I'm delighted by your substack, and I've urged a dozen or so people to sign up for it. I can't settle on a favorite children's author or book but I'd put Huckleberry Finn and Don Quixote high on my list. Among the authors, Kipling, and while many of his chidren's books are first rate, my favorite in Kim.
I was Rachelle's employer when she was in New York. I used to tease her about her enthusiasm for Wilder's Little House books, on the grounds that Pa over and over again makes decisions that imperil the family and yet he is treated by Wilder as an exemplary dad.
I missed the first round of nominations and voting - oh, no! (Serves me right for waiting so long to read posts.) I'm glad to catch up with the end of this contest, though! :)
For myself - CA native, married 23 years and mama to 6. My favorite climate is the Pacific Northwest, my favorite instruments are the pipe organ and the recorder consort, and my favorite author is Jane Austen (and for lighter reading, Agatha Christie) - besides, of course, the essential Tolkien-Lewis-Chesterton trio. (I named our three cats after those aforementioned three.) I'm in the season of insanely-driving-kids-everywhere, but regardless, there's always time for books (even if there's time for nothing else). :)
I'm so sad about Miss Rumphius, and the choice between Blueberries for Sal and Make Way For Ducklings should not be that hard. 😂
I'm Jessica, I'm a newly published indie author with more stories coming. I homeschool my four children on our homestead in Oklahoma.
I love this Substack because so many of the featured titles are favorites from my own childhood when my mother would do FIAR with my sisters and me. And now I get to share them with my own children.
I’m a mom to two (and, God willing, more in the future), slowly slogging my way though writing my dissertation on 18th century literature and reading piles of books to my kids in my spare time. I dabble in fiber arts, knitting and sewing mostly. I used to reread a lot, but my reading time is so precious these days that I prioritize new books more. I rarely write in my books unless for school, though I’m not opposed to it at all. I love Lewis, Chesterton, Sayers, et al, and am such a big Tolkien fan I named my daughter after Sam Gamgee’s oldest haha. Other favorite authors include George Eliot, and lately Maria Edgeworth and James Fennimore Cooper, thanks to my studies.
My husband and I love road trips, and have taken a big one almost every year we’ve known each other…this year we are going to drive from North Texas to Edmonton, AB with our two kids, and I am so excited.
What varied and delightful interests you have! It sounds like an adventurous summer lies ahead for you. I have actually never read anything by Maria Edgeworth. Is there a book in particular you would recommend for a first read?
Catholic wife of almost 27 years, mom of 6, ages 2-24, second-generation homeschooler. Just found you today!
I do write in books but I only started a few years ago after my pastor told me about Mortimer Adler. My parents are VERY anti-annotation.
My favorite places are in the American Southwest. I’m a natural city-dweller, the anonymity is comfortable to me as an introvert.
I don’t know if I have favorite authors but I do have favorite books—Middlemarch, Anne of Green Gables, In this House of Brede, Death Comes for the Archbishop, The Lord of the Rings, Brideshead Revisited, East of Eden, Pride and Prejudice, The End of the Affair, The Way of Perfection, The Remains of the Day, He Leadeth Me by Walter Ciszek SJ, Four Quartets, the poetry of St. John of the Cross, Jane Eyre, and The Chosen by Chaim Potok are my top picks.
We have so much in common! Many of your favorite books are my favorites as well, and some I have never read before. Putting them on my TBR list now. And I'm a second-generation homeschooler, too.
It is interesting how cities offer anonymity, though you're in constant contact with other people. I certainly experienced that in my time in NYC.
I live in the Denver-Boulder area but honestly Southern California (minus the weirdos and LA being destroyed) and ESPECIALLY Arizona have my heart. Arizona is my favorite state and SO underrated. You are lucky to live there! I will never not live in the west! My oldest daughter’s boyfriend lives in Wyoming and if they end up getting married, she will too. So I suppose I will be building up a lot of familiarity and fondness for Wyoming too.
We’re hoping to go to CO next year to take in some national parks. But I have to agree, Arizona is an incredibly beautiful state and we’re blessed to live near so many natural wonders.
Oof, those mccloskys facing off was brutal. However, I feel the moral lesson in Blueberries is superior to Make Way. I have expolated on Blueberries many a time.
Favorite authors is tricky. Children authors too numerous to name. Adult authors tend to be one hit wonders, leaning Gothic: Jane Eyre, Frankenstein, Far From the Madding Crowd (can't stand his other books). Ralph Moody's books are for everyone though shelved with adults. Austen of course. My Antonia but not so strongly other Cather. Agatha Christie in highschool I read all I could find but I don't think I've read since...I used to reread when I was reading 100 books a year but currently I don't in part because my taste has matured since that time.
Currently reading This is Happiness. It's good so far. Just finished Douglass' narrative.
