Island of the Blue Dolphins

Our October book for our Read With Me, Mommy book club was Island of the Blue Dolphins. When I first heard the title, I was a bit worried about the book for Leia. I had read this book to the boys in our school curriculum several years ago, and I wasn't sure if she would like the book. It is a bit of a sad book, with a girl living on an island alone, with a few animals for 18 years. The girl's brother dies at the beginning, which was also very sad. And Leia is very tender hearted.

Leia surprised me and really liked the book. She was sad at the end when the girl was rescued and wanted her to stay on her island instead of leaving it to go and be with people. That is exactly what her oldest brother thought of the book. I was glad the girl finally got to be with some people after living alone for so long!

The book is based on a true story, so at the club meeting, we discussed the real story, looked at the map to see where the island was located, and then the girls got mugs that they could decorate. And of course there were snacks.

Here is Leia with the book, a drawing she made of the front cover of the book, and the mug she decorated. She always has so much fun at these meetings. It is a very nice group of girls, and she looks forward to it all month.

Next month's book is the Boxcar Children. We love that book, so it should be lots of fun.

Read With Me, Mommy Book Club with Misty

This past week we hosted the Read With Me, Mommy Book Club at our house. Leia was so excited to pick the book, and have it at our house. She convinced me we should have it and we signed up to host it in July! It seemed so far away at the time! She helped plan the menu for the snacks, the craft, and the discussion. She loved it.

We read the book Misty of Chincoteague. We also got the book on tape from the library and Leia listened to it three times this past month. She is really horse crazy, and is praying that she can get a horse of her own. For now we will continue reading books about horses!

One of the ladies who came to the meeting had actually been to Chincoteague and gave all the girls a picture of some of the ponies they saw while they were there.

Here is a picture of Leia with the book, the picture of the ponies, and wearing the necklace she made for the craft. The necklace says "I love Misty and horses". It is hard to see the details in her necklace in this picture.

The book last month was Understood Betsy. That is a book that I had started to read to the older boys were younger and we didn't finish it as they weren't interested. This time we read further into the book, and we really liked the book. When it came the day for the book club meeting, Leia went with another mom and her daughter, as Yoda was sick and he had a Dr. appointment during the meeting. I didn't get any pictures taken of her, but she really liked the book and had a wonderful time at the meeting.

Next month's book is Island of the Blue Dolphins.

National Velvet

Our book for June was National Velvet. Leia and I had a hard time getting through this book. It is very long, set in England, and written in 1935. I think the combo was hard on us! Many of the references to objects, activities and food we had never heard of and had to look them up. We were having some trouble getting it read, also partly due to the baby being sick, so we watched the movie while we were 1/3 of the way through the book. And I am going to say something I hardly ever say: We liked the movie better than the book!

The other people in our club also had a hard time with the book, but everyone liked the movie. It was funny to see Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney looking so young. My kids has no idea who she is, but they know Mickey Rooney from Pete's Dragon, and he is a voice on some Christmas movies, also. Anyways, Leia had made a small paper horse and glued it to cardboard the way Velvet did in the book. Here is a picture of her horse with it's stable.

And here is a picture of her with the book and her activity from the meeting. She got to design a jockey shirt and hat. Of course, they were pink!

And at the club meeting she got to ride a horse! She was so happy about that. Here are a few pictures of her on Lily the horse.

Some good results of reading the book are Leia and Padme's new pastime of riding play horses all over the yard. They have names for their horses, can tell you what color they are, and have an entire game made up with these horses. They have even convinced 10 year old Luke to play with them. He has a manly horse, of course.

Next month the book is Caddie Woodlawn. I am excited for that book. We are going on vacation in a few weeks, and I am planning on taking the audio book along to listen on the ride.

Little Pilgrim's Progress

I am late getting this posted. It has been a bit crazy around here, with a cold making the rounds through the family making everyone miserable, especially the baby, who felt lousy and only momma could console him.

Anyways..... Leia and I went to the book club where Little Pilgrim's Progress was the subject. I have to admit, I didn't really want to read this book. We had tried to read several different versions of the book and we could never get very far into it before giving up. And it didn't seem like a very good book for little girls to read! Boy, was I pleasantly surprised. I read this book to the four oldest kids and we all loved it. It was written as though Christian, the main character, was a little boy and it was very understandable to the kids. And talk about a book that has applications to real life! We had great discussions about it and it made us really think about God and his loving care for us. Leia actually liked the second half of the book the best where Christiana is the main character. It was interesting how no one's journey was the same, how the characters worked together to help each other and others, and the King's servants helped them when they needed outside help. This was both Leia and my favorite book so far!



At the meeting, the hostess had different stations for the girls to go around to and gather materials to design a Christian t-shirt. They went to the bank, the library, the craft store and then to the art studio. Kind of like the different places the characters visited in the book. After the craft, which Leia loved (she is very crafty, unlike her mom), they had snacks and time for playing. Overall, a big hit for fun and fellowship.



The picture is of Leia wearing her shirt that she decorated. It says God with fabric scraps and she has a belt of truth at her waist.

A Little Princess

Leia and I went to the Read with Me Mommy book club earlier in the week. The book this month was A Little Princess. Leia loved this book. I liked it also, but it was a little bit sad in places, and even made me cry! We had seen the Shirley Temple movie of A Little Princess, and it has a happier ending. But it is a good lesson in how to treat people regardless of their or you own circumstances in life.

At the meeting there was a discussion of the book, followed by snack time, where Leia ate two cupcakes, just to get the butterfly and flower rings that were the decorations. She is wearing the rings in the picture. For the craft they decorated a headband, which she is also wearing. Then the girls all played, which is perhaps the best time of all. She is having so much fun reading the books with me and going to the meetings. What a great idea this little club was!

Read With Me Mommy

Leia and I are going to a Read With Me Mommy book club that is part of our home school group. Last month was the first one and we read the book Hitty: The First Hundred Years. It was a book about a carved wooden doll and all the adventures she has over a period of 100 years. This doll had an amazing life! Leia really liked the book, although I thought it was a bit over her head at times.

At the club meeting, all of the girls, ages 7-11, got to tell their favorite part of the book, and had a little discussion about it. The leader gave the girls a picture of the real Hitty doll in a picture frame and they got to decorate it. Then they had snacks, consisting of real tea, which Leia was so excited to taste, but ended up hating it. Just like her mom... Anyways, then the girls had some time to play. Leia had such a good time, and it was fun for her and I to have something that we did together.

Here is a picture of her with the book, her decorated picture, a book mark, and a quilt square she made. She keeps them all on her dresser. The girls can make a quilt square for all of the books they read, and then at the end make them into a quilt. That means I better learn a bit about quilting between now and then!





Tonight, we went to the book club and talked about the book The 100 Dresses. This is a very good book, but it is kind of sad, with a very good moral lesson to it. Leia really liked this book. At the meeting she made another quilt square after a good discussion of the book. She also had fun playing with the other girls after the craft was over. Here is a picture with her book and quilt square.

Next month the book is A Little Princess.