Thoughts on: The Call of the Wild, by Jack London

We just finished reading "The Call of the Wild," by Jack London out loud together.

I think I enjoyed this book better than some of the other ones we've read lately. I again liked how it was from the animal's perspective. It was full of action and adventure, and there were some emotional parts, too, where I got a little choked up.

My 6-year-old was totally caught up in the story. Her eyes were wide and her mouth open when we'd read an exciting part. She liked the end how the dog became a legend and lived in the wild. She loves animals and this was a great one for her.

I think we'll try "Little House on the Prairie" next. I hope we like it! :)

Thoughts on: Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules Verne

This was a fun book to read to the kids. The copy we checked out from the library had a map in the back that showed the route the characters took on their journey. When they passed through Utah, my 6-year-old became very excited since her favorite cousin lives in Utah. It was cute to see her reaction.

When they were traveling in other parts of the world it was nice to talk about different cultures and help them understand that the world is so big and people do things so differently all over the world.

I enjoyed reading this book to the kids as much as they enjoyed listening, often reading longer than I intended because I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next.

Thoughts on: Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell

This was another book about animals from an animals point of view. My kids seem to like these ones!

In Black Beauty (which my 6-year-old has named her new black kitten), we read about Black Beauty's experiences throughout his lifetime. A lot of the people were really mean, which led to some good discussions about the proper way to care for and treat animals. And some of the book was quite sad when he was taken away, treated badly, or another horse died.

I'm not sure if any of us really enjoyed this book a whole lot, but I guess I'm glad we read it.

Thoughts on: The Swiss Family Robinson, by Johann David Wyss

This book was suggested by my husband. He loves the old Disney movie version of this story, and thought the kids would really enjoy the book. The one we checked out was an illustrated version, and I'm not sure it was really the entire story. I need to check out a non-illustrated version and read it to myself to see if it's any different!

Nonethelss, it was still a fun book to read outloud. My 6-year-old's imagination went wild with thought of being shipwrecked on an island and encountering all the fun animals the Robinson's saw on their island! My 3-year-old had nightmares about some of the animal encounter's, though. And my 6-year-old was a little confused why they killed so many animals that they saw, too. It led to some good discussions and was overall a fun story, despite all the animal killing!

Thoughts on: Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard Atwater

I know I must have read this book when I was a kid, I was an avid reader! But I really didn't remember anything abou it.

We had fun learning about Mr. Popper, and "watching" (with our imaginations) his penguins dance on stage.

Let's just point it out now that the book is nothing like the new Mr. Popper's Penguins movie (which I still liked, anyway).

It was a shorter book that we read rather quickly, as we all couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

We all enjoyed this book and the kids like pretending to be penguins now, too!

Thoughts on: Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie

The next book I read aloud to my children was Peter Pan. There are several different versions of this story out there, including the Disney version, but I wanted to read this one.

It was, um, different than what I was expecting. I don't think my kids understood everything that was going on, and some of the words/content were way over their head (and more adult...) but they followed the overall story. They've never watched the Disney movie of Peter Pan before, so they were not familiar with the storyline. They did, however, become very excited at the mention of Tinkerbell. Her character, however, is quite mischevious and often unkind in this story. I just told them that she has learned how to be nice since then. :)

My kids loved all the action and adventure, and really liked the ticking crocodile! You can often find them playing crocodile around the house, although they don't tick. :)

My 6-year-old asked lots of questions during this book, and it was fun to come up with answers to try to explain all the sword fighting and killing being done in the story while keeping it kid-friendly! Whew, that was a mommy-workout for sure!

In the end, we all did enjoy reading this book together.

Thoughts on: Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White

I don't really need to review Charlotte's Web, as almost everyone has read it in their lifetime.  But I thought it would be fun just to share some of my thoughts about it.

I have started reading out loud to my kids (6 & 3) at bedtime each night from a "long" book. We still spend time during the day reading picture books and easy readers that my 6-year-old reads to me, but for bedtime, they get tucked in and I read one or a few chapters from whatever book we're on.

We started with Charlotte's Web. I thought that since we are starting a little farm at our 1.5 acre rural homestead, it would be fun to read about farm animals. My kids thought it was great that the animals could talk to each other, and I'm sure will spend time trying to get our animals to talk to them!

My 3-year-old often falls asleep while I'm reading, but my 6-year-old is always captivated by the story. She loved this story about Wilbur and had fun trying to guess what would happen next, or share her feelings about things the people would do or say to or about the animals. It was great for her imagination and also good for real information about taking care of animals.

We all loved it!

Book Review: Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice, by David Teems

I loved the book Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice, by David Teems. It was fascinating to learn how the Bible we know and love today began. I personally read the King James Version of the Bible, so this book was especially interesting because so much of that version is what Tyndale translated. I love how he emphasized in his teachings that the scriptures and Gospel are about love. It was also eye opening to learn more about the Catholic Church in that time period and how against Tyndale and others of his contemporaries the church was.

My favorite quote of Tyndale’s, which I have heard before and didn’t really realize it came from him, was, “…if God spare my life ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plow, shall know more of the scripture than thou dost,” speaking to a defender of the Pope and the belief that the everyday person should not have the scriptures readily available to them.

How different our world would be if the general Christian population did not have access to the scriptures. The scriptures teach us how to love our neighbors, how to serve those that need serving, and how to be like Christ. It is full of symbolism and stories that are relatable to all different kinds of people. Tyndale was a truly inspired man of God and was ahead of his time with his understanding of the true meaning of the Word of God. I find it fascinating that so much of the vocabulary we have in the English language came from a man trying to do the will of God. If more people knew and understood this, then maybe they would be more accepting of God and his teachings and apply them to their everyday lives. What a different world we would live in if that were the case!

disclosure: the publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book through BookSneeze®.