February 2025 Book Reports

Gilgamesh retold by Stephen Mitchell - I picked this book off my shelf for a reading challenge of my local homeschool friends for "a ballad or epic poem". The introduction of this book gives some good background information on the epic of Gilgamesh, but it often treats Biblical stories as if they were mythical or legendary rather than true, just like Gilgamesh. The version is a retelling, but it sounds like it flows better than a more literal translation. Interestingly, Mitchell doesn't read any of the original language of Gilgamesh and has instead relied on a wide variety of translations. I suppose that means this isn't the edition you want if you are looking for a more academic version, but his extensive notes (more than 80 pages) probably provide more information that most readers care about. (I didn't read them myself.) I ended up with this edition because it's the one that came available on PaperBackSwap, and it was quite enjoyable. There are some versions of Gilgamesh appropriate for children; this is not one of them. We don't even assign Gilgamesh to high schoolers, but I suppose I would allow a mature teen to read this retelling if he or she was particularly interested. (PaperBackSwap.com copy)

The Art of Dying Well by St. Robert Bellarmine - This was a pre-read for a four-year series of religion readings Kansas Dad is compiling. Hopefully we'll include it in future Mater Amabilis high school religion plans. It's a brief book exploring how we should live so that we are prepared to die well, prepared to be closer to our Lord. (free online)

Dune Boy by Edwin Way Teale - I read this back in 2010. It's a delightful book, but it's currently showing as $50 at a number of online bookstores; don't pay that! This is Teale's wonderful memoir of his youth, mainly focused on the time he spent working, dreaming, and learning on his grandparents' farm near the sand dunes in Indiana. It's nature study, natural history, memoir, writing treatise, and American history. I read it aloud to the kids over the past few years. (Finding time to read all together is much harder when they start taking classes at college and participating in so many sports and activities.) (received from a member of PaperBackSwap.com)

Women of the Catholic Imagination edited by Haley Stewart - I received this as a gift for Christmas. This book includes essays about twelve different authors who were either Catholic or wrote in the Catholic tradition, all from the past two hundred years. I was unfamiliar with three of them entirely and learned a great deal about the lives and writings of the them and the others. Of course, the major problem with a book like this is that is expands your to-read list exponentially, but at least you know the books you are adding are worth your time. As a side note, this Word on Fire edition is beautiful. It's well-made and a joy to read. There's an art to printing a good book; Word on Fire is always a quality publisher. (gifted copy)

Shadows on the Rock by Willa Cather - Our reading Bingo included a white elephant category. We each recommended a book which was put on a randomized wheel online. Then we each spun to get our white elephant read. (I put The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery on the list.) My selection was Shadows on the Rock, which was perfect because I'm slowly reading my way through all of Cather's novels. In this one, we trace the life of one girl of Quebec in 1697 as she grows from a girl into a woman. It's beautifully written, though it does have the flaws you would expect of a novel of early America in respect to the Native Americans. There were also a few times when I thought to myself, "I would never send my daughter on an overnight river trip with a grown man." But those are flaws partly imposed by our modern eyes rather than inherent in the novel. I did not like it as well as Death Comes for the Archbishop, but still lovely. I really like the Vintage Classics editions of Cather's novels. (purchased used)

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff - Multiple people in different parts of my life happened to recommend this book around the same time. Looking for something lovely and short, I bought the audiobook. First, I was surprised to find it a series of actual letters (and not a work of fiction), and epistolary books are always questionable to me. Though her letters to a London bookseller begin as relatively benign requests for worthy books, Helene's vibrant personality soon breaks through to become friends with the employees. She shares in their joys and sorrows. It's sweet, but like life, it doesn't always have neat and tidy endings. People come and go, and sometimes you never learn how they ended up. Parts were funny, much was uplifting. I'm not sorry I listened to it, but I don't know that I'd overwhelmingly recommend it. (Audible copy)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links.

June 2024 Book Reports

Watership Down by Richard Adams - I was surprised to learn the author created this story for his daughters. Not only are female rabbits missing entirely until after the wandering rabbits establish a new warren (how did they think that would work?), but when the female rabbits appear, they generally aren't worth talking about or emulating. Mostly I found this book slow going. I listened on audiobook and eventually sped up the recording to finish it more quickly. (Audible audiobook)

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro - I could read Ishiguro all day long. His ability to write so beautifully and yet with such dramatically different voices in all his novels amazes me. First Daughter bought this one for an honors level history course she took at a local university. They discussed it within their conversations about how not only to resolve violent conflicts in communities, but to live together peacefully after the conflict. What does forgiveness look like? How do people find a way forward without rewriting or erasing the past? (First Daughter's copy)

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson - A lonely woman writes to a prominent person at a museum. He has passed away, but a current employee responds. They soon begin a more intimate correspondence. I enjoyed it, but was disappointed in the portrayal of marriage. (purchased used)

Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi - This novel weaves together the stories of three generations of inter-related families in Oman. I really enjoyed an introduction to the history and culture of country previously unknown to me. (purchased used)

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard - I read this with my book club. I enjoyed it much more than I did just two years ago. You can read my original review here. (received from a fellow member of PaperBackSwap.com)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links.

