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Preparing for the Preparation Days of Lent

Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is Wednesday, March 2nd, this year. Easter Sunday falls on April 17th. One good thing to do for the Lenten days of fasting and preparation leading up to Resurrection Sunday is to choose a book (or two) to read, one that prepares your heart and leads you into repentance and celebration.

Julie at Happy Catholic has a list of fiction books that would help to form your heart and mind during this time of year.

Recommended Reading for Lent from Jen Fulwiler.

Observing Lent, a Semicolon list. Not a book list, this post just gives some ideas for observing Lent as a family. It makes me nostalgic for the days when I had children at home with whom to observe these activities and reminders.

Inspirational Classics. This link goes to a set of posts that I set out to write in 2011. It was supposed to be 40 Inspirational Classics for Lent, but I only managed to write about 15 or so books. Still, the ones I did write about are some of the greats.

What are you reading for Lent? I’m continuing with my Cultivating Beauty and Truth study, re-reading The Hobbit and reading Hearts of Fire, a book of stories of modern day persecuted Christian women who are amazing in the courage they demonstrate. Only God.

End of the Year 2021 Book Lists

Every year I try to collect a list of the most interesting and inspiring book lists for the end of the year. I get a lot of ideas from these lists, and every year I add more and more books to my own never-ending TBR list. Ah, well, as they say, so many books, so little time. Nevertheless, this exercise is one of the most enjoyable parts of the holiday season for me.

