Reading Around the World in 2016-2017: Europe

I recently realized I never posted the books we read when Second Son, my youngest, was in kindergarten for our Reading Around the World in Picture Books. In the previous three years we read books from Asia, Africa, and Central and South America, so in 2016-2017, we focused on books set in Europe.

We had read books set in Europe when First Daughter was in kindergarten, but that was four years earlier and only for one term. So this list is quite a bit longer, though some books are on both lists.

We were still using the picture book basket method that year, so we didn't read every single one of these books. If books were similar or by the same author, I would put them in the basket on the same week, so there are more than 36 books in the list. The books were available in the basket for a week and then floated around the house for another three weeks before they had to go back to the library. Some of these we owned, so those went back on our shelves, but most were library books.

I'll put asterisks by the ones we have loved and revisited in the years since we did this study.

I'm going to link to Bookshop if they have the book and Amazon otherwise. These are all affiliate links.

** The Remarkable Christmas of the Cobbler's Sons by Ruth Sawyer - Austria; I'm not sure why I felt the need to schedule this in August rather than around Christmas time, but regardless, I had to include it because it's illustrated by Barbara Cooney, my absolute favorite children's book illustrator.

A Gift for Mama by Linda Ravin Lodding - Austria; a sweet book

A Tale of Two Brothers by Eveline Hasler - Switzerland; a folktale 

Chasing Degas by Eva Montanari - Paris, France; This one does double-duty with artist study!

** Adele and Simon by Barbara McClintock - Paris, France; I love Adele and Simon so much! They have a book set in America, too.

Anatole by Eve Titus - France; I feel like this book is a classic. If not, it should be. 

** The Iridescence of Birds: A Book about Henri Matisse by Patricia MacLachlan - France; This is another book that doubles as artist study, but with more actual information. It's quite lovely!

Madame Martine by Sarah S. Brannen - Paris, France; a sweet story about trying new things

The Cat Who Walked Across France by Kate Banks - France; I feel like I liked this book more than my kids did, but it's a great one for showing more of France than just Paris.

A Giraffe Goes to Paris by Mary Tavener Holmes and John Harris - Paris, but also Egypt; I find books about animals traveling from one continent to another fascinating.

** Hana in the Time of Tulips by Deborah Noyes - Holland; A beautiful book and one of my favorites.

Hans Brinker retold by Bruce Coville - Holland; I actually like this picture book better than the original story.

Katje the Windmill Cat by Gretchen Woelfle - Holland; you have to have cat stories, too.

** The Boy who Held Back the Sea by Thomas Locker - Holland; This is another of my favorites.

Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming - Holland; an uplifting story that just touches on the horror of World War II

The Golem's Latkes by Eric A. Kimmel - Czech / Slovakia; a fun book based on a Jewish tale

** Little Rooster's Diamond Button retold by Margaret Read MacDonald - Hungary; one of our favorite books. Second Daughter still loves to read this and she's almost 12.

The Race of the Birkebeiners by Lunge-Larson - Norway; I love how this book combines a bit of history, virtue, and beautiful artwork.

D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls and Children of the Northlights - Scandinavia; because everything by the D'Aulaires is magical.

Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka and their New Skates by Maj Lindman - Sweden; there are a number of books in this series, but this was our favorite.

Master Maid: Tale of Norway by Aaron Shepard - Norway

Seven Fathers by Ashley Ramsden - Norwegian folktale; another tale I think I liked more than the kids, but one worth sharing

Boots and His Brothers by Eric A. Kimmel - Norway; a folktale

Sister Bear: A Norse Tale by Jane Yolen - Norway; beautiful illustrations

The Day Hans Got His Way by David Lewis Atwell - Norway; I don't remember this book at all! Perhaps the kids didn't choose it.

How the Ladies Stopped the Wind and The Problem with Chickens by Bruce McMillan - Iceland; these are kind of odd books, but my children enjoyed them.

The Mouse Bride by Linda Allen - Finland; nicely done illustrations.

** Summer Birds by Margarita Engle - Germany; a lovely picture book about Maria Sibylla Merian

The Famous Nini: A Mostly True Story of How a Plain White Cat Became a Star by Mary Nethery - Italy; a fun story

Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra by Stephen Costanza - Venice; I don't suppose this book is that realistic, but it's always nice to combine composer study with Reading Around the World. And it was a good excuse to listen to some of The Four Seasons.

** Do Re Mi: If You Can Read Music, Thank Guido d'Arezzo by Susan L. Roth - Italy; I liked this book much better than the Vivaldi one, especially the illustrations. (I marked it as a favorite, because it was a favorite of mine, but I'm not sure the kids would agree.)

