On 'The Anxious Generation'

I read Haidt's latest a few weeks ago but as many know, I've had some of these thoughts for years so it's taken me a while to process. With kids ages 10, 13 and 15, I've had over a decade now of parenting whilst being mindful of technology. And over time, I've grown stronger in my parenting convictions: prioritizing lots of outdoor time, books, sports, investing in arts/music, experiential learning, etc.  It's not been easy but it can be done and my oldest, who is now almost 15, has expressed gratitude in essentially being able to have a childhood freed up to read, explore, play sports, etc.

Background: growing up as a child in the 1980s and then as a teen in the 1990s means that I'm a solid Xenial; my birth year was highlighted in the NYTimes recently as being the 'last/first' generation: the last that experienced a tech-free childhood YET was also the early adopter of technology. So sometimes I feel the way I now as I did growing up as a first generation Latina: I have to translate some norms/expectations from one world to another. With my kids I tell them that I had a PowerMac in college, emailed essays to profs, etc but I also backpacked around Europe as a college student relying on Lonely Planet books to find hostels, and later as a professional, was constantly traveling to places such as Russia, India and China without a phone-only some printed out Mapquest directions to find my business meetings. In short, life is certainly easier with technology, but neurological pathways (and grit-type skills) were clearly honed! I say this to share that I'm not a Luddite but I also know how rich and full an offline life was, and can be. 

But tech is here to stay and in many ways, I'm fine with that. However as Haidt points out, tech itself changed after 2010. Smartphones ubiquitously altered the ways we not only USE tech but HOW tech is intimately intertwined with our lives. And I highly believe that is something to not be fearful of, but to be extremely conscious of, and yes, a bit guarded. Social media, for all it's promises of connections, too often leaves adults (let alone kids and teens) feeling more alone and we sadly now have the hard data on its negative impact on mental health (anxiety, depression, suicide). 


So what is one to do? Haidt (an NYU professor of ethical leadership) outlines 4 reforms:

1. No smart phones before high school
2. No social media before 16 (preferably 18)
3. Phone-free schools
4. Far more unsupervised play and childhood independence


I won't go into detail into all this (read the book!) but some takeaways: if you're a parent that has already read a lot on this topic, most is not novel but it will help you as you parent older kids/teens with tech: I read swarths of this book aloud to my teen boys so they'd understand things like the dopamine loop, etc.  Knowledge is power and teens are not amused knowing they are being taken advantage of! Haidt refers to smartphones as 'experience blockers' and I've started to keep that in mind when I'm tempted to mindlessly scroll. I also shared with the kids that I'm a middle aged adult: if I choose to 'waste' an hour of my life on social media, this is my own time management decision. But their minds are growing, the frontal cortex we now know is not developed until 25 and childhood is fleeting and worth protecting! Just like we as a society put guardrails on certain products until an older age, so should smartech or at least social media be considered as such given how powerfully addictive it is (and again, the negative consequence on mental health).


The good news is that more adults are sounding the alarm on this and we now have social-media/browser free phones/watches: this solves the need for kids to be in touch when not at home and to text/call family/friends. My 14 year old has appreciated the Gabb watch for the reasons above and other friends who wanted the camera/music have the Gabb phone. But honestly he hasn't asked for that yet nor truly needed it and this is a kid who is in two hybrid school settings, plays on travel team sports, and is highly involved in extracurriculars. Why choose a Smartphone when these options are available? 


Now tech in the schools is a different beast and one that upsets me to no end. I recall when our district gave each kindergartner an iPad and the sweet teacher looked as baffled as the parents. The next few years I had to be way more involved than I wanted to be at the elementary level to ensure my kids were using manipulatives for math versus being forced to learn on some math app. The same with reading. All these wonderful books in the school library/classroom and my 9 year old was pushed to weekly read some cheesy kids newsite online and would come home asking about vaping and such. Sigh. I know there can be some wonderful educational tech tools, but for 13 and under, unless there is a special need, the research shows that learning offline is best for neurological and physical health and growth. As Haidt notes, here is a reason why all the tech titans are sending their kids to screen-free Waldorf schools! Part of what made me want to weep in the book was the admittance by tech executives that they 100% knew that they were exploiting the neurological dopamine loop with every app they created. And phone free school time can be, and frankly should be, done. My boys are in a hybrid program at a school where the policy is clear (and enforced) that phones need to stay in lockers during the day. I've been in the school and it's heartening to see kids interact at lunch, play games and yes, the ones who need to introvert have a book with them! (I spent most of my lunches in 5th/6th grade with Clearly and Blume!)  And no one is assigned a Chromebook: they can be checked out when needed for class presentations, etc but no one is expected to personally have one, even up through 12th grade. I've let the school leadership know many times how much I appreciate that! I contrast that to my friends in our local districts who constantly share with me stories ranging from elementary school pornography use to 8 year olds being parked in front of YouTube videos during lunch so they'll be quiet. At what point do our kids' mental health and personhood take precedence over educational tech platforms? Further, is anyone listening or consulting with the teachers? Many of my friends are in that profession and not a single one has appreciated having to manage laptop usage all day long versus true teaching and having smart-whiteboards and educational platforms forced upon them. Not to mention that they themselves note the short attention span of this generation and several have mentioned how alarmed they are by it. I believe that educational tech reform is in our view and I'm here for it. 


