grace and books

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Shanda

A daughter may outgrow your lap, but she will never outgrow your heart. ~Author Unknown

*****

She is in 10th grade and cheerfully talks about leaving right after High School.

She wants to be in the military or go to Colorado for college.

Inside, my heart aches but I believe in letting the children go their own way, giving them freedom to make life plans.

In the meantime, my heart cherishes every moment with her.

On Saturday night, just the two of us went to Barnes and Noble to sit and read, sip chai tea, and journal.

After wandering the bookshelves, I joined her at a little round table to look through the stack of books I picked out.

1) By the Book was interesting because in each chapter, a different literary person is asked several questions about books– their favorite book, what they are currently reading, what book they couldn’t finish, and so on. I wrote down a few books that looked interesting. 2) I find the story of Chris McCandless fascinating, so I thought I would browse his sister’s new book, The Wild Truth, which gave her own perspective of the tragic events. All in all, I wasn’t interested in reading it in depth because it was more about her own life, rather than her brother’s. 3) Delicious Probiotic Drinks was great, and a book I will purchase through amazon. 4) A Room of One’s Own will be a book I borrow from the library. 5) Portraits and Profiles was a photography book with essays, well written and interesting.

“Whenever I read a passage that moves me, I transcribe it in my diary, hoping my fingers might learn what excellence feels like.” David Sedaris, in By the Book.

“I like nonfiction books about people with wretched lives.” David Sedaris

“…she is joyously healthy and undoubtedly eats an apple a day….” Cecil Beaton, in Portraits and Profiles, writing of Katherine Hepburn

Eventually, we left our little table and went over to the children’s section to sit on the floor. We sat for quite a while, enjoying each other’s company and the wonderful new books we discovered. Grace especially enjoyed Nuts to You, and kept reading me parts from it while laughing. The Dark, by Lemony Snicket, was adorable. The Squirrel’s Birthday and other Parties by Toon Tellegen, was a darling new discovery for me, a book that was written over 25 years ago by a Dutch father who told the stories to his daughter as she was growing up. He eventually wrote them all down and it has become a beloved book comparable to Winnie the Pooh. Wainscott Weasel was about a weasel in love with a fish. Can you even imagine? Mean Margaret contains a story with animals that talk, and a terrible toddler from a family with nine children. It made me chuckle. Mister Max was written by a favorite author of mine, Cynthia Voigt. Roland Smith is a favorite author of Jacob, Ethan, and Grace. He has written a couple of series of books that they liked very much. It is sad that the boys have grown up in the midst of the series and have lost interest in how things are going for the characters in the books. Mutation and Alcatraz are two latest books in those series. Grace and I had a discussion about how “you are never too old to read a children’s book.” And I thought of C.S. Lewis, who explained it so much better:

“Critics who treat ‘adult’ as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” CS Lewis

One of the wonderful blessings of having children of all ages is that you are compelled to keep reading books for all ages.

After filling up our minds with books, we meandered over to Moes and filled up our tummies with nachos.

Talking all the way, my Gracie-girl and me.

villainous

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Shanda

(David, photo by Joanna)

About a year ago Caleb, who loves to read, was reading the book Super over and over. He even took it upon himself to read the first chapter out loud to me, firmly believing his mom would like it as much as he did. He was so cute with his book that I took his picture with it.

Last week I came across that old picture and I thought, “Hmmmm, I wonder if the author has come out with a new book in this series?” I went on amazon and sure enough, there was a new book. Imagining Caleb’s delight, I promptly ordered it and waited to surprise him.

It arrived a few days later, and because we got the mail late in the evening, everyone was home and in the room watching as I asked Caleb to open the cardboard shipping box containing the new book. He was absolutely thrilled when he realized what it was.

But, someone else in the room was squinting his eyes in irritation. “MOM! Why did you give it to HIM? I was the one who read those books FIRST! HE only read them because of MEEEEEEEE!” The irritated person was David.

I assured him that the book was for him, too, but that it just so happened that I gave it to Caleb to read first. He stomped around, totally unsatisfied with my answer and convinced that life was unfair. “No one liked him.”

That night we sent the children to bed at the typical time.

But the next morning David had to be awakened by his sister from a sound, snoring sleep, at 12:45pm.

He stumbled with swollen eyes into the living room where Caleb was curled up on the couch with the wonderful new book.

