Dolphin Adventure

This was one of our read-alouds with our Core A Sonlight curriculum.

This book was a quick and easy read that my kids enjoyed and so did I. Who doesn't like dolphins? Though simply written you can feel everything going on in the words expressed on the pages. And it really is an adventure.

I would highly recommend this book as a good family read.

4.5 Stars

Here's A Penny

This is one of our read aloud books from our Core A Sonlight curriculum.

Our family really enjoyed this book! These are fun stories about a little boy called Penny because of his bright copper hair. What I love the most about this book is that Penny is adopted and so it allowed for many conversations with our kids about adoption and how God adopts us. The last few chapters had the tears flowing in a good way.

A couple of the chapters were a little long, but they were still enjoyable.

I would highly recommend this book.

4.5 stars

Mary On Horseback

This book was part of our Core A curriculum with Sonlight.

It was interesting reading these stories as they take place in Appalatia, not far from where we live, and is about nursing care (my husband and I are both nurses). These stories are very serious stories, but still very interesting. I can't say my kids enjoyed reading them because of the solemnity of the stories, but it was a good look at rural life in our country and brought about good discussions.

If your kids are really sensitive, I might not read this book to them or at least preview it to see if they can handle the stories. Otherwise I would recommend this book.

4.5 stars

My Father's Dragon

This book is part of our Core A Sonlight curriculum. It is good story of a boy sailing to an island to rescue a dragon. The boy uses cleaver devices to trick the animals of the island as he explores and looks for the dragon. My kids really enjoyed this book. I highly recommend this book, especially for a family read.

4.5 stars

The Boxcar Children

This classic children's book was the first read aloud in our Core A curriculum from Sonlight.

Even though I have read it several time, it does not fail to disappoint. It is a story of 4 orphans seeking to survive on their own and not be found by their grandfather, of whom they are very afraid. I love the ingenuity of the kids as they figure out how to make a refrigerator, a ladle, and a swimming pool, among other things. I really enjoyed pointing these things out to Lillian as we read this together. I also appreciate that the kids are hard workers, all of them, which is a great encouragement to me.

The ending is a little too "happily ever after" for my taste, but as a whole I like the book very much.

5 stars for this book.

Animals Animals

This was the poetry book in our P4/5 curriculum through Sonlight. Though poetry is not my thing, this book is not too bad. I like that it has a variety of poetry types and poetry from different cultures. The pictures are done by Eric Carle, which make them interesting to fit with the poems.

4 Stars

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

I finished my 11th book in the Back to the Classics Challenge I am doing! This was my book for 19th century classic and even though I am very familiar with the story I really enjoyed reading it.

If you have been around for any length of time you have probably seen or heard some rendition of this story, but it is worth the read. It is clearly written, which is a great comfort as some classics can get lost in the words. I also appreciated that this book was short and a quick read, but still deep. There are certainly many thought provoking statements. It also is sobering to think of yourself and how you treat people. It would be great if it were truly Christian, but for not being a Christian work it was very good.

I am really glad I read it and recommend it for others.

4.5 stars for this classic!