We are in the midst of watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy with our boys and what has struck me was how analogous the power of the ring is to the power of smartphones! I myself struggle with it and when you stop to look around anywhere, it's quite depressing to see people just hunched over and staring as they walk, eat, etc. I know that up until my early 30s, society did not function this way. I am hopeful that this can be changed and as I said, my husband and I personally are not thrilled with our use of tech these past 15 years and want to work more on addressing that.  I've included other books in the Stories that have encouraged me on our low-tech journey. I also have to give credit to Sherry Turkle, MIT professor, who sounded the alarm a decade ago on all of this and gave me language to explain what was in my gut as she implored prioritizing personhood and relationships over technology.


I'm not able to get into the 'safetyism' that Haidt mentions (this is getting long!) but the overmanaging of childhood feeds into the tech beast.  I also want to address the lack of 'third spaces' this generation has. It's something that my husband and I started to notice as my oldest became a teen and there have been several great articles recently about that (perhaps the amount of time I spent at the malls and movie theatres wasn't ideal, but it did help cultivate independence) and have appreciated that youth group in particular has helped with this. Online spaces truly cannot take the place of a 'third' physical space and we adults can get creative in creating those.


The encouragement in all this as much is bleak: WE are the adults in the room, old enough to remember that life was not always like this and young enough to be able to advocate for our children and fight for tech/educational reform. But start with those right in front of you: kids, grandkids, etc. So much of societal change starts at home and don't underestimate the influence that you have in your family/communities. Sometimes all it takes is a few little Hobbits in the wilderness to move mountains. 

On Wintering

As I write this, I watch a herd of deer outside, making their way up the ridge, walking slowly through the snow nibbling on evergreens. Sounds idyllic and peaceful right? But zoom out a bit and you’ll see a ginormous snowman that is starting to resemble a certain famous leaning tower, several snow shovels and sleds askew, and plastic Adirondack chairs strewn haphazardly around the yard…and kids storming irritably inside, frustrated because one wrecked the other’s snow fort. The mudroom floor hasn’t been seen in days-and the smell of wet wool coupled with soccer cleats and teen basketball shoes is…interesting…to say the least. The infamous Michigan gray has set in for about a week now and there is no discernable sunshine in the forecast.  

You see, we are no longer in fun holiday winter (jingle bells!) nor are we in early winter mode (first snowball fight!). We are now in what I call Deep Winter. We are a good 5 weeks post-Winter Solstice, and a good 7 weeks out from the Spring Equinox. It doesn’t matter to me what any groundhog declares, it is late January in Michigan and we are officially playing the long game. 

I’ve lived outside Ann Arbor, MI now for almost 12 years and while winter will never come naturally to me as some other seasons, I’ve come to really appreciate, enjoy and yes, even crave winter. Whether you are a southern transplant to the north, a lifelong northerner, or a current southerner who abhors the cold, I hope that some of these tips/reflections can be encouraging to you.  

And first caveat: I live in a home where I have food/heat security so this is more about mentally handling winter than physically doing it and I absolutely recognize that privilege (and hope others do so as it’s sobering to see how many do not have those basic needs met). Second caveat: depending on where you are geographically some tips may be more applicable to you than others.

Background: I grew up in Atlanta to Argentine parents, I didn’t ski until my mid-20s in NC and while I went to college in Boston, I didn’t have a car during my time there, so I had never driven in the snow until I moved to MI in my 30s. Thus, I was pretty much a winter novice when we moved to MI in 2012 with a 2-year-old and 6-month-old in tow.  

A few things that have helped me in my winter journey: 

Reframe: Where I am, winter is NOT the month of December and that was hard for me as growing up, it was sort of like a 6-8 week deal mainly centered around the holidays. I realize now that I subconsciously grew up with a ‘wait it out’ winter attitude and probably absorbed the general southerner’s negativity to the cold. No judgement-it just is what it is! And even in college in Boston I could hibernate in dorms, libraries, and not worry who would be shoveling the sidewalk or getting the groceries (4 year on-campus meal plan!). But when you have to do daily life with the potential of cold/snow from Nov-April, you can’t hibernate!  

So again, realizing you are playing the long game here helps. This isn’t a cozy winter weekend lodge mentality. It’s more like: be ready for snowy fun, but also to be ready to grin and bear it and realize that at some point, you’ll be at Costco with 3 kids in tow gripping onto the cart handle for dear life in a snowy parking lot. As my Philadelphia brother-in-law always say: it’s time to dig deep. Literally! 

Gratitude journaling is always helpful with reframing. It’s not to say you can’t vent or be frustrated by the weather, but all research points to the correlation between gratitude and mental health. Some deep winter days I’m literally very grateful for the splash of red that a cardinal brings against a white/grey background…or that pines provide a lush green all year!

Get your gear: I was highly unprepared for the variety of winter gear needed-some of it takes a few years of living it out but know that you will need a variety of boots (Hunter boots for rain, snowmelt, higher/fur lined boots for snow play/skiing, Ugg-type boots for running errands, etc). I learned to have a variety of gloves on hand (driving gloves are different than puffy ski gloves and I love fingerless ones) and fun knitted hats (I love a good pom-pom one) help to accessorize when no one is really going to sweet your cute sweater! Not to mention a variety of fleeces (light ones versus puffy thick ones), vests (again, sports ones versus nicer ones for work), etc. The key is warmth but also variety. You quickly learn that dressing for 38-degree winter weather is very different than 2-degree winter weather! And days that you are running around with errands, sports, are different than when you are giving a presentation for work, etc.   

And don’t forget your kids! I never knew they made snowbibs for kids as young as 18 months but once they can stand and walk independently, they are a game changer!