  • 2021 For the Church Book Awards. From this list of favorites chosen by several evangelical church leaders and pastors, I am most interested in Jackie Hill Perry’s Holier Than Thou: How God’s Holiness Helps Us Trust Him, Andrew Peterson’s The God of the Garden, and the joint biography of J. Frank Norris and George W. Truett by O.S. Hawkins, titled In the Name of God.
  • BBC History Magazine’s Books of the Year 2021: 33 best books for history lovers. The Word-Hord: Daily Life in Old English by Hana Videen looks like a book I could enjoy, or maybe even savor, a book about the history of Anglo-Saxon words and their sources.
  • John Ehrett: The Best Books I Read This Year. Until I read this list, I didn’t know that Kashuo Ishiguro has a new novel out: Klara and the Sun. It sounds intriguing. And I might also need to read Andy Weir’s newest, Project Hail Mary.
  • David Quaod: My Top Ten Books of 2021. I thought to read Calvin, one would have to read The Institutes, a somewhat daunting task especially for a person who doesn’t consider herself a Calvinist. But Mr. Quaod’s top book for 2021 is A Little Book on the Christian Life by John Calvin, a distillation of Calvin’s writings on living the Christian life. I think I might be up for that.
  • Delightfully Feasting: Crystin’s Top Ten Books of 2021. I’ve read about half of these, and I agree that those I’ve read (Cry, the Beloved Country, What Is a Girl Worth?, Till We Have Faces, and others) are worthy of a top ten list. I would like to read Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner and Why I Read by Wendy Lesser.
  • Anthony Kidd: Theology in Practice, Top Books for 2021 Reading. Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal by George Packer may become my “challenge” book for the next year. Written by a self-proclaimed liberal and an Atlantic journalist, this book sounds as if it would be readable while still showing me a very different perspective. I agree with Mr. Kidd that Live Not by Lies (Dreher), Trueman’s Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson are all good and challenging, too.
  • W. Jackson Watts’ Top Books in 2021: Mr. Watts is a Free Will Baptist. (I am not.) He also listed Live Not By Lies and Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. I’m interested in the Herbert Hoover biography by Glen Jeansonne that he also listed.
  • Nomadic Matt: The Best Books I Read in 2021. Matt runs a travel blog, but he read a lot of books while stuck at home in 2021. One of those books, Scotland Beyond the Bagpipes by Helen Ochyra, sounds like a book I could fall for.
  • Bob on Books: Best Books of 2021. Bob lists the Eugene Peterson bio, A Burning in My Bones by Winn Collier, a book I’ve had my eye on. And he has as his best children’s book St. Nicholas the Giftgiver by Ned Bustard, a book I’d also like to take a look at. And I’ve been intending to read Prayer in the Night by Tish Harrison Warren all year long. 2022 is the year.
  • Sheridan Voysey: Best Books I Read in 2021: Mr. Voysey read The Yellow House by Martin Gayford, about roomies Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gaugin. I’d like to read this one in this my spring of Van Gogh studies. And the novel Summer’s Out at Hope Hall by Pam Rhodes sounds good.
  • Catholic World Report: The Best Books I Read in 2021. Over forty book lovers tell this Catholic publication the titles that they most enjoyed in reading year 2021. Dale Ahlquist read Sigrid Undset’s Kristen Lavransdatter trilogy, which I also highly recommend. Alan Anderson read Peter Kreeft’s Wisdom from the Psalms, which sounds great. Michael Ward has written After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man, which might need to be added to my reading list since I plan to re-read Abolition this year. The Light of Caliburn by Jake Frost is a tale of Merlin’s activity in modern day Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a children’s book recommended by David Deavel’s son. Another children’s book I’ve never heard of, although I am familiar with the author, is Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy, recommended by Eleanor Nicholson. In a Far-Off Land by Stephanie Landsem is Christian fiction (from Tyndale House) by a Catholic author, described as deeply moving, recommended by Rhonda Ortiz who is a novelist herself. Tolkien’s Modern Reading by Dr. Holly Ordway is another book I’m going to need to check out. I’m not any more Catholic than I am Free Will Baptist, but this article was a treasure trove of reading recommendations.
  • Happy Catholic: Best Books of 2021. Julie also has a list at her blog of the best movies she watched in 2021. And a reading challenge for herself for 2022. I added Stratford Caldecott’s All Things Made New to my TBR because I’ve heard good things about this author.
  • Stuck in a Book: Top Books of 2021. From this list, Murder Included by Joanna Cannan sounds like a a good solid murder mystery read.
  • At a Hen’s Pace: Books Read in 2021. She recommends C.J. Archer as an author of mysteries mixed with magic, and I might give this author a try.
  • Jared C. Wilson: My Top Ten Books of 2021. Again, I’m going to go with Jackie Hill Perry’s book, Holier Than Thou.
  • Dr. Carmen Imes (Biola University): Best Books of 2021. Dr. Imes recommends Jesus and John Wayne by Kristen du Mez, a book I’m afraid is going to make me mad, but I probably need to read it.
  • Barbara at Stray Thoughts: My Top 12 Favorite Books Read in 2021. Barbara always has lots of good books to recommend.
  • Debra at Readerbuzz: Best Books I Read in 2021. Debra suggests quite a few books that sound delightful, including books on healing, happiness, food, nature and children’s books, too. I need to ask her what she thinks is the very best book of all time on happiness/joy since I think she’s read a lot of them. I’m skeptical about self-help reads, but I do tend to reflect that which I read. So, maybe books about joy can bring joy?
  • Gulfside Musing: The 2021 Wrap-up and My List of Favorites. In addition to favorite reads of 2021, JoAnn has a list of a few things that worked for her to maintain and improve her reading life.
  • Ti at Book Chatter has My Favorite Reads: Best of 2021. I think Ti convinced me in her review to give Amor Towles’ Rules of Civility a try this year.
  • Savvy Verse & Wit: Best Books of 2021. Serena has six poetry books on her best of 2021 list, narrowed down from twelve. From which I deduce that she reads a lot of poetry.
  • Mary at BookFan: 2021 Favorites: I guess I’ll have to try Once Upon a Wardrobe and Surviving Savannah, both by Patti Callahan, who also wrote Becoming Mrs. Lewis. I didn’t much care for Becoming Mrs. Lewis, but I’m willing to give Ms. Callahan another chance.
  • Avid Reader: 2021 End of the Year 2021 Book Survey. Melissa’s post is encouraging me to read Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon. Historical fiction. The French Resistance. Sounds like a winner.
  • Martha’s Bookshelf: My Year in Books. Chicken Talk Around the World, a book about how chickens sound to speakers of different languages around the world, sounds like a great addition to my library. I’m going to have to find a copy of this one.
  • I Wish I Lived in a Library: My Favorite Books of 2021. Katharine also recommends Once Upon a Wardrobe, as well as Q’s Legacy by Helene Hanff and The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin.
  • Literary Feline: Top 15 Books Read in 2021: She’s got Lisa See (The Island of Sea Women) and Laurie Halse Anderson (Shout) at the top of her list, so I’m a kindred spirit.
  • Dewey’s Treehouse: Mama Squirrel’s Reading List. Not squirrelly at all, she’s got some good ones. Maybe I need to read some Alan Jacobs: How To Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds. Goodness knows, I could use some help in the thinking department. (Oh, my, I just figured out that this blog, one I have visited frequently in the past, is Ambleside Online author Anne White’s blog.)

