Category: Books and Reading

Books of interest, reading, reviews, articles, and more.

The Lawgivers: A Review of a New Plutarch Translation

Of all Charlotte Mason’s recommendations, I found her advice to read Plutarch with children one of the least appealing. I enjoy old books and love learning, but somehow, it seemed especially daunting to fit in Plutarch along with everything else....

What Grade Are You In? A Bit of Common Sense from Understood Betsy

Summer is winding down in the northern hemisphere and schoolbooks are being dusted off and swimsuits put away. I always enjoyed getting back into an orderly and predictable schedule (as orderly and predictable as was possible in a household with...

Should the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award have been renamed?

Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Art of Historical Fiction

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award was recently renamed the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, a remarkably generic name for such a prestigious award. A lot has been said about the change, and most that I have seen has been negative, with reactions...

Middle school reading lists: What a difference 100 years makes!

Middle School Reading Lists: What a difference 100 years makes!

I recently came across an interesting comparison of two middle school reading lists. The author, Annie Holmquist, compared a list from 1908 with a current list from the same state on the basis of time period, thematic elements, and reading...

When is Reading Hard?

Reading, Comprehension, and Knowledge Do you enjoy reading? I do. I grew up reading voraciously — new books, old books, books set in the city, the country, in foreign lands, and many books that featured characters that lived lives very...

Choosing books for boys isn't hard: avoid twaddle and give them the good stuff.

Choosing Books for Boys

Choosing books for boys isn’t all that hard. Give them adventure — the kind with blood and courage, dirt and ingenuity — and watch their imaginations soar, assuming they haven’t been “Eustaced”* by the sort of twaddle mentioned in Martin...

Why Freshmen Fail and How to Avoid It

Why Freshmen Fail: A Review

I picked up Professor Carol‘s new book, Why Freshmen Fail, at the Great Homeschool Convention in Fort Worth, thinking it might be a resource I could recommend to parents of high-school and almost-high-school age students. I didn’t expect to find...

David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd is a middle-grade fantasy tale. One of Janice Campbell's 1001 Good Books.

David and the Phoenix: One of the 1001 Good Books

David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd One of my childhood companions was an old copy of David and the Phoenix by Edward Ormondroyd. It was one of the books I turned to whenever I wanted to travel the fairie realms, and...

Books are the holiday gifts you can read.

Holiday Gifts You Can Read

Give the gift of delight There’s a lot to be said for gifts you can read. Books provide hours of delight at just pennies per hour, and of course, I have a few suggestions (it was hard to whittle down the list!)....

A poem, truth, and the month of May illustrated by "Interesting Story" by Laura MuntzLyall, 1898.

A poem, truth, and the month of May

Under the Willows by James Russell Lowell, 1819 – 1891 May is a pious fraud of the almanac, A ghastly parody of real Spring Shaped out of snow and breathed with eastern wind; Or if, o’er-confident, she trust the date, And, with her...

Aunt Edie made a commonplace book for quotes, poems, and paper memorabilia.

Aunt Edie’s Commonplace Book, 1917-1947

“It is very helpful to read with a commonplace book or reading-diary, in which to put down any striking thought in your author, or your own impression of the work, or of any part of it; but not summaries of...

If you have never said "Excuse me" to a parking meter or bashed your shins on a fireplug, you are probably wasting too much valuable reading time.

The Benefits of Reading: Seven Tips for Reading More

Why spend time reading? Just in case you need an excuse to read to your children (or just to read for yourself), the infographic below outlines a host of benefits of reading. Although there are many practical reasons to read...

Reprinted pieces, etc: also, The lamplighter, To be read at dusk, and Sunday under Three Heads by Charles Dickens

Surprise in an Old Book

I like old books (Who am I kidding? Some of my best friends are old books!), so if I come upon one that’s irresistibly priced, I’ll take a second look, even if the cover looks a bit shabby. Like this...

Old boxcar against a western sky.

Westward ho! Adding Context to Travel

We are preparing for the WHO conference in Washington state and GHC in Ontario, California and as I always do when going westward, I start thinking of classic poetry, western songs, and big beautiful western sky. For me, it is...

