Favorite Children's Books Pt.3

Today we will finish up the 'What made the cut on the Mangos bookshelf for children's fiction?' Post.   I have enjoyed going through these books with you and hope that someone has found it helpful.  If you have any book questions, let me know.  It is a real hobby/addiction of mine.

 I talked about some of these authors in the last post, but didn't get to the last one in the picture.  Scott O'Dell.  He writes excellent historical fiction.  They do tend to be a little dark and sad.  Hard stuff happens to hi main characters.  'The Hawk that Dare Not Hunt by Day' is an excellent fictionalized biography of William Tyndale.  He wrote a lot of books, and you can still find many of them around.  You may want to pre-read them if you have a sensitive child.

Donald Sobol wrote a whole series of Encyclopedia Brown books.  I have most of them, but only have 2 out.  My children have enjoyed these books and all have read them at one time or another.  Encyclopedia Brown is a boy detective who solves a mystery, only they don't tell you the answer, you have to figure it out yourself.  The answers are in the back of the book.  They usually are solved by catching the historical inaccuracy or the scientific error that the 'crook' lied about.  They are usually simple neighborhood crimes, and nothing graphic or violent.  Good fun! Excellent thinking exercises.  He also wrote a book that is for a little older kids/adults called 'Two Minute Mysteries' that is along the same lines.  We used it as a logic exercise in school some times. 'Plain Girl' is a a story about an Amish girl growing up.  Elizabeth Speare is an excellent author of historical fiction.  'The Bronze Bow' takes place at the time of the crucifixion.  Armstrong Sperry writes historical fiction and naval novels (one of my favorite genres of books as I love adventure stories!) They are grand stories of tropical islands and ships.  I believe he also has at least one about a wagon train.  Many of his books have been done in audio format.  Johanna Spyri writes of Switzerland.  Everybody is familiar with her story of 'Heidi', but have you read all three sequels?  You really need to do that!!!  They are so excellent, Did you know she ended up marrying Peter?  Sorry for the spoiler. Read them!

Robert Louis Stevenson writes historical fiction and adventure novels as well as travelogues and poetry.  Truly a broad base of writing.  His works are well done and exciting.  This is something that junior high boys will really enjoy.  Patricia St John (last name is really pronounced sin-gin not Saint John)writes missionary stories as well as stories of boys and girls.  'Treasures in the Snow' is probably her best known book and has been made into a movie.

 Noell Streatfield writes classic kid americana books.  All of the books have some kind of shoe as the title.  I have enjoyed reading them as an adult even as I didn't read them when I was young.  Showell Styles was a british author.  I only recently ran across his books.  Bethlehem books has reprinted a couple of them.  He writes children and adult books.  His passion is mountain climbing and many of his books center around that.  He also writes historical fiction.  One note... Adult characters in his book frequently smoke.  Not a deal breaker for me, but just something to be aware of. Rosemary Sutcliff writes really great historical fiction.  Her series that takes place in Rome is one of her best.  She was very prolific as a writer and her books are very well researched and written.  Used to find her books easily but now they are almost gone from sales.  There are a few still in print.  I only put a few of the ones that I thought Elizabeth would want to read in the next year or two until I can get a spot for the stored books.

Sidney Taylor writes about a Jewish family of 5 girls in Uptown New York City during WWI in 'All-Of-A-Kind-Family'.  They are sweet americana and well written.  I only have two of the three books in the series.  Albert Payson Terhune writes about dogs, usually collies.  They are written about dogs he has owned and their adventures.  He really was a collie breeder.  He wrote a lot of dog books.  I have really enjoyed them as have the kids.  Hilda Van Stockum! Another of those frequently missed authors.  She is another Newbery award winner.  Her best known book is 'The Winged Watchman' about an American flyer who crashed in Holland and was rescued by the main character's family.  She wrote a lot of books about families in Europe and Canada and their adventures during WWII. She has become one of my favorite authors!  If you haven't read her books before it is worth searching out. I have put all of he books that I own on the shelf.

I have three favorite Jules Verne's books,  'Around the World in 80 Days', 'Michael Strogoff', and 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'.  'Michael Strogoff' is my favorite  It is unusual fare for Vernes.  It is a historical fiction book about a young man who was traveling undercover for the Russian Czar.  He has excellent character and it is a thrilling story!  The sad thing is that I loaned my copy out and it hasn't been returned, so it isn't in the picture.  Bummer!  I would like to read it again. Louisa Vernon wrote a number of fictionalized biographies of famous christians who lived during the reformation.  They are great reads and not too long.  They have all been reprinted in paperback.  E.B. White is a must read of childhood.  No childhood would be complete without having read 'Charlotte's Web', 'Stuart Little' or 'The Trumpet of the Swan'.  Enough said!

