Read Aloud Thursday & a Giveaway!

Have you guys given up on me yet?  Life is continuing here just as it usually does, only with the addition of one thing (nausea) and the lack of one thing (motivation).  Seriously, all I get done most days is schooling the girls, fixing their meals, and maybe a teensy bit of housework.  That’s it. 

But I have better things to discuss than my excuses for being a bad blogger.  🙂  Books!  🙂  And a give away!  (We’ll get to that in a bit.)

We’ve been continuing on with our annual tradition of unwrapping a Christmas book (almost) each day, and the girls continue to be excited about it.  That makes it worthwhile and oh-so-much-fun for me!  Some of our books are series titles or I-picked-this-up-at-Wal-Mart-because-it- looked-cute–that sort of thing.  However, some of them are worth mentioning, so I will.  🙂

Santa Mouse by Michael Brown is a simple rhyming tale with lots of appeal.  It’s the story of a lonely little mouse who has an original thought:  that no one gives a gift to Santa Claus!  (Actually, maybe it’s not so original, since Arthur had the same idea in Arthur’s Christmas , our book of the day.)  The little mouse decides to remedy this situation, and appropriately, Santa Claus shows his appreciation by taking on the little mouse as his mascot and dubbing him “Santa Mouse.”  First published in 1966, this book has very old-timey looking illustrations by Elfrieda A. De Witt.  If you’re in the market for a fun but touching story that focuses on giving, this one does just that. 

This next book is not one that ever actually made it to be wrapped up for opening this Christmas.  I first read about it on Janet’s blog and Heidi’s blog and scurried away to order it, a few days late to include it in the holiday tradition.  (I got it here because it was out of stock other places.) Like Janet, I went on Geraldine McCaughrean’s record (my thoughts on a couple of her YA novels here and here) and assumed that The Jesse Tree would be one I wouldn’t regret.  Although I can’t yet speak for the whole book, so far it hasn’t disappointed me.  We’re actually using it as a daily read-aloud, and along with these coloring sheets, we’re making ornaments for our own Jesse tree this year.  I’m trying NOT to stress about it, especially when we miss a day (i.e. weekends, etc.).  Last year we made an attempt at a Jesse tree but didn’t get very far.  I think reading The Jesse Tree might just be what keeps us more on target this year.  I’ll try to update next week on how things are going with our little tree.  🙂

And now, the giveaway!  Can you believe it has been one year since Read Aloud Thursday first appeared here at Hope Is the Word?  I can’t!  I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing our read-alouds, and I’ve enjoyed even more getting know a few of you who also share here.  I couldn’t let this anniversary pass by without something to commemorate it, and what better than a book to do this?  I came across a copy of one of our favorite anthologies back a few months ago, and I snatched it right up!  It is a used book and so is a little rough around the edges, but that just means it has been loved, right?  🙂 

So, what do you have to do for a chance to win this awesome book? 

1. Leave a comment and tell us the title of your favorite Christmas book.
2. For a second entry, simply compile and post your own Read Aloud Thursday post and link it here.  Be sure to leave another comment if you do this! 

This giveaway will be open until 8 p.m. CST on Wednesday, December 16.  I will post the winner next Read Aloud Thursday.

So what are you waiting for?  Link up your post by clicking on the MckLinky link below.  🙂

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Have a terrific Read Aloud Thursday!

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Read Aloud Thursday

Let the reading of favorite Christmas books begin! 🙂

Actually, it began on Tuesday here at the House of Hope. One of my favorite and most highly anticipated Christmas tradition is the reacquainting we do each December with our growing Christmas story collection. Some time before December 1, I wrap up our Christmas books in festive wrapping paper and then the real anticipation begins! The girls open one book per day, and they love it.  So do I.  You can read more about our tradition and some of our favorite titles here. 

