COLLINS, Suzanne

Suzanne COLLINS is the author of the extremely popular dystopian trilogy, THE HUNGER GAMES.

When I first read The Hunger Games, it was with the view to see whether it would be suitable for my tweens girls. I decided that it was not at all suitable, I found it terribly violent, teens being manipulated to kill each other in order to survive and an evil, controlling government using people like puppets.

After a while, and much pressure from them for the chance to read it, and discussions with friends who have children of similar ages I decided to let them read and I do not regret it one little bit as it turned out to be an amazing series for lots of discussions.

We discussed the heroine, Katniss, in depth. Was she a hero? She volunteered to take the place of her little sister, whose name had been pulled to enter the fight, in a sort of reality show where teens fight to the death. That was indeed brave but she still entered the game and ended up being 'involved' in some deaths of other entrants. Is it brave to let others die in order to save our own necks?

We discussed some characters who were indeed innocents who were killed in the "games", thus pointing out that in war there are always innocent people with families who lose their lives.

We discussed Haymitch, who had won a previous Hunger Games, and was an alcoholic and still suffered nightmares many years later from his involvement in the games. We discussed 'Post Traumatic Syndrome" and how so many people/soldiers suffer long after wars are ended and some simply never recover.

We also had a big discussion on classism; the Capitol (the government who ran all the districts) and how these fat cats lived very different lives to those in some of the districts that were poor and suffered greatly. Despite the Capitol being a rather futuristic and over-exaggerated city, we talked about the similarities between that place and our own governments and major capitols now.

Don't get me wrong, I still don't think that the books are particularly well written and they are violent but they do have a way of making you want to read them to the very end simply to see what happens. I would definitely recommend letting your teen read them but I would strongly recommend that you read the books yourself first in order to discuss them with the child as you go along. Also if they are particularly sensitive some of the scenes may upset them.  

The Fashionista (12)     -- 3 out of 5 stars
Agent Smelly      (10)    -- 4 out of 5 stars
The Mama   (over 20)   -- 3 out of 5 stars
 

Balloons Over Waikato

If you are a hot air balloon enthusiast then Hamilton, NZ is a great place to visit for 5 days every March. Each morning the balloons ascend over Hamilton and land somewhere different throughout the day - often a primary school. For the past 15 years they have been holding the Balloons Over Waikato and it is quite an event for the town.




Agent Smelly reading and listening to music whilst waiting for dusk to fall.


This year I took Agent Smelly to the highlight of the Festival which is the orchestrated Balloon Glow Show and a dramatic fireworks finale. (The Fashionista was also there with a school friend and her family and we met up afterwards). Whilst waiting for the "Night Glow" there are bands playing live music which I have to say was really very good. A lot of modern yet popular tunes with some very recognisable older and always popular songs. I quite enjoyed watching the small children amongst the very large crowd dancing away to the tunes. 

The balloons glow to orchestrated music finishing with the best fireworks display in town. Here's a picture taken with my phone. It is a huge even and we were quite a distance from the balloons. Unfortunately the weather was starting to change as we were there so the weirdly shaped balloons did not get put up as they were concerned about the weather conditions.

Photo taken from the Balloons Over Waikato website as linked above.

As it was the rain started, albeit gently, just a few minutes after the fireworks finished and we were walking across the fields back to the car. Unfortunately the final lift off the next morning had to be cancelled due to the inclement weather setting in.

Remembering a camera would have been handy ...

The A-Z Challenge 2015 Big Reveal

For the last couple of years I have been inspired to join the A-Z blog challenge and I start off with great gusto but always something ends up throwing me completely off (an illness or something) and I have not yet completed one challenge. Last years effort was completely abysmal and I wasn't going to bother this year but a fellow blogger suggested this could be the year that I actually complete it.

For those who don't know what the Ato Z Challenge entails, basically you post something every day in April except Sundays and as there are 26 days (minus the Sundays) that matches the letters in the alphabet. So on April 1, the blog will be about something that begins with the letter “A.” April 2 “B,” April 3 “C,” and so on. You can blog about anything at all as long as it matches the letter of the day.