Esther Wier writes stories about growing up in Australia.  I like to have stories about children from around the World.  These books fill a spot on the shelf that they have earned.  Kate Douglas Wiggins is well known for her classic story 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'.  She has also written other books, one is a sequel to Rebecca as well as a retelling of the story of the Arabian Nights.  Of Course, the 'Little House Series' made the cut.

Yep is an author who writes about China and Chinese people in America.  'Dragon's Gate' is the story of the Chinese immigrants who worked on building the cross continental railroad.  It is a part of American History that we don't often think or teach about.  Charlotte Yonge is an author of the 1800's who wrote a lot of historical fiction.  Some have even suggested that she may be a female counterpart to G.A. Henty. THey are written in an old fashioned style, but I really have enjoyed them.  'The Little Duke' has been read by most of my children when they were in 2nd grade.  I finished out the shelf with some biography books that are about multiple people.  They really didn't fit on my biography shelves specifically.  

I do have to say that I have a few books stashed elsewhere.  I pulled a dozen Nancy Drew books for ELizabeth to read.  She has been enjoying them lately. I also have all the G.A. Henty books that have been reprinted in the living room.  Some of the children's classics that I want Elizabeth to specifically read in the next year or so are on her school shelves.  

My long term plan is to find a trailer home or classroom pod and set it up as a library.  Then I will be able to unload all the books in my attic and set them out.  If anyone knows of one available for cheap please let me know.  We have lots of room for it here on the farm.  

Favorite Children's Books Pt.2

I am continuing on with part 2 of my favorite children's fiction books and what made the cut on my new limited space shelves.  I probably should give a list of what didn't make the cut, but that would be more challenging.  Those books are in boxes.  Truly 2/3 of this collection was boxed!

Some of my children were horse lovers.  Dorothy Lyons is one of the few authors that writes horse stories for girls.  These books always include a guy friend but there is no romance.  They are hard to find as they are very collectible.  I buy them whenever I see them.  George MacDonald only made it with two of his books.  He was a 'mentor' to C.S.Lewis.  His books are OK, but his theology is a little mixed up in my opinion.  Only two of his books made the cut.  Everybody is familiar with Patricia MacLachlan because of the TV specials.  She wrote 'Sarah Plain and Tall' and several others.  I have enjoyed the books. 'The Bears of Blue River' is an old book that is recommended by Ambleside Online.  My children have enjoyed it.  'Caroline and her Kettle Named Maude' is an American classic of historical fiction. 'Snow Treasure' by MacSwigan is one of my personal all time favorites! It is the story of how some Norwegian children saved the countries gold from the Nazis during WWII by taking it down a mountain on their sleds.  I bet I have heard or read that story at least ten times!!!

On this shelf is probably my all time favorite children's author... Stephen W. Meader.  You know he is good because he is hard to find and is VERY expensive to buy!  Apparently many others found him to be a favorite.  My favorite of his books is 'Trap Lines North'.  It is the true story of two brothers in Northern Canada who have to keep their family fed by running a trap line.  The book includes photographs of the two boys and some of the critters they hunted.  This is a book that I have read several times to the children, usually during a blizzard!  His writing is in the fashion of Horatio Alger.  A young man works hard and is able to start a business and grow it.  There is always some adversity to be faced.  Many of his books are historical fiction and a few are sports or animal stories.  These books have been reprinted but still cost $35 a piece.  Keep your eyes open for these books at book sales and resale shops!

Cornelia Meigs writes historical fiction.  Several of her books made the cut.  They are not as great as some, but she does fill a few holes in my historical fiction timeline.  Ralph Moody is a great author, and probably should not be on the fiction shelf.  These books are his autobiograhy of growing up in the early 1900's with most of it spent out west.  He was a cowboy and a lot of other things.  He also has the theme that hard work and good morals pays off.  Our family has all these books on the computer and we listen to them regularly.

