It's been a while since I've done up a post on the books the lad and I read together at night before he settles to bed.   Ergo... this post.  :)

My son and I happen to just LOVE reading together.  Most of the time I do the reading, but occasionally he'll read to me.   Currently we are working through these five books.

Wolf Keepers by Elise Broach
My lad and I are part way into this book and already we are hooked.   It was sent to us by Raincoast books to review.

I strongly suspect that it will also intrigue a fair number of girls as well as one boy and one girl make up the main characters.  They are at the zoo, wolves are dying, people are around when they are not supposed to be.   I have to admit... we're intrigued.  "Why would someone want to hurt a wolf mom?"  "Wouldn't it be neat if they could find that treehouse mom?"   So we are kinda wondering if the two things are linked... Time will tell eh?

Ancient Greece, this is actually part of the group of books we received for the Carole Roman review.   My son thoroughly enjoys these books and likes that we are reading at night together.   He asked questions, we looked up information on line, though with this Greece book he's not real keen on learning about the Greek gods. 

Well written book that draws you into what it would be like to live in Ancient Greece.

My lad and I like history.   :)   We read a fair number of history related books.   Many of them are living books, but this encyclopedia has us fascinated at it takes us through historical events.   Every history book includes different details about historical events.  

For instance... Napolean Bonaparte... was he a villain or hero?   History books talk about him in different ways.  

This variety means that reading different histories provides for a more well-rounded education and gets my little thinker, thinking all the more. 

Reading through the Story of the World, and how it jumps around, has really been showing us how actions in one part of the world can influence what happens elsewhere.

Reading it alongside the encyclopedia is giving us some interesting insights, which of course, leads to conversation between mother and son.

I am hoping at some  point to find inexpensive copies for the mystery of history series, as I think it will give us yet another perspective.

Anyways, enjoy these books should you pick them up... good reads one and all. 

I wish I could remember who recommended that I read this book with my lad.  But wow... WHAT A GOOD BOOK.   Seriously.   Go read it.

Joan Aiken wrote a compelling story based loosely on early industrial England.  The timeline isn't real, but that's what was drawn to my mind as we read through this book.  The chapters are long so we often stopped half way through a chapter otherwise bedtime would get far too late.

Your child (if like mine) will get very angry during the story.   There are some horribly nasty events in the book that had my son (and my own to be honest) blood boiling.  We so wanted to give Miss Slighcarp a good talking to.

We were horrified at Mrs. Brisket and how she handled Sylvia, we wept with the children over Aunt Jane, and rejoiced with Simon being able to help Bonnie and Sylvia escape.

We learned how good it is to have people in your life who love you and care about what happens with you.   Those people will risk much for you.

My son has informed me I am NOT to put this book into our sale or giveaway pile, because apparently he wants to read it again sometime, for himself.  

That my dear readers, is the sign of a good book in my son's eyes. 

My son and I were all set to start a new living history book, but as I was cleaning up the book room and organizing things I came across this old book by Natalie Carlson.  I thought to myself it was short enough to read before reading the history book so why not, it would be a good way to introduce my lad to children who needed help.

What I didn't realize was ...how much we would learn about France and how that would ignite my son's curiousity.

MOM!   They have a fish day?   Why would they call it a fish day???  
So I asked my summer student about it as he comes from France.  His response:

1. April Fool's day is called "Poisson d'avril" in french. So I think that a good translation for April Fool's day would be The April's Fish. During this day, children used to put fish in papers on the back of their friends (or on the back of the teacher but it's even harder ;) ). On the first of April, you can say whatever you want and then add "Poisson d'Avril" which means that you are joking and you got them pranked ! To conclude on this question, most of time April Fool's day is a funny day.

Then we learned about the picking of flowers that happens in the spring, and the gifting of those flowers to the French President.

2. The first of May, we used to offer thrush flower. These flowers are called "Muguet" in France. This day is called the work's day ( = "le jour du travail" in french).
Well, those flowers are growing in Nantes so most of the people are buying trush flowers in a supermarket. Some people are offering it to the President because he is the one that controls the France and make people work. 
I found an internet site to learn the history of the muguet, here the link is : http://m.programme-tv.net/news/buzz/84746-1er-mai-pourquoi-offre-t-on-du-muguet/  . You can use google trad to translate it, I think it will be fine ;).