Having a theme is optional but personally I think it's easier if you do have a theme (especially when I find it so hard to thing of blog ideas at the best of times), so this year I have chosen the theme of "Teen and Tween Books". There might be a slight twist though and I am very much cheating as I have enlisted my two little buddies here to help provide some of the posts. 


It's also recommended that you keep your posts short as what you are asked to do each day, is check out about 5 blogs that are also participating in the challenge (there's a HUGE list of participants). It's a bit of a way to meet some new bloggers and increase your audience I suppose you could say. Frankly, I am not too worried about increasing my audience (if I was worried about numbers I'd have stopped blogging way back ... lol), I just want to finish one darn challenge!  I also quite like reading and finding other blogs from the list. I still follow a few blogs a couple of years later, they weren't even homeschooling ones, which is usually my main focus too.


Anyway if you are mad enough to join me, please do, then let me know so we can support each other ... who's up for it?

Here's the link to sign up, c'mon you know you want to. 

The Magic Half - Book Review

The Magic Half (2009) by Annie Barrows

This book is the best book I have ever read! It is my favourite book.

It is a magical adventure about two girls. The main character, Miri, comes from a family that has two sets of twins and is always feeling left out.

Her family moves to a new house and she finds a piece of spectacle glass in the corner of her bedroom and when she looks through it she goes back in time 75 years before in the same house.

There she finds a girl called Molly, who is exactly the same age as she is and looks like her too.

Molly lived with her mean aunt Flo, two cousins (evil Horst and Sissy who was OK) and her very old Grandma who was deaf and bedridden but had sort of magical ways. She helped Molly summon Miri in the first place to save her grand-daughter from her evil family as she is not able to look after her herself.

Miri and Molly have some adventures and then Miri saves Molly from her evil relatives and brings her through time to the present. It changes the present to how it should be. Molly lives happily with a new, loving family and Miri gets the twin that she always wanted!

Agent Smelly (nearly 10!)

Mr Bluenose - Book Review

Mr Bluenose by Kiwi Author Jack Lasenby

This is a very funny book about a young boy (you never find out his name) living in a small NZ town, with just his dad who is really nice, back in the olden days. He gets up to all kinds of  mischief and funny stuff.

Mr Bluenose is a local farmer from overseas, who helps doing odd jobs for. Mr Bluenose tells some awesome stories to the kid, the kid tells them to Mr Bryce, the shopkeeper, and if the story is good enough the shop keeper might give him some boiled lollies. He LOVES boiled lollies as does Mr Bluenose, his dad and Horse, who is really a horse.

A couple of local boys were always trying to steal apples from Mr Bluenose's orchard, so Mr Bluenose with the boys help sets out some boy traps which included a funny ghost. It was so funny. 

The boy also told some whopper stories to some of his mates which scared them. They were really naught but funny too. His poor dad was always getting visits from their parents asking for him not to tell them scary stories anymore as their kids were having bad dreams.

I thought this was such a good story, I almost wanted to read it again.

By Sammi (Age 9)


A delightful, whimsical story of a young rapscallion set during the days when a fresh banana was a great treat, people waited for the train to deliver the daily newspaper to town, and kids played marbles on the corner roads. Some new words, or rather an introduction to some old words, along with some very kiwi words. Did you know "chutty" (or chuddy) is an old slang word for chewing gum ... my hubby did! This book was an unexpected find (in one of those cheap book bins) and it has made us eager to try some more Jack Lasenby books.

The Mama (over age 9)

Magyk - Book Review

 

MAGYK, Septimus Heap Book One by Angie Sage
 
This is the first book in a series of seven. It is a ginormous book with just over 555 pages in it. We have the hard back book and I absolutely adore the pages as they have made them with different edges, kind of rough, so it looks like an old magic book. It is very well written and I highly recommend reading it, as it is good for a laugh and even better for a mystery. There are lots of twists and turns. If you are a fan of Harry Potter you'll most likely enjoy reading this enchanting book.

