The year had hinges on which it hung, and every hinge had something to do with sheep; but that was the life on Andrew’s farm and the living for his family, and it was right that the sheep should mark it for them. Six-year-old Peter lives on a sheep farm with his father, Andrew, his…
Author: Diane Pendergraft
War Boy: A Country Childhood
Michael Foreman was born in March of 1938, so he was only three years old on April 21, 1941, the night an incendiary bomb dropped through the roof of his bedroom. Part of his description of that night sounds just like the memory a three-year-old would retain. “The sky bounced as my mother ran.” Foreman…
Reflection: They Set Up Their Own Signs for Signs
“When God was leading his people through the wilderness and laying down his laws, he gave instructions for things that were to be set up for worshiping him and remembering his deeds. He gave detailed directions for setting up the tabernacle. Often, he commanded an altar or monument to be set up as a sign…
Jupiter Rising
I pre-ordered Jupiter Rising for my kindle. I don’t often do that, because I seldom read new books. But this is Gary D. Schmidt, one of our beloved authors. It’s a short book. I read it in about two and a half hours. It was over so quickly, I had to think for a bit…
Shipwrecked: The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy
What a coincidence that Shipwrecked was donated to my library just as Sara and I were putting the finishing touches on our Kensuke’s Kingdom book club packet…
A Mathematician’s Lament by Paul Lockhart
If, like me, you feared and resented math in school because it made you feel stupid, perhaps you will understand why A Mathematician’s Lament had me crying.
Jane of Lantern Hill
Somehow, in my quest to read everything Montgomery, it took me about forty years to get to Jane of Lantern Hill. It was published in 1937, between Anne of Windy Poplars and Anne of Ingleside. In the beginning, Jane is not “of Lantern Hill.” She lives with her mother and grandmother at 60 Gay Street…
Kensuke’s Kingdom
Kensuke’s Kingdom is a story about adventure, love, faith, friendship, resourcefulness, art, and beauty, and it is absolutely worth finding out how it ends.
The Shy Stegosaurus of Indian Springs
“‘You see, everything changes, the world and everything in it. Everything but me. Goodby, little friends.’ They stood openmouthed, but no words came to them. There was so much they wanted to say. They wanted to persuade him to remain, to explain how much he had done for them, and to assure him that the…
The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek
What child wouldn’t love to discover a living dinosaur in the backyard? That’s what happens to Joey and Joan in The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek…
The Crab Ballet
Someone gave me a couple of readers from All About Learning, and I had never seen that series before. I also had never heard of the author, Renee M. LaTulippe, so I went to her website and discovered this book. Miraculously, our public library had it. This illustration made me laugh out loud. I know…
Casey Over There by Staton Rabin
Casey Over There is a gentle introduction to WWI for young readers from the perspective of Americans waiting for news of their loved ones “over there.”
Good Luck Duck
Timothy and his father and mother live in a quiet valley. It’s too far away from the woods to hear the crows calling all day, too far from the bigger valley to hear the trains rolling by, and streetcars and buses don’t go that far. The little family loves their quiet valley, but sometimes Timothy…
Snow Treasure
I just finished reading Snow Treasure to my literature class of eight- and nine-year-old homeschooled students. I only see them for forty minutes once a week, and the timing just happened to work out that I had to leave the kids hanging for a whole week with the hero captured by Nazis and with only…
Virginia Hall, an Extraordinary Woman
Whether they loved her or hated her, everyone who knew her considered her an amazing and memorable woman. Klaus Barbie, the infamous Butcher of Lyon became obsessed with finding the “Limping Lady of Lyon.” He had posters made and offered a huge reward for information leading to the arrest of “The Enemy’s Most Dangerous Spy.”