Slippers and slipper socks are also key! I have two pairs I adore (one from Lands End and a sherpa lined one from Sketchers for even colder days). If my feet are cold, my entire body is cold so it’s worth it! I also learned to invest in thick wool socks when I lived in London. Also, my British friends and Argentine mama swear by hot water bottle warmers to put by their feet before they got in bed, I don’t use one but I do have one that my mom uses for when she visits! And even if I go to a friends house, I tuck my slippers in my bag and I have a few on hand for when friends visit too. Hardwood floors are lovely, but not the warmest!

Get outside! Covid actually forced my hand here. Prior to that, we’d been in MI for 7 years and in that time my kids had been babies and later gave birth to another, so it was a bit easier to be in that hunker down mode for winter. Two of those years were the intense polar vortex years and it was truly freezing even for southern MI-- frostbite warnings hit different when you have a newborn, and preschoolers who constantly lose their hats and mittens.  But as they got older and temps evened out, snow became much more fun as they could expend their energy outside and get their gear on themselves. But honestly often I’d watch from the window, making hot cocoa while they sledded or played with their dad.  

Enter Covid. Our state was quite conservative on lockdowns so the only way to see friends was to meet up outside for a walk or grab coffee to go since all the restaurants were doing take-out only. My husband was baffled to see me happily shimmy into long underwear, snowpants, etc. to ‘go meet so and so for a walk’. Something I never did before but being home with the kids all day (again, this was Covid so nothing else was going!) and needing some more adult interaction for my mental health meant that I really didn’t care about the temperature anymore, I needed to get out and see people! I found that once I had the proper gear on and got moving, I really needed the fresh air as well! It was empowering and I got used to so many ‘walks and talks’ with friends and not only did it get me through that difficult season, but it taught me that winter could be enjoyable! I learned not to be scared of negative temps (windchill is a different story) and if the kids call me out to night sled (a fun tradition of ours), to grab my headlamp and sled because not only will they not always be here for this, but it’s fun to get that fresh air and get outside on a beautiful snowy evening! 

We also began to take advantage of many family events that have moved outside. Winter Wolf Hikes, Full Moon Hikes, Solstice Lantern walks, we did them all and some of them have continued to do so!  So check out your local parks/rec if you are in a northern state as many offer them and they are usually free or very affordable.

And some days it’s just hard to get outside. Freezing rain is zero fun for anyone. I gifted myself a walking pad this year for this very reason, I am for 2-3 miles a day and obviously I prefer to do that outside but when I cannot, this small walking pad has been amazing!

Get your hygge on: Okay Natalie, but what about those grey rainy days? This is when hot tea, books, movie, etc work their magic. I start early in the fall collecting fun herbal teas (from Trader Joe’s to HomeGoods, you can find interesting flavors) b/c while hot cocoa is fun, you just can’t do it everyday, nor do you want that much sugar in winter when your body is already working hard to keep it’s immune system strong! And anything by the fire is so much more cozy and if you don’t have a fireplace, invest in flameless lanterns!

And you all know I love to read or else I wouldn’t be here! There are fabulous picture books for winter for kids and some of my favorite books have been set in snowy climates too! Head to IG and check out the hashtag: #livingbythepage_winter for more!

Growing up in ATL, summer was the time to see movies as if you aren’t in the pool, there isn’t much else to do in the humidity. But I had to shift that thinking as here, winter is our movie season as the summers here are glorious and you CAN do a lot outside!  I keep a running list on my phone throughout the year of movies or series we want to see so if we want to do anything apart from Friday movie night, we’re ready.   

Whether you have kids in school or homeschool, you will experience a snow day in some capacity! Sometimes it’s due to snowfall, but more often it’s due to icy roads. So on those days, it’s fun to have something novel to do. One year we did a Narnia movie marathon, when they were little it was back-to-back Disney. Either way, it’s a fun time to let go of screen time expectations a bit.  

And this is where audiobooks come in! I love having some handicrafts on hand (see post here) and they can do something while they lounge fireside and listen. We also love Ruby Reads read aloud posters for days like this! Or invest in board games. We are TV free Mon-Thurs (again, different when they were toddlers and I needed Little Bear for 20 min to just get dinner on!) so they know not to ask about it and are good about getting out a board game, puzzle or activity after dinner.  And now that they are older, we often have sports and extracurriculars like theatre. 

And a note on that: for years I was very protective about evening activities, and I am very grateful for the time that I ‘gate-kept’ as we cultivated many memories and bonded as a family. But winter here does not stop for older kids and sports, etc. are full throttle! I’m actually grateful for that as it helps kids mental health when they are active physically and are within community. (Def invest in a local youth group too if you have tweens/teens as the youth leaders are good at coming up with creative events during wintertime!) 

Nutrition: I’m asked a lot about lack of energy in the winter and besides movement, get your supplements on and nutrition on! It’s just a non-negotiable. I am not going to dole out medical advice, but winter is the time to take your supplements regularly and be sure you eating well too. My husband and I take this one and my kids take this. Salmon, eggs and tuna are high in vitamin D too smoked salmon is a regular in our breakfast rotation. And I know many of us think of winter food as comfort casseroles but there is no way I can eat like that for months on end! I stock up on my favorite immune boosting aromatics that I use regularly in winter: ginger, garlic, turmeric, onions, bone broth etc. It’s a great time to try out new recipes be they comforting soups or spicy curries! And while I used to associate smoothies with summer, I’ve had to reframe that myself as it’s a good way to get my greens in not to mention protein and collagen. And winter salads that are basically beets and citrus with a bit of arugula versus a Cobb or Caesar helps me get my iron and Vitamin C in too! 