It is about saving a princess from the evil wizard, DomDaniel, who wants to get rid of her in order for him to take over the kingdom. Jenna, the princess was rescued as a baby by Septimus Heap, unknowingly after her mother the Queen was assassinated and brought up by a wizarding family, The Heaps, as their youngest child and only daughter, without them or her initially realising that she was the princess. The Heaps and Marcia the ExtraOrdinary wizard (who was involved in saving Jenna in the first place when she was a baby) are now on the run with Jenna in order to save her from DomDaniel's many disguised assassin's.

Along the journey you meet lots of unusual characters. Besides the Heap family and their 6 wizard sons, you will meet boy 412 of the young army, a white witch, Aunt Zelda, whom they stay with, a cat that was turned into a duck, a few forest witches, a most grumpy boggart, a fat message rat, some shield bugs, a dragon, and several, helpful, ghosts.

Will they succeed ...You'll just have to read it and find out.

Reviewed by Hana

Kaitangata Twitch - DVD Series Report

Based on a book by Margaret Mahy

The story is about an island, Kaitangata, and a mystery that surrounds it. 12 year old Meredith (Mere) lives in a small town across from Kaitangata Island. She starts having dreams at night. Her father, Carey, and older sister, Kate, who are greenies, are fighting against a developer, who was her mother’s former teenage boyfriend, from building a resort and ruining the area they live in.

The island starts to twitch, that is have earthquakes, and Mere starts having visions of Shelley, a tragic ghost who mysteriously vanished on the island 50 years ago on her 13^th birthday. She also keeps seeing the Cannibal Chief who died on the island and is the one responsible for all the twitches. It turns out the Cannibal Chief is upset because of the development going on.

An old Maori man, Lee Kaa, after a very angry start with her, ends up teaching Mere, who he can see the island is calling to, to be the new island "keeper" and how to soothe the island to stop another disappearance from happening again.

There is a lot of other stuff going in Mere’s family too. Her mum and dad start having marital problems, because the developer,Sebastian,is trying to win the mother back. Her little brother, Rufus, ends up running away because of all the drama going on in his home. I thought Kate, went a bit over the top when she did some bad stuff to stop the developers but she was still all right. Her boyfriend was nice because he was helping her but wouldn’t do any of the illegal stuff.

I loved it because I like a good mystery and it was a big mystery. I kept wanting to see the next episode. My favourite character would have to be Shelly. I thought it was a pity because it did not sow much of her in the show. If someone wanted my advice, for if they should watch the series or not, I would definitely say watch it! It is a great series! It is a mystery, an adventure, it is strange and it is weird.

By Samara, 9 1/2

 

There is a fair bit of Maori legend and fable in this and parts can be a little scary, so whilst I thought it was brilliant (I enjoyed it as much as the kids) I would be wary with very young children who might get a little frightened by the spirits and the angry island. Some of the symbolism might be a little lost on them too. Great for discussions afterwards about how we need to look and understand what the land wants rather than over develop it. 

The Mama

The Penderwicks - Book Review

THE PENDERWICKS
Author Jeanne Birdsall
Published 2005
 
The Penderwicks is an amusing story about four sisters, responsible Rosalind 12, tomboyish Skye 11, overly dramatic Jane 10 who wants to be a writer, and the youngest Penderwick sister Batty who at 4 is the baby of the group. Their widowed father takes his daughters and dog, Hound (Batty's companion), on summer vacation to Arundel Estate to stay in a cottage on the grounds. There they meet the picky, old, snobbish, owner Mrs Tiffton, her boyfriend, Dreadful Dopey Dexter Dupree and her kind and musical son, Jeffery who is 10 and who all the girls make very good friends with.

The girls are not bad but they just can't seem to avoid getting themselves, and in turn, Jeffery into all kinds of trouble.

They also meet eighteen year old boy, Cagney, who is the gardener at Arundel that Rosalind swiftly obtains a crush on.

I loved it so much because of all the chaos and the suspense of never knowing what's coming up next. It was so good that I made Mum order the second book in the Penderwicks series.

Review by Hana, 11
 
 

Library Reading Challenge

Last month the local library put out a reading challenge which our children signed up for.

