Our homeschool days are filled with Math, English, Science, History and Read Alouds. I am going to be reviewing all the books we read this year. I am linking the books to Amazon in case you decide to purchase them but we have bought the majority of our books from Abebooks.com. If you aren’t familiar with this website it is like an Amazon for used books. It can take a little bit of time to get your books in the mail depending on what shop you purchase from but it is the first place I check, especially if the book is older and not recently published.
For reference I am reading these books to my eight and six year old. It has become one of the highlights of my day. Also please forgive me if there are typos. I am watching musicals on BroadwayHD.com as I type this post up ;).
Let’s get into the reviews…
In Grandma’s Attic by Arleta Richardson
I remember reading this book when I was little and loved it. My kids equally enjoyed it and In Grandma’s Attic was a great book to kick off our school year. There are great lessons in each story as you listen to Grandma share her youthful adventures. This book is filled with fun and laughter as Grandma explains how she tried to be good as a little girl but often ended up getting into trouble. Each chapter is a different story from Grandma’s childhood.
This is a wholesome read that points back to God’s providence. There are more books in this series that I am interested in reading with the kids later. I like that these books are stand alone and don’t necessarily have to go in order because they aren’t a continuous story but many individual stories that make up each book.
Homer Price by Robert McCloskey
Homer Price was written in 1943 and because of this the kids had many questions. What’s a filling station? What’s a slogan? What’s shaving lotion? What’s Women’s Suffrage? What’s a Homestead? The last chapter went completely over their head but overall all it was an enjoyable read and we loved reading about Homer’s adventures and his skunk Aroma. Plus the illustrations are adorable.
There are six chapters and each chapter is a different story about Homer. The chapters are long so be prepared if you select this book to read. My kids favorites were Chapter 1: The Case of the Scentsational Scent and Chapter 3: The Doughnuts. We ate donuts the following morning after reading Chapter 3 to celebrate reading this book.
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane was recommended to me by Kindle for years. But I was not interested in reading about a toy rabbit made of porcelain. I was so wrong. It is one of my all time favorite books now. So good. I laughed. I cried. And just had so many emotions. I was cheering for this rabbit and all the characters who were part of his journey by the middle of the book. Ugh. It was just so good.
It had me from the first quote at the start of the book from The Testing-Tree by Stanley Kunitz. “The heart breaks and breaks and lives by breaking. It is necessary to go through dark and deeper dark and not to turn.” I don’t want to give anything away but just know this book has some dark moments. My kids and I had great conversations because of this book. If you have a younger child it might be best to read this ahead of time make sure it will be appropriate for them.
My son kept saying this is just like The Velveteen Rabbit and he was right. It was very similar for a good portion of the beginning. But stick with it if you are having those same thoughts. I promise it is worth the read. We all loved it! I probably loved it the most and I am so glad we read this treasure of a book.
And those are our first three read aloud reviews! My son also finished The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe last week with Grandma via FaceTime and we watched the movie this weekend. They are reading Prince Caspian next.
Do you have a favorite book you have read to your elementary school aged kiddo or a book from your childhood that you love?
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