This year I got smart and numbered the books I wanted us to open first.  So far we’ve read a couple that a dear friend of mine gave us back a few months ago that I saved for the season.  They’ve both been winners, and while they’re very different, they both elicited tears from me.  (What can I say?  I’m sentimental even when not pregnant; pregnant, I’m a hopeless case!)
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston is the nostalgic Appalachian tale of a little girl, Ruthie, whose father has gone off to fight in the Great War.  Before he left, Ruthie and Papa trek “up the rocky craigs where only a venturesome man may go” to pick out a balsam Christmas tree, their family’s contribution to the community Christmas at the church.  Papa goes off to fight, and Ruthie and her mama persevere on through their daily lives until Christmas comes.  They have no tree since it’s still on the “rocky craigs”; they have no money since Papa left; but they do have each other and a lot of determination.  This is a story of grit and making-do, and it has a happy ending, as all Christmas stories should.  The illustrations are by the wonderful Barbara Cooney, author/illustrator of Miss Rumphius, which just might be one of the most perfect picture books of all time.    If you like rich, nostalgic, historical stories, pick up a copy of The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree and a box of Kleenex.  🙂

This next book is technically not just a Christmas story, but I included it with ours because it is about Christmas.  However, it is also about Easter.  Really, it’s just about the life of Jesus.  How’s that for an introduction?  The Tale of Three Trees:  A Traditional Folktale is about three trees who envision their futures to be high and lofty, but each tree ends up with a decidedly more humble fate.  However, as such tales go, the significance of each tree is revealed by the end of the story.  Angela Elwell Hunt did a good job of making this folktale accessible even to young children.

That’s all we’ve read so far, but you can be sure that there will be more to come next Read Aloud Thursday!  🙂

Speaking of next week, guess what next week is?  It’s the one year anniversary of Read Aloud Thursday!  I started this little party last year on a whim, and it’s still going.  Be sure to come back next week to see what I have cooked up in celebration! 

Last but most important, what have you been reading together as a family?  Please share with us by leaving a link to your blog or by posting in the comments!

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Read Aloud Thursday–More Thanksgiving Books

As a follow-up to the Read Aloud Thursday post from two weeks ago, I wanted to share a few more of the Thanksgiving books we’ve been enjoying.  We haven’t even actually gotten to the books I intended to use; these are mainly just incidental library, used bookstore, or PaperbackSwap finds. 

The first couple of books just happen to be set during Thanksgiving, but other than that, they really aren’t so much about Thanksgiving.  However, they’re both fun books, so I think they’re worth sharing. An Outlaw Thanksgiving by Emily Arnold McCully is the story of a little girl named Clara and her mother who are traveling cross country to meet up with Clara’s father to start a new life in California.  The train they’re on is snowbound somewhere in Wyoming, and Clara and her mother end up spending a memorable Thanksgiving with none other than the infamous Butch Cassidy and a host of other notorious outlaws.  As one would expect, Butch Cassidy is kind-hearted and likeable, and Clara counts it a high point in her life that she was able to meet him.  Although the story is not factual, the author’s note indicates that Butch Cassidy and some of his cohorts did indeed sponsor a Thanksgiving giving for their friends in Brown’s Hole, Utah, in 1896.  Caldecott Award-winning artist Emily Arnold McCully both wrote and illustrated this book, so the watercolor and tempera pictures are outstanding.  This book provides a safe little peek into a world of danger and excitement, and my girls thoroughly enjoyed it. A Thanksgiving Turkey by Julian Scheer is another book that is set during Thanksgiving season, but it’s not really about Thanksgiving.  Instead, it’s the story of a young boy who moves with his mother to live with his grandfather to help him on his Virginia farm as he grows older.  The boy reminsces about their work on the farm, but mainly, he remembers a time when Granddad was determined to get a gobbler for their Thanksgiving table.  He fondly remembers the hunting trips they made together, and the story culminates in Granddad being unable to allow the boy to kill a big tom when he realizes that the turkey has been around as long he has.  This story is gentle and warm and full of fond memories.  It reminds me a little of Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory,” although it has actually been so long since I’ve read that story that I’m not sure this is an accurate comparison.  Ronald Himmler‘s illustrations are warm and gentle, perfectly befitting this story.

I intended to read An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott for this month’s Bookclub at 5 Minutes for Books, but I ran out of time.  However, after reading Carrie’s review of the book, I decided to give it a whirl with my girls.  This is a fun story to read aloud because it’s basically a “home alone” type story in which a group of children (the oldest being about sixteen) is left alone to mind the house while their parents attend an ailing grandparent.  The older girls have the bright idea that they should go ahead and cook their traditional Thanksgiving dinner in their mother’s absence, and naturally, chaos ensues. I thought my girls would be put off by the abundance of vernacular and antiquated words (some of which I edited), but they weren’t.  They enjoyed it!  Like Carrie’s, ours is a library copy that is as old as I am (half of seventy) with simple pencil sketches by Holly Johnson which I think are perfect for the story.  However, versions with updated illustrations are available, as is a movie based on the book.  Has anyone seen it? 

