Book Talk!

We have tons of books! Whew! Where to begin?

Beth, I would recommend Louisa May Alcott's "Old Fashioned Girl." This is a sweet book. I do not know whether you are thinking of books for boy or girls so I will just share some of the books we have enjoyed here at our home. We love the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. We also have these in Radio Drama form from Focus on the Family! They are so well done and we enjoy reading or listening to them. As always the books are much more detailed and richer but the radio dramas are great for listening to at bedtime or in the car! We wore out our first set and had to replace them this year!

Another series that has been beloved by one of my children is the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. This child of mine learns by delving deeply into what she is interested in. She read these and the appendices. She has learned some dwarvish and elvish.

We have read Little House of course, but we also have enjoyed the whole Anne of Green Gables set of 8 books.

My kids have enjoyed a variety of books, there are books by Ann Rinaldi dealing with Henry the VIII time period. "Red Headed Princess" about Princess Elizabeth (Henry's daughter by Anne Bolyn, and a book about Lady Jane Grey called "Nine Days A Queen." These were fascinating to my 9th grader last year and she even ended up doing a big report on what she learned. The are historical fiction and not written like a textbook or anything.

Of course I definitely recommend all of Jane Austen's books. Many of the sequels are excellent too although not all are. I do NOT recommend the books by Linda Berdoll. They are very inappropriate!

I also love the books by Grace Livingston Hill. They are old fashioned "romances" but in a sweet way. The characters always grow spiritually, and she has really neat domestic scenes in them. Great for encouraging homemaking!

I love Emilie Barnes books! I have the one you mentioned, it is my favorite! I learned so much about making a house a home - I definitely will have my girls read her books!

We read alot of historical fiction - Sonlight curriculum has great lists of books that are age appropriate. Although if you read aloud a child can enjoy a book at a much younger age.

Hope this is helpful to you!

Deanna