Stories from Around the World

This delightful story collection is part of our Core P with Sonlight.

Stories from Around the World is a collection of stories that are based in different countries, just as the name suggests. This is probably our third time reading through this book and we all have enjoyed it every time. These stories give you a peek into different cultures, what they believe and value or they have life lessons like Aesop's Fables. 

This time around my oldest noticed themes and said with one of the later stories, "I knew they were going to get married." He found a common element among many of the stories. This is good for finding connectivity but I think he was also a bit annoyed by it. 

That being said, most stories valued hard work, doing what is right and looking out for others. While many of these stories are not even close to Christian, they did provide opportunities to talk about what God's Word says about the idea of the story. 

I would give this story collection 4 stars.

Reading Challenges:

I'm counting this book as a Book that Looks Easy to Read Level 2 in the 2021 Intentional By Grace Reading Challenge

The Mission of Motherhood

I have been trying to read this book for several years. I'd started it a couple of times, but because of the reflection questions at the end of each chapter I kept getting bogged down and not completing it. After realizing I just needed to read it, I finally sat down and did just that! 

The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson is a book every mother needs to read. Nothing in this book was new to me, but her soothing tone along side her direct statements allowed me to receive these messages fresh and anew. Sally does a beautiful job of walking you through your roles as a woman, wife, mother and homemaker, grounded in Scripture. 

Sally lets you into her life. She talks about her struggles, her victories, her successes and her heartaches. She shares her work both at home and on the road and how she prays over what she does. Her children were still at home when this book was written, so it was definitely written from a more practical perspective.

One hard thing in this is some of her fun suggestions do feel a little overwhelming in my current child rearing stage of life. I love the ideas and I hope to work on incorporating them, but I also know that I can make these types of things work for our family that is twice the size of hers. 

On the whole I really enjoyed this book. I'm thankful for her candid view of motherhood and pointing to the eternal work that we are doing in raising our children. Since I read this over a few months I don't have excellent notes on everything but I do remember a couple of things bothering me from a Scriptural perspective, though I'm not sure what they are at this point. 

I do like that each chapter has Scripture and questions to think through as well as suggestions. This can be very helpful in any parenting season.

I would give this book a 4.5 star rating. I do think all mothers would benefit from it, but it wasn't quite five stars in my book.

Reading Challenges:

Tim Challies 2021 Reading Challenge I'm using this as a book on parenting in the Obsessed section of the challenge

Christian Reading Challenge 2021 with Jami Balmet I'm counting this as a book on Parenting/Family Life

James Herriot's Treasury for Children

This children's story collection is part of our Core A Curriculum with Sonlight.

This book was a delightful read for the entire family. We read the stories over lunch and had such fun thinking about what was going on with the people and animals in the stories. It is neat to see how different animals are and how they can help humans. As soon as we finished one story I was asked for another. 

This book is simple yet compelling in it's story telling and we were easily drawn in to what was happening. The pictures were lovely and picturesque taking you to the farm, city or countryside area that the story took place in. 

This was also fun as a couple of our boys have interest in having animals or small farms and they enjoyed hearing how to care for them. It definitely stirred curiosity and gave them desire to know more. 

It was humorous in one story that was told from the animals perspective, all of my children said, "how does he know what the lamb was thinking?" This allowed for a good dialogue about imagination and also the differences between animals and humans.

I'd give this story treasury 4 stars

This book does not fit into any reading challenge this year unless it is a book of my choice.

Johnny Appleseed The Story of a Legend by Will Moses

This book is part of our Core A curriculum through Sonlight.

I'm really not a huge fan of this book. I read it because the children like hearing about Johnny Appleseed, but personally it's not my favorite. In fact after reading this book, I'd wonder if Johnny Appleseed even existed!

Aside from the clear biographical information at the beginning and the end, the vast majority of the book is pure speculation. "Maybe he thought this." "Perhaps he wanted that." These kinds of statements flood this book with no real knowledge of what he did and why. It's also unnecessarily repetitive. 

It is a picture book and some of the pictures were nice and enjoyable to look at. But there were some that were just odd. There's no other word for it. 

I can't say it's a horrible book and it may be your style of book. As I said my children enjoyed it so I think it has some merit in that respect.

I'd give this book 3 stars.

This book does not fit into any of my reading challenges this year unless I were to use it as a book of my choice.

Dolphin Treasure

 This fun book is a read aloud in our Core A Curriculum through Sonlight.

This is our second or third time reading this little adventure, and it's as good this time as is was the last. In fact, I really enjoyed reading it with my crew this time as they're a bit older and were really able to talk about the lessons of the book. 