The only book we’ve read about Thansgiving proper this year (except for the nonfiction selection I mentioned last week)  is Thanksgiving in the White House by Gary Hines and illustrated by Alexandra Wallner. This is simply the story of how the holiday that we celebrate here in the U.S. on the last Thursday of November each year came to be.  Really, though, it’s as much about Tad Lincoln and his White House hi-jinks as anything.  It is also about the loving relationship he had with his esteemed father.  I ended up discussing the fact of assassination with my girls after reading this book; this is something I surely didn’t anticipate when planning to read this story.  However, despite my girls’ premature introduction to the dirty world of politics and war 😉 , I think this is one we’ll pull out each year.  It’s a keeper.

Lastly, I wanted to mention a few of the photojournalistic (for lack of a better word) books we’ve enjoyed about Pilgrims, too.  I picked up Samuel Eaton’s Day through PaperbackSwap and am still waiting on Sarah Morton’s Day, from the same source, to arrive in my mailbox.  My girls pored over the photographs in this story, and I consider that a “two thumbs up” from them.  You can read more about these books over at The Correspondent’s blog. 
When I saw Pilgrims of Plymouth by Susan E. Goodman listed at PaperbackSwap, I ordered it, too.  We haven’t read it yet, or even looked at it, but it looks like it will be another winner.  Sometimes a picture really is worth the proverbial 1000 words, and I think when it comes to describing seventh century life to preschoolers, this might be the case.

Whew!  I really didn’t mean to write that much, so thank you if you read all of that!  🙂  Believe it or not, that’s still not all of the Thanksgiving books I currently have in my possession.  However, the rest will have to wait for another year.  Since I this is such a lengthy post, I’m taking the week off next week from Read Aloud Thursday.  😉  No, that’s not really the reason–I just hope everyone is busy being thankful and spending time with their families, not thinking about book blogging next Thursday.  I repeat:  there will be no Read Aloud Thursday on Thanksgiving Day.   Go, and eat lots of turkey, and take a long, long nap afterwards.  🙂

Of course, there’s still this week, and it’s time for you to share what you’ve been reading.  Please do.  Leave a link on the MckLinky list below or simply leave a comment.

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Happy Read Aloud Thursday!

Read Aloud Thursday–Thanksgiving Books

I will be the first to admit that I usually don’t realize any given holiday is creeping up on us until it’s almost the day of.  That makes planning ahead for read-alouds pretty difficult, especially when one relies on the library (as we do) for most of one’s books.  However, this year, I’m on top of things!  Granted, Thanksgiving is my favorite of the fall/winter holidays (‘though I do LOVE Christmas), so I’m less likely to overlook this one.  Plus, I don’t get too up in the air over that holiday we just had, so I have time to snatch up the Thanksgiving books while everyone else is still looking for ghosts, pumpkins, and all manner of other scary creatures.  Here are a few of the Thanksgiving books we’ve enjoyed so far:

I picked up Thanksgiving Wish by Michael J. Rosen without so much as even a glance inside, basing my judgment of it solely on its cover (I know, I know).  Can I just say it has been a winner?  It’s a longish story, so it’s better for older kids than younger, but even Louise has sat through it multiple times.  Lulu has requested it at least three times in the week or so that we’ve had it.  Thanksgiving Wish is the story of Mandy and her extended family and their first Thanksgiving without their beloved Bubbe.  Bubbe, a traditional Jewish grandmother, worked on her Thanksgiving meal for weeks, perfecting all the dishes and cooking all of them herself.  By the time the family gathered, she had the entire meal prepared, and she had even accumulated enough wishbones from the various birds she had cooked over the past year to have a wishbone for each of the grandchildren.  This year, though, is the first Thanksgiving since Bubbe’s unexpected death, and everything is different.  Of course, they don’t know how different it will be until everyone arrives at Mandy’s new house (which is actually an old house with an equally old electrical system), and they have to scramble to modify their plans.  However, through all the changes, they also make some new friends and discover the importance of traditions.  This one is a tearjerker, but then, what book about Thanksgiving isn’t?  Highly recommended! 

