Current read-alouds

Mark has been reading Little Britches to us in the evenings, and we're all *really* enjoying it. 


Here is a portion of what we read tonight:
But first: The background to this excerpt is that the narrator, Ralph, a boy of eight~ has lied to his mother.  When she finds out, she makes him stand with his face in the corner and wait-- missing supper-- until his father comes home.  His mother briefly fills his father in on the situation, and then this:
When he spoke, his voice was deep and dry, and I knew he must have been coughing a lot on the way home.  "Son, there is no question but what the thing you have done today deserves severe punishment.  You might have killed yourself or the horse, but much worse than that, you have injured your own character.  A man's character is like his house.  If he tears boards off his house and burns them to keep himself warm and comfortable, his house soon becomes a ruin.  If he tells lies to be able to do the things he shouldn't do but wants to, his character will soon become a ruin.  A man with a ruined character is a shame on the face of the earth."
I loved that illustration about the house, and I intend to use that in the future.

For the past few weeks I have been reading the.most.annoying.book.on.the.planet.  I know.  I thought this one took the cake.  But oh no.  This is far, far worse.  Surely you've heard of it:  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?  Oh my goodness gracious, it's no wonder I never read this as a child.  Do not ever read it.  Trust me.  It's just... odd.  All of it.  For some reason the kids want me to finish it, though I can barely stand to.  But I think we're now two chapters away from being done with it so I will.

In the meantime I've also begun reading this to them


...because it's my all-time favorite book and I used to want to be Anne in the worst way.  I wanted to be Anne Shirley even more than I wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder, and that's saying a lot.  (And- truly: who doesn't want a Matthew Cuthbert in their life?)  So ~*happy sigh*~ that is making up for the insufferable Lewis Carroll book.  (My apologies to anyone who adores that book.  I simply do not.)  

What are you reading these days?

11 comments:

  1. We just started "In Gramma's Attic." I really like it so far!

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  2. Peregrine really liked Little Britches. We're currently reading The Sword and the Tree and Augustine Came to Kent for school, and we're on the fifth 39 Clues book with Peregrine (for fun.) And lots of picture books for shorter people!

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  3. Wendy~ Oh, that's a good one! Ella has read most of that series and really likes them, too.

    Rebeca~ I'll have to look into some of those titles. :)

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  4. Little Britches sounds wonderful... it's been on my list. I started reading Alice to Jack a couple years ago and we never finished. I don't recall either of us being super excited about it.

    We're finishing The Matchlock Gun right now and then I'll be done with my historical fiction cue for awhile so we will be finishing the Narnia series. I won't let Jack read the rest on his own until we read them out loud together, and it's killing him! AND we're also going to start in on the Little House books! Yay! Can you believe I never read them as a kid??? That should take us through to Christmas and our favorite Christmas read alouds. SO FUN!

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  5. Our current family read aloud is Understood Betsy. Great book!

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  6. You arefor funny! This is when having an older child read comes in handy. I was kinda pitching a fit about finishing Wind and the Willows (or so he said) so Jesse took over. Can't stand Alice in Wonderland. I'm really ok with it.

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  7. I read Alice in and Through the Looking Glass last year and I was not a fan. I only finished them because they were in the same volume and I have a hard time not finishing a book once I start. That being said, I've started The Wind in the Willows twice and never finished so...

    I adore Anne, too. I am a red head myself so I always imagined that I was Anne. My sister has long, dark brown hair so she was Diana.

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  8. Jodi~ Ha! (Your "I don't recall either of us being super excited about it.")

    Christy~ I've never read that one, but Ella read that on her own last year or the year before, and really liked it, too.

    Dana~ *smile* See? I'm not crazy! (Here I thought everyone would tout it as a classic and be all offended that I didn't like it! ;))

    Kristin~ I think all girls with red hair of our generation were blessed indeed to have Annie *and* Anne. How fun you were able to have a real-life Diana playmate!

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  9. I've been considering doing the same.

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