March 2024 Book Reports

The Art of Conflict Management: Achieving Solutions for Life, Work, and Beyond by Michael Dues (Great Courses audio lecture series) - When First Daughter and I met for lunch with a local lawyer to learn about law school and law careers, the lawyer recommended learning conflict management skills. I found this series of recorded lectures from the Great Books program to add to her civics course. The 24 lectures cover a wide range of strategies for understanding conflict and communicating within relationships (or as a mediator) to find win-win solutions. I personally found it helpful in my own relationships and thought it was a great addition to the civics course. (purchased audiobook)

A Severe Mercy: A Story of Faith, Tragedy, and Triumph by Sheldon Vanauken - I read this with my book club. It was my second time reading the book, and I still didn't like it. Vanauken writes of the tragic loss of his young wife to illness after their conversion to Christianity, a conversion he didn't experience fully until after her death. More than anything, I think their love was flawed from the beginning when they decided children would come between them, so they wouldn't have any (though I acknowledge that decision might have changed after they became Christians if Davy hadn't already been suffering from her long illness). I guess it seems like the book is inward focused rather than other-focused, which is odd for me for such a *Christian* book. My favorite part is the afterward in which the author reveals Davy gave a baby up for adoption before their marriage. It completely changed my perspective on Davy and made me wish to understand her better from her own point of view, rather than her husband's. Overall, I think there are better books exploring the meaning of our faith in the face of suffering. (purchased copy) 

Two in the Far North by Margaret E. Murie - Murie was the first female graduate of the University of Alaska in 1924. She married a biologist, Olaus Murie, and together they worked and traveled in the wilds of Alaska. In later years, they traveled all over the world. In this book, she writes lovingly of their adventures in Alaska and the wilderness. Sometimes she and her husband traveled and worked alone; other times with colleagues and even their children. I am not an adventurous woman, but I love to read these kinds of adventures. Murie's describes the natural world with joy and a great thankfulness to be a part of it, even when they struggled. This is a classic of the conservation movement. (an older edition from PaperBackSwap.com)

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez - This historical fantasy romance was recommended in a local book group I follow just when I was looking for a light read for between book club books, so I requested it from the library. A young woman travels to Egypt after hearing of her parents' tragic deaths and ends up attacked by those who seek to pillage Egypt of its ancient treasures. Honestly, I found the writing painful, the plot convoluted, and the characters uneven. I suffered through the book to give myself closure, only to be disappointed because the author is planning a sequel (or a series). (library book)

Transforming Your Life through the Eucharist by John A. Kane - I have recommended this a number of times since I first read it. I didn't find it quite as striking the second time through, but it's still a good solid book on the Eucharist. (purchased copy)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon, Bookshop, and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

So Light and Wild: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
by Annie Dillard

I selected this book for First Son's senior year of geography as he was studying North America. Kansas Dad believes Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is one of the most important (and beautifully written) books of nature essays by an American author, so it seemed a good choice. I'm pretty sure this is one of the books I did not read when it was assigned in college, so I read it just ahead of First Son.

Ms. Dillard wrote this collection of essays as she lived on Tinker Creek in Virginia, wandering the creek by day and night, through heat, rain, and winter cold, describing it through all four seasons and every kind of weather. 

It has always been a happy thought to me that the creek runs on all night, new every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care, as a closed book on a shelf continues to whisper to itself its own inexhaustible tale. (p. 69)

Her thoughts flow freely through the essays. They show clearly how becoming immersed in a real, physical landscape can allow it to become a part of you, and how you can be changed by it. As rare as such a life may have been in the 1970s when the book was first published, it is even more so today. Even those of us who live outside the cities find ourselves surrounded always by walls or separated from the world by metal and glass as we drive through the wind and weather. 

Is this where we live, I thought, in this place at this moment, with the air so light and wild? (p. 218)

There are frequent references to a creator, but not in a particularly religious way. 

I loved the slow pace and entrancing descriptions in the book, but First Son did not. I'm inclined to think most high schoolers will be more like First Son, but I will consider it as a geography book for my other kids. Perhaps I will choose to assign only one or two essays, rather than the whole book. I think it could work well that way. 

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links. I received a copy from a member of PaperBackSwap.com (affiliate link). 

July 2021 Book Reports

The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World by Séverine Autesserre - link to my post (library copy)

While the Kettle's On poetry by Melissa Fite Johnson - I read this book to complete my local library's 2021 reading challenge. I needed a Kansas Notable book. It's a small book of poetry centered on modern life. There were a few poems I enjoyed, most especially "Ode to Washing Dishes" and "Something about a Walk." (library copy)

Alone by Megan E. Freeman - In this middle grade free verse novel, a twelve year old girl wakes up to find herself alone in her small town. She learns to fend for herself, leaning heavily on a neighbor's sweet and protective dog. It's marvelous, and apparently worth reading more than once since my own twelve year old swiped it from my stack to re-read it. The ending wraps everything up a bit too quickly, but my older daughter pointed out the reasons behind her predicament are not the point. It's all about her own development and growth. (library copy)