They received a passport and each time they read a book on one of the 6 different subjects they got a stamp in their "passport". They also received a booklet where they had to write a review, poem, draw a scene from the story, or a character or the book cover, etc. once they had finished the book.

The six adventures the children had to read about were snow, mountain/volcano, river, ocean, desert and jungle. The subjects were not easy for the older children unless they read non-fiction books or they were really quick readers who could rip through something like Tom Sawyer in a couple of days.

In our desperation to find some books that wouldn't take forever, we came across Graphic Novels. What a bonus! I will tell more about these in another post though.

Copy of a book cover

Volcano facts and a poem on a book pertaining to a river.

Agent Smelly's picture of Baloo from The Jungle Book - had me in fits of laughter!

As they completed their books their were rewards along the way. Here they are with their headlamps and diaries.

They finished with a little soiree at the library with some party food and the opportunity to make a fake snow man. Then each participant was awarded a book. The Fashionista received The War Horse so was pretty stoked!

Children of Fire Mountain - DVD Series Review

During the recent school holidays it rained, rained, and oh yes rained, so we borrowed the DVDs "Children of Fire Mountain" from our local library. COFM is a 13 part mini-series that was made in New Zealand in 1979. Apparently this was shown after school and adults today recall rushing home from school to watch the next episode. It also won some awards.

It's about a group of children living in a thermal area in New Zealand and is a period piece set around 1900.

Sir Charles Pemberton who has crippling arthritis and on the advice of his doctor comes over from the UK with his Grand-daughter, Sarah Jane to take the baths. The baths cures his ailment so he has the idea to build a huge hotel (health spa) on some Maori land which greatly displeases the local Maori as the land is tapu (sacred).

Local children, Tom (the son of the hotel owner where the Pembertons are staying), Davie, Hemi and Kiri iinitially do not like prim and proper Sarah Jane. Tom says not long after meeting her, "What I have I done to deserve all this - I’ve had better days at school!" but once they scare off her governess (and tutor) young Tom starts to feel a little sorry for Sarah Jane and they end up great friends and she is admitted to their wee gang once she takes on an initiation test to test her bravery.

There's an Irish villain, Doomey Dwyer (who runs illegal stills) that the children are trying to catch, some local Maori foretell of a catastrophe due to Sir Charles intentions and a volcanic eruption.

Sarah Jane has some eerie experiences, she sees a waka taua (war canoe) travelling across the lake which no-one else see and she starts to realises that her grandfather needs to return the deed to the land before a major catastrophe takes place.

My girls LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this series.They could not get enough of it. I personally thought it was really sweet and an excellent representation of this period and the people in thermal NZ during this period. I would highly recommend this series for any young person wanting to learn more about NZ's history. Although I wouldn't limit it to young children as this old Mama enjoyed it just as much as the kids.

Here's a link to an excerpt from the first series on You Tube. The quality of the DVDs isn't great due to when the series was made but I think it sort of adds to the authenticity of the time.

"Surviving the Applewhites" Book Review

Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan

 

 

I found this book whilst searching for some stories written about homeschoolers. It had been a New York Times Bestseller and from the brief description on the blurb I thought the girls might enjoy it. I confess it wasn't quite what I thought it would be.

It's about juvenile delinquent, Jake Semple, who has been placed with his Granddad after his parents are supposedly in jail for growing marijuana and if that's not enough Jake smokes, swears, and supposedly burned down a school. It doesn't go into those things in a big way but I confess because it was a read aloud I kind of skipped a few words or sentences here and there.
 
It basically starts with Jake having being placed at the home (farm like setting, Wit's End) of the Applewhites after being expelled from another school and Granddad not knowing what to do with him.

The Applewhites are a totally eccentric, artistic, yet mostly likable family (it's an extended family with a Grandad and aunt and uncle also) who run a "Creative Academy" for their children i.e. they appear to unschool.

