Recommended Literature

Every so often, a new list of "must read" books goes through the homeschool circle. In general, I am well read. I have normally read about 80% of the books on the lists. Sometimes books are added to my "want to read" list. One book/author on my list is The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James.

The book was borrowed from the library and began, but was never completed. I normally do my reading before bed and always fell asleep after a few pages. Two years ago, I purchased a copy of the book so I could push ahead to the end, regardless of how long it would take.

After trying to wade through this book for the last month, I've come to the realization that I simply don't like this book. It's been impossible for me to feel any connection with the main characters. I've given up. This is going to be one of those books that are not worth the effort to finish. Other people may enjoy this work, but not me. I guess that I should remove it from my high school reading list for my high school students next year.

Children's Reading

My youngest daughters have been listening /reading a lot of our family's favorite picture books. It's been a joy to reread the antics of Ping, to watch the Little House's surrounding change, to read about Lentil learning to play the harmonica, etc. Eight years ago, our local library was weeding out picture books that weren't being checked out from the library very frequently. The librarian (at the time) gave my family copies of A Pair of Red Clogs, The Duchess Bakes a Cake, and Angus Lost because we were the only people who checked out those titles. All of my children have enjoyed snuggling on my lap and listening to these stories again and again.

My family are all huge readers and we still enjoy family read aloud time together. The older children, ages 10-16, are usually read to about 3 times each week. We don't read the amount of books together that I wish we could, but we fit in what our schedules permit. It's becoming a struggle to find a book to read together as a family that someone hasn't already read. The other tricky part is to hide book that I'm reading so no one reads ahead. What I really need is a newly published author, who writes great books with wide reader appeal, that no one in my family has discovered!

This will probably be my last planned reading of many classic picture books. My little girls are growing up. We will move on to reading about The Hundred Dresses, The Little House on the Prairie books, and other great chapter books. I will enjoy getting reacquainted with some old friends and meeting new characters, but the snuggling together on the couch will never be the same. How blessed I have been to spend the last 21 years reading aloud favorite stories from my childhood.