Explore: at some point, the tedium of winter gets to all of us. And one thing people told us when we moved here was “do get away somewhere warm each winter to see the sun”. Well, that just isn’t always feasible for a family of 5! When the kids were little, my dad did a great job of organizing Disney vacations and Feb/March was a fabulous time to go…and many years spring break in ATL to visit family was a great time to experience the warmth of an early spring. But some years spring break (late March) seems too far away so we’ve learned to just implement whimsy into winter life!  

Whether it’s a spontaneous ski day, hosting family up here (so thankful to my mom for coming for a long Feb weekend for years as it was something to look forward to) or meeting up a friend in another city (my husband and I take turns meeting up friends elsewhere) not to mention work travel (bonus points when it’s somewhere warm!), helps. But also locally, it’s a great time to check out museums (we thankfully live near a university town where many are free) or head further afield to a bigger city. Again, the goal is just something out of the norm. At some point I need to see something green and living and that’s where my local Botanical Gardens are essential: they are free and a day that we can be in short sleeves and wander around in the warmth looking at orchids, bromeliads and succulents is very life giving to us all!

When my kids were little (think under age 6) and any sort of outing required a ridiculous amount of planning/effort, we did a lot of fun indoor whimsy: indoor camping, pillow forts, ‘just because’ parties (none of my kids have winter birthdays so this was a fun excuse to celebrate someone ‘just because’). I’d stock up on Target dollar spot crafts to get out during this time and I appreciate my mother-in-law making so many fun early learning games for us to use during long winter days! 

As the kids have gotten older, we make a ‘Winter-Fun’ bucket list of sorts because winter now flies by faster than it used to. I look ahead to see if there are any special exhibits at local museums to be sure to catch, fun restaurants to try, library events to be sure to make (our local ones are SO good at creating options for kids at all time but especially winter) and youth group retreats, etc. More often now, our winter bucket list is as long, or longer, than our summer one! 

Bring winter IN for decor: While I do like to put away Christmas-themed décor after the holidays end, I keep up winter-themed décor for another month or so.  Having neutral blankets, candles or throw pillows make such a difference! I also love having winter berries or evergreens as decoration before the spring flowers trickle in. Usually that changes by end of February but “winter” décor is a thing to embrace and not to resist. Otherwise, your house either looks very out of step with the season ori is super bare (and as it’s so bare outside, why make it more minimalist in the winter?). I’ve learned to wait until late spring for full-on decluttering, spring cleaning. For now, bring on the candles and cozy throws!

Also, know that your entryways will look cluttered-this was also hard for me to get used to, even with a mudroom! First of all, the Pinterest mudrooms are not real mudrooms. For a family of five, it often looks a little wild but again, I’ve learned that this means it’s well loved and USED. I have a boot tray there for wet/snowy/muddy boots and a nicer looking boot tray in the entryway. I love them so much and actually now wonder how anyone (even in the south where winter is often wet) can be without them! And don’t think of them as just for boots: wet gloves, hats, etc often end up there as well!

Try something new: I thrive on novelty, so I like to look for something new to do in this season where the outside resembles a bit of a Groundhog Day movie. One year I signed up the kids for ice skating lessons with another friend and we have many fun memories of that (and 2 of my kids continued it for another year), one year I did Zumba, this year I started a Pilates reformer class after wanting to do it for years and that’s been a fun class to look forward to on a dark winter morning, etc.  It doesn’t have to be an out of the house activity: one friend always does a Coursera each winter, another uses it to tackle some DIY projects. It’s whatever works for you but again, do something new that works your body and/or brain! 

Community: We live far from family so for years we worked hard to cultivate a strong network of friends to do life with!  When the kids were babies, that looked like hosting playgroup, starting a small group then when they were older; we also had a season that we would monthly host young adults (20s/30s) from our church and this led to lovely relationships with people that weren’t in our age/stage but have since become dear friends!  

When my kids were quite little, I utilized babysitters for my work time and those college girls also became very near and dear to us! Many of them were also far from home and I’d often invite them to stay for dinner. So many sweet relationships came out of that-to the point that my daughter was the flower girl in one of their weddings!   

I will also say a few things about friendships: as I can bond with a Latina in a way that I cannot with others, I can also bond with a southerner in a way that I cannot with a northerner only because we share a lot of the same ‘pain points’ around winter! And even spring. Easter and Mother’s Day are particularly hard for us because years of growing up with outdoor egg hunts, sweet spring dresses, sandals, outdoor brunches and such mean that rainy cold spring holidays hit different! And that’s okay! But it is truly a mental adjustment and letting go of expectations. You need to have people that you can lament this and not be told to just get over it or shrugged off that you are even grieving what traditions used to be normal to you. 

Alternatively, I also used to feel guilty complaining to friends who were from the Midwest, because I didn’t want to seem uncharitable to talking negatively about where they were from. However, sometimes they feel the same! I remember one time being apologetic to the moms in my playgroup about always complaining about the cold one year and a sweet mom friend (born and raised in MI) said to me, Natalie, it’s okay, just because we are used to the cold doesn’t mean we always like it. That was so freeing for me to hear! And sometimes my venting about it opened up a chance for them to vent as well! Solidarity comes in all forms. 

All that to say, now that the kids are older, all that relational work has come to bear much fruit in terms of friendships for me, but also for my husband and children as well! Life in community makes SUCH a difference!  