Well, that’s all of the lists I’ve had time to search out and link. If you have an end of the year favorite books list that I didn’t link to, please share in the comments. And Happy New Year, and here’s to more good books in 2022.

Still More Book Lists 2020

Modern Mrs. Darcy: My favorite books of 2020. I’m afraid that Anne Bogel and I are just not into the same books, and that’s O.K. You may find some gems on her list of favorites. I didn’t see anything except Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, which I’ve already put on my TBR list.

Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2020. Well, I want to read Jack by Marilynne Robinson and The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larsson (about Churchill who is someone I love reading about). I read The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel, and I thought it was meh. Not horrible, just not great. The rest of Mr. Obama’s list seems to be made up of books about race, immigration, politics, drugs, and more race, which is fine but just not what I’m looking for right now.

Trevin Wax: My 10 Favorite Reads of 2020. Now this list is right up my alley. Mr. Wax begins his list with The Last Lion, a three volume biography of Winston Churchill by William Manchester, which I have read and loved. So, the rest of the list is bound to be good. Yes, Breaking Bread With the Dead by Alan Jacobs is one I already have on my TBR list. The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson sounds fantastic. And maybe I’ll even try Reading While Black by Esau McCaulley.

Kevin DeYoung: Top 10 Books of 2020. Some of these look good but too hefty for me to add to an already hefty reading list for 2021.

Jared C. Wilson: My Top 10 Books of 2020. Also, most of Jared’s picks are too much for me to try to read this year, although he does recommend (again) Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund, a book I’ve already seen recommended over and over, and one I do plan to read ASAP. And I would like to read Jared’s YA novel, published in 2020, Echo Island.

Adventures of a Digitabulist: My Top 5 Books of 2020. This list was different and intriguing. 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster sounds like something I’d like. The blogger, Francesca, says she “took a chance” with Edward, and I think I might do so as well.

Book Lists 2020

I used to have a feature here on Saturdays called the Saturday Review of Books. And every year around the end of the year, I dedicated that Saturday Review to lists of books for the old year or for the new year or for anything in between: Favorite Books of This Year or What I’m Reading Next Year or The Best Books of All Time According to Blogger #1 or really any book list that came out on a blog somewhere at the end of the year. So, I’ve been collecting these lists, and now I’ll post a few each day. If I don’t already have yours linked here, please leave a comment and a link. I love book lists, and I like sharing them with you all.

Let the listing begin!

My Favorite Books of 2020 by Russell Moore. Most of Mr. Moore’s list is non-fiction of the theological and sociological persuasion, and for the most part I’m not a fan of those kinds of books. But I am looking forward to reading Marilynne Robinson’s Jack, the newest in her Gilead set of stories.

The 2020 For the Church Book Awards by Ronni Kurtz. “[W]e are pleased to present our readers with a few books that stuck out as exceptional from this past year. In this, our fourth annual For the Church book awards, each member of the editorial team chose two books—a winner and a runner-up—to honor and to recommend to you.” Of the book on this award list, I am most interested in Alan Jacobs’ Breaking Bread With the Dead, about reading and learning from old books.

Cody Glen Barnhardt: 10 Favorite Books I Read in 2020. Mr. Barnhardt is not the first to suggest Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sufferers and Sinners by Dane Ortlund. My pastor also suggested it earlier this year, and I’ve seen it on other lists. Maybe someone is trying to tell me something?

