Tuesday, November 8, 2022

What Book Made You Love Reading?

 


I remember loving my third grade classroom so much. Maybe that's why I taught third grade for 13 years. It was where I really discovered my love of reading and when I was able to really delve into the story part, not just the word calling. By the time I reached fifth grade I was an avid reader. I'd gone through all the SRA lab colors (if you grew up in American public schools in the 80's you remember SRA reading lab) and was always looking for something new to devour. My teacher let us have free reading time often and she had several books that were part of a series called Sunfire. Each one featured a girl living through a different historical time period and she always had two loves to choose from. They were always polar opposites and the heroine had to decide where her heart lay. 

Susannah by Candice F. Ransom was the first one I read. I still own my old copy and have probably read it a dozen times over the years. I remember being mesmerized by the cover. Her dress, the handsome young men on their horses, the flowers, and even her hair flying in the breeze. Susannah was a young girl living during the Civil War. She was from the South, like me, and her family owned a plantation in Virginia. She watches her beloved state go up in flames around her throughout the war, loses her brother and childhood friend in battle, and falls in love with a Yankee soldier. She notices the growing distance between her and Katie, the daughter of a slave family working on the plantation, and for the first time starts to understand that slavery is wrong. This was also one of my first interactions with a book that really discussed the dark side of slavery in a way a child could understand without being too graphic. The novel describes all aspects of the Civil War including the economy, major local battles, and the hospital atmosphere as wounded soldiers made their way in for treatment. Susannah must decide whether or not to run away with Cain, the handsome Yankee soldier, or stay in the South as it tries to recover. 

This book was Gone With the Wind for kids. But like I said, it tackled the issue of slavery and didn't gloss over it because it was written in 1984, when authors were more likely to include those details. After finishing Susannah, I went on to read almost all of the Sunfire books, and one appeared in my stocking for several years afterward. They are out of print, which is a real shame, but you can buy used copies. The first one, Kathleen, about an Irish maid living in Boston in the 1800's was selling used for almost $100 last time I checked, signifying their ongoing timelessness and popularity.

This book MADE me a reader. It is the first book I really, really connected with. Recently, I found the author on Facebook and contacted her. I told her I was now a reading interventionist and how much her books meant to me in developing a love of reading. She is now in her 70's and was thrilled to hear from me. She said she loved knowing her hard work had paved the way for me and so many other children. 

What book made you love reading as a child? Do you still read it today? 



Saturday, November 5, 2022

My 50th Post Celebration

 




I'm taking a time out today from reviewing books or creating lists to say thank you. Thank you to all the nice people out there in the universe who have taken a minute of their day to leave even one comment on my blog. Thank you to Marg at The Intrepid Reader and Baker for starting the Historical Fiction Challenge that made me want to launch this blog. Thank you to Helen at She Reads Novels who writes such amazing material and has given me encouragement. Thank you to anyone in the book blog world who has read one of my posts or anyone who has wanted to read something because of a post I created. 

I fully realize that my stats aren't high and my followers are few. That's okay. I'm having a lot of fun with this little blog and I always said when it isn't fun anymore I'll quit. When I started back in January I said if I wrote 10 posts I'd be excited. Well here I am at number 50! It's my creative outlet yes but I also hope it's my little mark on the world to remind people that reading is important. Books are important. Quiet time away from social media is important. I see students every day who are struggling to read. And I always tell them, "How do you become a better reader? You read!" It's so true. You can't learn what you don't practice. How do I get better at this blogging thing? I have to write posts. So that is what I plan to keep doing. I'm going to read books, write about them, and post my thoughts. And I hope a few people read it and find something interesting they'd like to read themselves. 

My goal next year is to write two posts a week for a total of 100 or more, doubling this year's number. We will see if I'm still here. I hope so because it's been a lot of fun so far. Happy Reading everyone!





Thursday, November 3, 2022

November Books To Celebrate Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. I love celebrating the day with family and not having to make presents and Santa the focus. Halloween is over, it's fall, and the Christmas madness has not descended upon us yet. I'm also a proud American who loves to remember the good things about our country and the pioneer spirit of the Pilgrims and those who came after them are always a great place to find amazing stories. Here are a few I've read and a few I'd like to read. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!




Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

How did America begin? That simple question launches the acclaimed author of In the Hurricane's Eye and Valiant Ambition on an extraordinary journey to understand the truth behind our most sacred national myth: the voyage of the Mayflower and the settlement of Plymouth Colony. As Philbrick reveals in this electrifying history of the Pilgrims, the story of Plymouth Colony was a fifty-five year epic that began in peril and ended in war. New England erupted into a bloody conflict that nearly wiped out the English colonists and natives alike. These events shaped the existing communites and the country that would grow from them.




Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford

Amazon Synopsis:

These men, women and children, who became known as the Pilgrims, would found the Plymouth Colony. They had to survive harsh winters, poor harvests, disease and famine in the early years of their new settlement. These struggles were only exacerbated by conflicts they had with other English settlements, French settlers and against Native Americans. But they persevered in what has become one of the most iconic periods in the history of the United States. William Bradford, who was Plymouth Colony Governor five times for a period of nearly thirty years, recorded a detailed history of this settlement and the lives of its colonists in his Of Plymouth Plantation.





 










Running With the Wind by Dionne Haynes

Amazon Synopsis:

Jedediah Trelawney joins a small, overcrowded ship bound for America. A young man from a privileged background, he struggles to adapt to life at sea. Determined to earn the respect of his fellow passengers, he undertakes arduous tasks alongside the crew, but Jed is not cut out for the life of a sailor. Sickness is rife aboard the Mayflower. Inspired by Samuel Fuller, a self-taught physician, Jed develops a fascination with the healing arts. He thrives as Doctor Fuller’s apprentice and challenges traditional ideas, seeking kinder methods for treating the sick. Smitten by Desire Minter, Jed dreams of a future as a respected colony physician with Desire as his wife. Hostile passenger, John Billington, has other ideas. When Billington threatens to reveal Jed’s past, Jed becomes the victim of bullying and bribery. Somehow, Jed must silence Billington for good, or risk losing everything — including his life. A page-turning tale about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.














Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims  by Rush Limbaugh

Amazon Synopsis:

Okay, okay, my name’s really Rusty—but my friends call me Rush. Rush Revere. Because I’ve always been the #1 fan of the coolest colonial dude ever, Paul Revere. Talk about a rock star—this guy wanted to protect young America so badly, he rode through those bumpy, cobblestone-y streets shouting “the British are coming!” On a horse. Top of his lungs. Wind blowing, rain streaming...  Well, you get the picture. But what if you could get the real picture—by actually going back in time and seeing with your own eyes how our great country came to be? Meeting the people who made it all happen—people like you and me?  Hold on to your pointy triangle hats, because you can—with me, Rush Revere, seemingly ordinary substitute history teacher, as your tour guide across time! “How?” you ask? Well, there’s this portal. And a horse. My talking horse named Liberty. And—well, just trust me, I’ll get us there.  We’ll begin by joining a shipload of brave families journeying on the Mayflower in 1620. Yawn? I don’t think so. 1620 was a pretty awesome time, and you’ll experience exactly what they did on that rough, dangerous ocean crossing. Together, we’ll ask the pilgrims all our questions, find out how they live, join them at the first Thanksgiving, and much more. 




Flight of the Sparrow by Amy Belding Brown



Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1676. Even before Mary Rowlandson was captured by Indians on a winter day of violence and terror, she sometimes found herself in conflict with her rigid Puritan community. Now, her home destroyed, her children lost to her, she has been sold into the service of a powerful woman tribal leader, made a pawn in the ongoing bloody struggle between English settlers and native people. Battling cold, hunger, and exhaustion, Mary witnesses harrowing brutality but also unexpected kindness. To her confused surprise, she is drawn to her captors’ open and straightforward way of life, a feeling further complicated by her attraction to a generous, protective English-speaking native known as James Printer. All her life, Mary has been taught to fear God, submit to her husband, and abhor Indians. Now, having lived on the other side of the forest, she begins to question the edicts that have guided her, torn between the life she knew and the wisdom the natives have shown her. Based on the compelling true narrative of Mary Rowlandson, Flight of the Sparrow is an evocative tale that transports the reader to a little-known time in early America and explores the real meanings of freedom, faith, and acceptance.