I’m beginning to detect a theme among the Thanksgiving books we’ve read so far, and it has been entirely unintentional.  We read Molly’s Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen today after lunch.  If you’re unfamiliar with this very popular Thanksgiving story, it’s about a little girl named Molly, an  immigrant from Russia to America who also happens to be Jewish.  Molly is picked on at school for her differences (has anyone besides me ever noticed how frequently this is presented as a theme in books about school?), and the situation only worsens when Molly brings to school a “pilgrim” doll her mother has made to fulfill Molly’s school assignment. Of course, the “pilgrim” looks like Molly’s mother–a real pilgrim from Russia who came to America in search of religious freedom.  The wise teacher, of course, turns the tables on the bullying girls and teaches them a gentle lesson.  Yet another tearjerker.

So far we’ve gotten most of our historical information about Thanksgiving from Let’s Celebrate Thanksgiving by Peter and Connie Roop.  This informational book has several pages of background information about the first Thanksgiving, the Separatists, the Mayflower, etc.  Interspersed with the historical information are jokes, riddles, facts, and even a craft.  The illustrations by Gwen Connelly are cartoonish but still respectful.  (Does that make sense?)  Although this book does NOT discuss Thanksgiving as a time of being thankful to God, over all I think it provides a fairly balanced view of Thanksgiving and leaves plenty of room for discussion.  We have read a page or two a day this week and the girls, Lulu especially, have really enjoyed it.

What are your favorite Thanksgiving books?  I’ve decided that I need to start my own collection.  I have a few (which I’ll try to highlight in a couple of weeks), but I need more!  What do you consider a can’t-be-missed Thanksgiving story?  We have these on the way (thanks to The Corresondent’s review and PaperbackSwap!) and I hope to purchase this one and this one within the next week so we can maximize our enjoyment and learning before the actual holiday!  Please share your favorite title(s) in the comments!

Oh, and don’t forget to link up your own Read Aloud Thursday post below!  🙂

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My Light by Molly Bang

I picked up My Light by Molly Bang not knowing what to expect.  I was familiar with When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry and a few of her other “touchy-feely” books, so I was surprised when I read My Light to my girls and found a beautiful picture book that provides a fantastic but not-too-technical overview of the energy cycle.  This story is told from the point of view of the sun and briefly goes through the water cycle and goes on to hit the high points of dams using water to produce electricity, windmills using air to produce electricity, and plants using light to produce food.  The plants then go into the earth to produce energy in the form of coal, which is used once again to produce electricity.  Solar energy is introduced last, and all of these disparate sources of electricity are synthesized into the flip of a light switch.  The book ends with a pulling away from earth, back to the viewpoint of the sun.  There are copious author notes detailing the energy cycle at the end of the book, as well as a link to Molly Bang’s website where she provides even more information.  (I also learned on her website that she has written several science books that I think would be worth a look.)  First and foremost, though, Molly Bang is a talented artist.  Her illustrations in this book almost literally pop off the page.  Because of the illustrations and the simple way in which a very complex process is described, I think this book has lots of kid appeal.  Lulu agrees.

I’m linking this post up at this week’s Nonfiction Monday which is hosted by Wrapped in Foil.

Nonfiction Monday::Seeds and Trees

I was responsible for helping to teach a few lessons to our elementary homeschool group in September, and in preparation for this, I happened upon several good nonfiction selections about trees and plants that I wanted to share here at Hope Is the Word.

Seeds by Ken Robbins is a beautifully illustrated picture book which details a different type of seed every few pages.  Seeds as disparate as milkweed seeds and coconuts are discussed, and each discussion is accompanied by beautiful, almost life-sized illustrations.  The tone of this book is more conversational than text-bookish, which is the way I like my information served best.  🙂  If you’re looking for a beautiful and useful introduction to seeds, this one is not to be missed!  (As a side note, did you know that a maple tree seed is called a samara?  We didn’t, but we do now, thanks to this book!  My girls take great delight in picking up what we previously referred to as a “helicopter leaf” and saying, “Look!  I found a samara!”  Their joy at this is compounded by the fact that we know someone by that name.  🙂 )

A Tree Is Growing by Arthur Dorros is one of those books that is appropriate for different ages, depending on how it is read. 
The text of the book is conversational and straightforward.  My girls listened to it with no complaints, ‘though it is pretty detailed.  However, there are enough diagrams and labels to satisfy the curiosity of much older students, in addition to the fact that it contains copious amounts of side-bar information.  S.D. Schindler’s illustrations are gorgeously reminiscent of an old-timey nature journal, with the aforementioned diagram labels, etc.  This book is a joy to look at and to read.  I would be very happy to add this one to our home library!