Other than the new things we learned about France we THOROUGHLY enjoyed this book.   The main character was an engaging young lass named Josine who caused so much trouble and yet helped resolve it as well.    We had frequent laughs and were disappointed when the story ended. 

I like reading older books with my lad, you never know what you might learn.  :) 
Do you have any you would recommend? 
If so, can you tell me why?  

I think I have found our next geography book!    One of the things the lad and I like to do at night is read books before he goes to bed.  We have an animal book, a couple of fiction books, and an encyclopedia/information type book that we read.   It's a nice together time for us.  Anyways, the book?   Amazing World Atlas by Lonely Planet Kids.   It's a great atlas for children (and their moms!)  :)

Now...you and I know atlases right?
Maps of the world, cities highlighted and maybe some cutouts showing an area up close.

This children's atlas is different.

YES, it has maps.  :)
Not what I would call full of close details. 
But that's not the purpose of this atlas, this atlas is meant to show the world to the reader.   To give the basics of the land mass, but to say, this is what is neat about this country.  Europe has snow and mountains and olive gardens and sunny beaches.  It has it all.   So this map includes interesting pictures to give the highlights of the given area.  Two pages per land mass.   Below is an example of an introductory page:

And here is an example of a secondary page.  Cities are pointed out as well as interesting sites.   If the area is for say Europe, additional pages follow breaking it into section like northern, central and southern Europe.

As you can see there are lots of pictures, and tons of interesting information.  More examples follow.

Going through this atlas your child will learn major holidays, people groups, interesting artifacts, population and so much more.  This atlas is jam-packed with full colour images, information, maps and more.   A cornucopia of geographical fun!

I either shared this one on facebook or instagram as I was working n it.   This one was just fun to do.   Figuring out the colour flowers intrigued me just enough.  :)   This one came out of the Be Still book.  

 This rabbit was an interesting challenge, I did it all in varying shades of brown, or "tanned" versions of another colour.   I am mostly happy with how it turned out but wishing I did the rabbit cheeks a bit differently.

I started this chicken ages ago and then got stuck on how to do the tail.   I finished him while watching my boy swim in the lake.   It turned out fairly well I think.  This one and the rabbit came out of Animal Kingdom.

I have to admit, my lad "tisked" at me while I was working on this owl.   He tisked enough that I handed it over to him to finish.  I'll have to show you the final result when he finally gets it completed.  He's not as focused as I am when trying to finish up a page though so it may take a while.   This came out of the Art Therapy Book.

Here are affiliate links for the books I used, in case you want to look for them.

More vacation reads!   These ones are all review books through from Raincoast, books that I am previewing for my lad before he digs happily into them. 

Let Your Voice Be Heard.   Do you know who Pete Seeger is?  You know, neither did I, BUT I know his music oddly enough.  As I read this book and it trailed it's way through his early years, through the rest of his life, it was surprising to me, how many songs I knew that he wrote or popularized.   

Mr. Seeger said  "I started to paint because I failed to get a job as a journalist.  I started singing and playing more because I failed as a painter."

From musical parents he became a musician.  But he was more than that.  The cares and concerns of the poor working class, the plight of the underdog, these are things that stirred his heart and caused him to write more songs.

It landed him in a lot of hot water during the anti-communism days but he was able to work his way through that difficulty until he was noticed by just the right people and became very popular.

It's a bigger than average book, filled with pictures, and easy reading text.   For young people interested in learning more about the music and troubles of this time period, this book is filled with information.   It would help round out a study of folk music and how musicians can let their art show their heart.

Captain.   My son was intrigued by this book but wanted me to read it first.  His first question when I finished it was "Mom, is it a good book for me to read?".   I told him it was a good book, but it wasn't an easy book to read.  That things happen in this book that made me feel sad.  

It's the story of an underage boy heading off to battle in the great war (WW1), fighting hard battles in Turkey.   Seeing death and destruction all around him, and meeting a lad with his donkey and the unlikely friendship that happened between them.  Hard lessons were learned by both boys, and through it all the donkey Captain was part of their lives.  You HAVE to meet the camel though...oh my.. that camel!

The chapters are a good length.
I NEEDED to read the book all the way through.  It was just that kind of book.  
Would I recommend middle schoolers read it?   Yes, but probably along side their parents so they can talk  through the book.  It was be an EXCELLENT book to read as part of learning about WW1 and the conditions the soldiers fought in and the supports they needed in order to battle.