Dolphin Treasure is the follow up book to Dolphin Adventure and it is fun to see the continued relationship between Wayne and Baby. In this installment we join Grover and his buddies as they look for sunken treasure. The day of this story the weather was ominous, but they decided to dive anyway. During their dive they find a gold chain and, in spite of warning signs to go back, Wayne went back down to get what they found. He's separated from his boat and his friends and wonders how he's going to survive.

I highly recommend this adventure book. It's a very quick read and can easily be read in a day or spread the chapters out if you have shorter attention spans. My children loved this adventure and talking about the wisdom and folly in it. Dolphin Treasure is an excellent book for discussing Godly wisdom and listening to it.

4 stars for this children's book.

Reading Challenges:

I'm using this book for a book with 100 pages or less in the committed section of the 2021 Reading Challenge with Tim Challies

The Llama Who Had No Pajama

This book of poetry is part of our Core A Curriculum with Sonlight.

I'm not the person to really critique a book of poetry as the poetry world is not my jam, however I'm going to give it a go all the same. 

On the whole the book had good poetry that helped introduce concepts, solidify what they had learned in other places and stirred the imagination. This book has all types of poetry, most of which I don't know the classifications for. There were several haikus and a couple of shape poems. Most were nice and fairly easy to read, which is a bonus, but some, in true poetic fashion, were just annoying and challenging to read out loud. 

My children really enjoyed these and always enjoyed evaluating the poems for their style and content. They also enjoyed the illustrations that went with the poems and evaluating them. Even though I found them frustrating, they were an excellent learning tool. 

I'd give this book of poetry 4 stars.

Reading Challenges:

I'm counting this is my book of poetry in the committed section for the 2021 Reading Challenge with Tim Challies

I'm also counting this as my book of poetry in level 3 of the 2021 Intentional By Grace Reading Challenge

The Story of Doctor Dolittle

This children's classic is a part of our Sonlight Curriculum in our Core A read alouds. 

I remember reading this with my crew a few years ago and it not being my favorite. While I still would not put it on my "I have to read this again list" I certainly liked it better than the last time I read it. It is definitely an adventure and having a house full of adventurous children it was fun to "go along" with Dr. Dolittle on his adventure to Africa and back to England. 

Dr. Dolittle is an excellent and clever doctor in Puddleby-on-the-Marsh and is well known by all. Not only is he an excellent doctor he is also fond of animals and begins to collect his pets, which greatly annoyed his sister. As he gathers animals in his home, he begins to learn to understand animal speak and can communicate clearly with them so that he can care for them. 

After learning to talk with the animals, Dr. Dolittle becomes the best veterinarian in Puddleby. With his ability to communicate with the animals he also collects more and more pets until no humans will come anymore because they include animals of all kinds, including a crocodile! His sister leaves the home and patients cease to come and money quickly runs out. 

A desperate plea comes from some monkeys in Africa and, after borrowing what he needs for his trip, Dr. Dolittle sets out to help the monkeys in their illness. The adventure is definitely out there, but also possible enough to imagine yourself on the journey. Many roadblocks come, but Dr. Dolittle's animal friends of all kinds come to help him out to get him to Africa and back home.

I appreciate the premise of a man being able to communicate with animals so that he knew exactly what they needed and what the trouble was with them. I also appreciate the element of taking care of living creatures and doing your best for them. Dr. Dolittle also valued human life, though he did seem to put the animals as equals, which is always problematic in my book. If you look at it as a fantasy book based in our world it's a little easier to swallow, but still a struggle. 

It definitely made for interesting discussions about cultivating your home, caring for creation and taking care of your family. My boys loved the adventure and wanted to keep reading until we got to the end. 

It's really hard to rate this one, but for it's story telling and adventure I'd say 3.5 stars, though my children would give it 5.

Reading Challenges:

Back to the Classics 2021 this is my Children's Classic

Timothy Is Two!!!

How can it be our youngest boy is already two years old? He was the first child born in our current home and has added so much life to it since he arrived! 

Timothy is such a spunky personality but also quiet and sweet. He's the first of our children I would say is shy, but thankfully with his easy going nature he warms up quickly. He loves his mama and his James and for the most part does not want to be with anyone else. Recently he has shown more affection for others, but still would choose one of those over anyone else. Even with this, Timothy enjoys being around people but also enjoys his time alone. 

Timothy is already studious, loving books, coloring, and examining what's going on in the world around him. He wants to know what everything is called and when he knows eagerly points and tells you what he sees. Timothy also likes order and, while still learning to put things back, he knows exactly where things should go and where to find what he's looking for. He is definitely particular about things and will let you know if something is amiss!