'On to Oregon' is another wagon train kid's literature classic.  Farley Mowat is a good author who writes about life in the north.  'Lost in the Barrens' is a story about two boys who get lost out in the middle of the Arctic and how they survive.  It is a good adventure story.  He also wrote a couple books about his rather unique childhood.  He writes about his dog and living with owls.  He also wrote a number of adult books. Some of his books are hilarious, especially the ones about his boyhood. I did read them out loud to the kids as there was one or two slightly objectionable things in them.  Thus they didn't make the cut for the kids shelves, but you shouldn't skip them.
Elizabeth Nesbit writes a lot of fantasy literature for children and is a classic author.  I never really developed a taste for fantasy reading, I am more an adventure story person, but those who do like these things find her writing excellent.

Howard Pyle writes about a lot of different topics.  He is an old time author.  He writes about the days of yore when King Arthur was still at the Round Table and  there were knights and pirates and Robin Hood and mythology.  The writing is definitely a cut above as far as vocabulary goes.  My son T-Bob is an excellent reader but found the going almost too hard as a nine year old to handle these books. He still tells me that it was a mistake to give them to him then and he likes this kind of literature.

Kate Seredy is an author that should be known by all people suggesting books for kids.  She writes historical fiction with an eastern european flavor.  She writes about the time during WWII, and how it effected family life there.  She has a very strong catholic christian belief.  These are good stories that really hold your attention.  Make sure you are aware they are sequential but can stand alone as well.  'Five Little Peppers' is another story about life in a family.  Just comfortable fun.  There is a whole series of books, but we got tired of them and didn't make them through more than the first couple.  Elizabeth loved "Lazy Tinka' when she was a four year old.  I read it out loud to her.

Of incidental note, C.S. Lewis series, 'The Chronicles of Narnia' did make the cut.  It is on Elizabeth's school shelf to read together with me this year.  Several other classics are on her shelf to be read.  Feel free to ask me questions if you think something is missing that you would have kept or you wonder why it is here.

I guess I am going to have to do a part III in order to get all my favorites in.  This is getting too long!

Favorite Children's Books...

When we moved, we seriously down-sized our library bookshelf space.  This meant that I had to decrease my children's fiction collection by about 1/3.  Now don't worry, I didn't get rid of them.  They are carefully boxed up in the attic.  But how do you decide which ones were to get boxed and which ones earned shelf space.  That was the dilemma I faced.  What choices would you make?  What did I leave out that you would have kept?  What did I keep that you would have boxed?  It was not an easy process.  Some were no-brainers and others caused me to really struggle.

Here is some of what made my cut...

I am not big on contemporary authors, but Douglas Bond made our cut.  He writes Christian historical fiction.  We read his books together as a family.  Mike Bowman has written excellent versions of American Tall Tales.  'Madeline Takes Command' is a classic american historical fiction by Brill.  Carol Ryrie Brink wrote her award winning 'Caddie Woodlawn' but she also wrote a sequel to that as well as a number of other books.  They have all earned shelf space.  For the younger set (age 4-8), you have to read 'Milly Molly Mandy' and 'More Milly Molly Mandy' by Brisley.  They are very sweet
Marguerite DeAngeli is best known for her book 'The Door in the Wall' but she also wrote a number of other stories and they are all excellent and very collectible.  DeJong is best known for 'The Wheel over the Bridge' but my favorite of his is 'The House of Sixty Fathers' a story about WW II and a local boy who gets taken in by a bunch of g.i.'s in China.

We love Freddy the Pig books at this house.  They are written by Walter Brooks and are extremely funny.  This has been a family favorite read aloud.  We have a lot more of them than the trilogy on the shelf.  They are also available as books on tape.  Francis Hodges Burnett wrote a number of childhood classics, ' A Little Princess' was one of my favorites.  Also, 'A Secret Garden' is one of hers.  'Light a Single Candle' is a book for an older (Jr. High+) reader.  It is a story about a girl who is blind who gets a guide dog.  Butler has also written a book for young children with pictures about guide dogs. You can't miss 'Understood Betsy' by Dorothy Canfield.  Even though it has a girl as the main character, all the kids enjoyed it.  'Covered Wagon' by Carr, is a classic story about a family of just children who have to take their wagon over the mountains out west.