Building on Nature: The Life of Antoni Gaudi by Rachel Victoria Rodriguez - Spain; architecture and Reading Around the World

The Hedgehog Boy: A Latvian Folktale by Jane Langton - Latvia; this one was a bit odd, but I was a little surprised to find anything from Latvia at our library at all.

Elinda who Danced in the Sky: An Estonian Folktale by Lynn Moroney - Estonia; this tale was quite nice.

** How Mama Brought the Spring by Fran Manushkin - Belarus; bright, colorful, and enticing! I always feel like I can smell delicious treats when we read this book.

The Mitten by Jim Aylesworth (wonderfully illustrated by Barbara McClintock and The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt (with a completely different illustrative style) - Ukraine; The Mitten is one of my favorite folktales so of course we had two versions of it.

The Orphan: A Cinderella Story from Greece by Anthony L. Manna and Soula Mitakidou - Greece; I liked this story, but the illustrations weren't my favorite.

The Black Bull of Norroway by Charlotte Huck - Scotland; a Scottish tale that's sort of about Norway. 

** The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane by C. M. Millen - Ireland; one of my favorite picture books.

The Leprechaun's Gold by Edwards by Pamela Duncan Edwards - Ireland; I don't remember this one.

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant -  England; I have always enjoyed this book, but I think it appeals more to older children.

And that's it. At the end of the year, we set aside official Reading Around the World plans forever as my youngest, Second Son, "graduated" to first grade and Level 1B. I think he might have appreciated more reading around the world, but without younger ones around, I didn't have the impetus to keep it up.

As usual, I have received nothing in exchange for this post, but links to Bookshop and Amazon are affiliate links.

Level 5 European History with Norman Davies

The Mater Amabilis™ beta high school plans (which can be found in the Mater Amabilis™ for High School Facebook group) recommend Europe: A History by Norman Davies for the European History textbook. The book has twelve parts, which divides nicely into three parts each for four years. (Or, for those who want to finish in a shorter time, four parts each for three years.)

This is a dense and meaty text. It begins with a description of Europe's geography and a discussion on how its geographical features lend themselves to the development of a civilization. Part II covers Ancient Greece and Part III is Ancient Rome. These are the three parts we read in ninth grade (Level 5 Year 1).

I have recently prepared a study guide and mapping activities for the second three parts through the Middle Ages and up to 1493 (The Birth of Europe, The Middle Age, and Christendom in Crisis) for Level 5 Year 2.

Sally Thomas, one of the developers of the beta high school plans and a moderator in the Mater Amabilis™ Facebook groups began a study guide to provide definitions and guided questions. I started with her wonderful work and added mapping activities and finished it through Part VI. I will post those in the Facebook group.

The mapping activities ask my student to label a blank map with locations mentioned in the text. Personally I find that kind of preparatory work invaluable as I read a text because I am able to place events within a geographical space. My daughter has been doing these kinds of activities as she reads A Book of Discovery and has mentioned how beneficial she finds them as well.

I originally wrote the ninth grade study guide asking my son only to find the locations in our atlas, but I found throughout the year that he still couldn't remember even the most common locations from the text. So I wrote the tenth grade study guide to be more active as he labels a blank map, using our atlas to guide him. (I also went back and quickly revised the ninth grade one so it's ready for First Daughter.) I'm hopeful this additional engagement will help him form an internal map of Europe he'll be able to use throughout his life.

I have the third edition of the National Geographic Concise Atlas of the World which I have found sufficient though its more manageable size is possible by including fewer features and locations. There were a couple of things I just added myself (Nicaea, Mt. Athos, and Corinth, for example).

There are some maps within the text, but most tables and maps are relegated to the Appendix and most of those present multiple layers of information in a single page. My current high school student is the kind to immediately dismiss any thought of turning to the back of the book for additional information, so if I wanted him to look at something in the Appendix, I specifically required it in the study guide I wrote. I also supplemented the text with just a few maps in the study guide.

Because this text is so very dense, in the first year I often assigned only three or four pages. In the second year, I've increased that to an average of five pages. I think this will be acceptable as even my son agreed Davies was easier to digest after some practice. I also think the first chapter was the most difficult; it was much more abstract than the later ones. Part IV on the Birth of Europe is also more abstract than the following two parts.

While this book is used as a text in some college courses, it is an unusual choice for high school, partly because of its difficulty but also it's not a "textbook." Davies presents his own views alongside what others have said but without always identifying the "right" theory. Because it has only one author, it is easy to begin discussions by asking whether Davies is right: Does he present persuasive arguments? Have you learned something from another course or author that counters what he is saying?

