With a bunch of birthdays this month and next (including Tom’s and Daniel’s) and a few other occasions, I’ve just done some online book shopping. Some of the goodies:
How to Build Treehouses, Huts and Forts and Fun Projects for You and the Kids, both by David Stiles, whom the boys consider their new best friend and who definitely understands the hearts (and toolboxes) of would-be Huck Finns and Tom Sawyers. I decided to get Daniel a copy of each for his birthday, rather than testing the library to see how many times in row we could borrow the books. The latest hold extension should expire just before the big day.
The recent reprint of the English comic Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future: The Red Moon Mystery by Frank Hampson; I can’t remember where I read about these not too long ago (possibly here), but I thought my Asterix-loving birthday-bound boy would love them.
Cinderella/Learning German through Fairy Tales (Level 1) by David Burke; something that I stumbled across and that intrigued me. From the description, it sounds as if it’s arranged much like Cyrus Fisher’s The Avion My Uncle Flew. Cheap enough at $10.47 as a language learning experiment with the kids.
From Amazon.ca:
Beowulf: Dragonslayer by Rosemary Sutcliff, for one of the kids’ friends, who has heard of the recent movie version and computer game, and past whom I’m going to try to sneak something literary.
The Enchanted Moccasins and Other Native American Legends by Henry R. Schoolcraft; a new (2007) Dover reprint which I think Davy will enjoy. You can also find some of the legends in free audio format at Librivox, and at Project Gutenberg.
Big Fat Cookies by Elinor Klivans for a niece who says she hates school and reading but likes to make things in the kitchen.
Pioneer Girl by Maryanne Caswell, for another (younger) niece; I think JoVE first recommended this lovely, true Canadian pioneer story to me for Laura, who loves it.
From Bookcloseouts:
A Kids’ Guide to America’s Bill of Rights by Kathleen Krull
Mad Professor by Mark Frauenfelder. There’s always room for another good science experiment book on the shelf, especially when it’s written and illustrated by Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing.
The Golden Thread by Bruce Meyer, which I wrote about here; I’m so happy to have my own copy (and so too no doubt is the friend who has been such an obliging lender).
Sketches from the Ranch: A Montana Memoir by Dan Aadland, illustrated by Nik Carpenter; I seem to have bought the last copy, so here’s the Amazon link just in case.
The revised edition of The Letters of E.B. White. I know I already have the original edition, but I felt the need for the latest version, as Amazon’s page notes is “now updated by his granddaughter Martha White to include newly released letters from the last decade of his life”.
Let Me Finish, by Roger Angell, longtime New Yorker writer (and Andy White’s stepson)
Cooking in a Can by Katherine L. White (no relation); I think I’ll give this one to the kids’ as their school’s out/running away from home present.
Filed under: Books |
Farm School, Farm House 
Building tree houses.. cooking in a can… the kids will think you are trying to get rid of them :-)
I’m just following their lead from last summer, which involved a tent, a lot of antiquated boy scout manuals. And then there has been this winter’s education in learning to cook with fire. They have already taken all my emptied, large Melitta coffee cans!