for now, the only thing we're growing on this farm is kids - not the goat variety

Category: Book Reviews (Page 2 of 2)

The First Ferris Wheel

The original Ferris wheel

The kids and I recently read The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson about the building of the first Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheels I have seen and ridden are tiny in comparison to the first one, built to a whopping 264 feet (or 25 stories) in 1893 by Pittsburgh bridge-builder, George Ferris. The wheel was meant to rival the Eiffel Tower and was showcased at the World’s Colombian Exposition in Chicago.

To give you an idea of how grandiose it was, each “car” on a typical Ferris wheel can hold 2 people. The cars on the Great Wheel, however, Continue reading

Thomas Alva Edison

Thomas Edison

We read a couple of children’s books about Thomas Edison last week. I especially enjoyed Young Thomas Edison by Micheal Dooling. The oil illustrations are beautiful. We also watched a A&E biography about Edison. Here are some quick facts that we learned about him. Continue reading

Book Review: Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

Caddie Woodlawn

We’re finishing up a read aloud book this week that the kids and I have really enjoyed: Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink. It is the true story of a middle-child tomboy who grew up in Wisconsin during the Civil War. It’s reminiscent of the Little House on the Prairie books but not as “girly;” and the Woodlawn family is in a more economically stable position than the Ingals family.

Caddie is a spunky, lovable, outdoorsy girl who grows up primarily outdoors with her 2 brothers. Lady-hood looms in the future, and she knows she’ll have to reckon with it some day. Continue reading

Book Review – Robert Fulton From Submarine to Steamboat by Steven Kroll

I don’t order many materials from Sonlight, a homeschooling curriculum supplier, but I generally follow their reading lists for history, read alouds, and reading for the kids. We enjoy most of their recommended books, and most I can find at our library.

The library though, didn’t carry Sonlight’s recommended biography of Robert Fulton, Robert Fulton, Boy Craftsman, so I just grabbed a couple others from the shelf to try.

I wasn’t impressed with this one. Continue reading

Book Review: The Lewis & Clark Expedition by Richard L. Neuberger

clipped from flickr.com

This photo is of a statue of the noble, gutsy, heroic Sacagawea.

I just finished reading Neuberger’s Lewis & Clark Expedition to Carman, Sudoku, and Doodle (when he felt like listening, which was surprisingly often.) It was more textbook-ish than what we typically read. We’ve read a lot of historical fiction, but this one was strictly history. It didn’t read like a textbook, though. Continue reading

Book Review: Turn Homeward, Hannalee by Patricia Beatty

 

clipped from flickr.com

Patricia Beatty’s Turn Homeward, Hannalee was a tale (the first half of which is true) about a young girl living in Roswell, GA during the Civil War. Like most able bodied people in her town, she and her siblings worked in the local garment mill since the men were away at war. Times were extremely difficult with little to eat, little to look forward to (except the distant hope of victory), a brother away at war, and a father who had died of camp fever.

Continue reading

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