Saturday, January 29, 2011

Shakespeare for Children and Completed Books 1/29/11

We recently listened to A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Taming of the Shrew as told by Jim Weiss.  The kids LOVED it.  Weiss did an amazing job with the character's voices and the stories are simplified, but far from simple.  This is a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare for younger children.

Completed History (both):
People of the Middle Ages:  Blacksmith (32 pages), Lilly
The Hunter, Mary Casanova
The God and Goddesses of Ancient China, Leonard Fisher
The Great Wall of China, Leonard Fisher
Bitter Dumplings, Jeanne M. Lee
Kids in the Middle Ages, Lisa Wroble
The Middle Ages, Jane Shuter
Fa Mulan, Robert San Souci
Three Sacks of Truth, A Story from France, Eric Kimmel
The Duchess Bakes a Cake, Virginia Kahl
Joan of Arc, The Lily Maid, Margaret Hodges

Books Completed Lella:
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (GIC - 238 pages), Robert Louis Stevenson
My Secret Unicorn, The Magic Spell (118 pages)
Gus and Gertie and The Missing Pearl (48 pages), Joan Lowery
Gus and Gertie and The Lucky Charms (48 pages), Joan Lowery
Boss of the Plains, The Had that won the West, Laurie Carlson
Chipmunk Song, Joanne Ryder
The Junkyard Wonders, Patricia Polacco
Gregor Mendel, The Friar Who Grew Peas, Cheryl Bardoe
Lizards Weird and Wonderful, Margery Facklam
Really Radical Reptiles and Amphibians, Leslee Elliott

Other Books Completed (both):
Three More Stories You Can Read to Your Cat (again!), Sara Miller
Three More Stories You Can Read to Your Dog (again!), Sara Miller
Picasso, Jennifer Fandel
***LOVED this book from the Xtraordinary Artists series.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Prince Caspian, Follow My Leader, Poetrees and Completed Books 1/21/11

Marcus and Lella just finished their second Narnia book, Prince Caspian (223 pages), C.S. Lewis.  They had several favorite parts.  This is what they said when I asked them...

First favorite:  Peter's battle with King Miraz
Second favorite:  When the bulgy bear is promising not to put his paw in his mouth, but while he's promising, his paw is in his mouth.
Third favorite:  When the kids get pulled into Narnia.

My friend, Chandra, recommended Follow My Leader (191 pages), James B. Garfield.  We bought it a while ago, but Marcus recently decided to read it.  He LOVED it.  The story is about Jimmy, a boy blinded in an accident with a firecracker and his dog Leader.  Marcus read this book every night before bed and didn't want to put it down.  It's a wonderful story about friendship and forgiveness.

Marcus also finished another book in the series "The Ten Commandment Mysteries" called Carousel Horse (43 pages), Elspeth Murphy.

While Marcus has been consumed with his Physics Workshop he received for Christmas, Lella has been doing a lot of reading:

Harry the Explorer (79 pages), Dyan Sheldon
Lella's summary for interested readers, "Harry is an alien cat from a different planet who likes to go on adventures.  He likes to visit Earth and visit his friend Chicken.  Chicken's real name is Sara Jane.  She is called Chicken because she dragged a stuffed chicken around when she was little."
There are a series of the aoove Harry books and I plan on getting her more of them.
The Dragons of Wayward Crescent: Gruffen (104 pages), Chris d'Lacey
The Snowman's Path, Helena Pittman
Our Wildlife World: Lizards, Ivy
The Wretched Stone, Chris Van Allsburg
On the Mayflower, Kate Waters
Sugar Cane, A Caribbean Rapunzel, Patricia Storace
Wonder Horse, The True Story of the World's Smartest Horse, Emily McCully
Poetrees, Douglas Florian


This book is ripe with poetrees,
They're grown to educate and please.
You'll see a cedar.
Oak tree too.
Birch and banyan,
Pine and yew.
Palm and gum
And willow tree,
Plus more you'll love tree-mendously!


Gabriella and I had so much fun reading this together.  Marcus and I are going to read it together too!

Nature's Children Series: Each book is approximately 50 pages, all written by Ivy.
Mallard Ducks
Salamanders
Kangaroos
Old World Monkeys
Tigers

Gabriella loves Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa books, Betsy Lewin.  Although they are way below her reading level, I get them for her because she enjoys them so much.  She recently read Horse in the House and Spring Babies.

She also LOVES Richard Scary books.  Again, these are far below her reading level, but she enjoys them so much.  I hear her laughing often when she reads them.  She recently finished:
A Big Operation
The Cat Family Takes a Trip
The Treasure Hunt
The Snowstorm
Richard Scarry's Best Story Book Ever:  82 Wonderful Round-the-Year Stories and Poems

Completed History (Both):
*Most of these books aren't numbered.  

The Clay Pot Boy, Cynthia Jameson
Lian and the Magic Paintbrush, Demi
Raisel's Riddle, Erica Silverman
The Weaving of a Dream, Marilee Heyer
The Paper Dragon, Marguerite W. Davol
Little Johnny Buttermilk, after an old English folktale, Jan Wahl
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave, Marianna Mayer
A Perfect Pork Stew, Paul Brett Johnson
Magna Carta (32 pages), C. Walter Hodges
Geoffrey Chaucer: Canterbury Tales, Barbara Cohen
The Dragon Prince, Laurence Yep
Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Norse, Leonard Fisher
The Empty Pot, Demi
The Girl Who Lost Her Smile, Karim Alrawi
Joan of Arc, Josephine Poole
Welcome to Russia, Schemenauer
The Toy Brother, William Steig
The Red Balloon, A. Lamorisse
***The kids read this book multiple times.  It was one of their favorites.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Narnia and Completed Books 1/4/10

Steve and the children are reading through C.S. Lewis' Narnia series.  They look forward to it every night and absolutely love everything about the series.  They recently finished The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (176 pages).

Marcus history:
Robin Hood in the Greenwood (53 pages), Jane Louise Curry
Chess (63 pages), Daniel King

Lella history:
The Adventures of Robin Hood (comic book style), Marcia Williams
Heroines, Great Women Through the Ages (78 pages), Rebecca Hazell
Bard of Avon, The Story of William Shakespeare, Diane Stanley and Peter Vennema
The Canterbury Tales (117 pages), Geraldine McCaughrean
Castle Diary (60 pages), Richard Platt

Lella's ther completed books:
The Animal Rescue Squad, Kitten Alert (118 pages), Ellen Weiss
The Animal Rescue Squad, Hand-Me-Down Chimp (123 pages), Ellen Weiss
Nature's Children, Weasels (47 pages), Ivy
The Animals' Merry Christmas (69 pages), Richard Scarry
The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins, Kerley and Selznick