If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha - This book was mentioned in an alumni magazine I read recently, and I grabbed it from the library. I'm always keeping a look-out for books set around the world for our high school geography studies, especially ones written by people who are within the culture. (The author has lived in both the US and South Korea as well as Hong Kong. The book weaves together the stories and lives of a group of young women living in the same apartment building in South Korea. It's not a particularly flattering depiction of life there, but the women grow into new dreams as they support each other, strengthening their relationships and recognition of their worth. In any book written from different characters' points of view, it can be a little confusing to remember who is telling the story at any given time, but this one is pretty clear. The plot is subtle. At first I was disappointed in the ending, but the more I thought about it, the more I appreciated it. There's a little too much talk of intimacy, not generally not in a flattering way, for me to want to share it with my high school students, but I enjoyed it. (library copy)

That Quail, Robert by Margaret A. Stanger - This little book introduces a quail who moved into a house, becoming one of the family. It would work for a family read-aloud, but it's not as much fun as (copy from PaperBackSwap.com)

New Worlds to Conquer by Richard Halliburton - Halliburton is always a delight to read, though also always obviously playing to the 1920s audience in his depictions of indigenous peoples and cultures, as well as happy to include anything that hinted of scandal and the ridiculous. This book includes a story of a friend who accidentally surfed nude into an unsuspecting group of nuns and their female students on a picnic outing. In this book, he writes about his exploits in Central and South America, many of which are included in his Book of Marvels. I began reading thinking I might include this book on our high school list of geography books for the Americas, but I decided against it. As much as I might have enjoyed reading it, there were far too many instances of 1920s racism for me to want to hand it off to one of my students as an official school book. If one of my high schoolers sees it on my shelf and wants to read it, I'll allow it, but there's no need to assign it for narration. (purchased used at a library sale)

Wood, Water, and Wild Things: Learning Craft and Cultivation in a Japanese Mountain Town by Hannah Kirshner - link to my post (library copy)

Ourselves Book 1 by Charlotte Mason - I only read the first part of the book, because I was thinking of assigning it to my older daughter this year. It's a great easy introduction to habit and character formation. I'll write more about it when I read the second book...which may be next year. (purchased copy)

Creator and Creation by Mary O. Daly - link to my post (purchased copy)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon, Bookshop, and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

November and December 2020 Book Reports

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard - link to my post (copy from PaperBackSwap.com)

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe - link to my post (copy from PaperBackSwap.com)

The Great Quake: How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet by Henry Fountain - link to my post (library copy)

Who Gets in and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions by Jeffrey Selingo - link to my post (library copy)

Richard III by William Shakespeare - I read this just ahead of my eleventh grader. Richard III has few redeeming qualities, though some wonderful lines. I thought the most dramatic scene must be one in which ghosts of Richard's victims file across the stage in the dark of night, condemning him and comforting his rival for the throne. It's fairly long, so I split some of the acts over two weeks. (purchased copy)

The Beginning Naturalist by Gale Lawrence - I grabbed this book at a library sale to read aloud as our nature study book. The book follows a year in New England with essays of 2-3 pages on a variety of topics. More than once I was delighted by Second Daughter's discoveries on our land to match the topic of essays in the book. (purchased used)

The Captain's Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe by Roland Smith - This book is on my younger son's historical fiction list for the year (fourth grade) and I think he's going to love it. Seaman's perspective is a doggy one, which is fun. The author also manages to show some of the events and actions of the Lewis and Clark Expedition as ones we'd find unacceptable today. (purchased used)

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien (first book: The Fellowship of the Ring) - I read this trilogy when I was in middle school but knew it deserved another read. I invested in the audiobooks and enjoyed every minute of them. (purchased from Audible)

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai - link to my post (purchased Audible audiobook)

Zikora by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - I follow this author on Amazon because I saw her amazing TED Talk. This short story was available to borrow for Kindle and, somehow, the Audible book was available for free as well for listening. (I'm not able to download it on my laptop, but I could listen on the app.) It was beautifully written and provided a look into a completely different life than my own. The ending was rather abrupt, almost not an ending at all. (borrowed Audible audiobook)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Bookshop, Amazon, and PaperBackSwap.com are affiliate links.

Durrell's Zoo: Menagerie Manor

Menagerie Manor

by Gerald Durrell

I added this book to my PaperBackSwap.com wish list as soon as I read My Family and Other Animals. In this book, Mr. Durrell is grown and beginning a zoo, one he hopes will allow a dedicated staff to breed captive populations of animals endangered in the wild.

It's just as fabulous as My Family and Other Animals. There are plenty of hilarious mishaps like the attempt at recording a television program, back when television was a new experience, and chasing a tapir through a farmer's field in the middle of the night. It's also a fascinating look at building a zoo and the beginnings of animal population management. Wonderfully, Jersey Zoo still exists.

While there are some descriptions of animal bodily functions, this book is a more suitable for reading aloud than My Family and Other Animals. I intend to add it to our nature read aloud list for next year and I think everyone will be delighted.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon, Bookshop, and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

Fascination with the Ordinary: Children of Summer

Children of Summer: Henri Fabre's Insects

by Margaret J. Anderson

I think this book was recommended by another member of the Mater Amabilis™ Facebook group. I read it aloud to all four kids. It was ideal for the younger two (11 and 9) but the older two (15 and 13) didn't complain. Mater Amabilis™ Level 1A (second and third grade) includes a study of insects, which we've never done, but this book would be a wonderful supplement to that study.