As a last option Jake is going to live with the family and attend their "Creative Academy", it's either that or juvenile hall. Early on Jake isn't too sure that he made the right choice as the Applewhites unconventional ways really bother him but then he starts to change for the better. Frankly amongst this larger than life group, many of the things he thinks will cause some angst (only wearing black, piercings, spiked hair) just gets ignored so he gives up bothering. The Applewhites are pretty mad and can be a little self-absorbed and totally happy to let people express themselves (except for the smoking which they are anti) in any way they want, I can't imagine a lot shocks them.
 
There are a few other characters that come and go, like Govindaswami who stays with the family to help sweet, Aunt Lucille with her meditating. Even some of the families animals are super funny, like Paulie Parrot (who has a potty mouth), some mad goats (just like ours were!) and a family dog who adopts Jake and follows him everywhere.
One of the daughters, smart, sensible, E.D., who believes she's the black sheep of the family, along with Jake (who she clashes with) serve as two of the more "normal" members of the household yet after a while they both end up involved in one of the families theatre productions and thus themselves caught up with all the madness.
 
Both my daughters absolutely LOVED it. Really loved it! They hounded me daily for another chapter or two or three and despite my surprise over a few swear words (from memory they are mild ones, as the swearing is mostly inferred) and a couple a of things, like the teen smoking and Jake's parents being arrested (it just tells you this happened to you know why he's at his granddads), it actually turned out to be a funny and enjoyable book.

It is very light-hearted (well it is aimed at tweens) and whilst suggesting some deep concepts doesn't really go into much character depth and reasoning. This gave way for us to have some discussions. We were able to discuss why we thought Jake and even E.D. behaved like they did. What the girls did and didn't like about the "Creative Academy" and how their household ran or didn't, IE discipline, boundaries, etc. So whilst I personally felt the story a little unrealistic (and I hope kids reading it don't think all people home school like the Applewhites) it did open up some great discussions and for a fun read it was great.
There are 217 pages in the paperback and it says on the back it's for ages 10 and up which is probably about right.

"The Hundred Dresses" Book Review

The Hundred Dress - Written by Eleanor Estes and Illustrated by Louis Slobodkin

The Hundred Dresses is about a little motherless girl, Wanda with the different sounding Polish surname, who wears the same faded, yet clean, blue dress each day to school. One day she quietly says she has one hundred dress at home, possibly as a way to try and fit in. The other girls obviously don't believe her and make fun of her by asking her about them each day. Maddie's best friend Peggy is the main instigator of it all, and so Maddie simply stands by and does nothing as she secretly worries that because she is also poor that the teasing could just as easily shift to her. Even so it all sits very uneasily on young Maddie's shoulders and conscience. She wants to ask her best friend to stop asking Wanda about her dresses but she simply lacks the courage.

Peggy by all accounts was not a cruel girl "she protected small children from bullies. And she cried for hours if she saw an animal mistreated". She never saw that she herself was being a bully, Wanda was the one who had told a lie, and Peggy never made her cry. I like that the characters have more to them as a bully is not always a full-time bully. Sometimes people do things that are bullying and this appears to be the case here.

Wanda suddenly disappears with her father and brother to a big city, where they hope to be happier and accepted. Her father rights in his letter to her school "Now we move away to big city. No more holler Polack. No more ask why funny name. Plenty of funny names in the big city."

The two girls, Maddie and Peggy, attempt to make amends but as she has gone already they don't really. The ending whilst not ideal, is perfect the way it is written, as sometimes in life we don't get the chance to say we are sorry and make amends or we simply don't come right out and say it properly (and push it away and pretend it never happened). These are lessons we have to learn from and also live with, and young Maddie learns a valuable and life long lesson.

Some stories are timeless ... this is one of them! It was first published in 1944 but nothing about it comes across as old fashioned or out-dated. I think this should be required reading by children, most especially girls as it has a subtle form or bullying which is often more used by girls.  Age wise I would say it is best read by children who can understand what was going on or as a read aloud where it can be pointed out and discussed. It has about about 80 pages so can easily be read in one sitting. It is also a slightly sad book (I am sure a few people may relate to a character or two)  and I could feel my throat tighten up in a few places towards the end.

When I asked The Fashionista what she thought about the book, she said "it was OK but I wouldn't read it again. It was a bit sad and not really adventurous".