Hungry for Good Books?: The Annual List 2020 Edition. Trina Hayes has her entire list of 100 or more books read during this year of the plague. And I spotted a few possibilities there: Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles, The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay, The Women of Copper County by Mary Doria Russell, Eliza Hamilton: the Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton by Tilar Mazzeo. I could probably find more, but my TBR list is already way too long.

Dewey’s Treehouse: 25 Top Books I Want to Read in 2021. “Enough with long lists. If I get these done, I’ll be happy.” ~Mama Squirrel. OK, it’s a great idea in theory, but MY list is already miles long. And I can’t resist the this (long) title on the Treehouse short list: Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise by Katherine Rundell.

Gift Books for Grown-ups by Betsy at Redeemed Reader. Several of these are already on my own TBR list, and several others I’ve already read and enjoyed. I daresay any of them would make a lovely gift—for someone else or for yourself. (And I still added more books to the TBR list from this one.)

I’ll link to a few more book lists tomorrow, maybe yours if you leave me a comment?

Picture Book States: Massachusetts

Massachusetts

  • Motto: Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem. By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.
  • Nickname: The Bay State
  • State Flower: Mayflower
  • State Bird: Chickadee
  1. Letting Swift River Go by Jane Yolen. Illustrated by Barbara Cooney. Little Brown, 1992.
  2. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. Viking Press, 1944.
  3. Bus Route to Boston by Maryann Cocca-Leffler. Boyds Mills, 2009.
  4. Comet’s Nine Lives by Jan Brett. G.P. Putman, 1996.
  5. Obadiah the Bold by Brinton Turkle. Viking, 1969.
  6. Pennies for Elephants by Lita Judge.  Disney-Hyperion, 2009.
  7. Bernard Sees the World by Berniece Freschet. Illustrated by Gina Freschet. Scribner’s, 1976.
  8. A Year in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau. Illustrated by  Giovanni Manna. Creative Editions, 2017.
  9. C Is for Cape Cod by Christie Laurie. Photographs by Steve Heaslip. Islandport Press, 2014.
  10. B Is for Berkshires by Joan Duris. Illustrated by Gillian Jones.  Islandport Press, 2015.

It seems as if there should have been more Massachusetts picture books that rise to the surface when I think about Boston and Cape Cod and Cambridge and all that kind of American heritage kind of stuff. I suppose if I had included the Pilgrims and Massachusetts Bay Colony, there would have been more. But I thought I’d concentrate on the many other sights and events and cultural artifacts that make Massachusetts interesting.

What picture books do you associate with the state of Massachusetts?

Nonfiction November: Sounds Good

Well, I’ve managed to add a LOT of books to my TBR list already in this November Nonfiction Month, just by looking at all the first week posts that people wrote about their year in nonfiction reads. I could have added more, but I tried to restrain myself.

The Great Pretender – The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness by Susannah Cahalan. Recommended at Booklovers Pizza.

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. Recommended at Booklovers Pizza.

The Library Book by Susan Orlean Recommended at Loulou Reads.

Shoot for the Moon: The Space Race and the Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11 by James Donovan. Recommended by Julz Reads.

Forty Autumns: A Family’s Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner. Recommended by Julz Reads. Also recommended at Novel Visits.

When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II by Guptill Manning. Recommended by Julz Reads.

The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber. Recommended by Julz Reads.

The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire by Chloe Hooper. Recommended at booksaremyfavoriteandbest.

Warriors Don’t Cry: The Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High by Melba Patillo Bealls. Recommended at Based on a True Story.

Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew by Michael D. Leinbach and Jonathan H. Ward. Recommended at Based on a True Story.

Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar. Recommended at Musings of a Literary Wanderer.

Eiffel’s Tower: The Story of the 1889 World’s Fair by Jill Jonnes. Recommended by Deb Nance at Readerbuzz.

Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America by James M. and Deborah Fallows. Recommended by Deb Nance at Readerbuzz.

Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt by Arthur C. Brooks. Recommended by Deb Nance at Readerbuzz. Also recommended at Howling Frog Books.

My Glory Was I Had Such Friends by Amy Silverstein. Recommended at Mind Joggle.

Beyond The Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan by Ursula Buchan. Recommended at What Cathy Read Next.

How To Think by Alan Jacobs. Recommended at Howling Frog Books.

Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley. Recommended at Bookworm Chronicles.

The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne. Recommended at Brona’s Books.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara. Recommended at The Writerly Reader.

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carrryrou. Recommended at An Adventure in Reading. Also recommended at Novel Visits.

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell. Recommended at Doing Dewey.

Fixing the Fates: An Adoptee’s Story of Truth and Lies by Diane Dewey. Recommended at Superfluous Reading.

Avidly Reads Board Games by Eric Thurm. Recommended at Superfluous Reading.

Doing Life with Your Adult Children: Keep Your Mouth Shut and the Welcome Mat Out by Jim Burns. Recommended at Lisa notes . . .

The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett Graff. Recommended at Novel Visits.

Twelve Patients: Life and Death in Bellevue Hospital by Eric Manheimer. Recommended at Hopewell’s Library of Life.

Philippines My Faraway Home by Mary McKay Maynard. Recommended at Hopewell’s Library of Life.

Syria’s Secret Library: Reading and Redemption in a Town Under Siege by Mike Thomson. Recommended at Book’d Out.

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson. Recommended at Kristin Kraves Books.

Book Girl by Sarah Clarkson: How To Choose Books

Book Girl: A Journey Through the Treasures & Transforming Power of a Reading Life by Sarah Clarkson.

Book Girl Discussion Question #3: In chapter 1, the author offers some guidelines about how to choose books and how to discern what constitutes good reading. How do you choose what book to read next? Are there people in your life whose recommendations you particularly resonate with?

Sarah Clarkson suggests we look at literary quality and worldview as we decide to which books we will give our time and attention. These are good criteria, but a bit slippery and subjective to apply. Many books that are supposed to be high in literary quality or that have a perfectly adequate Christian worldview are just not good for me. So, how do I choose what I will read? (Anne Bogel, aka Modern Mrs. Darcy, phrases the question, “What should I read next?,” and she has an entire podcast dedicated to answering that question for a diverse cast of guests on her podcast.)

I read a lot about books. I read other people’s recommendations. I listen to what other people are saying about what they are reading, and I consider the source. I don’t care for Christian romance novels or secular bodice-rippers, so if I know that your taste runs to those sorts of books, I probably will take your recommendations with a large grain of salt. On the other hand, if you love some of the same books that I love, I will listen to your recommendations with focused attention.

I try out books that I think I will like, and I’m willing to give up after 100 pages or so if a books is just not for me. I think both being willing to try new things and being willing to say that this book is just not worth my time are important skills to learn for a reader. I can’t read all of the books, and some of them are just not good—or not good for me at this time and place in my life. I don’t care for, and didn’t finish, several books that are favorites, even classics, for other people. I hated Lonesome Dove, even though I can read and enjoy other Western writers. I don’t plan to read any more Hemingway or Steinbeck in my lifetime, and I thought A Prayer for Owen Meany was both ridiculous and demeaning. But I did try all of those authors and books at least once, and if they are your favorites I do not impugn your literary taste. It’s probably something lacking in me that I cannot appreciate some books that many other people love.

I pick up whatever is handy or appealing. I make lists. I read whimsically and widely. I sometimes make a plan, and I sometimes throw out the plan. I read the latest, greatest that everyone else is reading, and I read obscure books that hardly anyone else has even heard of or read.

How do you choose your next read?

Book Girl by Sarah Clarkson

Book Girl: A Journey Through the Treasures & Transforming Power of a Reading Life by Sarah Clarkson.

Book Girl is one of those books about books that we readers love to read, both to join in the fandom and to peruse the book lists to see how many we can check off and how many treasures we have yet to discover. This book is full of lists and also full of tributes to the power and beauty of a reading life. I was hooked from the beginning.

So, I decided to start an in-person book club, and I unilaterally picked Book Girl to be the first book we would read together. I can’t wait for our first meeting later this month, so I also decided to write down some of my thoughts about Book Girl here on Semicolon. There are discussion questions in the back of the book, and I thought I’d answer a few of them here.

Book Girl Discussion Question #1: In the introduction, the author describes how she came to be a book girl. When did you realize you were a book girl? What people or circumstances contributed to your love of reading?