Davies comments on everything. By the end of the book, a student will have encountered innumerable ideas and interrelationships between them. I know some other families in the Facebook group have opted for other history curricula, but I think this is a solid choice and I'm pleased with it.

If you have multiple students who will be using this text, I recommend a hardcover version. It's a large book and I think the hardcover will handle multiple years of use by multiple children better than paperback. It's relatively inexpensive used. (I accidentally ended up with two copies so if you're local and want one, let me know.)

I have receiving nothing in exchange for this post. I purchased this book used (and discovered Kansas Dad had purchased it new decades ago). All opinions are my own. Links above to Amazon are affiliate links.

Haliburton Again!: The Glorious Adventure

The Glorious Adventure

by Richard Halliburton

We read the Book of Marvels by Richard Halliburton in Level 3 (year 1 and year 2) and enjoyed them immensely. In this book, he follows the path of Odysseus to the Trojan War and home again. The escapades are often irreverent, frequently involve alcohol (and at least one encounter with drugs), and approximate the geography of the Odyssey. But it's thoroughly fun!

At one point, Halliburton tries to run the original marathon, tracing the route of Pheidippides from Marathon to Athens. Overwhelmed by thirst, he requests wine from a local bartender.

Glass after glass was emptied. In fact so much wine disappeared that when I sought the road again it reeled about in the most amazing manner. I had to hold tight to keep from being thrown by it. Running was too redic'lous. I felt so jolly, just rolling along and stopping to tell everybody in English that everyshing was all right, since the Pershuns were in wild flight.

And so on. I found it amusing, but it probably would be unwise for teens to subsist on a constant literary diet of Halliburton who engages in plenty of drinking and smoking in the midst of his sometimes ill-advised adventures.

He writes eloquently of Troy.

Its fame is imperishable; its romance is inexhaustible. To our own far-away new world its great name has echoed, and I, for one, am proud to have answered its calling, to have lain atop the crumbling battlements in the twilight with the wind whimpering fretfully through the grass-grown ruins, and with the ghosts of Priam and Hecuba, Helen and Andromache drifting beside me, as each night they mount to the Scaean Tower to watch, with hollow anguished eyes, the ghostly horses of the ghostly Achilles dragging Hector’s shadowy body before the silent, sleeping, sorrow-laden mound that once was Troy.

In search of Stromboli (keeper of winds), Halliburton hires a boat to take him out in the night to gaze on the erupting volcano.

Every twelve minutes the white hot bubbling lava was shot upward into the black night amid great fountains of sparks that illuminated heaven and earth with their blazing. Then the flaming geyser would fall back on to the slope, and in waves upon waves of molten rock ripple glitteringly two thousand feet down to the hissing sea. The more solid masses not rolled, but leaped, in a few wild bouncing plunges, leaving a trail of sky-rockets and little meteors behind them, and fell thundering into the water. The crater boomed unceasingly, the terrace flashed and flamed. For ten eruptions – two hours – we sat in our boat, a hundred yards offshore, and marveled each time the more at this brilliant, blazing waterfall of fire.

Then, of course, they climbed it, despite protestations from all the people in the town at its foot.

Finally, “home in Ithaca,” he sits and imagines the confrontation between Odysseus and the suitors playing out before him as if he were seated in a balcony above Odysseus’s hall.

The last scene of Homer’s epic poem has been played, the last page read. I close the book regretfully, and turn my eyes from the precious little volume to the sunset which, viewed through the shining olive trees on Ulysses’ castle site, is enflaming the western sea. Never had I know a sky to be so radiant, so gold,--a glorious end of a glorious day and of an immortal story. On such a scarlet sky as this, three thousand years ago, Ulysses and Penelope, reunited, had watched the darkness creep.

Over and over, he convinces his companions to follow him in ludicrous adventures. They climb mountains, swim in the Blue Lagoon, hike to a mountain cave and tell outrageous and blatant lies to each other while pretending to be island maiden and Odysseus. Yet it all seems full of delight in the myth and epic, reveling in the brilliant blues of the Mediterranean.

First Son is reading this book in Level 5, Year 1, ninth grade, following the beta Mater Amabilis™ plans found in the Facebook group. He's also reading both The Iliad and The Odyssey. Halliburton's book could not be an accurate retracing of Odysseus's journey, but it is the journey of a young man who appreciates the beauty and lasting fascination of the epic, and reveals some of that enduring legacy to the reader.

I received nothing in exchange for writing this review. All opinions are my own. I purchased this book used. Links above to Amazon are affiliate links.