I didn’t mean for this to get so long but clearly 12 years of northern winters means I have a lot to say about this subject. I’ll leave you with a few introspective thoughts (you can skip if this isn’t your cup of tea but seasonal living is very important to me as it often interweaves itself with liturgical living too).  

After a few years of resisting winter, I started to lean into it (it was coming whether I wanted it to or not) and I began to ask myself some questions that I would muse over with my husband, journal or with others. Feel free to try any of these should they resonate with you as well: 

  • What are my hopes for this winter? 

  • What does my discomfort about the dark and the cold reveal to me? 

  • What does the winter ‘lay bare’ for me? Are there things I’ve been covering up that I need to address or confront? 

  • How does focusing only on my comfort affect those around me? 

  • How can I bless others who struggle in this season as well? (We do blessing bags each fall to have those in the car to pass out when we see who seem to be without a home) 

  • How can I open up my home to others in this season? 

  • What do boundaries look like in this season? What do I need to say ‘no’ to in order to focus on making it to the other end of this season mentally and physically whole? 

  • What are some spring or summer activities/trips that I can look forward to? (Getting a garden ready, researching trips to take with friends or family, etc.) 

  • What beauty do I see in winter?  

  • How can I find time in nature to refresh my soul? Given where you are that can look like forest walks, dune climbs, beachside strolls or a local city park.

I am happy to share more if you are interested. I hope that this encourages you, stretches you a bit to become more winter-positive, and helps you experience this season in a fresh new way!

On Literary Pathways

Living by the Page™

I walked by these shelves the other day and a moment of nostalgia hit me...for all those hours clocked at the kitchen table, or curled up on the sofa or out on our back deck...being transported to London, Birmingham, Avonlea, Boston with Anne, Bud, Charlotte, Almanzo and the like.  I posted a few months ago that we waited to start the Harry Potter series until my oldest was 13 and my youngest 8 for various reasons (post here) and it led down the discussion of literary pathways and I've been wanting to get to this post for a while. Every family's literary pathway will look different but here, in a mix of reflection and listicle style, is mine:

Background: I didn't start tracking our family read alouds until my kids were 7, 5 and 2. Prior to that we were in the land of picture books, library storytimes and I-Can-Read books (both of my older two were early readers, around age 4, so if I wasn't reading picture books to them, they were very earnest about showing off their new skill to ME!).

(A bit more background: my parents are from Argentina and they highly value education but neither came from a read aloud culture. I have a vague memory of my mom reading to me when I was four and my next memory is her reading aloud and me getting frustrated and wanting to read faster, by myself. And her happily handing that book over, lol. To be fair she had four other children under age 6 at that point.)

So back to my kids being ages 2-7, at some point it dawned on me that we were entering into a glorious age of reading and I could tell that my older boys were able to sit through longer read-alouds. Frog + Toad stories were such a hit but they were over quickly so one day I dusted off an old copy of The House at Pooh Corner and was thrilled when my then 6 and 4 year old sat, enraptured, whilst my 2 year old napped. Hence began our snacks + stories tradition. This has been a long standing tradition but really started during nap time for my youngest or when they started going to school and were hungry (and a bit overstimulated) and needed some focused downtime. And I could read aloud uninterrupted while their little hands were busy with snacks. I honestly wasn't sure where to start but a childhood favorite author of mine had been Roald Dahl so I began with Fantastic Mister Fox mainly because of the length and clever yet easy to follow storyline. Yes, I had to stop and explain certain vocabulary words, but I was thrilled that they were captivated by Dah’s satirical and whimsical writing. I then moved onto Stuart Little, The Brambly Hedge Series, James and the Giant Peach, Ollie's Odyssey, A Certain Small Shepherd and at night my husband read them one of his favorites: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I began to add books by authors like Marguerite de Angeli that were new to me: Yonie Wondernose and Thee, Hannah! and loved seeing them enjoy them. We live in Michigan which is far from my family (ATL) and between those road trips as well as trips north to my in-laws lakehouse, we began adding audiobooks into the mix: that year we did The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Angus + Sadie, The Story of Paddington Bear, The One + Only Ivan, Stone Fox, Beatrix Potter and the Tales of Peter Rabbit, The Wizard of Oz and Paddle-to-the-Sea.

The following year, in 2017, we again, kept up with either longer picture book read alouds (think 50 pages or more) and other chapter books. The list is below. My kids were now 8, 6 and 3.

  • The Animals Robert Scott Saw

  • The Animals Christopher Columbus Saw

  • Skippack School

  • Twelve Kinds of Ice

  • The Night Fairy

  • Twig

  • James Herriot’s Treasury for Children

  • The Jungle Book

  • The Curious Guide to Things That Aren’t

  • Anne of Green Gables

  • Beatrix Potter Treasury

  • Brave Red, Smart Frog

  • Peter Pan

  • The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine

  • The Family Under the Bridge

  • The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

  • A Tree for Peter

  • Jotham’s Journey 

Our audiobooks included: 

  • The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

  • Appleblossom the Possum

  • Ramona the Pest

  • Ramona Quimby, Age 8

  • Ramona and Her Father

  • Ramona and Her Mother

  • Ramona Forever

  • The Penderwicks

  • The Penederwicks on Gardam Street 

In 2018, as my kids turned 9, 7 and 4, I remember becoming even more intentional about read alouds. I started to realize that our style was a mix of classical and contemporary. Seeing them (especially my older two) be able to sit through and comprehend Peter Pan, The Jungle Book and Anne of Green Gables gave me the confidence to them introduce more classics: 