“DAVE! What happened to you?” I asked, “Why did you sleep so long this morning? Are you sick?”

“I stayed up reading Caleb’s book. He told me I could read the first chapter but I read the entire thing.”

Now it was Caleb’s turn to cry. His heart was broken because he had given permission to David to read ONE chapter and he “read the whole thing”(320 pages!)……and HE himself “wanted to read it FIRST!”

It was one of those moments when I wasn’t sure if I should have a heart to heart talk with David about respecting not only your brother’s personal possessions but also his *personal privileges*, OR laugh and tell Caleb to never mind, it was all his now.

The name of the book was Villainous.

{this moment}

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Shanda

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

“While I was still a baby, my father washed me and fed me and changed my diapers and did all the millions of other things a mother normally does for her child. That is not an easy task for a man, especially when he has to earn his living at the same time by repairing automobile engines and serving customers with gasoline.

My father, without the slightest doubt, was the most marvelous and exciting father any boy ever had.”

Danny the Champion of the World, by Roald Dahl

book recommendations from a sixteen year old boy

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Shanda

David, age 11 and Ethan, age 16

I would be most content if my children grew up
to be the kind of people who think decorating
consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~Anna Quindlen

My brother Dave sent David a book for his birthday. It was a copy of a book that he enjoyed when he was David’s age, Danny the Champion of the World, by Roald Dahl. David read the entire book over the weekend, finishing it in the car on the way home from church yesterday.

Watching David read his new book made Ethan think of all the books he has enjoyed over the years. The other night he went through all the bookshelves in the house and selected his all time favorite titles. As he went from room to room, his younger brother David was with him, too. He brought the stack to the living room to show me and I laughed when he told me that David had already read quite a few of them because he “made him.”

Out of the all the books, David reminded him of the ones he had read, and Ethan gave him a few others that he still has to read (his brother will make him). A couple of them, we agreed, were probably not suitable for his age yet but will be in the “someday” pile.

Here is the entire stack:

Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer, series by John Grisham.

Tucket’s Travels, by Gary Paulsen

The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (for older readers)

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards

The Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan

Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card (for older readers)

The Lord of the Rings series, including The Hobbit, by J.R. Tolkien

Frightful’s Mountain by Jean Craighead George (and her other books, too)

Poppy’s Return by Avi

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl (Ethan preferred this one to Chocolate Factory)

Boy by Roald Dahl

Cryptid Hunters by Roland Smith

The Mad Scientists’ Club by Bertrand R. Brinley

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

The Black Pearl by Scott O’Dell

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimph by Robert C. O’Brian

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (Ethan said the movie was a big disappointment; the book is much better)

((Never judge a book by its movie. ~J.W. Eagan))

***

See also Ethan’s sister Grace’s list here. (some of the books are repeats!)

(I am still reading Les Mis)

book recommendations for kids, from a 14 year old avid reader

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Shanda

My daughter Grace has stacks of books in her room and I thought it would be fun to ask her to chose some of them as a recommendation to my blogging friends (and their children). She is a very experienced reader and is also a writer.

I took pictures of her copies of the books and then asked her to tell me about them. I typed down what she said. Enjoy!

GRACE’S BOOK PICKS (more posts like this to come, as she has more that she wants to share with you.)

By the way, she has read them all more than once.

The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt

It’s a story about a cat. The cat becomes friends with a dog and when the cat has kittens the dog and the cat raise the kittens together. The owner of the dog was abusive and when one of the kittens goes out from underneath the porch he tried to drown it. The mother cat saves it’s life, but in doing so she drowns, poor thing. The book also includes many other animals, and told from the perspective of many different characters in the book. The book is very well written and it’s a story about love and sacrifice. If you are kind hearted will love this book. I don’t think anyone who isn’t kind hearted would read books, but that’s just my opinion. If you like animals you will like this book. I did my first book report ever on this book, the summer I was about to go to public school for the first time.

