After Darkness, Light
This post needs to begin with an apology. Not that I think there are too many people who regularly read my blog, and the one who does (thanks Sarah) long ago received a much more personal notification, but it is just embarrassing that it’s taken me well over a year to announce my first published book anywhere on my website.
So without further ado, here’s what I spent summer of 2021-22 writing. (Before you wonder how long I think summer is, I was in the southern hemisphere.)
Jan tries hard to be a miller’s boy… but his natural talent for painting keeps shining through. Yet wherever he goes and whatever success life brings to him, he’ll always remember his foster-family and always be proud of his “miller’s thumb.”
Jan of the Windmill is around the length of Anne of Green Gables or A Little Princess.
The story revolves around a young boy who eventually becomes a successful painter through his patience and hard work, but the writing style is not the simplest, so it’d probably be hard to follow for those younger than 11+.
You’ll find my brief conclusion and a link to the book if you skip to the end—or read on through if you want all the details!
Continue reading “Book Review: Jan of the Windmill (by Juliana Horatia Ewing)”Polly the country girl is off on a visit to her city friend Fanny—and Fanny’s rich, somewhat dissipated lifestyle throws several perplexing challenges in Polly’s way. How will Polly do walking the tightrope between sticking stubbornly out like a sore thumb and letting worldly wisdom spoil her?
An Old-Fashioned Girl isn’t a long book—shorter than Anne of Green Gables, around the length of The Railway Children or The Scarlet Pimpernel.
The book is written for a young girl audience—it’s probably aimed at 10+ but a younger audience might enjoy hearing it read too. It’s thoughtful enough that older readers may also find it interesting.
As usual, jump to the end if you just want a brief conclusion, or go straight through for all the details!
Continue reading “Book Review: An Old-Fashioned Girl (by Louisa May Alcott)”Have you ever wondered how much crazy trouble six unsupervised children could get into? There seems to be no end to the scrapes the six Bastable children can get into!
There are three books in this series, The Story of the Treasure Seekers, The Wouldbegoods, and New Treasure Seekers. Each book is about the length of Tom Sawyer or Anne of Green Gables—the last book is probably a little shorter than the other two.
The books are fairly easy to read and occasional hard words are usually explained within the text. Any child who can read would probably enjoy the books, but a little bit of maturity is called for in order to recognize the do-not-try-this-at-home incidents. In general though, the age range is about 7+.
Skip straight to my brief conclusion about the series at the bottom, or read straight on through for all the details!
Continue reading “Book Review: The Story of the Treasure Seekers and sequels (by E. Nesbit)”The title The Railway Children probably invokes ideas of dark railway cars, extreme poverty, hoboes, and dangerous escapes. This book involves none of these. On the contrary, it’s a story of three happy children, though they do have their hardships and moments of silliness. They live by the railway for most of the book, and many of their adventures involve it; but other than that, they hardly count as railway children.
The Railway Children is a fairly short book, probably about the length of A Little Princess or Alice in Wonderland.
Children 7+ will be likely to enjoy this story, and its moral(s) are particularly geared toward that general age. So is the writing style and plotline; there’s a good deal of excitement and not too much unnecessary complication.
For a brief conclusion and a link to the ebook, skip to the bottom—or read right on through for the full details!
Continue reading “Book Review: The Railway Children (by E. Nesbit)”What if there were a book that encouraged children to be patient, kind, generous, and noble? Look no farther; A Little Princess does that and does it effectively.
For length, I estimate that A Little Princess is a bit shorter than Anne of Green Gables, but longer than Little Lord Fauntleroy. With only a little bit of dedication, anyone could read it in a day.
Girls 7+ should be able to grasp the main ideas of the book, and will surely relate to the seven-year-old heroine. Sometimes it takes boys longer to be interested in books about girls, but it’s still worthy reading for a boy if he’s willing.
Find my brief four sentence conclusion at the end or read on through for the details!
Continue reading “Book Review: A Little Princess (by Frances Burnett)”After the pattern of Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna, Elsie Dinsmore, Little Women, and such like girl stories, Susan Coolidge brought her own childhood to life with the fictionalized What Katy Did. How many of the incidents are real and how many fictional I have no idea; but the personalities were evidently inspired by herself and her siblings, and not surprisingly, a practical, down-to-earth, and real flavor hangs about the story as a result.
How long are the Katy Did series books? They’re pretty brief; each about the length of Pollyanna, or the gospel of Mark.
Girls 7+ will enjoy the books. It generally takes boys a little longer to be mature enough to want to read a girl story. Katy has several brothers, however, who will make it a little more interesting for the boys.
You can jump to the end for the concluding remarks and links, and then come back up for more detail if you need it!
Continue reading “Book Review: What Katy Did and sequels (by Susan Coolidge)”
Geneva D 