Blueberries for Sal (cracks knuckles) tackles a common, powerful, sometimes crippling childhood fear: what if I cannot find my mother? Set in an unfamiliar destination ( to most readers, though perhaps not Sal--but maybe for Sal as well, which will add to my thesis if so) a small child wanders the wilderness and gets lost. But does she panic? Cry? Call? No! With insouciance, Sal keeps eating blueberries and meanders looking for her mother, yes, but with utmost confidence that she will be found and all will be well. This is astounding to the small child reader/listener who knows he is unlikely to face such a situation with anywhere near this level of calm. She faces a bear with complete fearlessness! Incredible! Inspiring! Add in the repeating parallel text (but it was a....quplink quplank quplunk...) fun animals, and getting to watch the mother look for the child (which an actually lost child never gets to do), you have a real classic on your hands guiding little readers on their way to exploring the world fearlessly.
Otoh, Make Way for Ducklings has wonderful pictures, fun animals, and plenty of adventure, but does not tackle a childhood fear but rather an adult one (raising children safely) and therefore is not quite the same caliber as Blueberries although a masterpiece of art and fun nonetheless.
Also Ducklings ends with them back in the public gardens where there were bikes they fled in the beginning of the book....odd parenting choice. And I don't believe there's not turtles despite what Mrs Mallard says. Don't get me wrong, love it, but not quite the heavyweight Blueberries is
All good points. I have often wondered why the Public Garden is suddenly safe at the end of the book.
I think I most love Mrs. Mallard's intrepidity in taking all these kids through a big city, which is rewarded by public servants actually going out of their way to make the city family-friendly (at least for their walk). It hits a lot of NYC chords for me.
Yes, Ducklings resonates for sure, but Blueberries has the conflict necessary to make it just a little better. It could have taken place in Central Park....
I find there are a lot of picture books that appeal more to adults than children, such as Miss Rumphius. Ducklings appeals to both adults and children.
I almost made another voting option along those lines…but then I thought it would just be too many options! But I am like you—mostly write in nonfiction, only sometimes in fiction, and always in pencil.
I'm delighted by your substack, and I've urged a dozen or so people to sign up for it. I can't settle on a favorite children's author or book but I'd put Huckleberry Finn and Don Quixote high on my list. Among the authors, Kipling, and while many of his chidren's books are first rate, my favorite in Kim.
I was Rachelle's employer when she was in New York. I used to tease her about her enthusiasm for Wilder's Little House books, on the grounds that Pa over and over again makes decisions that imperil the family and yet he is treated by Wilder as an exemplary dad.
Thanks for the vote of confidence and for spreading the word! (Also, I am listening to Kim on Librivox right now.)
I missed the first round of nominations and voting - oh, no! (Serves me right for waiting so long to read posts.) I'm glad to catch up with the end of this contest, though! :)
For myself - CA native, married 23 years and mama to 6. My favorite climate is the Pacific Northwest, my favorite instruments are the pipe organ and the recorder consort, and my favorite author is Jane Austen (and for lighter reading, Agatha Christie) - besides, of course, the essential Tolkien-Lewis-Chesterton trio. (I named our three cats after those aforementioned three.) I'm in the season of insanely-driving-kids-everywhere, but regardless, there's always time for books (even if there's time for nothing else). :)
Your book knowledge is vast and impressive, Diana! And what fun names for your cats.
I'm so sad about Miss Rumphius, and the choice between Blueberries for Sal and Make Way For Ducklings should not be that hard. 😂
I'm Jessica, I'm a newly published indie author with more stories coming. I homeschool my four children on our homestead in Oklahoma.
I love this Substack because so many of the featured titles are favorites from my own childhood when my mother would do FIAR with my sisters and me. And now I get to share them with my own children.
Now I know your name! Homeschooling and homesteading--your life sounds a little bit like both Miss Rumphius and Blueberries for Sal!
Yes, I should probably take to introducing myself more. I suppose hat's what happens in my introverted ways. 🙃
My life is very much a mix of Miss Rumphius, Make Way for Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal. With the occasional Ping the Duck thrown in. 🩷
Miss Rumphius noo!
I’m a mom to two (and, God willing, more in the future), slowly slogging my way though writing my dissertation on 18th century literature and reading piles of books to my kids in my spare time. I dabble in fiber arts, knitting and sewing mostly. I used to reread a lot, but my reading time is so precious these days that I prioritize new books more. I rarely write in my books unless for school, though I’m not opposed to it at all. I love Lewis, Chesterton, Sayers, et al, and am such a big Tolkien fan I named my daughter after Sam Gamgee’s oldest haha. Other favorite authors include George Eliot, and lately Maria Edgeworth and James Fennimore Cooper, thanks to my studies.
My husband and I love road trips, and have taken a big one almost every year we’ve known each other…this year we are going to drive from North Texas to Edmonton, AB with our two kids, and I am so excited.
What varied and delightful interests you have! It sounds like an adventurous summer lies ahead for you. I have actually never read anything by Maria Edgeworth. Is there a book in particular you would recommend for a first read?