We like to read about families with more than two children, as it more closely reflects our life.  'The Family From One End Street' is one of those.  It is not deep but it reflects a simpler time and old fashioned values.  The others on this shelf are Eleanor Gates 'Poor Little Girl' and 'My Side of the Mountain' by Jean George.  This was a favorite with the kids an was one of our earliest read alouds.  The children played out this book together for a long time.  There are two sequels which are OK and the author wrote a number of other books.  You would want to pre-read some of them as I found that her values didn't match our families and she also takes a pretty radical environmental stand in some that I have read, although most are fine. Fred Gipson's 'Old Yeller' is a classic.  I have also really enjoyed Elizabeth Jane Grey's books.  'Adam of the Road' is another of her classics.  My husband's family is Norwegian.  I have looked for books that take place in Norway so that the children learn about their heritage.  'A Norwegian Farm' is one we enjoyed.  It is kind of a 'Little House in the Prairie' story that takes place in Norway. I was pleased to find it at a library sale for 50 cents.

Marguerite Henry is one of our favorite authors.  We have read many of them aloud together as well as the children reading them on their own.  I think I own all of them and they all earned their shelf space.  I have two of them in my 'special collection' as they are autographed.  Wesley Dennis illustrated most of them.  Most of the books center around horses. But they are well written enough that everybody loves them.  She also wrote and illustrated a book on birds. 

James Kjelgaard is a prolific author who wrote a lot of historical fiction that takes place in America as well as a lot of animal stories, mostly about dogs.  They are well done.  I used to find them at all the library sales, but they are gone and I haven't seen one in about 5 years.  Some of them have been reprinted.  I gave all the ones I have shelf space.

Lois Lenski is a Newbery award winner.  Her best known book is 'Strawberry Girl'.  She writes about the everyday life of kids in all different parts of the United States.  My kids have loved her as an author and have read and reread every book I have of hers and have begged me to buy more of them.  They are very collectible and thus expensive, but I get them when I find them. She illustrates her own books.  She also illustrates the Betsy, Tacy and Tibbs books by Lovelace.  They are sweet books of long ago.

I will continue this post another day.

Essentially the books have to reflect our family values, be well written, and enjoyable. I have found these books to meet that criteria.

How do YOU handle moving?

Random thoughts on moving.....

How do you go about moving?  Where do you start?  We have lived in the same old white farm house for 18 years.  Three of our children were born in this house.  We have homeschooled here for 18 years.  We have collected LOTS and LOTS of books!  I believe we have about 10,000 books.  Many of them are not easily replaced as they are out of print.  They have been collected with love for myself, the children, their friends and future grandchildren to read.  I don't want to part with them.

But it looks like we will be moving.  The second old white farm house is actually on a farm and not stuck in the city.  We will have to down size about 1/3 of our belongings.  This is motivating us to clean things out and get rid of them.  This is a healthy process!  We needed to do that.  But it is hard.

How do you start homeschooling or do you wait for the move to take place?  At this point my children are getting a longer summer break.

But so many books to put into boxes.  So many boxes to store.  We are thinking of finding either a used classroom pod that a school doesn't want anymore or a trailer (either a house or worksite office) to install on the property as my library.  But that won't happen immediately.  How do you select the books you will want to access in the next year.  So many decisions, and I hate making arbitrary decisions.

 One doesn't have to pack up the memories, but it still is hard to leave so many behind.  Fortunately I have lots of pictures and at this time most of them are on the computer, so they are easy to move.  We have done so much work to the house.  It is almost fixed up to the point where we want it,  Except the kitchen.  It needed to be re-done when we bought it and after 18 years of hard use it REALLY needs remodeling  now.  It will be re-done, after we move out, but before we put it on the market.  I won't ever get use a nice kitchen in this house.  That makes me a little sad.  But we have turned out many excellent meals in our worn out kitchen.

This house was a blessing from God.  We have used it well, at least to the best of our abilities.  Many have eaten at our table and many have used our guest room.  The children have grown from babes to toddlers to school age and teenagers, and some have even become young adults in this house.  Life is short.  We are looking forward to how God will use us where He moves us.

If you think of it, pray for us.  The children can never remember moving before.  There is a certain level of stress.  If you live nearby, feel free to volunteer to pack boxes of books!!

Various Thoughts

This winter we had the most gorgeous ice storm. I took pictures of it and posted them in an earlier blog. Tonight I am posting what it looked like a couple days later when the sun came out. I really couldn't believe how long the ice stayed on the trees. It was really beautiful. Our God is the most awesome Creator.

