The book list - August

I spent much of my reading time in August researching various sources to prepare for our current homeschool year.  So for regular book reading, I only finished 3 books.  Still, considering statistics show that less than half the adult population read literature of any kind anymore, then 3 books in one month is not bad.

Goofing around - using shorts for a hat

Song from the Ashes by Megan Whitson Lee - Last month I dedicated a whole blog post to the wonderful book written by a dear friend.  You can read it here.   If you just want a short summary, here is my amazon.com review:
"This well written, engrossing novel pulled me in, right from the beginning. It is a modern retelling of Edith Wharton's novel "The Age of Innocence." I read Wharton's book shortly before reading "Song from the Ashes" and it is was fun to see the parallels. My heart ached for Landon, and the struggles he had in whether to stay with his wife April, or leave her for April's fascinating cousin Ella. Landon knows what the right thing is to do before God, but just like with real Christians, temptations are there. April and Landon have a baby, born with Trisomy 18, a genetic condition. I cried through that whole section, because I had a little girl that lived 17 months with Trisomy 18. (Most people do not know about Trisomy 18 and this book helps spread awareness and basic knowledge.) The author does a wonderful job in showing how through all the struggles of the different characters in the book, God's plans are perfect and He is constantly weaving them into our lives. I highly recommend this book!"

school fun - Tabby's house built with toothpicks and mini marshmallows

Getting to Yum: The 7 Secrets of Raising Eager Eaters by Karen LeBillon - In April, I read French Kids Eat Everything, by this same author.  (See my blogpost here.)  It was such an interesting book, I bought this book shortly after that.  It is full of proven strategies to get kids - and adults - to eat a wide variety of foods.  As I read it I was once again amazed in thinking about the huge variety of foods that kids in France eat, and actually like.  Unlike in America where we have so many foods specifically for kids - kid yogurts, kid cereals, kid lunchables, kid crackers, etc etc.  And of course many American kids are stuck on only wanting to eat a few basic foods like pasta, white rice, and crackers.  Why?  Because in general, we don't expect anything different from them!  Rice cereal is the standard 1st for for babies in the U.S., in spite of all sorts of research showing it should not be.  But Americans introduce bland foods and keep them bland.  Babies don't learn to like lots of flavors and textures.  This book has ideas and games to help correct that, no matter what your age.  We have started working through the suggestions, and I will blog about our first week, hopefully this Sunday.

Chow time!  Notice the chickens coming up to the porch.  Their pushiness in trying to get the dogs food resulted in the death of a chicken this past Monday.  The dogs are now fed before the chickens are released from their coop in the morning, and again after the chickens go to bed and the coop is closed for the night.

Once Upon an Island: The History of Chincoteague by Kirk Mariner - I picked up a copy of this book when we visited Chincoteague island in Virginia in June 2012.  (You can read about LillyBear's adventures in Chincoteague in this post.)  I started reading the book shortly after that but then Solomon was born and then when he was 3 weeks old we moved, and I never picked the book back up.  But last month I decided to finish it and I am glad I did because it really is a book full of interesting facts about Chincoteague and it's neighboring Assateague islands. Most people only know about Chincoteague from the Misty of Chincoteague series.  But there is so, so much more rich history to this little island.  Interesting people, terrible natural disasters, destructive fires, etc.


Post contains amazon.com affiliate links.  If I make any money through this program, 100% of it will be contributed to Trisomy 18 causes.