Written from the point of view of one of Henri Fabre's younger children, Paul, when he was ten. Paul and his younger sisters are the assistants, sharing the responsibility for collection and observation for Henri Fabre as he investigates the lives of the insects on his farm in France. It's a marvelous account of how anyone can explore the natural world right outside our doors. Even if we don't discover something unknown to science, we can delight in creation.

Each chapter is only a few pages and most cover a single insect. We don't narrate our family read-alouds, but I think the chapters would make excellent readings for narrations even for relatively young students.

I love reading aloud from a book on the natural world. We don't get out for nature study as often as we have in the past and certainly not as often as I like, but books like these encourage the younger two, who still have ample free time outside nearly every day, to continue to explore even when they aren't toting around their nature notebooks.

This post contains my honest opinions. I have received nothing in exchange for it. Links to Amazon are affiliate links.

Becoming More Fully Human: Beauty for Truth's Sake

Beauty for Truth's Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education

by Stratford Caldecott

This book was my meaty read for summer 2018. I didn't finish it before becoming swamped by high school planning, so it carried over into 2019. For many years, we have struggled in our homeschool to avoid viewing math as drudgery. I think we are fairly good at creating an environment in which math is often fun with Life of Fred books as our math texts and plenty of math games from books and our shelves.

Yet this environment is only partially meeting my goal. I have always thought the children should also learn to find the beauty and truth in mathematics, that it should somehow connect them to the natural world,  even though this beauty is something I only vaguely understand myself.

I hoped this book would show me how to reveal the beauty and truth of mathematics to my children in our homeschool.

The Forward is by Ken Myers (of Mars Hill Audio Journal):

Since the Logos is love, and since all things are created through him and for him and are held together in him, we should expect the logic, the rationality, the intelligibility of the world to usher in the delight that beauty bestows. 

A substantial part of the book focused on arguments explaining why the study of science and mathematics is enhanced and fulfilled through explicit relationships to the humanities and liberal arts. Among the many voices Caldecott gathers together in his reasoning are those of James S. Taylor in Poetic Knowledge, Bl. John Henry Newman in The Idea of a University, and Josef Pieper in Leisure the Basis of Culture. That last one is on my wish list.

An integrated curriculum must teach subjects, and it must teach the right subjects, but it should do so by incorporating each subject, even mathematics and the hard sciences, within the history of ideas, which is the history of our culture. Every subject has a history, a drama, and by imaginatively engaging with these stories we become part of the tradition.

Most of these ideas are not new to me and frankly, I was convinced of this much before I started the book, but Caldecott drew connections throughout history from ancient Greece to modern times that I found helpful. His prose is as elegant as you might hope based on the gorgeous cover of this book.

The purpose of an education is not merely to communicate information, let alone current scientific opinion, nor to train future workers and managers. It is to teach the ability to think, discriminate, speak, and write, and, along with this, the ability to perceive the inner, connecting principles, the intrinsic relations, the logoi, of creation, which the ancient Christian Pythagorean tradition (right through the medieval period) understood in terms of number and cosmic harmony.

Homeschooling with Charlotte Mason's philosophy means this relationship of ideas is already integral to our curriculum. We are reading history and science and geography together, allowing the story of humanity to be woven by the student from these different threads. Or rather, allowing the opportunity for these relationships to be developed; each student does his or her own hard work.

Moreover, though we have every intention of our children going to college or trade school and learning how to earn a salary so they can care for a family, either in a domestic church or in the Church, our educational goals are focused on providing the wonder and wisdom for our children to become the people God wants them to be. A job is only a small part of their lives.

The principle remains the same: knowledge is its own end--"worth possessing for what it is, and not merely for what it does." It is not to be valued for the power it gives us over nature, or even for the moral improvement it may bring about in us (even if these things may flow from it). It is to be valued for its beauty. "There is a physical beauty and a moral: there is a beauty of person, there is a beauty of our moral being, which is natural virtue; and in like manner there is a beauty, there is a perfection, of the intellect."

The quotes are Newman's from The Idea of a University.

After these basic arguments, Caldecott begins exploring numbers, shapes, and supernatural relationships. For example, he examines the "irrational beauty" of the golden ratio, phi, and the Fibonacci sequence. Supernatural relationships, like that between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, can be represented geometrically, revealing a greater depth to the relationship.

Then [pi] could be read as describing the relationship between the Persons, a relationship that is infinitely fruitful and never ending. Thus the endlessly flowing numbers of [pi] suggest the super-abundance of God's mercy, the infinite quality of his love, and the unlimited space opened up within the Trinity for the act of creation.

These explorations were exactly the kind of material I sought. Much of it is understandable without knowing too much higher level math, but the combination of mathematics and philosophy and theology made many of the discourses difficult to follow. Thales (before Pythagoras) showed how

the perpendicular line drawn from a right angle touching the circumference back to the hypotenuse will always equal the mean proportional between the segments into which it divides the diameter[.]

There's a diagram in the book for this one (and many others) that helps a little, but I still often found myself reading sections a second or third time to try to understand exactly what Caldecott meant. I'm certain I could glean even more from the book if I read it again.

In the end, though, the important idea is that these sorts of explorations reveal an inherent perfection of the universe which point us always to the Creator and his relationship with Creation.