What have the Mangos been doing? Yes, we spend a lot of time working on speech and debate. I end up assisting and critiquing the children as they prepare. Our next tournament is April 7-8th. We are looking forward to it. Monday nights, Roger usually takes the three almost oldest children to the club meeting. The rest of us stay home and have some quiet together. What did we do tonight? Joan studied her macroeconomics as she has a CLEP test on Wednesday. T-Bob worked on dishes while he listened to 'With Wolf in Canada', a G.A Henty book that we have on CD. He loves the Henty books and is always reading or listening to them on CD. It is amazing how much history he learns this way. Elizabeth and I played games on the computer and read some books. We played Poppit and Sara's Cooking Class. We 'baked' a Chicken Pot pie and a carrot cake. She is much better and faster at working the mouse for these games than I am.

We are now into our third and final semester of school. We hope to be done before the end of May. I will write up our study plans for this semester as a separate blog post. Everybody seems to be coming along well. T-Bob is especially enjoying his reading books this semester. He enjoyed 'Little Women' so much that we have moved on to 'Little Men'. I find it harder to build up their love of reading with all the technology around. It was so much easier when the other children were young. I do sit and read with Elizabeth quite a bit which we both enjoy. She has finished 'Farmer Boy' and now we are working on "On the Banks of Plum Creek'. She also really likes 'Paddle to the Sea' by Hollings Clancy Hollings (What parent would ever name their child that, REALLY?!!). She is a big poetry fan. Her current favorite is A.A. Milne. (Of Christopher Robin and Pooh fame).

If I want them to read, I have to set them a good example. I have been reading more lately. Some just for pleasure, light stuff and some more profitable. A book I got for Christmas was 'Love and Respect' by Dr. Eggerich. It is a book that I wish I would have read 24 years ago. I am planning to give it it's own blog post. I also am reading 'Large Family Logistics'. I am almost finished with it. I will probably blog about that also. (Can you blog about a book that was really written as a series of blog posts originally?) My reading tastes are varied. I enjoyed a book called 'Dead Men Do Tell Tales'. It is a book by a forensic anthropologist. He tells about a number of different crime skeletons that he was involved in solving the cases for, Even when they attempted to destroy the body. If you are a CSI fan, you would really enjoy this book. Crime is not always pleasant, but it isn't too graphic and there are no language issues. I am currently reading a missionary biography about the Logan family in Africa. As my DH says, "This was when men were men, nothing wimpy about those missionary guys!" This is one I will probably read to the children. I have been rereading for the umpteenth time my Stephen W. Meader books. They are such great stories. Very collectible because they were the favorite books of so many of us in our youth. I especially love his historical fiction. I have read (or reread) a couple G.A Henty lately. A well written children's book is a great way to spend an evening.

I am excited because I recently bought a new memory card for my camera. I am hoping to be able to do a bit more videotaping of the children's speeches as well as taking more photos without having to stop and download them to my computer.

My parents are in the Philippines and my Dad promptly got bronchitis which turned into pneumonia after he arrived. He also had a bad fall in the San Francisco airport. A little old Asian lady was dragging her suitcase behind her and then quickly cut across right in front of him. He took a tumble and ended up with bruised wrists, hip and very sore ribs. Nothing broken, but when you have very sore ribs, pneumonia and coughing is just that much worse. He went and had blood work and chest x-rays in Manila. The total bill was under $20. Of course you had to pay at the time of service. Please pray for my parents, that they would recover and be able to enjoy their remaining four weeks there.

~Mom

Can you Judge a Book by it's Cover?

How do you tell if an old book is a good book? That is a great question. Some are and some are not. How do you know? My dad gave me a hint that I have found to be reliable. His advice? "Look for the spider web inside the covers."

If I am at a book sale and think that a book is potentially one I want on my shelf, I open it up and if there is the spider web design there I buy it, Even if I don't know the author. I have found a lot of treasures that way. I have met some new book friends and authors this way.

I am not sure of the history of the spider web design. I know it was done by a specific binder and was used through the 1960's. It was around as early as the 1940's. Whoever selected books for this company did well.

Does anybody else know the history of the spider web design inside the cover?