I confess I was a bit disappointed when she said that and then she said "you know it was sort of like this" and she showed me a poster that has to decorate that she received this week from the church school holiday program ... "Reach out. Accept each other. Jesus did it. Now you do it!" (Romans 15:7) 

Maybe I am not so disappointed after all!

R is for ... The Red Poppy

Today we read The Red Poppy, written by David Hill and illustrated by Fifi Colston and song (yes there's a CD accompanying it) by Rob Kennedy.

It's a lovely picture book about a young Kiwi soldier (I am guessing by his friends Maori name) in France during World War 1 waiting to jump out of his trench and fight the Germans. He's scared and not looking forward to shooting at or killing anyone, although of course no mention is made of this in the letter he has just penned to his family.

Jim jumps out of the trenches with his comrades and makes his way towards the enemy, many of his comrades are falling around him and then he ends up wounded and lands in a deep hole cause by a shell explosion. In the hole he meets an enemy soldier, Karl, who he realises is seriously wounded and initially is as scared of him as he is of Karl.  Together, Jim and Karl, with the aid of Kipper the dog, work together to get rescued.

My girls liked it and found the book a little sad (I confess I did a bit too ... constricting voice last page read) and although it is aimed at a young audience I would tend to keep it to older children as it deals with serious themes. The pictures are all dark and muted except for the splashes of the red poppy, the symbol of hope.

I would highly recommend it though, as I love the messages in this book. War wasn't pleasant and was scary but Jim still showed courage, compassion and humanity.

If you'd like to hear the lovely song, click here ... Little Red Poppy  There are a few on You tube but I chose this one because it has the words with it.


Later we made our own Red Poppies to finish for our wreath to lay on ANZAC Day at the Cenotaph.

• We used a butterfly punch to cut out two butterflies from red card.
• We glued them across each other.
• Punched out a small black circle and then glued that on the top in the middle of the flower.
• We then cut out some random shaped green leaves (they were more realistic that way - OK we didn't have a leaf punch) and glued them on the back. Some have one, some have two leaves.
• We then slightly bent the petals and leaves a bit so they were rounded like a real flowers petals and leaves would be.

Quite simple but effective poppies, wouldn't you agree?

Q is for ... Le Quesnoy

Every year on the 25th April, ANZAC Day, both the nations of New Zealand and Australia stops to remember those who served or are serving in our military.

Briefly for those who don't know what an ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) is, it is man who'd served with the Anzac forces at Gallipoli in 1915/16. Over 8,000 Anzac's were killed at Gallipoli and 18,000 wounded and another 8,000 missing (possibly blown up or captured).

This year it is in the middle of our school holidays in NZ so we wont be doing too many activities as we are pretty busy with trips planned away. I did manage to grab a few books from the library for us to read. Sadly they didn't have much choice for my girls age so we made do with what we could find.

The first book we have just read is "Le Quesnoy - The Story of the town New Zealand saved" written by Glyn Harper and illustrated by Jenny Cooper.

It's the true story of how a group of NZ soldiers saved a small town in France, Le Quesnoy (pronounced Ler Kay nwah) being occupied by the Germans, during the first World War. It's written as though the story is being told by a woman who was there when she was about 5 or 6.

The town of Le Quesnoy was an old fort, protected by high stone walls up to 20 metres high. There were around 2,000 Germans occupying the city, which they had done for about 4 years. It wasn't an easy time for the locals, they shipped any healthy men off to work for them in Germany and then took what they wanted, not leaving much to the towns people who were hungry and scared.

The New Zealand division was sent to Le Quesnoy to take back the town. In order to take back towns, in many cases they were destroyed and civilians killed. In this case, whilst around 130 Kiwi soldiers were killed and another 300 wounded, not one single civilian life was lost!

The book is basically a picture book, so there's not a lot of reading and it's probably best aimed at 5 - 8 year olds but my 11 year old found it a "cool story", although she more listened than looked at the sweet illustrations. At the back of the book is a map of the town and more "older aged" details which I was able to read out to my girls. We all thoroughly enjoyed the story and then spent a little more time online looking to find out further information. Agent Smelly was even inspired to go and make a poppy out of Hama beads.