If you’d like to read more juvenile nonfiction book reviews, Nonfiction Monday is hosted this week by Jean Little Library.

Poetry Friday::Crossing by Philip Booth

It’s been a great long while since I last participated in Poetry Friday, but when I happened upon this beautiful picture book, I wanted to share it.  Actually, it took a close examination of the book itself for me to realize that while the illustrations in the book are new, the poem itself is not.  I don’t remember ever having read any of Philip Booth’s poetry before, so this was a nice introduction.

  “Crossing” is a poem in which Booth really captures the feel and sound of a freight train going down the tracks.  You can read the poem in its entirety here, as well as get a feel for how I assume Booth originally composed it:  as a concrete poem. 

It was actually the illustrator of the picture book, not the author, that first caught my attention at the library. Bagram Ibatoulline illustrated Crossing, and as usual, his illustrations beautifully capture the bygone days of country roads criss-crossed by railroad tracks and children who played around (and almost under!) the zooming trains.  My girls got a kick out of the fact that Mobile is mentioned in the poem, since we were headed to Mobile ourselves a few days after we read it.  I don’t think I appreciated the poem fully in picture book format, but for me, this book is more about the illustrations than the poem.  It would be fun to pair the original poem (in its concrete form) with the picture book and discuss the effect the form has on perception of the poem.

This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Picture Book of the Day.  Be sure to click over for more Poetry Friday posts!

Nature Friend Magazine and Study Guide

As a part of TOS Homeschool Crew, I received two issues of Nature Friend magazine to try out in our homeschool at the House of Hope.  I put it off looking at it with my girls for a while, although I did look through it numerous times myself, enjoying the beautiful photography and the artwork.  I thought it would probably be way over my girls’ heads, since I have a kindergartener and a preschooler.  I knew, though, that I needed to put it to the test in order to write a balanced review of this resource.  As I was looking through the September 2009 issue, it finally registered with me that the first article in it would be a perfect place to start.  You see, a few weeks ago, this fellow somehow found his way into our home:

 

We spent a good deal of time capturing this walking stick and observing him. Lulu even took him to our homeschool group for show-and-tell. I’ll admit I was not too thrilled with the idea of capturing him (especially the second time 😉 )–something about these critters really gives me the creeps–but my girls were non-plussed by him. I knew, then, that Sharon H. Anderson’s article in the September 2009 Nature Friend, “Sticks That Walk,” would likely be a hit with them. I was right. Written as a short story in which a girl and her mother find a walking stick and discuss it, this article is full of facts about walking stick insects: they like certain types of leaves better than others, they can regenerate parts of their bodies, they molt, and it is usually only the males that have wings (which is how I knew to refer to this one in the masculine!). My girls have listened attentively as I read this article aloud twice already, and I’m pretty sure they could tell almost any layman a thing or two about the walking stick insect by now.

Nature Friend magazine has many features that are appealing to younger students, as I found when I opened to magazines to my children. The very first feature in each issue, a hidden-picture puzzle called “Invisibles,” was a real hit with my girls. They enjoyed searching for the various animals hidden in the picture, and they were able to find some of them with no help.  They enjoyed looking at the various readers’ submissions to the “You Can Draw” gallery, and they were particularly interested in the entries by children close to their ages.  In addition to the features I’ve mentioned in this review, any given issue of Nature Friend might contain 

• Reader submitted “Pictures and Poems”
• Puzzles and riddles
• “Wondernose,” articles in which nature questions are discussed in depth
• “The Mailbox,” in which reader-submitted letters, questions, and photographs are published
• “Creation Close-ups”–more reader-submitted photographs
• “You Can Draw”–step-by-step drawing lessons in which the subject is something from nature
• “The Story Behind the Photo”–reader-submitted photographs with the details behind how they were captured
• “Learning by Doing”–step-by-step activities in which some aspect of nature is observed and recorded

As the girls looked through the magazine, the beautiful photographs really caught their attention.  In fact, Louise requested that I read an article about a snapping turtle (well written by a twelve year old reader, I might add) based on the accompanying picture.  Obviously, photography is a big part of this magazine; each issue is full-color and contains many reader-submitted nature photographs.

