laura ingalls wilder Archives | Little Book, Big Story

May 8, 2020 / 0 Comments

5 Read-Alouds for Quarantine

We are weeks into a stay-at-home order here in Washington—I don’t even know how many weeks. Six? A lot. We are a lot of weeks in.

And while there are days when we feel desperate for the friends, family, and church community living outside our walls, and days when the news weighs so heavily on me that it’s almost physically painful, there are also ways in which we’ve settled into new routines. We have celebrated everything from Easter to May the Fourth (and four family birthdays) since the order took effect, and it hasn’t been horrible. Some of us have taken up crochet; some have formed an alliance with watercolor pencils. We have gardened a lot. And we finally—after months of squeezing it in around ballet lessons and youth group and home group and evenings out—finished Farmer Boy.

Reading aloud has become one of the sweet spots in our days again. We did not forsake it when the girls started school again—oh, no. But we did not have time to read as much as we had read before, and that was one of the things I missed most. These weeks of enclosure have been softened by lots of little excursions into stories and the discussions that have sprung from them.

I thought it would be fun, then, to compile a short list of great family read-alouds for this particular season—books that will appeal to a wide variety of ages, that you’ll want to sit down to night after night, that will make your world feel a little bigger and broader right now.

The Tales of the Kingdom Trilogy, by David & Karen Mains

Tales of the Kingdom, by David & Karen Mains | Little Book, Big Story

Because we live in a kingdom still under construction, but our king is here with us (if we know how to sight him). (Read the full review.)

The Little House Books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Because those who came before us faced hardship and isolation, too, and still played the fiddle at the end of the day. (Read the full review.)

The Wilderking Trilogy, by Jonathan Rogers

Because sometimes you just need to laugh and be reminded to “Live the life that unfolds before you.” (Read the full review.)

Little Pilgrim’s Progress, by Helen L. Taylor

Because we are in one valley of a much longer journey, and the Celestial City is still ahead. (Read the full review.)

The Wingfeather Saga, by Andrew Peterson

The Wingfeather Saga & Wingfeather Tales | Little Book, Big Story

Because I will take any opportunity to convince you to read this series. (Read the full review.)

August 23, 2016 / 32 Comments

Carrot Top Paper Shop (Giveaway!)

One of my favorite aspects of the picture book is the way it connects word and image. Chapter books unfold in what is essentially a private place (our imagination), even when we read them aloud as a family. We may build a shared memory of having read the book together and may even pull a few favorite lines into the family lexicon, but we’ll all still picture Green Gables a little differently or hear Pa’s laugh in a slightly different way.

And that is as it should be.

But picture books draw both parent and child (and baby doll and long-suffering cat) into the same visual world, adding details from beyond the text to give our own imaginings color and structure.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Print, from Carrot Top Paper Shop | Little Book, Big Story — *Photo Courtesy of Carrot Top Paper Shop*

Our oldest readers still enjoy a good picture book, and I’m thankful for that. But as they move more solidly into the realm of the chapter book, I find myself looking for ways to strengthen their imaginations, to give them images and beautiful artwork to nourish their own visions of the text. I sketch scenes for the younger ones while their papa reads aloud; I hand-letter favorite quotes for our walls, so that the words themselves become beautiful. And I look for lovely prints by other artists that will broaden and deepen the way they see each story.

Jane Eyre bookmark, by Carrot Top Paper Shop | Little Book, Big Story — *Photo Courtesy of Carrot Top Papershop*

When, in my quest for those prints, I discovered that one of this blog’s very own readers ran an Etsy shop filled with gorgeous, literary-themed art, well. A giveaway seemed in order.

Jenny Williams of Carrot Top Paper Shop opened her shop after an unfruitful search for bookish art for her daughter’s nursery compelled her to create her line of Literary Heroine prints. I fell for those immediately. Also, her hand-lettered quotes make me wish I had an extra wall in our house just to display them. (Wouldn’t that be lovely? To have a wall dedicated only to words?)