  • The Hobbit

  • The Wind in the Willows

  • A Little Princess

  • Alice in Wonderland

  • The Beauty and the Beast

  • Good Night Tales by C.S. Fritz

  • Macbeth for Kids (Shakespeare Can Be Fun Series)

  • Tales of Wonder

  • A Christmas Carol

  • A Year Full of Stories: 52 Classic Stories from All Around the World

  • Bartholomew’s Passage: A Family Story for Advent 

And for audiobooks, we did: 

·      Mary Poppins

·      The Penderwicks at Point Mouette

·      The Penderwicks in Spring

·      The Penderwicks at Last

·      Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package

·      The War That Saved My Life

·      The War I Finally Won

·      Who Was? Scientists and Inventors

In 2019, my kids were 10, 8 and 5 and for some reason I didn't track audiobooks that year but ones that we read aloud that year are below. I began to think seasonally about read-alouds: we purposely did The Long Winter during our own long Michigan winter, I debuted the Secret Garden in springtime and I read aloud Tom Sawyer in the summer. You can probably tell our Advent reads just by looking at the titles, wink. And the gem of that year was being introduced to Christopher Paul Curtis. I found Elijah of Buxton on the shelves of their lakehouse and asked to borrow it. They told me to keep it and I'm thrilled that they did as the next few years I'd purposely included a CPC in our read-alouds.

  • Elijah of Buxton

  • The Long Winter

  • The Secret Garden

  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

  • The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

  • The Adventurous Life of Myles Standish

  • The True Gift

  • The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

  • The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

In 2020, my kids were 11, 9 and 6 and I started to be conscious of some books that my daughter had been too young to remember and needed to circle back to those (ie: Fantastic Mister Fox) and then was realizing that were some that maybe my boys had read on their own but not heard as a read aloud and so before my daughter could independently get to those, I wanted the memory of reading them together (ah, the motivational kick that only the last child can give to a mama, right). Exhibit A: Charlotte's Web. That year I intentionally decided to tackle George MacDonald (even though I may be missing something, we still are all a bit baffled when we come to the end of one) and I wanted to continue rounding out our shelves with diverse voices (more Christopher Paul Curtis and Louise Erdrich).  

  • Charlotte’s Web

  • The Snow Queen

  • The Light Princess

  • The Golden Key

  • Bud, not Buddy

  • Fantastic Mr. Fox

  • Heidi

  • The Watsons Go To Birmingham

  • Boy of the Pyramids

  • The Saracen Steed

  • The Birchbark House

  • Tabitha’s Travels

  • The Invention of Lefse

  • The Birds’ Christmas Carol

Audiobooks:

  • Echo Mountain

  • The One and Only Ivan

  • Adventures with Waffles

  • Madame Badobedah

2021 had us becoming 'pandemic homeschoolers' and given that the kids were 12, 10 and 7 and all reading voraciously and independently, I chose our read alouds carefully-I had long been wanting to read The Phantom Tollbooth and Peacemaker in the fall (and the history curriculum we were using also included them so I ironically didn't read as much as my voice was pretty heavily used with teaching!) 

· Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

· The Three Gold Doubloons

· The Kidnapped Prince

· The Railway Children

· Miracles on Maple Hill

· The Mighty Miss Malone

· Through the Wall

· The Phantom Tollbooth

· The Princess and the Goblin

· Ishtar’s Odyssey

· Peacemaker

· Wise Words

Audibooks included:

  • A Shiloh Christmas

  • Brave Like That 

  • Seekers: The Quest Begins

  • The Zoo at the Edge of the World

  • My Name is Tani

  • Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy

  • Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series (Books 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) 

2022 had us continue in the same vein and now my kids are 13, 11 and 8. I'm more conscious of mixing read alouds with what they are learning/studying and again, rereading some for the sake of my youngest (ie: The Hobbit). I'm also introducing stories with more dialogue (The Vanderbeekers, All of a Kind Family, A Place to Hang the Moon) as my kids are at peak sibling relational years! 

  • Little Pilgrim’s Progress

  • The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street

  • The World of William Penn

  • The Tortoise and the Soldier

  • The Journey of Little Charlie

  • The Hobbit

  • Island of the Blue Dolphins

  • A Single Shard

  • Bronze and Sunflower

  • A Long Road on a Short Day

  • All-of-a-Kind Family  

  • A Place to Hang the Moon

Audibooks:

  • Stubby the War Dog

  • The Long Lost Home: Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place Book 8

  • James Herriot's Treasury for Children

And so that brings us to the present where our read alouds have been books 1 and 2 of Harry Potter and my next re-read will be Anne of Green Gables (my daughter is 9 and I want the memory of reading that one to her and am interested to hear what my older boys remember as they were LITTLE when I read it to them before).

 So sometimes I'm asked: Was all that time reading aloud worth it? Did they really understand what you were reading?

And here is the thing. I'm honestly not responsible for what they understand or remember but this is what I do know: children understand so much more than we give them credit for. And I let the authors do the heavy lifting. Kids instinctively are able to discern that Peter Pan is about mourning the end of childhood, that Heidi, Anne of Green Gables and A Little Princess exemplify the choice we all have each day to not delve into bitterness and turn towards grace and forgiveness, and that The Secret Garden and Charlotte's Web remind us of the beauty of unlikely friendships. Birchbark House provides a good indigenous historical alternative to The Little House series but if you don't want to read one over the other, then read both and talk about it! The Railway Children, A Place to Hang the Moon and The War that Saved my Life depicted what life was like for children during the World Wars and all Christopher Paul Curtis books we've read include themes of either enslavement or Civil Rights and that led to great age-appropriate discussions. Did I have to pause with the classics sometimes to paraphrase if the language felt over their heads at times? YES. Did I stop to ask them to narrate back to me what they heard to be sure I understood? YES. Did I have to put some stories into the context of colonialism? YES. Did I sometimes have to put books down to pause due to my own sadness? YES. Did we laugh out loud together at a character’s humorous antics? YES.

