The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison

This is a coffee sipping, slow reading book.  This book begs you to sit down and take it slow, to hear her story and ponder your own.  Her words left me inspired and moved.  Being a mother isn't always easy and this mother says it with such grace.  She explores those areas of her heart that aren't ready to let go and brings the reader.  As I read it, I found myself exploring those areas in my heart.  Kenison is full of thoughtful insight and she writes with a deep beauty.  I left this book ready to love more deeply, not just my family but those around me my friends and neighbors,  The cast of characters that make up my life.  I was reminded to be thankful for the ordinary moments that so fleetingly disappear.  I am often conflicted between my role at home and my desire to change the world, the whole world, but Kenison reminded me over and over that it is in embracing my role in my home that I am changing the world. 

Changing The Way We View The World

The Mayflower and The Pilgrims' New World by Nathaniel Philbrick

Education for us is all about reading. We read a lot together and on our own. During our "school time" we always have something that we are reading aloud, usually mid-morning. I read, they eat second breakfast. We have read funny fiction and we have read some serious non-fiction. We recently finished one of our serious non-fiction selections. We have been reading this since the beginning of the year, at the beginning of the year we could only read a few pages before they were begging to move on to funny fiction, but the more we talked about the book, the more we noticed that we had constructed in our minds a false account of these colonists, as well as their Native American friends and foes. Something happened about a month ago... the story clicked and they wanted to know more and more and more. I wasn't starting the discussion, they were. They were interrupting me to make observations and ask questions. I would stop reading and they would beg for more and more. It wasn't uncommon for us to read this book for an hour at a time. The kids would have their sketchpads or play-dough to keep their hands busy and we would get to work at uncovering the story.

This book is at times not the easiest read aloud, I would find myself tongue tied. Some books read aloud smoothly and others require some time and work to uncover the rhythm. But we were okay with the shaky rhythm because we were in love with the adventure and story. We realized that even though we had already discussed in history a couple of times that Europeans had already visited North America, we still believed that these Europeans arriving on the east coast speaking English was a shock to the Native Americans. But the story Philbrick presents is one in which the Native Americans see these strangers and are concerned and frightened because they believe these white men have come to take vengeance for the deaths of some white men they just killed. We meet Native Americans that peak English, just like in Charlie Brown and watch alliances created and destroyed. We learned about King Phillips War and the many mistakes made by both the colonists and the Native Americans.

After reading this I was even more convinced in the necessity of reading non-fiction aloud with my kids. Its easy to make time and read Henry Huggins, but making time to dive into a book like this takes a little bit more resolve. I'm already creating a list of non-ficiton to work our way through that coincides with history, probably too long, but..... the more to choose from, my dear.

Silverback

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

We LOVED this book. We could have read it in one sitting and then started over and read it all over again. Though we would have had to take a break and dry our eyes and blow our noses. It was one of those books that transcended age and gender and interests. It is the story of friendship and ingenuity. It is the story fighting for what we believe to be right in spite of the consequences.

I loved Ivan's voice, it didn't take long for me to feel as if I were sitting with Ivan, the gorilla, having a conversation, learning to see the world through his eyes. Its books like this that make me wonder. Its books like this that make me ask questions of myself and of my kids. Am I willing to go out on a limb for the good of a friend regardless of the consequences for me? Do I see injustice and fight or do I let somebody else take care of it? Great conversation starters. After it was over and I had choked out the last chapter, the kids asked if there was another book, they couldn't believe it was over, that this where the story would end. I believe any good book creates a hunger in us to read more, discover more, uncover more about ourselves and the rest of humanity.