READ ALOUD LENTEN LITERATURE

A good book my husband and I would have had trouble doing without in our years of raising a family was, Making God Real In the Orthodox Christian Home by Fr. Anthony Coniaris.  I love this quote about Lent:

"It is significant that Lent happens to coincide with spring.  I think there is a wonderful lesson for us in this happy coincidence.  Lent should be for all of us a period of placing ourselves in the position where the best things can happen to us...in the presence of Christ, where the Sun of His love and power can shine into our arid souls to bring about a real awakening..."

For many of us, that awakening comes by slowing down, turning off the television, and making more time for daily prayer, spiritual reading, fasting, and participation in the special church services of Lent.  


In our family, we also tried to carefully choose good books to read aloud with our kids during Lent, that would help underscore what we were doing.  


There are the obvious choices of Bible and Saints stories, but today I thought I'd highlight some good literature for kids, that you may not have considered...please let me know if you have any to add!


SIR GIBBIE by George MacDonald, Kathryn Lindskoog. (ages 8-12) From Publisher's Weekly: George MacDonald's 1870s' Sir Gibbie, about a destitute Scottish orphan, was reportedly a favorite of C.S. Lewis's. An edition of the novel, prepared by Kathryn Lindskoog, inaugurates a Classics for Young Readers series, while a companion, Sir Gibbie: A Guide for Teachers and Students by Ranelda Mack Hunsicker, is available for teachers, students and home-schoolers. In the Guide, Hunsicker contends that Sir Gibbie served as a source for Huckleberry Finn, although Mark Twain (a friend of MacDonald's) upended MacDonald's religious message. Noting that previous editions of Gibbie "cut out much of MacDonald's Christian teaching," Hunsicker adds that Lindskoog's goal was "to restore [the book] to its original Christ-centered plot."  (218 pages)


HEIDI by Johanna Spyri, illustrated by Ruth Sanderson. (ages 7-12)  I hope you can find this adaptation with Ruth Sanderson's gorgeous illustrations. In any case, try to get a good unabridged version. Spyri's descriptive telling of Heidi's struggle to learn to read, as well as her relationships with her grandfather, the Alps, the goats, Klara, and Peter and his blind grandmother are not to be missed. What touched me most was the underlying story of the stern grandfather ("Alm Uncle") as a prodigal son figure who has his heart softened by his tender granddaughter. (285 pages)



THE BRONZE BOW by Elizabeth George Speare. (6th grade and up) Newbury Medal Winner. Daniel bar Jamin is driven by only one passion: to avenge his father's death, by driving the Roman legions from his land of Israel. He joins an outlaw band and leads a dangerous life of spying, plotting, and impatiently waiting to seek revenge. Headstrong Daniel is devoid of tenderness and forgiveness, heading down a destructive path toward disaster until he hears the lessons taught by Jesus of Nazareth.  Elizabeth Speare said she wanted to make young adults feel what it would be like to live during the time of Christ. I think she succeeded!

THE LADY WHO SAVED GEORGE WASHINGTON - WELL, SORT OF.

George Washington portrait by Gilbert Stuart

In honor of George Washington's birthday, I thought you and your child might like to spend a few minutes taking this challenging quiz .  If you happened to read either of the biographical picture books about our first President that I mentioned in my past post, you will have a better chance of getting the answers right!


But you won't learn anything from those books about the brave lady who saved George Washington, because she saved him during the War of 1812, many years after his death.  Well, she didn't save him, but she did save a very famous portrait of him that hung in the White House when her husband, James Madison was President.  Her name was Dolley and here is a picture book about how she saved the painting, for ages K-4th grade...

DOLLEY MADISON SAVES GEORGE WASHINGTON by Don Brown.

FEBRUARY: A PRESIDENTIAL MONTH

If you're looking for some captivating children's picture books about our two U.S. presidents born in February - Abraham Lincoln on the 12th and George Washington on the 22nd - you won't be disappointed with the choices available from BEAUTIFUL FEET BOOKS!  These books and their authors (who also happen to be the illustrators) are exceptional! 

EDGAR AND INGRI D'AULAIRE BOOKS

George Washington

Abraham Lincoln

The D'Aulaires (husband and wife) began writing and illustrating picture book biographies that were first published for young children in the 1930's. The figures in their colorful folkart style drawings almost have a paper-doll look, which appeals greatly to kids. (In fact their illustrations of George Washington are intentionally supposed to help children conjure up images of rocking horses and toy soldiers!)  All their books are historically accurate and full of authentic detail, a result of the couple's countless hours of research at libraries and their travel to historic sites for each of their books.  And the results are breathtakingly beautiful books! (1st - 6th grade)


  
GENEVIEVE FOSTER BOOKS

George Washington's World

Abraham Lincoln's World

Genevieve Foster's books present a cross-section of history. Her historical figures are introduced and explored amidst the interconnecting events going on around the world at that time in the areas of politics, science, art, literature, and medicine. In the 1940's, her new approach to historical literature, versus just showing biographical subjects in isolation, really brought their stories to life for her young readers. She developed this style of writing from struggling herself, as a student, to better learn and understand history. Her own vivid line drawings, detailed maps, and timelines wonderfully complete these books. (4th grade and up)

BEAUTIFUL FEET BOOKS is a publisher and curriculum source especially loved by homeschooling families.  You can learn more about these titles, and order from their online catalog, here on their website. 

EDUCATION THROUGH ADVENTURE!

PADDLE-TO-THE-SEA is also a film.