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, by Julia Andrews Edwards

This book reminds me of the Narnia books. There are three children and they go to visit the zoo. When they are at the zoo they meet a strange old man. This man introduces them to the land of the Whangdoodle, which probably has a different name but I don’t remember it. He tells the children about this place because children have very good imaginations and they will believe almost anything. To visit this land you need to use your imagination. I got this book from Ethan and it was given to him by Mom and Dad, Jacob also read it. I liked this book. (laughs) The younger girl, Lindy, reminds me of Lucy (from Narnia) who reminded me of myself. And the two other boys, Ben and Tom, reminded me of Jacob and Ethan. Our mother told us that she got this book for us because she said that we all had great imaginations and we would all be able to picture the great Whangdoodle in our minds. (“did I really say this?” “yes, you did”) And because of this, we all attempted to draw it.

The Fledgling, by Jane Langton

This story is about a girl named Georgie who claims she can remember being able to fly. She tries to fly again but this doesn’t work very well, (laughs), poor Georgie. No one in her family will believe her, and she meets a goose. This goose is a goose prince, he teaches her how to fly. I liked this book, I remember liking it but I don’t quite remember why.

“And whenever his customers brought their children into his bank, he would open the gate that separated his desk from the windows of the tellers and stroll up to the children, beaming, and pat their heads and hand them lollipops. Some of the children would say thank you. They were the good children. Others would stop up their mouths with the lollipops and stare back at him sullenly. They were the bad ones. And then Mr Preek’s generosity would turn sour, and he would go back to his desk in solemn scorn.” page 42

Young Fredle, by Cynthia Voigt

This book is about mice who live in a house and then one mouse gets out of the house quite by accident and finds himself in the world. He ends up trying to survive chickens and raccoons and countless other things, while trying to get back into the house. When he finally does get back, he tells all of the other mice stories about what he saw outside and because of this all the mice go to live outside. I wanted to read this to David but that didn’t happen because he got bored. There was a cat named Patches (we had a cat with that name once). I liked it because it was about a mouse and I never read a book about a mouse before and he had to survive many animals that we wouldn’t think were dangerous.

Cryptid Hunters, by Roland Smith

The Cryptid Hunters is about twins named Grace and Marty who are both very smart. Even though they are both smart, Grace is obviously smarter. These two children are at a boarding school because their father is an explorer (I think). Their mother was a photographer. One day in school the twins are called down to the principal’s office and told that their parents were in a car crash and didn’t survive. They go to live with their Uncle Wolfe (whom they didn’t know exsisted), who lives on an island. He is an veterinarian and is trying to find cryptids. Cryptids are creatures whose existence haven’t been proven, like Sasquatch. The twins end up getting stranded in the Congo. The main part of the story is about their adventures in the Congo. I’ve read this book a lot.

“The turning point for the O’Hara family came when the twins were six years old. Marty decided he wanted to catch a bear. He and Grace dug a five foot deep pit in the back yard, covered the opening with brush, and caught their mother, who became as angry as a bear. The twins didn’t understand why she was upset. They had not used the sharpened stakes in bottom of the pit which the instructions had called for. (Marty wanted the bear alive for show and tell at school.) While Mrs. O’Hara was in the hospital recovering from her injuries, she got to thinking about the direction her life had taken. She missed her husband. She missed her former independence. But most of all, she missed the wild places her cameras had taken her to. ‘If I’m going to fall in pits I might as well get paid for it’, she decided. And soon after her release she took the twins and joined Mr. O’Hara in the field. This did not work for very long. Grace was afraid of everything that moved (and many things that didn’t). Marty was afraid of nothing but ghosts, which he had only read about. For the twins own safety the O’Haras decided that Marty and Grace should stay at home. They hired a succession of live-in nannies to care for the children, but none of them lasted long. One by one, these disgruntled women fled the house with hastily packed bags, shouting back at the twins’ panicky parents, ‘Your son is as wild as a hurricane, and that daughter of yours is just plain weird.'”

(I beg Grace to stop reading)

(she continues, but I stop typing)

The Fisherman, by Larry Huntsman

Dad recommended this book for me. He told me that when he was reading it he kept thinking of me and how much I would like it. So of course I read it. It’s a Biblical retelling of the gospels, written in Simon Peter’s perspective about Jesus’ ministry. I thought it was very interesting. I’ve read it three times.

I liked it’s cover, it had a horse on it which is probably why I read it.