Preschool Reading Around the World: Europe

The books below were technically read during First Daughter's kindergarten year, but I wanted to continue posting about them along with the books we read the previous year when she was in preschool. It still counts as preschool, too, because Second Daughter (age four) listened in when she was interested.

I thought I would coordinate our world reading with First Son's Extreme Environments studies, but in the first term he was reading about Africa, which we covered the last year. So we started with Europe instead.

As I've mentioned before, the purpose of these treks around the world through picture books is not to convey a great amount of facts or history, but rather to give a feel for another country or culture through wonderful books. I sought to select books that were wonderful merely in and of themselves. I was limited by our library, though, so these are not necessarily the best picture books set in Europe. Please feel free to share your favorites in the comments. I tend not to buy books just for our reading around the world, but I am not afraid to ask our library to make a purchase.

Hana in the Time of the Tulips by Deborah Noyes and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline is a beautifully illustrated book set during the time of tulipomania in the 1630s. This is the only book we read during this study that I actually purchased; the rest were all from the library. I wrote about this book already as one of my favorite picture books. (Holland)

Hans Brinker by Bruce Coville, illustrated by Laurel Long, is an adaptation of Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge. I don't usually like adaptations, but this one condenses the story nicely for younger children. The illustrations are absolutely lovely. They make me want to rush off to Holland and ice skate in beautiful dresses. (Holland)

The Orphan: A Cinderella Story from Greece by Anthony L. Manna and Soula Mitakidou, illustrated by Giselle Potter is a retelling of Cinderella. My girls enjoyed it. (Greece)

Little Rooster's Diamond Button retold by Margaret Read MacDonald, illustrated by Will Terry, is a retelling of a folktale in which a rooster exacts revenge on a greedy king who steals a diamond button. The children love this book. (Hungary)

How Mama Brought the Spring by Fran Manuskhin, illustrated by Holly Berry, begins on a wintry day in Chicago when a young girl hears the story of how her grandmother brought spring to Minsk. This is a delightful story to read with young girls (or anyone who likes to bake or cook with a parent or loved one). It includes a recipe for blintzes which Kansas Dad made with First Daughter. The kids were indifferent to them, but they just don't appreciate anything novel at a meal. Kansas Dad and I thought they were delicious and decadent. I love the illustration of the batter on the tablecloth "like sunflowers against a blue sky." (Belarus)

The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane by C. M. Millen, illustrated by Andrea Wisnewski, is set in an Irish monastery at the advent of the illuminated manuscripts. It's an imaginary story, but one so wonderfully illustrated it should not be missed. It's one of my favorite picture books. (Ireland)

The Famous Nini: A Mostly True Story of How a Plain White Cat Became a Star by Mary Nethery, illustrated by John Manders, is an imaginative tale of a cat who become a national celebrity in Venice. It's a wonderful book with charming illustrations. We all enjoyed it. I particularly liked how each of the cafe's visitors left feeling better because of this little cat. Isn't that what we all should do? (Italy)

Adèle and Simon by Barbara McClintock is the original book that led to Adele and Simon in America, one of my favorite picture books. Simon, of course, loses all his belongings as he and his sister wander through Paris after she picks him up from school. It's wonderfully illustrated and encourages children to closely peruse the illustrations as they search for all of Simon's things. My children love this book! (France)

Chasing Degas by Eva Montanari follows a young ballerina through the streets of Paris as she chases after Degas who has accidentally taken her bag. Along the way, she meets many of the impressionist artists that lived in Paris at the time. A few pages at the end introduce the reader to some famous works of art and a bit about impressionism. We'll be reading this again next year as we study Degas. (France)

Katje the Windmill Cat by Gretchen Woelfle, illustrated by Nicola Bayley, is based on the true story of a cat who saved an infant in a cradle during a great storm on St. Elizabeth's Day in 1421. A sweet story, great illustrations, and a little history and culture mixed in. Highly recommended. (Holland)

Snipp, Snapp, Snurr and the Big Surprise by Maj Lindman is my favorite of the Snipp, Snapp, and Snurr books. In it the boys exchange their own labor to skilled workers who create a gift for their mother. It's an easy book for young readers to read themselves (or aloud to mama). (Sweden)

Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra by Stephen Costanza imagines a young orphan girl whose poetry inspired Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. It's a wonderful book to read as you're studying Vivaldi (as we were) or before listening to The Four Seasons. This book also has some of my favorite illustrations of all the ones we read this term. (Italy)

More posts on what else we read during the year are coming. I'm very thankful I still have Second Daughter and Second Son to justify my continuation of this kind of reading around the world, though I haven't decided yet what our focus will be next year.

Other Posts on Reading Around the World with picture books

2011-2012
Africa
Asia
Central and South America