Well, the short answer is: I had a mother who read to me. The first story I remember clearly that my mom read to me was the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis in the Bible. That was such an exciting story!I could hardly wait to hear what would happen to Joseph and his brothers next. Would Joseph escape from Pharaoh’s prison? Would the brothers be able to return with food in time to relieve the famine-stricken family? Would Jacob ever find out that his beloved son was not really dead? What would Joseph do to revenge himself on his mean brothers? I don’t know if the reading of this and other stories from the Bible made me a “book girl,” but they certainly made me a Story Girl.

Then, in first grade, I learned to read. And my mother began to take me to the library each week. There I was allowed to check out ten books, only ten books, no more and certainly I never left with fewer than ten. I first fell in love with the Snipp, Snapp, Snurr books and the Flicka, Ricka, Dicka series by Maj Lindman. Then, I graduated to the Twins series by Lucy Fitch Perkins: The Irish Twins, The Dutch Twins, The Japanese Twins, and so on. Something about triplets and twins was absolutely fascinating to my six or seven year old mind.

So, that’s when I first became a book girl. My mother, my first grade teacher, Miss Milsap, and the children’s librarians at Tom Green County library in San Angelo, Texas all had a hand in making me into a girl who loved stories, a girl who loved to read, a girl who craved books. My mother probably didn’t read to me while I was still in the womb the way Sarah Clarkson says her mother did, but she began reading to me soon after I was born. And she kept on reading to me and enabling my book addiction as I grew up. How did you become a book girl or boy?

The Wonderful Winter by Marchette Chute

The Wonderful Winter is a wonderful story, exciting but fairly unrealistic in that the runaway protagonist, young Sir Robert Wakefield, mostly meets up with kind and helpful people as he spends the winter on his own in London. And he gets to act and live with Shakespeare’s company of actors in the first production of Mr. Shakespeare’s new play, Romeo and Juliet!

In 1596, orphan boy Robin Wakefield runs away from his home in Suffolk with his three formidable aunts because said aunts won’t let him keep the spaniel puppy he found and named Ruff Wakefield. He very politely leaves a note:

Dear and honored ladies,

Do not worry about me and the dog. We will be all right. I wish you long life and every happiness.

Your respectful nephew,
Robert Wakefield

By a series of choices and events, Robin ends up in London where he takes refuge from a thief, the only bad guy in the story, in the theater. And from that point on, we get to explore with Robin the lives of Shakespeare and his fellow players and the exciting culture of the Elizabethan theater.

The go-to historical fiction book about Shakespeare and his life and times is Gary Blackwood’s The Shakespeare Stealer. Comparing Blackwood’s book to The Wonderful Winter is difficult since I read The Shakespeare Stealer many, many moons ago. I would say either/or, and if you or your child like one you might enjoy the other. Other historical fiction books with a Shakespearean setting:

Shakespeare’s Scribe and Shakespeare’s Spy, both by Gary Blackwood. Sequels to The Shakespeare Stealer.

The Playmaker by J.B. Cheaney. Another runaway boy-joins-Shakepeare’s-company story. This time young Richard Malory is hiding out from enemy or enemies unknown at the Globe Theatre.

Cue for Treason by Geoffrey Trease. Peter and his friend Kit find jobs as apprentices to the Bard himself.

Mistress Malapert by Sally Watson. In this exciting story the runaway is a girl, Valerie, who dresses as a boy and gets to meet Mr. Shakespeare and various other personalities of the time. Sally Watson is especially good at writing spunky girls who manage to get themselves into all sorts of scrapes and adventures.

Summer Reading Challenge: Books Set in the Summer

I’m sponsoring a summer reading challenge in my library. The rules are as follows:

Out of the forty categories listed, choose the number your child intends to complete, one book per category from Meriadoc Homeschool Library.Children in grades K-12 can choose to read 10, 20, 30 or 40 books between June 1, 2019 and August 31, 2019. Books must be recorded and responses given on the official record sheet. You do not have to check out your books from Meriadoc Homeschool Library, but many categories may be easier to find in MHSL than in other libraries or at home. Books can be read and recorded in any order you choose.

The fifth category for this challenge is to read “a book about or set in the summer.”