~Mom

Story Telling

Recently, I found the book, 'Tell Me a Story, an Anthology' by Charles Laughton, at a library sale. It was copyrighted in 1957.
Charles Laughton, a Brit, started off as an actor in Los Angeles. During the WWII years he felt guilty because he wasn't doing anything in the war effort. He was driving his wife crazy with his bad attitude.
One day he met some wounded soldiers who were taking a tour of M-G-M and asked them what they did in the evenings for entertainment. They answered, "Nothing." He started going over to the hospital a couple of evenings a week to read to the men. He would read Dickens, Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Andersen's Fairy Tales and the Bible to them. He found that 'reading aloud to a group of people, however scarred, turns them into children. The men would sit and listen to fairy stories. They found a reflection of their sufferings, which they had thought to be unique, in the tragedies of Shakespeare, and felt better.' His readings required a larger and larger room at the hospital. He decided that people wanted to be read to. He made that his profession and ended up touring all over the world reading great stories.
His secret for learning to read aloud is, 'to read something you love, to someone you love and practice and practice and practice till you don't have to pin them down anymore to listen.'
I liked his closing goal. He wanted to be the man who knew all the stories, who had a bottomless bag of stories on his back. He said that when he walked into a bookstore or library he would feel sad to see all the stories he would never be able to enjoy. He said, "I think of all the wonderful tales that I will never know and I wish I could live to be a thousand years old."
As parents, we have the greatest opportunity to practice being a story teller, to the most receptive audience in the world, our children. It is something we should do regularly, as long as they live in our house. Even when they are teenagers and young adults, keep reading to them. Having a common body of stories is a great way to bond your children and yourselves together. Yes, they can read to themselves, but nobody is ever to old to be read to. Think of it like giving them an oral hug. It takes time, and it shows you care. On the other hand, your children are never to young to be read to. It helps build their vocabulary and lets them know you care, even if they don't understand every word! It will help you build your common family culture. Turn off the TV or DVD player and spend time together today!
~Mom
Tell me what the last book you read to your children was. I read 'Lazy Tinka' by Kate Seredy to the children yesterday.

The Future of Good Children's Literature

Recently, someone asked me to talk about how I determine which books to save, and which to give or throw away.
The best way to tell if a book is worth keeping is to read it! If I want to keep it around, because I think I might like to read it again, that's a keeper! Yes, I still enjoy reading good children's literature. Most of what is out there today, is not good or literature. I have read some books more than ten times, because I enjoy them and it is like visiting an old friend. These books I want to introduce to my children and grandchildren some day, as they are my childhood friends that never grew up. Good books demonstrate good character and encourage us to persevere through challenging times. We want to become like our storybook heroes. If a book is well written it also teaches us, painlessly, what good writing is like. Other old books teach us history before it became politically correct, when it was still OK to be 'proud to be an American'. A good author is knowledgeable about his subject and passionate. When you read a 'twaddle-free' book you learn easily and remember what you read. The author whets your appetite to learn more about the subject. If you come across books like that, keep them and note the authors. Find other things they have written.
I do throw books away regularly if they are not up to our family's standards either in moral tone or writing quality. They are just cotton candy for the mind and can rot our mental teeth just like candy does our physical ones.

Another BIG factor in buying older books is that their availability is quickly decreasing. One reason is that in 2008 the US congress passed a law that ordered the CPSIA to make it illegal to sell anything for children 12 and under that hasn't been tested for lead. The law is over broad. It says EVERYTHING must be tested! It went into effect on Feb.10, 2009 and put the lead limit at 600 ppm, and on August 14, 2009 it reduced it to 300 ppm. Libraries and other businesses let out a yell. A compromise was reached on books - Only books printed before 1984 (ironic date) would have to be tested. Alas, those are the good ones. Many used bookstores dumped all their books in that category unless they were 'collectible'. So far the law has only been selectively enforced. A couple christian and used bookstores were raided. The penalties for breaking the law are BIG. The law is so broad as to say you can't even give away these 'dangerous' items. Testing is terribly expensive, and in the case of books, you have to destroy them in the testing. I am therefore buying doubles/triples/more of the books I want my children to have available for our grandchildren.
If you want to read more about the CPSIA and the lead laws go to www.heartkeepercommonroom and type in 'CPSIA' or 'lead' in the search engine on the left hand sidebar.

As the collection of good books available is diminishing, so is the number of collectors increasing. More and more homeschoolers are putting together 'heritage libraries' for their families. Books that were easily found five years ago, are now nowhere to be found unless someone donates a private collection. If you find them you need to grab them, because they probably won't be there tomorrow.

In another post I will write about some of our favorite authors that we are always looking for.

Who's your favorite children's author? I love Stephen W. Meader and Lois Lenski.

~Mom