The people of Le Quesnoy have never forgotten what the NZ troops did for them and many of the town's streets have New Zealand names and they even teach NZ culture and geography as part of their curriculum in their Primary schools. They have also erected a monument near where the the first New Zealander, Lieutenant Leslie Averill scaled the wall to take back the town. Apparently New Zealanders are very warmly welcomed still to this day.

The Fashionista was pretty right, it is a "cool story".

H is for ... "History books"

How do you feel about history books? I recall the ones I used at school, one or two (ahem) years back. Gosh they were dull. I couldn't stand history, it was so dull and boring.

Now I absolutely love history as do my two little girls. It can be made into such a fun and interesting subject. We cook, act, build things, dig things up, do artwork, dress up, watch things on YouTube and even sing songs to accompany our lessons.

We are using a book called The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer, which is very popular amongst homeschoolers, as the formal part of our history homeschooling. There are also activity books that you can purchase to accompany the novel as well as lap books that can be purchased and loads and loads of ideas on the Internet to accompany the books. We do different things for different chapters to keep it always interesting.

We have also started reading the above series of scholastic historical books (My Story and My Royal Story)aimed at older children. They are written in diary form of fictional (eg Factory Girl) and real (Mary Queen of Scots) characters in various parts of the world at various times throughout history. For example Catherine of Aragon is a diary kept by her childhood friend and seamstress.

These are strictly read alouds at this stage as some of the historical terminology is unknown to my pre-tween and tween age girls and I can explain things to them. Some of the things that happened are also a little too mature. Catherine was married off at 15 and there is the wedding and ritual of following the couple to the room, etc. These themes are a little old for my girls to understand without me explaining things. I admit I also have skipped a line or two that I really didn't want to explain yet (the sheets after the first night could have turned into a whole different conversation best saved for another time). When they are teens they'll be ready to read them again by themselves and will be able to comprehend things a little better.

Because of the way these are written, they are not at all boring or dull and the girls really seem to understand and have a better concept of the time period as they can relate more to living books. They were thrilled when they realised that Catherine was actually Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand's youngest and favoured daughter as they have come across these characters in their lessons before.

Those times are so extremelly different to what we are used to, that my girls are rather horrified at the way women were basically treated as chattels and to be blunt, morons who couldn't think for themselves and had no rights. I think think it would be a disservice to them if the harshness, brutality and crudeness of history was avoided. Princess did not have it easy ... any one married to King Henry VIII would know that and it silly for me to educate them thinking it was all sweetness and light living in a castle and having servants. Reading one chapter can take us a little while as sometimes that are mentioned can suddenly turn into a bit of a discussion about a subject (cooking, servants, fashion, etc) which we all enjoy. So whilst some people may think they can be a little too graphic on occasion for younger children, I think they are a perfect way to make history more real.

The only thing I would recommend is that you may want to read them first (I have actually enjoyed reading them) to be sure that there are no subjects or issues that you will need to discuss with your child. Older teens would be fine with them but they are written in such a way that they are easily read and digested by a younger child.

I understand there are also area specific books in these series, IE My Australian Story, My Story (New Zealand, Dear Canada and Dear America along with some written about boys but we haven't read any of those yet.

Megan Rose Series - Book Review

I have been having a clean out of the book shelves and came across this series that I purchased a couple of years back for The Fashionista. 

The first book I purchased was called "Meghan Rose has Ants in Her Pants" written by Lori Scott, a retired first grade teacher and "mom" or mum as we say around this side of the world. 

It's about seven year old Meghan Rose who desperately wants some Kangeroozie shoes (shoes that bounce ... awesome!), after seeing them advertised on TV (we've all been there with our kids haven't we!). She is so desperate to get them, that she tries all kids of things to raise money and even makes a version with the help of her friends. All her efforts are in vain as each time something goes wrong often in a rather amusing way. Meghan finally talks to God about it and has the realisation that she needs to learn to be patient and show some self-control, a lesson perfect for my then very impatient 8 year old!

