The Book List - April

Here it is almost June!  So I best get my April books list post done.

But first I wanted to share the link to a post by The Pioneer Girl Project about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her chickens.  (The Pioneer Girl project has recently published Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography which is Laura Ingalls Wilder's unpublished autobiography.  She later re-wrote her story (with the help of her daughter Rose) as what is known as the Little House books.)

Besides writing the Little House books, Laura wrote farming articles for The Ruralist and The Missouri Ruralist.  She also was the poultry columnist for St. Louis Farmer.  This post on The Pioneer Girl Project talks about some of her poultry articles.  I was interested to see that Laura's favorite breed of chickens was the Brown Leghorn.  We have two Leghorns.  This one is Peach - she has a very floppy comb on her head:

Peach - a Leghorn - easy to tell by the shape of the tail feathers

Silver Days by Sonia Levitin - After reading the first book in this series, Journey to America (see my post here), Tabby and I wanted to know - what happened to this Jewish immigrant family next?  (They had a harrowing escape from Nazi Germany.)  This book describes life for them in America.  Tabby liked this book better, and I liked the first one better.  This one was "too American" for me.  Meaning - not enough war and too much American pop culture from the time.  Still, it was interesting.

Annie's Promise by Sonia Levitin - This was the last book in the above mentioned series.  Definitely our least favorite!  It was about the youngest sister's stay at a summer camp, while WWII continues.  I guess I have read way too many camp stories when I was little and they're all the same.  Always the bad character that has it in for the main character and they spend time continuing to get each other back for bad things done to each other.  I just don't care.  But I did want to see what happened to the rest of the family so I pushed through to the end.

Solomon sitting in the rocking chair I had as a child and reading one of my old books:  The Little Engine that Could

 The Excellent Wife: A Biblical Perspective by Martha Peace - This book was highly recommended to me by the woman that cuts my hair.  She said it's good for those of us with messy backgrounds.  It took me awhile to get through this book, but I finished with some real gems that I learned.  New ways to think about things that have helped me a lot.  (My hairdresser is the Titus 2 woman in my life.  She is a Christian has homeschooled and graduated 4 children and just knows so much about so many things.  I drive 40 minutes to her home, one way, just to get my haircut by her.  Besides her good counsel, she does an excellent job cutting hair.  Diana Beck at Wellspring Salon in Fuquay-Varina, NC.  Tabby gets her hair cut by Diana's daughter Lilly, at the same location.)

Mother hens are simply THE BEST mothers!  Here is Precious with 3 of Tabby's Silkie biddies

It Began with a Parachute by William R. Rang - Another book for history that Tabby and I both read. It is about a 12 year old boy in Holland, during the Nazi occupation.  One night he rescues an American navigator and hides him in his home.  That is when he finds out that his father is already involved in the Resistance!  A good book featuring a family that actually works together and respects each other (seems so rare these days).  Lots of adventure and character building moments.

Padme (another excellent mama hen!) with Leah - both are Silkies and belong to Tabby

Basher Five-Two: The True Story of F-16 Fighter Piolet Captain Scott O'Grady by Captain Scott O'Grady with Michael French - This was the last book in the Veritas Press history course Tabby recently finished.  A very exciting story!  Captain O'Grady was shot down in his F-16 over Bosnia.  He parachuted out of his plane as it exploded, and fell 5 miles down to the ground in enemy territory.  He shares how he survived - avoiding the enemy, no food to eat, depending on God - while he awaited rescue.

An Easter lily is growing on the left, 2 red Gladiolas growing on the right

Lessons from Madame Chic: 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned While Living in Paris by Jennifer L. Scott - Ever since I read French Kids Eat Everything last year (see my post here), followed by Bringing Up Bebe, I have been fascinated in differences between the French and Americans.  Americans seem so childish, lazy, greedy, and sloppy, in so many ways.  (I'm not trying to be anti-American here - I am glad I am an American and not French.  Just putting it the way I see it.) The author of this book lived in Paris during college and learned many things from the French family she lived with.  She shares this wide variety of French things in her book. 

(I would be very interested to read this kind of book about other countries too.  If you know of any - please share the titles with me!)

The boys and I made gingerbread cookies on Memorial Day.  Solomon made gingerbread men and tractor shaped cookies.

Hunter (no surprise) made heating unit shaped cookies:  a gaspack and a ductless heat pump

"The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me...." - Psalm 28:7