Speculations like those I have mentioned in this chapter will appear forced to many. Yet we must return to the central idea that God's archetypal forms or Ideas are inevitably found within nature at every level, reflected with greater or lesser degrees of accuracy. That is not pantheism but Christian Platonism, perfectly compatible with the insights of theology and revelations of scripture.

Discussions of frequency, harmonics, and Chladni patterns allows Caldecott to connect a celestial harmony with liturgy, worship, and prayer. He quotes C. S. Lewis (Planet Narnia: The Seven Harmonies in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis by Micheal Ward).

[Celestial harmony] is the only sound which has never for one split second ceased in any part of the universe; with this positive we have no negative to contrast. Presumably if (per impossibile) it ever did stop, then with terror and dismay, with a dislocation of our whole auditory life, we should feel that the bottom had dropped out of our lives. But it never does. The music which is too familiar to be heard enfolds us day and night and in all ages.

All of these subjects must come together in our education. According to Caldecott, integrating science with poetry, art, music, and the humanities allows students, all of us, to understand the universe in a more complete way, one which will at the same time, allow for greater understanding in scientific and mathematical disciplines.

Music, architecture, astronomy, and physics--the physical arts and their applications--demonstrate the fundamental intuition behind the Liberal Arts tradition of education, which is that the world is an ordered whole, a "cosmos," whose beauty becomes more apparent the more carefully and deeply we study it. By preparing ourselves in this way to contemplate the higher mysteries of philosophy and theology, we become more alive, more fully human.

After reading this book, I have a greater appreciation myself for the beauty of mathematical thought and how the underlying principles of mathematics can reveal universal truths. It is not, however, a book I can simply read to my children or even realistically assign to a high school student. While it's been many years since I was in a college classroom, I have a far greater knowledge base than most high schoolers, and certainly a greater intrinsic interest, and I often struggled while reading the book.

So what I need know is for someone to take the next step. Use Caldecott's philosophy to write a mathematics curriculum or supplement or something I can share with my children.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post; all opinions are my own. I purchased this book at a local bookstore. Links to Amazon are affiliate links. 

Survival in a Beautiful World: Summer of Little Rain

Summer of Little Rain

by Aileen Fisher

I found this book on PaperBackSwap.com and requested it solely because we have enjoyed her poetry. For the past few years, I've been rotating a nature book in with our read-alouds. We finally found time this year for Summer of Little Rain. In it, Fisher describes the experiences of a male squirrel and a female beaver over one summer, a summer of drought and therefore struggle and great change. Her descriptions are delightful.

Suddenly, with plumed tail waving, he whirled away from the safety of his home trees and headed for the deep woods. Adventure filled the air. His quivering nostrils caught it from every direction and made him daring. In his domain of fewer than a dozen trees, he knew every branch by heart--the strength of the smallest twig, the length of every leap, the merits of every hiding place. In strange trees he would have to take his chances. But suddenly he felt like taking chances!

My children adored this book, from the 15-year-old down to the 8-year-old. I was concerned about the tragedy of a true-to-life nature story, but there were no tears even when predators struck and one of the animals died. (I think there were two squirrel and two beaver deaths.)

The Squirrel accepted the loss of his youngster as he accepted drought and other calamities. Young ones came and young ones went. In a month or two the surviving youngsters would strike out on their own. The Squirrel and his mate would probably never see them again. That was the way of life.

Nestled in the descriptions and animal action are myriad facts of the natural world. Squirrels and beavers, of course, but also rivers and trees and weather and predators. Fisher includes their entire worlds and shares "secrets" we know but the animals don't understand.

It's a shame this book is out of print. If you see it, or others by Aileen Fisher, when perusing book sales and used bookshops, don't be afraid to take a chance.

I received nothing for this post; all opinions are my own. Links above to Amazon and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

Invitation to Observation: Nature's Everyday Mysteries

Nature's Everyday Mysteries

by Sy Montgomery (The Curious Naturalist)

This is one of the supplemental reading books for nature suggested by the Mater Amabilis™ beta plan for Level 5 (first two years of high school). It's a series of essays that (I think) originally appeared in a regular newspaper column, organized around the seasons of the year. Written by a New England author, they focus mainly on the wildlife of that area like porcupines, beavers, turkeys, and mushrooms.

Each essay is full of delightful comments and information on the natural world. There were plenty of humorous descriptions which will appeal to a high school reader. The subject matter and tone of the essays are inviting, encouraging to someone who will be heading out into the world for nature study every now and then.

The essays are fairly short and, while enjoyable and well-written, will not be difficult to understand, making the book a good complement to more focused study of the natural world.

Be aware there are a few descriptions of reproduction that might require explanations if the reader doesn't know the general facts of life.

I purchased this book used and received nothing for this post. Any links to Amazon are affiliate links.

Poetry in the Sea: The Sea Around Us

The Sea Around Us

by Rachel Carson

This is one of the nature books recommended for Level 5 Year 1 (ninth grade) by the beta Mater Amabilis™ plans (available in the high school facebook group). If you have read books from Mater Amabilis™ through elementary or middle school, you will encounter passages recalling A Book of Discovery and A Doorway of Amethyst, among others. These are fresh in my mind as First Daughter enters Level 3 this year (sixth grade) and it's lovely to consider how these connections will grow and develop over the years, creating a rich background for any future studies.