Laura Ingalls Wilder Quote, from Carrot Top Paper Shop | Little Book, Big Story — *Photo Courtesy of Carrot Top Paper Shop*

I settled for buying her print of Jo March for our Josephine, though I have a hunch that all four girls might find a print from Jenny’s shop in their stockings this year.

Because I love those prints so much and because Jenny just launched her newest literary heroine (along with a whole slew of wonderful new things—greeting cards and even this gorgeous mug!), we’re doing a giveaway! If you win—and two of you will win—you’ll receive an 8×10″ print of your choice, as well as a set of her Literary Heroine bookmarks.

Elizabeth Bennett bookmark, by Carrot Top Paper Shop | Little Book, Big Story — *Photo Courtesy of Carrot Top Paper Shop*

But Jenny’s also offering a little something for the rest of us: until Friday, 8/26, Little Book, Big Story readers get 25% off anything in her shop! Just use the code THEASENTME at checkout.

Giveaway Details

Enter your info into the form below and complete as many of the possible options as you like: share, follow, or comment away! The giveaway closes at midnight on 8/26. Two winners will be randomly chosen and notified by email.

Entry -Form

If you live outside the US, you are welcome to enter! But please note that you are responsible for customs or import taxes that may apply to the transport of your artwork.

Best of luck to you all!

August 15, 2013 / 0 Comments

The Little House Books

The Bennetts. The Marches. The de Luces. The Rosenburgs.

What do these families have in common? All have been blessed with a wealth of daughters!

A few weeks ago, we learned that we’re expecting our third daughter, so I thought I’d celebrate by writing about one of our very favorite, all-daughter families and, more specifically, our favorite father of daughters: Pa Ingalls.

The Ingalls family has reached such stature in our home that, for a time, Lydia answered only to Laura, called us Ma and Pa (we loved that), and so thoroughly convinced Sarah that her name was Carrie that Sarah would argue with anyone who said otherwise.

You probably remember the Little House books from your own childhood: the homesteading adventures of the Ingalls family, who lived in a new state for each of the first five books, built their homes by hand, lived in the wildest places (often miles from their nearest neighbors), and grew up with a freedom that few of us know today.

In sharing her childhood with generations of readers, Laura Ingalls Wilder both captured a significant time period in American history and wrapped us in the details of her own family life. Who can read about the Ingalls and not long to be a part of a family like that?

This is another series that is cheapened by reading it in pieces, as it follows Laura’s life from childhood to motherhood with a surprising depth of detail. For those of you who think these books are too idyllic, I especially recommend reading through the entire series: as Laura starts a home of her own (in The First Four Years) one learns, along with Laura, how very hard her parents had worked for her all through her childhood. It is a credit to her parents that Laura carried such honest, beautiful memories with her to the page when she wrote.

And so, to the Ingalls family, I tip my hat. To Pa, whom we Rosenburgs have come to love dearly, I give an especially hearty nod. It can’t have been easy, raising girls in the wilderness, but from his booming laugh to his singing fiddle, you’d never know if it were otherwise.

And lastly, to my husband, who is every bit as deeply loved by the womenfolk in his life, I give a deep and dignified curtsy. Here’s to raising our daughters together!

If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to close with one of my favorite quotes on the subject, from Greg Brown’s song, “Daughters”:

“I’m a man who’s rich in daughters
and if by some wild chance, I get rich in money—
like another two thou a year,
or even one thou a year—
I’m gonna look into having some more daughters.”

Little House Series
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Garth Williams (1932-1971)

Tag: laura ingalls wilder (page 1 of 1)

5 Read-Alouds for Quarantine

The Tales of the Kingdom Trilogy, by David & Karen Mains

The Little House Books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Wilderking Trilogy, by Jonathan Rogers

Little Pilgrim’s Progress, by Helen L. Taylor

The Wingfeather Saga, by Andrew Peterson

Carrot Top Paper Shop (Giveaway!)

Giveaway Details

The Little House Books

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