What We're Reading in June 2021

Late spring was no friend to my reading life. While I was busy trying to wrap up the school year--speak at my last homeschool conference of the season, close out co-op with a flourish, host one final tween book club, organize an end-of-the-year field trip for my kids and a few of our homeschooling friends, and celebrate my first homeschool graduate--I was also juggling some summer activities that were already getting underway--baseball practice, softball games, and driver's ed. It was a collision of seasonal activities and the fallout was not pretty. 

Not surprisingly, reading for pleasure was put on the back burner more often than I would have liked.

To add insult to injury, one of the books on my stack was not all that compelling. If you followed along on my Instastories, you heard how I was knee-deep in research for a book I am writing and that during my fact-finding, I read Stretched Too Thin. You also know that I disliked it very much--the writing style was meh and the author's view of how best to balance work and home life was off-putting, to say the least.

Now that I am a few weeks into summer and I've finished slogging through that book, I've established a more normal rhythm to our days and my reading time has returned. 

Here's what we're all enjoying this month. (Please note: Because my daughter has officially graduated and is busy beginning the next chapter of her life, I'll no longer be including her reading selections here. In addition, I've changed the grade level status of my boys to reflect their academic advancement.) 

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Read aloud- everybody

Ben and Me- We read this book many years ago when my oldest kids were cycling through early American history. It's been fun to revisit it with the younger set. We'll be taking a trip to Philadelphia soon and hope to visit some of the sites mentioned in the pages. 

Americans know Ben Franklin as the colonist who invented a better stove, discovered that lightning was a source of electricity, launched a successful postal service and lending library, and so much more. But, could it be that he was just the human face for all of those innovations and that the applause should really be given to someone else? In this humorous autobiographical fiction, Amos, a mouse who has taken up residence in the lining of Frankin's hat, seeks to prove that the history books have gotten it all wrong and that he's the one who deserves all the credit. 

Jamie- that's me!

The Last Bookshop in London- While this is not a Christian fiction book, it reads like one. It's incredibly clean to the very last page, is well researched, and taught me quite a bit about the air raids in London during WWII. 

When Grace must take a job working for a grumpy bookshop owner, she assumes it will only be for a short time. She just needs to work long enough to garner a good reference to submit to other more promising employers. Little does she know, the small shop she's tasked to organize will help provide more than just books for her and a motley crew of Londoners who pass through its doors. 

A Daughter's Inheritance- I listened to this book on audio and was highly disappointed. It is the first in a trilogy that's set on an island off the coast of New York at the turn of the century. Admittedly, the book started out with a somewhat interesting plot--a young heiress is threatened to have her inheritance revoked by a conniving uncle. But the writing was often contrived and overworked. Worse yet, the authors spent so many pages building the conflict that they did not leave themselves enough space to bring the story to a proper close. The last two chapters were rushed and left many minor plot points unresolved.

Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World- In an effort to fulfill my New Year's goal of shopping from my own shelves, I picked up this book that has been collecting dust for quite a long time. Although I turned the first pages with quite a bit of skepticism, I've been pleasantly surprised by the author's conservative values and candid writing style. In an age when so many Christian writers present faith in God as a side note to their lives and their parenting, it's been refreshing to come across an author who recognizes that God should be the main character of the story. 

Super Boy- 10th grade

Just Do Something- My daughter and I both read this book a couple of years ago and I've added it to my son's MUST READ list for high school. In this no-nonsense, cut-to-the-chase short book, the author brings a steady voice to our wishy-washy society. Just Do Something would make the perfect gift to include in a high school or college graduation gift basket as it answers some of the main questions that plague most young people today:

1. Whom should I marry?
2. What career path should I choose?
3. What's God's will for my life?

DeYoung uses solid Scriptural evidence to prove that God's will isn't as elusive as most people think.

Blonde Warrior- 8th grade

Dragon Rider- Admittedly, this book is below my son's reading level. I'd actually peg it for the 8-10-year-old crowd. But, he's currently writing a fantasy middle-grade novel and is doing some character development research. Dragon Rider is just one of several books he has lined up for his project.

Firedrake, a young dragon, along with the help of his friend Sorrel and a lonely boy named Ben, set out to find a place where silver dragons can be safe and live at peace without threat from an enemy who will stop at nothing to destroy the last remaining dragons on earth.

Greased Lightning- 7th grade

100 Cupboards- This is one of the darkest fantasy books I've ever let my middle school kids read Fortunately, while he did not intend to write a "Christian" book, the author has allowed his Christian worldview to paint very distinct lines between good and evil, which is an absolute MUST in all middle grade and YA reads, in my opinion.

When Henry's cousin, Henrietta steps through one of the cupboard doors that he mistakenly unearths behind his bedroom walls, it's up to him to follow her into the mysterious worlds. 

The Dude- 4th grade

Socks- After learning more about the life of Beverly Cleary in the Picture Biography Book Club class I hosted in our homeschool co-op, my son has been on a Cleary kick. First, it was Henry Huggins and his dog Ribsy. Now it's Socks, a silly book that tells of the misadventures of a slightly displaced cat. 

That's what we're reading to kick off the summer. How about you?

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