – super easy!), and we will maybe do a craft. You can bet there will have been a visit from St. Patrick’s leprechauns and we will all be wearing green. I hope you will be too!!

++Saint Patrick, pray for us to be blessed with the virtues of courage, fortitude and faith.++

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Katie Young is blessed to have 8 very special people in her life. She is married to her high school sweetheart, Neil , and they have seven beautiful children together.  They live in Coal Valley and are members of Sacred Heart Church in Moline.

Her favorite thing to do is spending time with her family – whether it is playing games, watching movies, going on walks, fishing at the lake, reading books, cooking, teaching at the Young Family Academy, and most especially learning about and celebrating the richness of the Catholic faith together. You can visit their family blog at: Raising Young Ones.

#Behold2014 Highlights

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Today completes 7 posts in 7 days.  I have SO enjoyed this challenge, and love hearing from people who have been following along.  But I’m also SO glad it is completed now.

I’m sharing various photos and impressions from this year’s Behold Conference, yesterday here in central Illinois.

Friday night was a gathering of bloggers with a dinner and a talk by Dr. Jillian Stalling, a local NPF-only ob/gyn.  Her talk inspired a very spirited discussion among the mostly younger moms and bloggers about NFP and life in general.  A great time was had by all, and I loved getting to see local friends and fellow bloggers from this area Bonnie & Britta and meet Kendra and Deirdre as well as meet several new-to-me bloggers, including Molly from Molly Makes Do, Elizabeth from That Married Couple, and Annie from Annery at Home.

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Elizabeth (and her little one) and Molly at Friday night’s gathering.
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Dr. Stalling during her talk at Friday night’s gathering.

 

Saturday was, for me at least, a great mix of seeing tons of women I know and love, from all over the diocese, or who have moved away and come back, new faces and people to meet.

 

 

Some photo highlights and impressions:

 

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Some quotes and impressions from the day:

Mother Assumpta quoting from Mother Teresa, “Give God permission. Trust him.”

Marie Miller singing 6’2” and a group of teens in the audience screaming when she knew what song was coming.

Bonnie Engstrom instagraming terrific photos throughout the day with the tag line (a little long for a hashtag) “you might be at a Catholic women’s conference if” … there’s a line for confession…. there’s adoration ….. there’s a mother’s room by a changing table.  I told her I wished there were a retweet (or reInstagram? Guess that’s why there’s not one) button on Instagram so I could share.

Happy and sweet little baby noises during Mass.

So many baby bumps, I couldn’t even count. I broke, on numerous occasions, the rule to not ask a woman when she was due. And lucky for me, I wasn’t wrong.

Seeing my older teenage daughter connecting and re-connecting with other great teen girls we know.

Mother Assumpta Long in her breakout talk, “When God is Silent”–“The main thing is, never give up. Be patient and persevere.”

I also enjoyed greatly reflecting on past Behold conferences, and considering all the speakers and bloggers who have been at past conferences, from Jen Fulwiler, Teresa Tomeo, Kate Wicker, and the whole group of bloggers who came to the conference in 2012. I wrote about the 2012 conference here and here (among other places), and the 2011 conference here .  The last link was actually a post of live blogging, basically a post I updated through the day. I wasn’t on Twitter back then, and this was an interesting way to do it.  I actually like this format and may want to revisit it for future events.

 

This year at Behold (especially since I was only a minor volunteer this year, helping the meal director with traffic flow during lunch), I spent a good amount of time in adoration or in quiet time, really the better to soak up everything I could from the talks and the visits with friends I don’t see very often, or get to know new friends.  I also had time to be on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Behold 2014 was kind of like a retreat day with social media off & on. It may sound strange, but something about that really worked. I don’t consider Behold a retreat day necessarily. And that’s okay. It was a hybrid or mixup of prayer, connection with God, connection with neighbor, huge laughter, music, social media.

If you were at #Behold2014, what was your favorite part? 

 

 

 

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

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Fourth in my 7 posts in 7 days. More than halfway finished!

As I did on Tuesday with Kendra, I’m joining in with a link-up with another blogger who will be at the Behold Conference this Saturday.  Linking up with Like Mother, Like Daughter’s weekly “phfr” posts “capturing the contentment in everyday life” since one of the “daughters,” Dierdre Folley, will be a speaker at Behold.  I am looking forward to the conference and meeting Dierdre, if I ever get through a week of blogging.  I have to say both that it is super enjoyable to do all the link-ups and post each day, but I’m finding it much more involved  and much more time-consuming than I thought.

pretty

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I’ve been meaning for months to paint an upstairs bathroom.  We’ve had ideas, paint chips, paint samples, etc.  Finally, today two  of the kids helped me paint three of the five walls in this room. (I took this one-or-more-walls-at-a-time idea from a dear friend, who’s been posting Facebook photos of the transformation of their old house, one wall at a time, instead of whole rooms at a time).  I am so grateful for the idea, as we were tiring after two walls, and it was nice to be finished with the project for today.  I love the color.  It’s called Tranquility.

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I know everyone is sick of the snow–we’re expected to get two more snowstorms this weekend.  And I guess I have to admit I’m pretty tired of winter, too.  But this has been a TERRIFIC winter for cross-country skiing, something we’ve done many times more this winter than the other two winters combined since we’ve had the skis.   We discovered this year that a group of volunteers grooms trails at a local golf course, and we went there many times.  The silver lining of more snow is perhaps another time or two to get out the skis.  Sorry all you people pining for 80 degrees.

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Our family has loved having a second dog (just for one year, while his family is abroad for a work adventure), in addition to our wonderful English shepherd.  Our “borrowed” dog, is a Yorkie-poo who has convinced us that a small dog is in our future, both to keep us and our medium-sized dog company when this little guy leaves.

So the 13-year-old at our house is fond of sewing (in addition to creating graphics for my blog), and has made the Yorkie-poo several outfits, including a reversible coat that is adorable.  She decided for some unaccountable reason to make him a Santa suit this week, and it is a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e.

real

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I promise you, I believed I took a photo this morning of the deplorable state of our “multi-purpose room” which houses school books and supplies, my desk, the treadmill and assorted other stuff.  I’ve been meaning to work on it, and so little has happened there, and it’s definitely “real.”  But after driving many miles today, painting, cooking, etc., and all my other “getting things done”  I am not getting up from this living room chair right now for anything until I post this.

So I found instead a photo I snapped today at my high-school daughter’s robotics competition. I thought I was in geeky heaven today when we spent a few hours there today, seeing all the costumes, robots, and watching the practice matches of robots battling and throwing giant balls on the “field.”  So.much.fun.

The “real” part was as the younger kids and I were leaving, and my 10-year-old was not thrilled with the idea of walking past this mascot (we’re not in this photo) from one of the teams. I had joked before to both the kids each time we saw one, “Hey, maybe he wants a hug!”  We are not huge mascot fans.  But we made it past this guy without even so much as a high-five, as he was busy giving a high-five to the person in front of us.