While we were in Colorado, a subscribing family sent this phenomenal offer to me in an email. They offered to send any books we liked. Can you believe that? Anyway, the reading list alone was so useful, I thought I would share it with all of you.
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Hi Dwane and Gretchen,
First off, know that we pray for you all every day and are so glad to see how God is taking care of you all.
Second, we know you are swamped with life, so this will be brief. Samuel asked you today if you’d like some books. Here is a list of ones that we really like that we’d be glad to lend you. We tried to pick a variety.
Do any of these titles appeal to you?
Geography and stories of people in other places
How the Heather Looks, A Joyous Journey to the British Sources of Children’s Books, Bodger
The Wheel on the School, DeJong (story takes place in the Netherlands)
The Lost World of the Kalahari, van der Post (We haven’t actually read it, but it looks good)
Three Men and a Boat, Not To Mention The Dog, Jerome K, Jerome (whose parents lacked imagination) (Very funny. These three guys and their dog travel along the Thames and argue a lot)
The Endless Steppe, Hautzig (WW2 story about a girl and her family sent to the gypsum mines in Russia)
With Pipe Paddle and Song: A Story of the French-Canadian Voyageurs, Yates
Coming Home Crazy, Holm (about living in China and coming home crazy)
On the Shores of the Great Sea (About the life around the Mediterranean)
The Complete Book of Marvels, Richard Halliburton (Halliburton traveled the world in the twenties)
The Brendan Voyage, Tim Severin (also one of our favorites since it’s about sea seafaring
Years Before the Mast (another sea faring book)
The Clay Marble, about a young Vietnamese girl
Red Sails to Capri, Weil (about Italy)
History, Historical Figures and Historical Fiction
I, Juan de Pareja, Elizabeth Borton de Trevino (a slave who worked for Valesquez becomes a painter himself)
Otto of the Silver Hand, Pyle
Eagle of the Ninth (Roman history)
The King’s Fifth
Beyond the Desert Gate and the Ides of April, Ray (more Roman history)
Carry on, Captain Bowditch (great story of about mentoring)
The Trumpeter of Krakow, Kelly
The Story of Roland
The Story of Siegfried
John Adams, McCollough
How the Irish Saved Civilization, Cahill
Johnny Remain
The Natural World
Madam How and Lady Why, Charles Kingsley (a bit tedious, but it is interesting)
The Sea Around Us, Young People’s Edition, Rachel Carson (lots of references to evolution, and fascinating look at life in the ocean. An old book)
School of the Woods, William Long
Napoleon’s Buttons: 17 Molecules That Changes History, Le Couteur and Burreson
The Disappearing Spoon (another science wonder book. Either this one or Napoleon’s Buttons has some language you have to skip over.)
The Life of the Spider, Fabre (French naturalist)
Mystery of the Periodic Table, Wiker
Fiction
The Fairy Doll, Rumor Godden (includes The Story of Holly and Ivy)
The Scarlet Pimpernel, Orczy
The Prince and Curdie, Macdonald
Sea Wolf, London
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Twain
Persuasion, Austen
Emma, Austen
North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell
Wives and Daughters, Elizabeth Gaskell
Midshipman Hornblower, Forester
The Country of the Pointed Firs, Jewett
The Hobbit
Goofy
Mr. Poppin’s Penguins, Atwater
The Peterkin Papers, Hale
Penrod, Booth Tarkington (We all love it. The characters show typical racial attitudes of the early 1900’s, though the author’s commentary on them doesn’t approve of their racism. Penrod gets in trouble a lot. We’ll just leave it at that.)
Thurber Carnival, James Thurber
Burma Surgeon, Seagrave
The Cross and The Prodigal, Bailey (Writes about Biblical texts from the Middle Eastern perspective)
Eric Liddell: Pure Gold
Just tell us if you’d like any of these. We would be happy to send them to you. Do you all have Quiddler? it’s a card game like Scrabble.
With all our love