I have the Special Edition linked above with a beautiful forward by Ann Zwinger and a chapter added at the end by Jeffrey Levinton with updated scientific information (as of 1989).

Though originally published in 1950 and revised in 1961, the scientific information in the book is not generally outdated. Often, Carson described observations rather than formulating theories. When she does talk about theories, there are often competing ones described and an admission that they just didn't know the answers yet. Levinton's chapter at the end provided some scientific updates but I don't remember anything striking me there as out-dated either. His writing is not nearly as lovely as that of Carson.

Carson begins before there was even an ocean, exploring how the earth formed and eventually water precipitated out and rained down. She explores in thought and word the ocean's surface, it's hidden depths, islands erupting, tides, and climate.

[Islands] are ephemeral, created today, destroyed tomorrow. With few exceptions, they are the results of the violent, explosive, earth-shaking eruptions of submarine volcanoes, working perhaps for millions of years to achieve their end. It is one of the paradoxes in the ways of earth and sea that a process seemingly so destructive, so catastrophic in nature, can result in an act of creation.

She easily brings the ancient life (and death) of the ocean creatures to a modern life, encouraging by her words excursions to seas long expired as well as the current sea-shore.

You do not have to travel to find the sea, for the traces of its ancient stands are everywhere about. Though you may be a thousand miles inland, you can easily find reminders that will reconstruct for the eye and ear of the mind the processions of its ghostly waves and the roar of its surf, far back in time. So, on a mountain top in Pennsylvania, I have sat on rocks of whitened limestone, fashioned of the shells of billions upon billions of minute sea creatures.

In the last paragraph of the book, she writes:

For the sea lies all about us. The commerce of all lands must cross it. The very winds that move over the lands have been cradled on its broad expanse and seek ever to return to it. The continents themselves dissolve and pass to the sea, in grain after grain of eroded land. So the rains that rose from it return again in rivers. In its mysterious past it encompasses all the dim origins of life and receives in the end, after, it may be, many transmutations, the dead husks of that same life.

My father was a bit unnerved that I chose a book by Carson for First Son to read. He believes her Silent Spring was the beginning of policies that have endangered millions of people who now die of malaria. First of all, there's very little of environmental hyperbole in The Sea Around Us. (Frankly, there's more of that in Levinton's chapter than the whole rest of the book combined.)

Secondly, Carson never advocated eliminating pest control entirely, though I'm sure some of her acolytes did. I researched a little about the use of DDT today and learned that some countries are indeed using it because other measures were not as successful at curbing mosquito populations and malarial infections. It seems like most medical communities, however, are concerned about its effects not just on the environment or birds but on the health of people themselves. (Some countries spray it only inside houses, on all the walls.) It seems likely that DDT in these cases prevents deaths from malaria but may be causing other health problems, so it seems prudent to continue to seek for other methods of addressing malaria.

All that to say, this is a book you can read even if you think Carson was completely wrong about DDT, but my own opinion is that DDT is detrimental and we should be continually seeking out other methods of controlling mosquitos and the spread of malaria.

In the Introduction, Ann Zwinger quoted Rachel Carson's speech after accepting the National Book Award:

"The winds, the sea, and the moving tides are what they are," she said. "If there is wonder and beautify and majesty in them, science will discover these qualities. If they are not there, science cannot create them. If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry."

I think it's likely there are lots of academic publications about the sea or the tides that lack poetry, but this book certainly does not. It's absolutely delightful.

I purchased this book used. I received nothing for this review. The links above are affiliate links to Amazon.

The Natural World in Daily Life: All Creatures Great and Small

All Creatures Great and Small

by James Herriot

This book is one of the suggested "nature reading" books for Mater Amabilis™ ™Level 4. These books are not for narration. I think a reading journal entry would be appropriate, but I didn't assign anything like that to First Son. Instead, he just read these books and appreciated them. All Creatures Great and Small is the book assigned for the third term.

[I] hadn't dreamed there was a place like the Dales. I hadn't thought it possible that I could spend all my days in a high, clean-blown land where the scent of grass or trees was never far away; and where even in the driving rain of winter I could snuff the air and find the freshness of growing things hidden somewhere in the cold clasp of the wind.

Herriot is the pen name of a real British veterinarian of who shaped his memories of 1930s rural Yorkshire into this and subsequent fictionalized collections almost like interwoven short stories. They are not novels in the strictest definitions but neither are they memoirs.

The children and I have read James Herriot's Treasury for Children, which is a masterpiece and a beautifully illustrated book. We've also listened to the audio version as well as James Herriot's Favorite Dog Stories which all the children enjoyed. This is the first time I've read one of his complete books. There are enough references to drinking, smoking, women and dating, and rougher language, that I wouldn't recommend this particular book for young children, but it's not inappropriate for a Level 4 student (eighth grade for us).

This book is a wonderful choice for nature reading because it demonstrates an appreciation for the natural world as an integral part of a young man's life as he lives his vocation as a vet. The natural world becomes a salve to comfort him when his job is uncomfortable and to lift his spirits when he struggles.