Tucket’s Travels, by Gary Paulsen

Francis and his family are on a wagon train when Francis gets kidnapped by Indians. He escapes with the help of a one-armed mountain man whom he becomes good friends with. He spends the rest of the book trying to get back to his family. On the way he finds two children, Lottie and Billy, who’s parents had died, so he takes them with him. I’ve read this book a lot. My favorite character is Lottie, because she talks a lot and never shuts up. She talks about the most random things that pop into her head. (mom will tell you that I am like that with her, although I don’t talk like that to anyone else. She has to listen to me and love me regardless.) The book made me cry, it was very touching.

***********

this and that

Posted on April 7, 2010 by Shanda

“Did you ever try to calculate in dollars the pleasure that you receive from seeing or hearing the first spring migrants? Birds are interesting to most people because of their mere presence, their songs, their colors, or their habits. Persons engaged in nature-study are led outdoors and thus have opened to them many other nature fields.”

~Handbook of Nature Study, Anna Botsford Comstock (a wonderful book)

When Rich came home last night, he found Jacob watching Seth at the swingset and Seth’s mother wandering around down by the stream, camera in hand. I was outside during the last of the evening hours and discovered a pair of ducks. Aren’t they pretty? Do you see the female duck in that picture above? If it wasn’t for that spot of blue on her wing she would be almost invisible. We wonder if they will live by the stream this spring, to hatch out babies.

The weather has been so beautiful and it is supposed to be near 80 degrees today. I want to be outside, but it has proved to be rather difficult with little Seth…..who is very busy, fast, daring, and curious about everything.

His new thing is climbing the ladder of the playset all the way to the top, which really stresses me out. I don’t want him to fall.

Look at his bright face. He’s just so happy to be growing and doing big boy things, like Caleb. And anyway, we are both sleeping like logs at night from all the adventures.

These are the books I picked out for the little boys when we were at the library yesterday. Spot is always a favorite character, along with the Beatrix Potter books. Sausages is a book we have borrowed and read before, and David was so pleased to see it when he came home from school.

Jacob’s read: The Return of the Shadow. He has read all of The Lord of the Rings, and this book is great for him because it shows the different text revisions that Tolkien went through, before the final book was completed. He keeps reading parts of it out loud to me because he finds it so interesting. I think it is good for him because he is learning about the process that authors go through as they write literature.

Ethan is reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond. It is a book I chose for him and told him he had to read. I have seen it on several book lists for his reading level, and it is one that I read as a teenager. He also picked out a book about trapping and a book about falcons (inspired by his last read, My Side of the Mountain).

Grace picked out a book about identifying animal tracks, and an animal story. My pick for her was The Red Fairy Book, and she is devoring it. She reads so fast I wonder if any of it is staying in her mind!

It makes me happy when they enjoy the books I pick out for them. By the time I am done raising children I am sure I might enjoy being a librarian! In a way, I’m already one. Isn’t motherhood grand? You get to try all sorts of jobs.

Next is a photo of the kitchen table, for the lovely lady who said she likes seeing pictures of it. I remembered her note this morning as I cleared the breakfast things away, and I was inspired enough to wash it off good, and lay down a small square tablecloth from my friend Bridgette, a crocheted doily that I bought at a tag sale, a circle doily from Ireland (a gift from Joanna), a rose scented candle that I lit only for the picture (Seth climbs on the table at every opportunity), and paper butterflies that Grace and I folded (I got the idea from another blog).

This is David’s special drawing lately. I have seen many many versions of this brick house. This one is extra nice because of the bird feeding station. And I love the blue bird that’s flying stiffly up by the roof. David is a real artist, you know. (He told me.)

Something funny: Yesterday I was making chicken divan for dinner, and I was pulling meat off a rotisserie chicken to use in the casserole. Seth was hanging off my legs, fussing at me, so I put a piece of meat in his mouth and said, “It’s CHICKEN!” Off he went, running to the window in the livingroom, to look for our chickens! He was saying, “chicken! chicken!” in his baby talk voice. I had to laugh and feel sort of bad, I wonder if he’s going to be confused for a little while, seeing chickens outside and eating chicken at the table?

An example of why my brain becomes overloaded: Yesterday, I was making dinner in the kitchen, while talking on the phone with my sister. Seth was with me and kept grabbing my skirt and fussing. Caleb was also by me, saying “Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Can I have a jellybean?” The next thing I know……in came Ethan and Grace with a wriggling SNAKE, so I could admire it. Now that I think back on it, I kinda wish there was a hidden camera in the kitchen, video taping it all. I’m sure it would be really funny to watch.

Have a great day!