Sunker's Deep.   This is the second book in the series "The Icebreaker Trilogy".   It stands quite well on its own.  It's a fantasy with a mystery built and with a good lead in for the last book of the trilogy. 

This coming of age book leads us through Sharkey needing to be honest with the people he is leading, needing to learn to give up control and to trust his people.   It lead two groups of people together who NEEDED to be together in order to, hopefully in the third book, fulfill their true destiny.   Some of the characters are a we bit odd

The Courage Test.   The book surprised me.   I want my son to read this book and I hope that he will enjoy it.   A story of a boy and his dad traveling the route that Lewis and Clark took.   It was a dangerous journey for those men with many pitfalls along the way, and as Will and his father journey, Will has to navigate a hard journey as well.

It was a touching book about how families make things work and how sometimes the decisions parents make actually have reasoning behind it.   Lots of history in this book, even from sources I didn't expect.   It brought to mind some of the history I've learned of this expedition, putting it all together was kinda fun.  :)

But as a book for middle schoolers?   For sure.   A book even to read along with your child or tie into your own history study of Lewis and Clark.  I liked how the tie made for a good life story.

A Storm Too Soon.   This book is an adaptation of a longer novel called a storm too soon.  This book is meant for younger readers.

As an adult I found it an interesting read with no strong compelling need to read the adult version.

Based on a true story, it was written by Michael J Tougias.  Three men on a cruise when a nasty nasty storm unexpectedly hits.

I found it to be a good read.  Enjoyed the book.  
As I read it in tried to imagine my 11 year reading it.    So as  I talked with my son about the book he sounded quite intrigued by it.   He asked some good questions so I think  it would appeal to him and other children like him.  

At the close of the book they had various people give some closing thoughts, I was left wondering why Ben didn't give his thoughts at the end.   In the centre of the book, their are a lot of good pictures that show the various people involved, and what the size of the storm they were in was like.

Terror at Bottle Creek.  My lad wants to read this book next.  He's quite intrigued by the thought of a boy having to help two girls through a horrible storm, with crazy pigs, lots of snakes and an unexpectedly helpful bear.    Lots of water, strange mounds in the middle of a swamp, living on a house boat, and more.  He's just intrigued, and I have to admit, I actually enjoyed reading this book though I did find all the things that happened felt at times a little bit too much.  Watt Key does an excellent job at character development, not only of 13 year old Cort, but of all the surrounding people in his life.

I could FEEL the pain that his dad had with Cort's mom leaving him, the joy he has in being a swamp guide, to Cort's confusion over his future, the love of the dog and the terror the storm brought to a little girl.

Well written, good book.

 Simon Ellis and his best friend Jackson are in trouble, a distance is growing between them... could this be the end of their friendship?   What can Simon do?   Will third grade be a horrible time for Simon?

My son and I thoroughly enjoyed reading through Simon Ellis: Spelling Bee Champ.   My son thought the game the boys made up when they were younger sounded fun and then when mom got stopped by the police over it.. he just HOOTED!   I can totally imagine other children enjoying this book as well.

A good story, I have to admit, I found it interesting how they ran the spelling bee as a team.  It was a new idea to me, and I could see how it would cause tension in children.   Especially if a good speller was linked with some not so good spellers.   

Simon learned that competition with a team was an interesting challenge that required some give and take, and his friend learned that smart kids make mistakes too, sometimes even on purpose!

Could my son have read this book by himself?   Sure... but it was fun to read it together and during the spelling test I would stop and give him two different ways of spelling a word and then ask... so which do you think is right?   Sometimes he was right, and sometimes well... let's just say we haven't done a lot of spelling work.  :)

Oh.. my sweetheart made me laugh tonight.  I am NOTORIOUS for messing up my pronunciation of words.  I held up George M. Ella's book entitled William Cowper and said "you need to read this book on William Cow-per".   He smiled with his "ever so patient smile" and said "It's William Cooper and glad you liked it hun".   I just laughed and then we got into a discussion on Old English and how they pronounced things differently.  

ANYWAYS... As I said.. Good book, it's not what I call a novelization of William Cowper life, it's more of a factual treatise.  An interesting book and I learned so much about the man, his struggles, his joys and most importantly his faith.   Books like these help broaden one's faith as you see it lived out in the lives of others.

Scattered throughout the book are little pictures.   Most of them were images of people that were part of his life.   A few were of building that were an important part of his life.