In the past couple of months, Timothy has grown in singing. He loves to sing with us "The Doxology" and "Holy, Holy, Holy" and learns the other songs we sing and play in the car. It's such a blessing to hear him sing praise songs and hymns to our God and we pray as he grows these songs will remind him of the truth of God's Word and the Gospel message to hold fast to. 

Timothy is such a little light in our house. With his bright blond hair and infectious smile he lights up any room he enters. He has that two-year-old energy but with guided direction and surety. He's always making us laugh and teaches us to slow down and enjoy the moments we have. All of his siblings love playing with him and he can always make Essie smile. He's quick to give affection and loves hugs and kisses.

I'm so thankful for this precious boy that God has given to us! 

Father, thank You for the gift of Timothy to our family. Thank You for the way he teaches us, even as a young one. Thank You for his eagerness to learn and please continue to grow that in him. Please give him the greatest desire to know You and learn all he can about You and please save him by Your grace. Thank You for the reminder that You are our light when we see Timothy light up a room. May he honor You with all that he is and be a light for the Gospel everywhere he goes. In Jesus Name I ask these things. Amen!

Faith Like Flamingos

It was such a blessing to read this book from my business coach, Katie Hornor. I found a class of hers last year at the start of the pandemic when I knew God was leading us to work on growing our ministry business that he had put on our hearts years before and have been learning from her for almost a year. As part of my continual growth I read her book, Faith Like Flamingos.

Since I've been in classes with her this past year, I have heard much of this from her teaching, but reading it brought much of it to life at a deeper level. Reading truths about being a Christian in the market place and standing out for God's glory is extremely important at this point in history. Katie is creative in the way she uses the flamingo to show different attributes of a Godly business owner like how what we "eat" shows in how we display ourselves, how we need each other to push and encourage each other in fighting the good fight and knowing what parts of your story need to be shared an when. 

Faith Like Flamingos is well thought out and put together so that it is easy to read and fluent. The chapters are short, sweet and to the point while also being personal and deep. At the end of each chapter there are questions for reflection that were very helpful and that I need to go back a revisit frequently.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I highly recommend it whether you are planning to start a business or not. The principles in this book can be applied to every area of the Christian walk. 

5 stars for The Christian Guide to Walking Out Your Faith in Bold Color!

Reading Challenges:

This book falls into several of the ones I'm working on.

1. A book About Business from Tim Challies 2021 Reading Challenge

2. I'm counting this as a Christian Living Book for the 2021 Christian Reading Challenge with Jason and Jami Balmet

3. A Business Book in the Modern Mrs. Darcy My Reading Life Challenge

Beezus and Ramona

This Classic is a part of our Core A curriculum with Sonlight.

I'm honestly not sure what I think about this book. It is an honest book told from the view of Beezus in third person, which is good to help process what she is thinking and feeling. On the other side I can totally understand see why Ramona is such a nuisance at four years old; she gets what she wants by annoying those around her or doing defiant things. This is good for talking about what is done well and what is poor character and to compare with what God teaches us in the Bible. 

I did like the creativity and imagination shown in some of the chapters. The chapter talking about imagination was really good at teaching how we each have imagination in different ways and in a home with ten children understanding that we will not all be creatively the same is extremely important.

I was doing OK with it until the end when Beezus was told she didn't have to love her sister all the time, which flies in the faith of Biblical teaching and makes love a feeling instead of how we treat others. While I do understand what Cleary was getting at with this discussion in the book, it was really hard to read to my children and we had to stop after almost ever sentence to talk about what was being said. You can say I'm mincing words and that's fine, but to tell a child they shouldn't love their sister all the time is destructive and hurtful. We know that we're not going to like what others do and because we're sinful we won't love people all the time, but God says to love the way He does and that is what we are to teach.

Language wise it is written well for reading out loud and for children to understand. Because of when it was written it has some of the language was "dated" but that's part of the fun of reading classics.

Because of the ending I can only give this book 3 stars.

Reading Challenges:

I am using this one for the Back to the Classics Challenge though not sure if it will be my 20th Century Classic or Classic by a Woman Author

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

This (almost) classic children's book is part of our Core A curriculum from Sonlight. 

This book is actually a really cute read, inventive and imaginative book that I enjoyed reading with my children. They made a movie based on it and the movie is not my favorite by any stretch of the imagination, but the book was short, sweet and fun.

What would it be like if all of our food fell from the sky? Such a fun thing to imagine and talk about together. 

Definitely a 5 star for this children's book.