No, I honestly don't regret those minutes, hours and days a single bit. I feel that as parents we're stewarded with developing their minds and while picture books are wonderful (and we still read them with older children too-they are not mutually exclusive), there is an alchemy to traveling through longer complex chapter books that is hard to explain. And while I consider myself rather well read, I had never heard of Charlotte Mason until a few years ago and her words regarding reading resonated with what was always intuitive to me. 

As for literature – to introduce children to literature is to install them in a very rich and glorious kingdom, to bring a continual holiday to their doors, to lay before them a feast exquisitely served. But they must learn to know literature by being familiar with it from the very first. A child's intercourse must always be with good books, the best that we can find. -Charlotte Mason

So yes, when my oldest came home from kindergarten one day asking about Harry Potter because a friend mentioned their parent was reading it to them, I just smiled and told him that I had collected the books as they came out when I was in my 20s and that he need not worry, that the books (originals!) were all sitting in my office upstairs and that we'd get to them when he and his siblings were older. But that first, we had someone named Aslan that he needed to meet. 

Please know that this is not prescriptive: this literary pathway evolved and emerged like most things in parenthood do: sometimes intentional, other times reactive. Some books my kids begged me to keep reading, other times we slogged through and breathed a collective sigh of relief when we were done. I'm often surprised by what they forget, and am tickled by what they remember. Some books I maybe waited too long on, and others I probably introduced a bit early. But at the end of the day, these stories stay imprinted on their minds and hearts and these times together are memories that YOU and YOUR kids are making together so just read and make them! I am praying that the main takeaway ‘my mom was always excited to read to us-maybe sometimes too excited’ will override ‘boy, did my mom look at her phone a lot’. Or one can hope! If you have any questions, ask away! I always love talking about what we’ve read and what we are reading!

 

On Reading Aloud: The Attention Edit

How do you get through so many read-alouds with your kids? How do they sit still chapter after chapter? That's probably one of the top questions I receive each time I post about reading aloud. If you have been for a while, you are probably aware of all the benefits of reading aloud, even to older kids-tweens and teens!-but maybe struggle with the attention part. I understand! When mine were little, snacks were a big draw. That's how #snacksandstories was created and note that it doesn't always have to be food: a cup of tea or cocoa works just as well. But as they grew, the snack part was quickly over, and their bodies needed to move more. Also the books I was now reading had little to no illustrations as they were more chapter book style. So I started to experiment with a few things and these have worked wonders:

1) Change locations. It doesn't have to be the table. We often start there just because I usually have a cup of coffee in hand (LOL) but oftentimes it's the coach or our outdoor patio or the floor. A picnic blanket is so fun when the weather is warm, and during our snowy winter months, nothing is better than bringing pillows by the fire.

2) Keep those hands busy! I have a highly kinetic crew and the mere act of rolling out clay, felting, whittling, etc helps their brains actually focus better. I mean, who just wants to stare at the reader for about 30 minutes? :) I have a special set of handicrafts that only come out during #readalouds. Caveat: if you do this, be sure to have introduced them to these beforehand so that you aren't trying to teach them something new at the same time you read aloud. I've done it before and spoiler: tears and frustration all around. In this pic, my oldest is doing a sticker book, my middle is felting and my youngest is making owls out of art clay. Neither of them did these things for the first time during a read-aloud! It's only when I see their confidence in a handicraft grow does it move to a read-aloud bin!

3) Know your audience: some days mine can sit for a good 30-60 minutes, other days they are just more antsy or tired so I wrap it up after 15 minutes. I never want it to seem like a chore...we are using several books with our BraveWriter curriculum this year so there are some I am more aware of a timeline but I'm not stressed...I know that planning 30 min a day isn't feasible...so just keeping in mind that 15 min one day means that I'll get through more on the days when their minds/bodies are more open to it.

4) Audiobooks: We usually save those for road trips but I know that many families love them, and that allows an adult to get things done during the reading! I personally enjoying reading a book with them but again, the point is hearing a book read aloud, whether it's from you or a narrator!

5) A picture book is a great palate cleanser! My youngest is 8 so she still loves picture books but my 11 and 13 year olds never complain when I bring them out! Before delving into a chapter book, I still sometimes add 1 or 2 picture books to the pile. It's a good way to bring in seasonal favorites or if you are homeschooling, one that you are needing to read anyway (we currently doing an Around the World with picture books with @beautifulfeet or thematic (there are great nonfiction picture books for Women's History Month, etc).

I've added a few of our favorite handicrafts here. My kids are between 8-13 so keep that in mind, but I added a few examples of what worked when they were younger too! And note that many of them make great holiday presents or stocking stuffers!