These books are very humorous, Meghan is an absolute character (think a christian Judy Moody or Ramona) and they all have a valuable lesson without coming across at all preachy or boring. At the back of all the books are discussion questions and some activities to do with your child. There is also a Meghan Rose website with more activities and information.

On some websites it says these books are aimed at ages 4 - 8 but the author herself suggests they are written more for 6 -10 year olds. I think it would depend on the reader. They were perfect for The Fashionista at 8 but I think Agent Smelly should have read them a bit earlier, say 6, as she reads at a similar level to her older sister. Either way they are great starter books for girls as they are easy enough to read and funny enough to keep them interested.

Because TF enjoyed that first book so much, I ended up purchasing the first eight in the series. I see there were a couple more released last year but by then she had outgrown them. They made her laugh and they were reasonably short and sweet which was great for her confidence. She actually got through them all, although not one straight after the other, which is a really super achievement for her. I actually beleive that these books helped TF on her journey into not "hating" reading so much.

Agent Smelly ripped through them all a few months back, we're talking a book a day; she's like her Mama. They were apparently "very easy to read and funny. Some I liked better than others and my favourite was Ants in Her Pants. I think I should get some Kangaroozies you know".  Ah yes, my very own little Meghan Rose.

"The Imagination Station; Voyage with the Vikings" Book Review

The Imagination Station is a living history series. It is recommended for ages 7 and up and is christian based. In this first book we are introduced to the main characters, cousins Beth and Patrick, and Mr Whittaker, the inventor of the "Imagination Station" (time machine). There is an ongoing mystery in the background and in this volume the cousins must return to Viking times to obtain a Sunstone (and they don't actually know what one is) where they actually meet the Viking Erik the Red and his son Leif.

I read this first volume, like I always try to do for the books I get for the girls, just to see what they are about, and whether they are suitable for them (age and content wise). I confess, I enjoyed this lighthearted adventure so much, that I grabbed the second one off the shelf to see what happened next.

"The Imagination Station; Voyage with the Vikings"

Book review by The Fashionista aged 10 1/2

Two cousins, Beth and Patrick, go back in time using an invention of Mr Whittaker's that he called the Imagination Station. In this book they went back in time to the year 1,000 to find a Sunstone. They landed in Greenland and met, the Viking, Erik the Red.

I liked it because it was a fun adventurous book. The characters were cool because Beth is smart, Patrick is just a normal boy and Mr Whittaker reminds me of a nutty professor. I really liked Beth's viking outfit and found it amazing that they made Beth a slave because of her brown hair and Patrick was fair so they said he must be a viking. Also Erik the Red wanted Patrick's cape and thought he could just take it because of who he was. Erik would have probable killed them but for his son Leif and Hilda, Erik's wife, protecting them.

I learnt that back in those days Vikings were mostly violent and worshipped heaps of gods but a small group of them were peaceful Christians, like Hilda and Leif.

"Where Arrows Fly" Book Review

Our first read aloud for 2013 was "Where Arrows Fly". It's the second book in the Barn Chronicles and is written by New Zealand author and homeschool parent, Rosie Boom. This series is based on Rosie's own families adventures and life in the rural far north of New Zealand. It is a charming book not unlike a modern day Little House series, with the family living in an old barn whilst they build their dream home. The story main character is her fourth child, eleven year old feisty and likable daughter Milly. I really love that because it's a true story there are no cliched homeschooled kids like some that tend to appear in books and so her family are wonderfully positive role models for my own girls.

Both girls loved the story, as did I, but Agent Smelly won the toss to do the book review on this beautiful book.

 

Where Arrows Fly Book review by Agent Smelly aged 8 1/2

 

I love this book. They have a big family and are very nice. They have a good life and I like how they homeschool like I do and they have adventures. They are soooo lucky to have a river to play in.

 

When the Booms took the wrong sheep from a paddock and sheared them is was so hilarious. I laughed my head off.

 

Milly is funny and she loves animals, like me. She has loads but she is very good how she always takes care of them. I would love to do what Milly does. She gets to ride her horse and milk her cow.

 

I wish I could play spies with them all and go horse riding with Milly.