I have to admit, I found it interesting to read about how Cowper was one of the people featured in the Olney Hymnal.. I keep running into that hymnbook as I work through my hymn studies.  This hymn below was one of his.

Lover of nature, William Cowper saw it as an expression of God's wonder, and had no problem with combining those two thoughts in his poetry.

From dearth to plenty, and from death to life,
Is Nature’s progress when she lectures man
In heav’nly truth; evincing, as she makes
The grand transition, that there lives and works
A soul in all things, and that soul is God.
The beauties of the wilderness are his,
That make so gay the solitary place
Where no eye sees them.   No fairer forms
That cultivation glories in, are his.
He sets the bright procession on its way,
And marshals all the orders of the year. (p.100)

William Cowper was not bound to the conventions of the day, preferring to write his verse without flowery text or societal expectations.  Fighting against the slave trade, aiding the poor, criticizing the church, translating the classics and more.

There is much more William Cowper than one might expect and it was a pleasure to learn more about this man.

Seeing how others lived out their life of faith helps me to broaden my horizons.  :)

Chris Pauls and Matt Solomon have co-authored an intriguing book called "The Giant Smugglers".   Written for the Middle School audience, this book is an interesting and fun read that my son and I enjoyed over the past month.

Book Synopsis:
Charlie Lawson, living in a crummy apartment with his single mom, in small town Richland Center, Wisconsin, lives to play his video game, where he's the undisputed Total Turbo champ.

Charlie deals with bullies and boredom in his middle school until he stumbles onto something big happening inside the abandoned warehouse across the street from his house. Specifically, someone big. He befriends Bruce, a twenty-foot-tall teenage giant, who Charlie must keep a secret.

Charlie isn't the only one in town who knows what's hiding in the warehouse. Powerful, ruthless forces are closing in, and they'll stop at nothing to acquire a giant.  Does Charlie have what it takes to protect the biggest and best friend he's ever had?

Our thoughts:
My son really enjoyed listening to me read this book with him.  He could have read it on his own, but currently he's in the midst of reading through "The Unwanteds" and it's fun to read through new books together eh?   :)

Anyways, interesting book, that in story form introduces one to the dangers of steroid use and thinking of something bigger than yourself.   And Charlie really NEEDS to think of something bigger than himself, and he gets that not only with a big friend, but he gets it spades when his new friend is attacked!   Can he find a way to help Bruce?  

He did.   His wayward brother shows up, a nasty nasty man comes a-calling, a rather poorly behaved lad (due to his father's lack of foresight) discovers meddling is something he shouldn't have done (I actually felt sorry for this lad... he was pushed down this path by his dad focusing on the wrong aspect of life), greed and revenge play a hard role, and in the end... Bruce is free and clear and Charlie is reunited with his family.

Good book overall.  Tons of topics to be covered (we had good talking points given in this book), or just a good book to be read.

Worth a read by your middle school student. 

I have to admit, I want to know the story behind the nasty guy.   What's the deal with how he got to be who he was, what's with the cat suit and the injections, and the equipment... just curious about him...

 You know how sometimes you can be given a book and someone says "read this" and you do and you are surprised by what you learn?

Well.. let me introduce to you "We Will Not be Be Silent" written by Russell Freedman.

I was stunned.
Carefully crafted with eye witness testimony.
Filled with black and white historical photographs.

I had never heard of the White Rose Society before.   Learning what the Hitler youth groups were all about, seeing the growing disillusionment, until one day they reach this zenith>>>>>>  "what in the world are we waiting for?   Until one day the war is over and all nations point to us and say that we accepted this government without resisting?"

I have to admit, before I read this book, that is EXACTLY what I thought.   Of the German people, so conditioned to obey governmental authorities, that when Hitler said "do this", like a herd of cows they simply set to (except for those who helped the Jewish people escape).   I didn't for a moment really think of anyone in Germany fighting back against Hitler and his rule (and agenda).

I can't say it was an easy book to read, but it was a good book to read.
To read of these young people actively fighting a regime that would kill them if it could (and eventually did).  BUT their actions made waves.  Hearts and minds were challenged to consider what Hitler's actions were doing to the German people.  Their love for their country and their fellow man... it mattered and it showed forth in their bravery and determination to do what was right.

"Today, the members of the White Rose are counted among the legendary heroes of World War II."  (p.82)

This book will be going back onto my shelf to use with my lad when we study World War II.   It was a fascinating book that gave me a different perspective on the German people of that era.