I’ve been going over my Home Library Builders post series with a fine-tooth comb this week, in preparation for my talk on Tuesday for the Ultimate Home School Expo. I’ll be speaking on The Homeschooler’s Library, gathering all the information I’ve sought to share in this series into an audio podcast.
You can log in on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. CST to listen to this live Preview chat. I’ll also be posting this series on the blog soon. I’ve found a way to record each episode in a brief, 10 minute podcast and load them all onto one widget. You’ll be able to click on just those episodes that you want to hear.
In the meantime, it has come to my attention that these posts are very heavily weighted toward books for boys. I reached out to my readers a few days ago, asking for suggestions for books for girls in keeping with the categories in Philippians 4:8. I’m going to compile a list here of suggestions I received.
Heather recommended all the Louisa May Alcott books, such as Little Women, the books in the Anne of Green Gables series, The Little Princess, Heidi, and the Little House books. I didn’t really even think of those as books for girls, as we’ve read most of them and loved them all. These are great suggestions. Heather also mentioned the series FaithGirlz, female missionary biographies (such as those about Annie Armstrong, Lottie Moon, Edna McMillan, etc.) and the Children’s Heritage series. She also mentions books in the girls section at Vision Forum, which is a favorite for us, as well. Their link is in the sidebar of the blog.
Teacher/Mom notes that many people have mixed feelings about the American Girls series, but she uses them in her homeschool as a way to bring up “talking points”. I have read some of the very large, hardback American girl books with my boys (ssssh!!!) with the title “Welcome to…..[Kit’s, Felicity’s, etc.} World.” Most of these books have very little to do with the featured American Girl and a lot to do with the history of the featured time period. We have, surprisingly, enjoyed these books!
She says that she enjoys sharing many of the older series from her own childhood with her daughters: Betsy series by Carolyn Haywood (as well as other books by this author), Liza, Bill and Jed Mysteries by Peggy Parish, the “Shoes” books by Noel Streatfield, the Betsy and Tacy books by Maude Hart Lovelace, and the original Nancy Drew series.
Michelle reminded me of the book “The Witch of Blackbird Pond”, a book about the Salem witch trials which kept me up half the night once when I was a teenage girl.
Stacie recommends the Daughters of the Faith series by Wendy Lawton, which includes books based on the lives of Olive Oatman, Mary Chilton, Harriet Tubman, Pocahontas, Phylis Sweetly, Mary Bunyan and more.
Carissa adds, “my dd has really enjoyed the All of a Kind Family series, which I don’t think has been mentioned. All of my children, boys and girls, have enjoyed Summer With the Moody’s and the other books in the series, by Sarah Maxwell.” We liked Summer with the Moody’s, as well…it is hard to find books about homeschooling families, but Sarah Maxwell (a homeschooled child herself, daughter of Terri Maxwell of Managers of Their Homes fame) wrote these books about a family of homeschooled kids.
I appreciate any efforts to draw attention to reading, and attract reluctant readers to it.
That’s because I grew up as a reluctant reader, in spite of the fact that my father published over 70 books. Now I write action-adventures & mysteries, especially for tween boys, that avid boy readers and girls enjoy just as much.
My blog, Books for Boys http://booksandboys.blogspot.com recently reached # 1 on Google.
Keep up your good work concerning reading.
Max Elliot Anderson