Good Reads - November & December

Like everyone else in America, November and December were busy.  

I didn't fit in a ton of reading, but did squeeze in a few good ones.  I especially loved the books I read out loud to Josie these past couple of months.

The Late Homecomer by Kao Kalia Yang

This book tells the history of how the Hmong people came to America.  I grew up in Minnesota where there is a high population of Hmong people.  I thought this story was very interesting.  It is written more like a history book then a story.  It took me a little while to get into the writing style, but learning about this culture of people made me keep reading.  It's another story where it is hard to believe that this is how so many people live in the world.  The Hmong people came to America in the 80's so this is pretty recent history.  If you enjoy learning about other cultures, I recommend this one.

Garden of Stones by Sophie Littlefield

I hosted out book club this month and this was my pick.  It takes place after the attack on Pearl Harbor and follows the tragic events that happen to one Japanese family.  It is fictional, but the author did a lot of research on the internment camps so there was quite a bit of interesting history.  I haven't read much on this part of our countries past.  It took me about 200 pages to get really into it, but once I did I couldn't put it down.

Let's Go Straight To Bethlehem by Ray Pritchard

This was the devotional I picked for Advent.  I can't remember how I found it, but it was really good.  Pretty much the basic advent devotion style, a few paragraphs each day all focusing on the birth of Jesus.  The author had a unique view on a few of the verses and I really enjoyed.

The Book Thief by Mark Zusak

Our book club read this as our very first pick back in January of 2009.  Since it's about to be a movie and we are hitting our 4 year anniversary, we decided to read it again.  I hosted that first month and while we all liked the book, the questions at our meeting were, um, intense.  Like college essay type questions.  We don't know if it was because it was our first meeting or if they were really that hard.  I'm super excited to do the discussion again to finally get the answer to that!

This book is told by Death.  He narrates the story of a German girl and her foster family during World War 2.  I've read quite a few books about Jewish people during WW2, but this is the first I've read from the other side.  I really enjoyed this book.  Both the writing style and the actual story are great.  I can't wait to see how they do the movie next month.

Josie's Read Alouds

Homer Price by Robert McClowskey

Homer Price is a classic children's book.  I loved reading this one with Josie.  Homer is a young boy from a small town who has some interesting things happen to him.  Each chapter is a stand alone story. It was written in the early 1940's so the trouble he gets into is wholesome, which I appreciate since so many stories now a days aren't what I consider appropriate for 6 year olds.

Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary

Oh man.  I loved reading this one.  I grew up on Beverly Cleary books.  This one is all about a little boy named Henry who thinks his life is super boring.  Until one day he finds a dog and then everything gets a little more adventurous.  Josie and I both liked this one.

Happy Birthday Miss Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald

We are big fans of Miss Piggle Wiggle here.  This is the fourth one we have read.  Well, we didn't technically read this one.  We listened to the audio tape on the way to visit my Dad in Florida.  Why have I never thought to do audio books on the drive down?!  Made the ride much more enjoyable and even Gabe sat still and listened.