If you’re a regular reader here at Hope Is the Word, you know that I enjoy nature photography, so this aspect of Nature Friend really appeals to me.  The magazines that I received for review also contain an additional feature:  a Study Guide, which is available by subscription for an extra $2 monthly.  One part of this Study Guide is a feature called “The Photo Critique.”  This feature provides helpful hints for taking better nature photos.   The Study Guide also includes puzzles, research questions, writing instruction, and even recipes!  For older children especially, I think the Study Guide would be an excellent and cost-effective additional resource.

The subtitle on the masthead of every Nature Friend magazine is “Helping Families Explore the Wonders of God’s Creation,” and this is a very accurate description for two reasons.  First, this is a Christian magazine written from an obviously Creationist viewpoint.  A Bible verse might be on any page, and each issue contains a “Motto for the Month,” which is a Bible verse superimposed over a beautiful nature photograph.  Second, this truly is a magazine the whole family can enjoy together.  Although according to the website the target age is 8-16, both my young children and I (well past my teens 😉 ) enjoy it. 

A year’s subscription to this monthly magazine is $36; including a year’s worth of the Study Guides would bring the yearly price to $48.  Although I would not consider such a resource as a necessity to a successful homeschool, I do think that it is extras like this that often “light a fire” in some students and give them the extra boost to pursue a passion.  If there is a little breathing room in the homeschool budget, I would consider Nature Friend magazine and its accompanying Study Guides as money well spent.  I even think Nature Friend would make an excellent birthday or Christmas gift, if it’s not in the education budget.  This magazine has been going strong since 1983, and it has many additional online features that would be helpful in determining if it would be a good fit for your family.  You can also view sample issues or even check out more TOS Homeschool Crew reviews for more opinions about this resource.

Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday has been published this week at Moms Inspire Learning.  I have an entry in this carnival.  Click over for lots of great juvenile nonfiction book reviews!

More Books Monday

I haven’t done a More Books Monday post in a while, mainly because these posts were adding to my TBR list at an alarming rate.  As slowly as I read, it will take me two years just to read the books I’ve acquired in the past couple of months.  And yet the list still grows. . .  🙂

However, this week’s More Books Monday is not about books I want to read.  Instead, I’m sharing about a couple of book finds I’ve happened across in the last month that I thought might help you all stretch your book/education/gift giving budgets just a bit. 

You all know how much I love my library, right?  I love, love, love it.  I don’t think I’ve mentioned before, though, that it took actually going to library school myself for me to realize that I didn’t have to buy every book I want–I can just check them out and let someone else keep them for me when I’m through.  That was a true epiphany, and one for which Steady Eddie is forever grateful. 

However, there are some books that we just need.  Since we are actively engaged in educating our children at home , I am always on the lookout for books on our list (i.e. Five in a Row titles, curriculum, etc.) wherever I go.  The girls and I went to Sam’s Club with my mom back last month, and if you know anything at all about Sam’s Club, you know they have a huge selection of books of all kinds.  I was really surprised, though, to find Bob Books sets there!  We already had Set 1, which I hate to admit we paid full price for at our local big box bookstore.  The sets I found at Sam’s are larger in size, and they are more of a kit–they include stickers, a door hanger, etc.  Best of all, though, they were only about $10 a set!  I couldn’t find an exact link on Amazon to share, but it might be worth a trip to Sam’s if you’re in need of some very basic phonics readers.

The other find happened just a couple of weekends ago.  Our Kohl’s department store has a display near the cash registers for their Kohl’s Cares for Kids merchandise.  I have found some great books there for $5 each.  In my world, this is a great price for a new book, not to mention the fact that these books are usually high quality literature.  Our latest purchases there were books by Steve Jenkins.  We’ve already enjoyed  What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? , so I knew we needed a copy of it for our own home library. We also purchased Biggest, Strongest, Fastest and Actual Size , and although we have yet to read these (I’m waiting for a serendipitous educational opportunity 😉 ), I’m pretty sure they’ll be winners, too.

I call that $15 well spent! 

Do you have any favorite, unexpected places to purchase books?  Do share!

Have a marvelous Monday!