Through May and early June my world became softer and warmer. The cold wind dropped and the air, fresh as the sea, carried a faint breath of the thousands of wild flowers which speckled the pastures. At times it seemed unfair that I should be paid for my work; for driving out in the early morning with the fields glittering under the first pale sunshine and the wisps of mist still hanging on the high tops.

One day, Herriot underestimated how long his appointments would take and, after a series of frustrating farm visits, found himself eating his lunch while driving through the countryside.

But I had gone only a short way when reason asserted itself. This was no good. It was an excellent pie and I might as well enjoy it. I pulled off the unfenced road on to the grass, switched off the engine and opened the windows wide. The farm back there was like an island of activity in the quiet landscape and now that I was away from the noise and the stuffiness of the buildings the silence and the emptiness enveloped me like a soothing blanket. I leaned my head against the back of the seat and looked out at the checkered greens of the little fields along the flanks of the hills; thrusting upwards between their walls till they gave way to the jutting rocks and the harsh brown of the heather which flooded the wild country above.

I felt better when I drove away and didn't particularly mind when the farmer at the first inspection greeted me with a scowl.

There are plenty of disgusting descriptions which will particularly appeal to young men. Once, Herriot watched his boss, Siegfried, operate on a cow:

[T]hrough the incision shot a high-pressure jet of semi-liquid stomach contents--a greenish-brown, foul-smelling cascade which erupted from the depths of the cow as from an invisible pump.

The contents shot right onto Siegfried's face and then continued to pour forth.

Siegfried, still hanging grimly on, was the centre of it all, paddling about in a reeking swamp which came half way up his Wellington boots.

The operation was a success! But the drive home was nearly unbearable, even with their heads sticking out of the windows.

Encountering farmers of all types and kinds in the surrounding area, Herriot is able to tell stories of people of all backgrounds and dispositions. There are examples of heroic sacrifice for their animals, steady unrelenting hard work, and fears and victories. One elderly woman, devoted to her animals, confesses her sorrow her pets will not join her in heaven. Herriot disagrees and comforts her:

"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans. You've nothing to worry about there."

Animals do not have souls, but there are good reasons to believe they will be with us in heaven. If we need our pets to be happy in eternal life, they will certainly be with us. At the resurrection, the whole world will be remade, including animals. There are opportunities for contemplating what kind of life will lead to happiness. One story compares the petty disdaining daughter of a rich man with a sweet loving daughter of a poor man.

But I kept coming back to the daughters; to the contempt in Julia Tavener's eyes when she looked at her father and the shining tenderness in Jennie Alton's.

The ending is perfectly lovely. Herriot marries a young woman in the midst of a busy season in the practice and they decide to spend their honeymoon on the job.

I looked over at Helen as she sat cross-legged on the rough stones, her notebook on her knee, pencil at the ready, and as she pushed back the shining dark hair from her forehead she caught my eye and smiled; and as I smiled back at her I became aware suddenly of the vast, swelling glory of the Dales around us, and of the Dales scent of clover and warm grass, more intoxicating than any wine. And it seemed that my first two years at Darrowby had been leading up to this moment; that the first big step of my life was being completed right here with Helen smiling at me and the memory, fresh in my mind, of my new plate hanging in front of Skeldale House. 

I don't imagine First Son will read this book and think, I want to be a country vet! But I hope this book helps shape the hopes and dreams and thoughts of how his vocation might unfold and how the natural world might become a part of his life in a way many people neglect.

I purchased this book used. All opinions are my own. Links to Amazon are affiliate links.

Windy, but not Windy Enough

Last week, on a blustery day, First Son was complaining about his required nature study drawing, claiming it was too windy to be able to draw anything. (After, of course, all the rest of us managed to sketch something in our journals.)

At one point, he comes back into the house* and insist it's so windy, he "literally" flew through the air because the wind picked him up when he jumped. (I sent him back outside.)

Second Daughter and Second Son overheard and immediately rushed for their shoes. Second Son told me he'd probably be back in a few hours after walking home from where the wind dropped him because he's so much lighter than First Son that he'll go tremendously far when he jumps.

Sadly, he and Second Daughter were both disappointed in the strength of the wind.

* We had visited a river earlier in the day, but because he couldn't find anything there to draw, First Son had to complete the journal entry after we returned home.

Nature Journal Inspiration: The Curious Nature Guide

The Curious Nature Guide: Explore the Natural Wonders all Around You

by Clare Walker Leslie

Many years ago I read Keeping a Nature Journal and was inspired. It helped me feel more confident going out on nature walks with the children, but it wasn't the kind of book I would have read out loud to them.

Now, though, we have The Curious Nature Guide! I added a "nature" reading to our meal-time reading this year, mostly to accommodate Pagoo which I'm reading out loud for (probably) the last time for my youngest. When I saw this book at the library, though, I knew I was going to read it to them first.

It's full of beautiful illustrations, examples and sketches from the author's own nature journals, and the kind of prompts that make nature study easier to manage. Designed for people who might be noticing the natural world around them for the first time, even those who might live in populated cities, it's small steps are also perfect for young people faced with a blank journal page during nature study. Even after a few years under our belts, I thought the suggestions in the book would be helpful to my children.