Celebrating the 750th anniversary of Dante's birth.

Dante’s 750th Anniversary, Properly Celebrated

The 750th anniversary of the birth of the great poet Dante Alighieri is being fittingly celebrated today in Italy. Oscar-winning actor Roberto Benigni will visit the Italian Senate to read from Dante’s masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, to an audience that will include Italy’s...

Winter reading is one of life's great pleasures.

Winter Reading: Something Old, Something New

I love long, cosy winter evenings spent with a good book and a cat. This is when I whittle down the reading pile I’ve accumulated by my chair during the convention season and travel months. While some of my winter...

Summer Reading List

What’s in your to-be-read (TBR) pile? Mine is teetering way past the point of reason, and has overflowed onto a small bookshelf beside my chair, plus a few piles on the floor, to say nothing of those waiting in my...

Telling the Truth in Fiction

Fairy tales, parables, and other true stories I have been thinking about fairy tales this week after coming across a bowdlerized (to modify by abridging, simplifying, or distorting in style or content) version that appears on a third grade Common Core...

Teach classic literature in context with Excellence in Literature

Teach Classic Literature in Context

Reading and teaching literature in context is a bit like studying a map before you set out for a walk in a strange city. Context helps you find significant intersections, decipher archaic language, and find a path through old-fashioned rhetoric. Here’s how to do it.

Excellence in Literature teaches classic literature in context for grades 8-12.

Why Context? What You Know Changes How You Read

Most modern readers have little context for the mindset, manners, and morals, or even many of the conflicts that consumed the characters in the novels of the late 19th and early 20th century. This lack of context can affect understanding and appreciation of the tales.

Education is an atmosphere;, illustrated by a Mary Cassatt image.

Charlotte Mason was Right! Education is an Atmosphere

Charlotte Mason said that “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life,” and she was right. A study published in 2010 on “Family Scholarly Culture and Educational Success” (PDF), reports that a family’s “scholarly culture – the way of life in homes where books are numerous, esteemed, read, and enjoyed” matters. Here’s how!

Things to Know About Public Libraries

If you have a local library, support it through regular visits, volunteering, and other ways. As a homeschooler, you can help to shape your library’s collections and programs through strategic requests (nicely conveyed, of course!). And finally, an infographic on “Why Support Your Local Library?”

Great Books Week: Les Misérables is 150 Years Old

Visit the Great Books Week site for a few ideas on how to celebrate, some quotes on great literature, and more. In a world of strife and turmoil, the classics remain beautiful and timeless. I hope you enjoy celebrating this week!

Three or more books for the homeschool journey: Charlotte Mason and more.

Three (or so) Books for the Homeschool Journey

Homeschooling can be challenging, but a good book can encourage and help to renew your mind. Here are three of my favorite books about family and learning.

The Poetry of August: Warm, Slow, Evocative

Three poems for August: A bird came down the walk (Dickinson), August (Swineburne), and Summer Stars (Sandburg).

Summer reading!

Summer Reading: It’s Time to Break Out the Good Books!

Summer reading is essential. Here’s why, and a partial list of what I’m reading.

Blossoms everywhere in the spring.

Poems for Spring by Gerard Manley Hopkins and Amy Lowell

Here are two spring poems by two of my favorite poets: Spring by Gerard Manley Hopkins and Lilacs by Amy Lowell. Both are suitable for copywork and recitation. Enjoy!

Winter Poems by Stevenson, Emerson, and Hardy

Sometimes a poem evokes the mood of a season more than anything else could. “Picture-books in Winter” by Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Snow Storm” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and “The Darkling Thrush” by Thomas Hardy are three of my favorites.

Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers helps you teach literature in context.

Why Study Literature in Context?

Why study literature in the context of art, music, history, and worldview? Context — the history, art, and music related to a particular piece of literature — helps to bring a book to life and make it more understandable, especially...

Summer Poem: A Boy and His Dad by Edgar Guest

It’s time for our annual summer poem. This year, I chose a warm, evocative poem by Edgar A. Guest as well as a brief poem by William Carlos Williams.