Summer books for primary readers (grades K-3)
The Camping Trip That Changed America by Barb Rosenstock. Naturalist John Muir and President Teddy Roosevelt go on a camping trip to Yosemite.

The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow. A beautiful, poetic picture book story about a trip to the beach.

Roxaboxen by Alice McLarren. A group of children in Arizona or New Mexico, somewhere dry and desert-y, make a play town out of old woden crates, rocks, cacti and desert glass.

Sailor Jack and the Ball Game by Selma Wassermann. An easy reader about submarine sailor Jack and his friend Beanpole and jack’s parrot, Bluebell, and a rather chaotic baseball game.

Betsy’s Busy Summer by Carolyn Haywood. All of Haywood’s Betsy and Eddie books are delightful, but most of them are school stories. This one tells about Betsy and her friends and their neighborhood adventures during one fun summer.

More summer reading for younger children

Summer books for middle grade readers (grades 4-7)
Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright. Summer has a magic all its own, but this summer is different in many ways. Portia Blake and her younger brother Foster are going to the same place they always go in the summer, to visit their cousin Julian. However, this summer they’re going all by themselves while their parents spend the summer in Europe. And this summer Portia and Julian discover a deserted resort town next to a nearly dried up lake. And this summer the children also become friends with the eccentric Minnehaha Cheever and Pindar Payton, elderly sister and brother who are the only inhabitants of the ghost town across the lake. What other “magic” will the children conjure up as they listen to tales of long ago and explore the remains of Gone-Away Lake?

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall.

Henry Reed, Inc. by Keith Robertson. A great old-fashioned book about a boy who spends the summer in a small town with his uncle and aunt. Exciting things happen whenever Henry is around!

Galveston’s Summer of the Storm by Julie Lake. Very lazy Texas summer with Texas foods and hot weather and front porches and grandmother’s house. Then disaster!

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. Originally published in 1930, this book is the first in a series of books about a group of adventurous children and a sailboat. Swallows and Amazons introduces the Walker children—John, Susan, Titty, and Roger—their camp on Wild Cat island, the able-bodied catboat Swallow, and their frenemies the two intrepid Amazons, Nancy and Peggy Blackett. The children are living the free range kids’ dream as they camp all by themselves on a small island, cook their own meals, sail their boat up and down the lake, and engage in all sorts of mock-battles and adventures.

Ash Road by Ivan Southall. This one takes place in January, summertime in Australia. A small group of children are cut off by a raging wildfire in the wilds of the Australian outback. They have only two elderly adults to help them, or perhaps it is the children who must help each other to get them all out of danger.

More summer reading for middle graders.

Summer books for teen readers (grades 8-12)
Shaking the Nickel Bush by Ralph Moody. “Skinny and suffering from diabetes, Ralph Moody is ordered by a Boston doctor to seek a more healthful climate. Now nineteen years old, he strikes out into new territory hustling odd jobs, facing the problem of getting fresh milk and leafy green vegetables. He scrapes around to survive, risking his neck as a stunt rider for a movie company.” This book is the sixth book in a series of eight autobiographical novels by Ralph Moody, the author and protagonist who had to grow up fast after his father’s death when Ralph was only eleven years old. High schoolers may want to start with the first book in the series, Little Britches, or just begin with this one, a gripping tale of a young man’s adventures and growth.

I Kill the Mockingbird by Paul Acampora. Set during the summer between eighth grade and high school, this mystery adventure tells the story of how three Mockingbird fans created a conspiracy to make Harper Lee’s famous novel into the hottest property on the shelves of all of the libraries, bookstores, and other book distributors in the state of Connecticut, maybe the whole U.S.

The War for Independence: The Story of the American Revolution by Albert Marrin.

An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy.

My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay. Eighteen year old Cori decides to spend her summer in Indonesia, building a church, out of mixed motives. Yes, Cori is a Christian, and she wants to do something meaningful in God’s service. She also wants to get away from her confusing relationship with her boyfriend, Scott, and she just wants to experience her own adventure. She gets a lot more “adventure” than she bargained for.

More summer books for young teens

Do you have any favorite books set in the summertime?