Kids love books full of adventure. The genius of Holling C. Holling was that he knew how to teach through adventure, by filling his entertaining tales with well-researched historical, geographical, and scientific data that might otherwise be boring to children had it not been presented in an exciting work of fiction.

This author/artist/naturalist was born in Jackson County, Michigan, in 1900.   His father was superintendent of schools, so as a boy, Holling had access to all the books he could want at home (but his mother would also make trips to the library to find books that he especially liked about animals and Indians.)

He not only loved reading, he loved being in the outdoors - roaming the woods, camping and exploring. “At three, he was an avid artist, drawing very advanced pictures of horses, cows, and other animals. In his youth, his father once brought him a dead owl. The investigative boy became fascinated with it, making an Indian headdress from the feathers and a belt with the claws. His love of Indian customs and ways was a constant throughout his life.” (as noted in Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, 2nd ed., Gale Group, 2002)


Holling Clancy Holling graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1923. He then worked in a taxidermy department of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and spent time working in anthropology.  He married Lucille Webster and within a year of their marriage they had both accepted positions as art instructors for a year (1926-1927) on the first University World Cruise, sponsored by New York University.

For many years of his life, Holling C. Holling dedicated much of his time and interest to creating books for children.  I'd like to focus on a set of large format books he started in the 1940's.  Much of the material he wrote about was known to him firsthand through field and library research. His wife worked with him on many of the illustrations.  Each story is rooted in the natural world: set on the sea, rivers, the coast, and inland trails. Each story involves a journey.

"The story lines of these books are well-complemented by their art. Of special interest are the sidebars that make a reader linger. They may be a detailed, hand-lettered pen and ink of a ship’s rigging in Seabird or the Great Lakes displayed “like bowls on a hillside” in Paddle-to-the-Sea. Learning new information was never more inviting and entertaining. Holling was a writer/illustrator who tapped into children’s secret consciousness and curiosity.  Such richness in storytelling and illustration still makes for classical favorites, which says much about this master of children’s literature." -Walter Giersbach, (Grinnell College Book Review).

These stories are especially loved by homeschooling families.  Click here to see Beautiful Feet Books wonderful "Geography Through Literature Pack" that uses these books.

PADDLE-TO-THE-SEA the four year journey of a miniature wood carving of an Indian boy in a canoe from its starting point in Lake Nipigon, Canada, through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River to its final destination in the Atlantic Ocean.  Paddle receives help staying on course from people who read the message carved on his canoe: "Put me back in the water. I am Paddle-to-the-Sea".  Middle readers will learn about the history, industry, geography, seasons, tides, currents, locks, inhabitants, animals of the region.


TREE IN THE TRAIL the story of the passing of history as seen by a stationary cottonwood tree, located on what eventually becomes the Santa Fe Trail. (The wood from the tree is eventually made into an ox yoke and ultimately makes a journey to the end of the trail.)


SEABIRD - Through the travels of Seabird - an ivory gull carved by a cabin boy from a walrus tusk - the history of America at sea is traced. Your child will delight in this story of sailing, whaling, ships and ship building, while they learn world geography and much more!


MINN OF THE MISSISSIPPI Minn (a snapping turtle) travels over many seasons and years from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico.  Children will learn about the history of the Mississippi River Valley and its fascinating world of bayou's, steamboats, river pirates, flatboats and keelboats, French and Spanish explorers, plantations, floods, and even Mark Twain.


PAGOO studies life in a tidal pool through the story of a hermit crab named Pagoo.  Every detail of tide pool life is presented. Holling's wonderful illustrations bring to light the many microscopic forms of life found in the sea, and the habits and methods of survival are clearly explained.

QUILTING STORIES

(Remember to post comments by midnight on November 15 for my ADVENT GIVE-AWAY!)  
As we head toward the holiday season, I find myself thinking of family and the anticipation of our holiday gatherings...

I don't happen to have any quilters among my relatives, but I am always drawn to old quilts when I visit a flea market or antique store.  Like patches on an heirloom quilt, families have pieced-together memories of traditions, tears, laughter, struggles, celebrations, and faith.

And quilts are a great way to teach children about family, art, history, and even math!  I hope you'll enjoy sharing some of these books with your children - I've enjoyed discovering them!  Let me know if I've left out any of your favorites...


PICTURE BOOKS:

The Quilt Story by Tony Johnston, illustrations by Tomie dePaola (ages 4-8)


The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco (ages 4-8)



Eight Hands Round:  A Patchwork Alphabet by Ann Whitford Paul, illustrations by Jeanette Winter (ages 4-8)


The Log Cabin Quilt by Ellen Howard (ages 6 and up)


The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy, illustrations by Jerry Pinkney (ages 4-8)


HISTORICAL FICTION:
The Canada Geese Quilt by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, illustrations by Leslie W. Bowman (ages 9-12)


Martha Ann's Quilt for a Queen by Kyra E. Hicks, illustrations by Lee Edward Fodi (ages 9-12)


NON FICTION:
Quilting Now & Then by Julie B. Dock, Karen B. Willing; illustrations by Sarah Morse


Quilt-Block History of Pioneer Days(with Projects Kids Can Make), by Mary Cobb (grades 2 and up)


POETRY:
Baby Days:  A Quilt of Rhymes and Pictures, by Belina Downes (ages 4-8)


Pieces:  A Year in Poems and Quilts by Anna Grossnickle Hines (ages 4-8)



AND TWO MORE..
from my friend Jane Meyer's blog (fun post!)
The Quilt Maker's Journey and The Quilt Maker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau
   

If you want to delve deeper into quilting, I found a great website on quilting history and with patterns for children's quilts.  "Comment away for my Give-away!"  :)