What We Are Reading

We have spent a lot of time reading lately - especially since we are home so much. Our governor has issued a 'Stay at Home' order until June 10th. That sounds so long and so far away right now. But, we are reading and baking, making art, and going through our seeds we ordered online since we couldn't go to the store to buy them. We are planning our garden and dreaming of all our flowers and vegetables we will have this summer. We have found a new bird feeder online to order and will also order seeds for it. It's pretty amazing how much you can do online and never leave your house. 

We have had a good time reading lately and have read a lot of really good books. We finished the book Pie by Sarah Weeks. We really liked it a lot. In this book Aunt Polly, the Pie Queen of Ipswitch, dies and leaves the recipe for her famous pie crust to her cat, Lardo. When we first started the book I wasn't sure it was something I would enjoy, but we all really liked it a lot. More than just discovering the secret recipe took place in this book -  like learning the importance of friendship, family and just doing the right thing and caring about others. We also made a lot of pies while we read this book as every chapter has a different recipe. The kids really loved that. 

We also read Peachblossom by Eleanor Frances Lattimore, and Happy Little Family by Rebecca Caudill. They were quick reads and the kids said they liked both of these. 

We also read James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl and the kids laughed their way through this book. I am sure most people have read this and know the story. 

We read Mandy by Julie Edwards again as it is something we read every spring and the kids love it every single time we read it. I'm pretty sure I have written about this book and the story so many times. So, I won't say anything except it is a lovely story of a little girl that lives in an orphanage and she dreams of a place to call her own. One day she climbs over the orphanage wall and discovers a deserted cottage in the woods and she falls in love with it, and is determined to make it her own place. It is a sweet story and we love it every single time we read it. 

We read Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski and we also really liked this book. I read it as a child and had pretty much forgotten most of the book so it was nice to read it again. 

We just finished the book Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright and this is a book we absolutely love. It is wonderful. The kids begged me to read it constantly. In this book Portia and her brother visit their cousin, Julian, for the summer. They spend time exploring the woods looking for bugs and butterflies and just relaxing and playing. One day they discover a deserted old resort community with big old houses left as they were over half a century before. The homes used to be on a lake, but the lake has turned into a swamp. Everyone has left and the place is forgotten. It is like stepping back in time and seemed even more-so when they met an old brother and sister that still lived there - each one in a different old house. This is the start to a wonderful summer. This book is magical to us and we have spent our past few days in a magical filled summer. The story also led us to look up butterflies and turtles and the kids have drawn and studied a lot of nature. This is a great book. 

Several of the kids drew pictures of Gone-Away. Our next book will definitely be Return to Gone-Away.

We also had Popsicles and grilled out several times and enjoyed the week of really nice weather - it turned into not so nice weather today.