Category: Ages 8–11
That first week of September, I dropped all four of my children off at school and drove home in an empty minivan. Ordinarily, an empty minivan is a treat: a chance to put on a […]
While in the middle of the vigil required of all incoming knights, Tiuri hears a voice outside the church. He is forbidden to speak or to leave the church during the vigil, but the voice […]
Today at lunch, my seven-year-old summed it up neatly. “Is the virus going to last forever?” she asked. I took a few meditative bites of leftover tandoori before I answered. “No,” I said. “It won’t. […]
Summer is sometimes a pleasant unraveling: our schedule frays a bit by mid-June; by July the ends are loose and fuzzy; by August, what routine we have left is shapeless, a heap of thread unpicked […]
“I love stories like this,” my ten-year-old said, holding up a biography she found at the library. “The ones where they have to overcome something.” And it seemed to me that most of history could […]
Back when we homeschooled on purpose, games were a big part of our time together. I quickly learned that it is one thing to read about a subject, another thing to discuss it, and still […]
It takes a certain sort of magic to write a book that appeals to a whole family: preschooler to middle-schooler, adults as well. But The Fabled Stables, Jonathan Auxier’s newest book, has that magic. Auggie […]
I recently realized I’d been skimping on read-alouds by choosing books my eldest daughter had already read, or by rereading old favorites. There’s a place for that—of course there is. But I’d leaned on old […]
The Lord is our shepherd—but wait exactly does that mean to a child who lives miles from the nearest sheep? In Sammy and His Shepherd, Susan Hunt walks families through the twenty-third psalm one verse […]
Words With Wings is the story of Gabby, a girl who no longer seems to fit. She used to fit with her father, but after her parents’ divorce, he doesn’t live with her anymore. She […]
