Post here and I was happy to see we own three of them & our library has another six so we’re only missing one. Neat, I’ll post about them later.

We own (and love) Ferdinand and Horton Hatches a Who. (In fact Kit was given Ferdinand by an old girlfriend – it has an inscription. I love books with inscriptions even if it’s not to me, such stories that come from asking about them! 🙂 Both when I ask and when the kids ask who, “Who gave you this?)

Leo the Late Bloomer – Kit says, “This is mostly a message to the parents to quit stressing out, it’s not a message to the kids.” He also said he’s seen more visually engaging books with the same message. In this case Leo’s father gives up on him blooming and goes off to watch tv. Nice.

Snowflake Bentley is a nice book about a true story, a photographer-scientist pursuing his dream and how his family & community support his passion (though he did have skeptics, of course.)

Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs is a lovely book about a 4 year old boy and his relationship with his grandmother and great-grandmother. Despite them both passing away (one when he’s a child, she’s 94 and the other when he’s an adult) Mo described it as a “fun” book because of the boy’s interactions with Nana Upstairs. It was a sweet book.

Henry Builds a Cabin we all loved, based on Henry David Thoreau building a one room cabin while writing his book and his simple recycling and conservation efforts and focus on nature. Very Charlotte Mason, and one that launched some great discussions about big vs. small, living space, and needs vs. wants. The kids are looking through Material World now with Kit and discussing some big topics, such as where America falls in the financial global scene.

William’s Doll I actually thought was sad. He wants a doll to love and nurture and his older brother and neighbor kid both mock him and his father keeps coming up with stereotypical boy activities to do to break him of the desire to have a doll. Finally grandma grows up and gets him one and chews out dad (kindly) by saying William wants a doll so he can grow up to be a nice father someday. Implication being that William’s daddy totally failed on that parenting front since he didn’t support his son’s nurturing desire. (Go, Grandma, but boo for dad and older brother.)

The Little House was depressing, too. The home is abandoned by the family and suffocating in the city alone and unloved until a descendent of the original owners comes back to replace it. But really sad rendering of urban life.

So some were great, some were not fantastic. 🙂