Catholic wife of almost 27 years, mom of 6, ages 2-24, second-generation homeschooler. Just found you today!
I do write in books but I only started a few years ago after my pastor told me about Mortimer Adler. My parents are VERY anti-annotation.
My favorite places are in the American Southwest. I’m a natural city-dweller, the anonymity is comfortable to me as an introvert.
I don’t know if I have favorite authors but I do have favorite books—Middlemarch, Anne of Green Gables, In this House of Brede, Death Comes for the Archbishop, The Lord of the Rings, Brideshead Revisited, East of Eden, Pride and Prejudice, The End of the Affair, The Way of Perfection, The Remains of the Day, He Leadeth Me by Walter Ciszek SJ, Four Quartets, the poetry of St. John of the Cross, Jane Eyre, and The Chosen by Chaim Potok are my top picks.
We have so much in common! Many of your favorite books are my favorites as well, and some I have never read before. Putting them on my TBR list now. And I'm a second-generation homeschooler, too.
It is interesting how cities offer anonymity, though you're in constant contact with other people. I certainly experienced that in my time in NYC.
What are your favorite places in the Southwest?
I live in the Denver-Boulder area but honestly Southern California (minus the weirdos and LA being destroyed) and ESPECIALLY Arizona have my heart. Arizona is my favorite state and SO underrated. You are lucky to live there! I will never not live in the west! My oldest daughter’s boyfriend lives in Wyoming and if they end up getting married, she will too. So I suppose I will be building up a lot of familiarity and fondness for Wyoming too.
We’re hoping to go to CO next year to take in some national parks. But I have to agree, Arizona is an incredibly beautiful state and we’re blessed to live near so many natural wonders.
I keep a separate reading journal for the books I'm reading. That way, I can go back and reread my notes and refresh my memory!
I keep a commonplace book, too, but then I also write in my books in pencil.
Oof, those mccloskys facing off was brutal. However, I feel the moral lesson in Blueberries is superior to Make Way. I have expolated on Blueberries many a time.
Favorite authors is tricky. Children authors too numerous to name. Adult authors tend to be one hit wonders, leaning Gothic: Jane Eyre, Frankenstein, Far From the Madding Crowd (can't stand his other books). Ralph Moody's books are for everyone though shelved with adults. Austen of course. My Antonia but not so strongly other Cather. Agatha Christie in highschool I read all I could find but I don't think I've read since...I used to reread when I was reading 100 books a year but currently I don't in part because my taste has matured since that time.
Currently reading This is Happiness. It's good so far. Just finished Douglass' narrative.
I think I'm the opposite with re-reading. It's been long enough now since I first read some of my favorites that I'm rereading more than I used to.
And can we please hear more about Blueberries for Sal?
Blueberries for Sal (cracks knuckles) tackles a common, powerful, sometimes crippling childhood fear: what if I cannot find my mother? Set in an unfamiliar destination ( to most readers, though perhaps not Sal--but maybe for Sal as well, which will add to my thesis if so) a small child wanders the wilderness and gets lost. But does she panic? Cry? Call? No! With insouciance, Sal keeps eating blueberries and meanders looking for her mother, yes, but with utmost confidence that she will be found and all will be well. This is astounding to the small child reader/listener who knows he is unlikely to face such a situation with anywhere near this level of calm. She faces a bear with complete fearlessness! Incredible! Inspiring! Add in the repeating parallel text (but it was a....quplink quplank quplunk...) fun animals, and getting to watch the mother look for the child (which an actually lost child never gets to do), you have a real classic on your hands guiding little readers on their way to exploring the world fearlessly.
Otoh, Make Way for Ducklings has wonderful pictures, fun animals, and plenty of adventure, but does not tackle a childhood fear but rather an adult one (raising children safely) and therefore is not quite the same caliber as Blueberries although a masterpiece of art and fun nonetheless.
Also Ducklings ends with them back in the public gardens where there were bikes they fled in the beginning of the book....odd parenting choice. And I don't believe there's not turtles despite what Mrs Mallard says. Don't get me wrong, love it, but not quite the heavyweight Blueberries is
All good points. I have often wondered why the Public Garden is suddenly safe at the end of the book.
I think I most love Mrs. Mallard's intrepidity in taking all these kids through a big city, which is rewarded by public servants actually going out of their way to make the city family-friendly (at least for their walk). It hits a lot of NYC chords for me.
Yes, Ducklings resonates for sure, but Blueberries has the conflict necessary to make it just a little better. It could have taken place in Central Park....
I find there are a lot of picture books that appeal more to adults than children, such as Miss Rumphius. Ducklings appeals to both adults and children.
I was not expecting Blueberries for Sal to be more popular than Make Way for Ducklings.
The mix-up with the mothers pulls on every mother's heartstrings.
I almost made another voting option along those lines…but then I thought it would just be too many options! But I am like you—mostly write in nonfiction, only sometimes in fiction, and always in pencil.
I’m so glad!