There are a few main sections, but no chapters proper. We read a few pages at a time once or twice a week (with a break when I had to return it to the library).

Homeschool Record: Our 2016-2017 Poetry

In the past couple of years, we've started reading one poem a day, focusing on a particular poet for six weeks or so, depending on the book or books I choose to read. One poem each morning after our prayer - that's all.

Separate from this poet study, we read from a book of poetry about once a week just for beauty and enjoyment as part of our cultural studies loop.

Just for the blog record, here are the books of poetry we read during the 2016-2017 school year (7th grade, 4th grade, 2nd grade, kindergarten).

My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States collected by Lee Bennett Hopkins - We started this last year after First Daughter completed her third grade state study and finished the few left this year. I like this collection of poems that highlights a few characteristics of the areas of the United States. We've checked it out from the library numerous times, but now we have our own copy thanks to PaperBackSwap.com.

The Glorious Mother Goose selected by Cooper Edens - Second Son needed a dose of Mother Goose and this one was on our shelves. I happen to enjoy the illustrations in this book.

Over the Hills and Far Away: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes collected by Elizabeth Hammill - This book included a few of the traditional nursery rhymes we know from England and America with lots of variations and additions from cultures all over the world, gorgeously illustrated. (library copy)

Forest Has a Song by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is a book of poems focused on being outside, perfect for the family needing some nature study encouragement. The watercolor illustrations are fun and vibrant, too. (library copy)

Classic Poetry: An Illustrated Collection selected by Michael Rosen has a carefully selected collection of two or three poems by prominent poets in roughly chronological order, but I was disappointed at the times only a portion of a poem was included without any indication that it was just a portion. I don't mind excerpts of poetry for younger audiences; I just like to know.  There was a nice sentence of two to introduce each poet. We didn't finish by the end of the year, so we started with this book in the fall of 2017. (There's a newer version available, but we read the old one from our library.)

2017 February and March Bird Lists

American Dipper in Wyoming, not Kansas

We have recently acquired a stand for more bird feeders and have been enjoying the increased traffic outside our kitchen windows. We added a little finch feeder (like these) and a suet feeder. (The bird bath, however, blew away within a day or two in the our breezy Kansas country.) Second Daughter has also been delightedly choosing recipes from Cooking for the Birds.

Here are some of the bird sightings we've had:

February

• the ubiquitous red-tailed hawk
• red-bellied woodpecker
• blue jay
• cardinal
• house finch
• house sparrow
• song sparrow
• white-crowned sparrow (These are usually seen in brushy areas adjacent to open country rather than a backyard bird feeder, but you can apparently attract them if you keep the areas near your house brushy and wild, as we have done.)
• Harris's sparrow
• ruby-crowned kinglet
• Eastern meadowlark (only heard near home; but spotted along the roadside)

March - much of the same and also...

• horned lark (wandering the yard, not at our feeder)
• red-winged blackbirds
• robins (usually in our backyard rather than the feeder)
• Northern mockingbird
• Eastern bluebird
• downy woodpecker (at Grammy's house)
• purple finch (along the roadside)
• goldfinch (within a day of putting up our finch feeder)
• golden eagle (a regular though unusual sight in March along a bit of road we traveled regularly)
• common grackle

We always see a few bluebirds in the spring but they haven't stuck around. I'm contemplating installing a bluebird house or two over the winter so we might be able to attract some to nest next year.

Don't go bird watching in Kansas without The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hotspots, one of my favorite books! (Our library has lots of copies for local folks.)

Second Daughter's Wood Duck

Second Daughter (age 7) spent an afternoon drawing a wood duck after the most recent issue of Nature Friend arrived. She's certainly the one who enjoys our subscription the most, but I always hope the others will flip through it as well. I learned some interesting tidbits myself about the house wren in April's issue.

You can try some of the drawing lessons yourself here, and if you enjoy it, consider a subscription. (I receive nothing if you decide to subscribe.)

My Favorite Picture Books: The Big Snow

The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader

The animals of the forest are getting ready for winter as the geese fly south. Deer, raccoons, mice, ground hogs, birds, are all preparing. Then, just after Christmas, a great snow falls. Hunger sets in, but a kind old man and woman put out food for the animals and birds.

That's all. Nothing else happens. It's a lovely peaceful book of the natural world and its intersection with our world, when we care to notice. After reading it, my children always want to put out food for the birds. They've never been disturbed by the realization we live a bit farther south and don't have any big snows that last all winter. (We do usually have one or two big snows that melt away.)

My Favorite Picture Books: Float

Float by Daniel Miyares

In this wordless picture book, a young boy floats a newspaper boat outside in the rain. Inevitably, it's washed away (being a newspaper boat), but his father comforts and warms him before sending him out in the newly sunny day with a newspaper airplane.

His bright yellow raincoat, hats, and boots shine on every page. The child-like (not childish) delight in the sailboat thrills the reader as well. It's a lovely book of being outside, imagination, the love and comfort of a parent, and rejuvenation to go back out into the world.

You can read an interview with the artist at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast and more about Float's at the Horn Book, if you care about such things.

The italic print: Links to Amazon are affiliate links. As an affiliate with Amazon, I receive a small commission if you follow one of my links, add something to your cart, and complete the purchase (in that order).