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Honoring Indigenous Identity, History & Culture Through Books

Last November we did a mini-unit on Indigenous Peoples of North America (Canada and US) and we all learned SO much. I was so impressed with the resources that we used that I featured them in my Instastories and promised to share a blog post rounding them all up. And then Advent began, and then the New Year, and best laid plans and all that. But I have not forgotten about it and finally pulled together all the amazing books we’ve read over the last few years (many by First Nations authors/illustrators themselves), chapter books/read aloud options for the older set and some adult books (fiction/nonfiction) that I've been using to further close the gaps that I had in my own education. I did take a Native Peoples of the Pacific NW course in university but other than that and a recent trip to South Dakota, all my knowledge has been self-learned. And disclaimer to fellow parents/educators: I did not shy away from discussing residential schools, forced migration, etc but know your audience! Since the curriculum we used was Canadian, there was more discussion about residential schools and the recent tragic discovery of mass graves, as well as the reparations done by the Canadian government...I decided mine were old enough to hear most of this (ages 7-12 at the time) but I did use discretion around my youngest. With my older two I used it as a jumping off point to discuss topic such as what reparations and reconciliation look like from a US perspective. Spoiler alert: I have no answers to these questions, but it is amazing to engage your older kids on these topics because they have some strong feelings about injustice! We wrapped up our unit with Peacemaker as our read-aloud which was perfect.

While this list is by no means exhaustive, I hope that this is a good start for anyone look to augment their learning on indigenous peoples’ identity, history and culture. May we move forward in a posture of humble learning.

-Natalie d’Aubermont Thompson, Living by the Page

The curriculum I used organized First Nations by region so I’ll do that here as well. And again, it was a Canadian curriculum so not as focused on US SE or SW First Nations. We personally added a Lakota/Sioux ‘deep dive’ since we had spent a week in South Dakota prior to school starting.

In the chapter book section, the ones listed are ones that we have either read aloud together or ones that my kids have read independently. The adult fiction/nonfiction are ones I have read and recommend. Again, I hope to add to this as we continue our learning!

Pacific NW and British Columbia

Zoe and the Fawn

Kamik: An Inuit Puppy Story

The Girl and the Wolf

Day with Yayah

The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale

When I was Eight

Great Lakes up through Newfoundland

The First Blade of Sweetgrass

Birchbark Brigade: A Fur Trade History

Maple Moon

The Red Sash

Pocahontas: Princess of the New World

Life in a LongHouse Village

US Midwest/Plains

Awâsis and the world famous Bannock

Life in a Plains Camp

The Gift of the Sacred Dog

Mystic Horse

When We Were Alone

The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses

Southeast

Crossing Bok Chitto

The First Strawberries

Lakota and Sioux

Tatanka and the Lakota People: A Creation Story

Buffalo Bird Girl

Tasunka: A Lakota Horse Legend

Gift Horse: A Lakota Story

Red Cloud: A Lakota Story of War and Surrendur

Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People

The Christmas Coat

The Ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle

Thematic Picture Books

Nickommoh: A Thanksgiving Celebration

We Are Grateful

When We are Kind/Nihá’ádaahwiinít’íigo

Fry Bread

Stolen Words

You Hold Me Up

Shin-chi's Canoe

We Are Water Protectors

Berry Song

Longer Read Alouds/Chapter Books

Peacemaker

Birchbark House Series

Stone River Crossing

Kunu: Winnebago Boy Escapes

Takini: Lakota Boy Alerts Sitting Bull

Fatty Legs

Children of the Longhouse

Adult Fiction/Nonfiction

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

The Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America 1890 to the Present

The Sentence

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Barkskins

There There

'Tis the reading season: a gift guide for the bookish family

So there are many gift guides floating around the interwebs, especially this week!, but in case you are looking for a special gift for the bookworm in your life, here are a few not-to-be missed deals:

Honest History: We tried this magazine out this year and we are SO impressed! It shows kids that history is anything but stale! The magazine is colorful, dynamics and full of engaging text and historical facts. I’ve learned SO much myself! They are currently offering their biggest sale in history just in time for the holidays! Click here for 25% off subscriptions and 15% off all single issues! And be sure to check out their newly launched podcast as well! Get ready for your kids to know more history than you do!

Bravery: I’ve sung my praises about Bravery before-we’re now seasoned subscribers! Created to showcase strong female role models, my two sons and daughter love this magazine equally! The biggest sale of the year is going on with BRAVERY30 which gets you 30% off anything! Click here to gift one issue or bundle up your choice to tailor to your brave bookworm!

Series for ages 9-13: I only highlight what I’ve either read or what my boys have! My boys are ages 10 and 12 now and have been DEVOURING these series recently:

The Green Ember

The Mapmaker Chronicles

Wingfeather Saga (the entire hardcover set is on sale right now!)

Finding Langston Trilogy

The Growly Books

Head to my recent blog post for a list of great book series for ages 6-9 (all come highly recommended by my 7 year old daughter!)

And if you are looking to add books to your holiday collection, please check out THIS post that has our favorite picture books for the Advent season!

Nonfiction lovers? I got you covered here! Like so many, we fell down the homeschool hole in 2020 and we were able to leverage all these that we had owned for a variety of curriculums we used!

Stationary for kids, or yourself, is such a fun personal gift! JoyCreativeShop is the mastermind behind my logo and the shop has so many good deals this week! The pen pal stationary sets are a favorite amongst my kiddos! Use MERRY10 for 10% off $100+, MERRY15 for 15% off $175 and MERRY20 for 20% off $300!

A family gift that is super fun is a Ruby Reads Poster (we’ve done Charlotte’s Web and Edward Tulane and I’m gifting Vanderbeeker’s to the kids this year)! Send the poster itself OR pair it with the book for an extra special touch! Use code NATALIE20 for 20% now through Dec 15!

Have an aspiring writer? Now they can create and publish their own story!

And of course, where does one put all these goodies!? Check out the shop on this site for the best bag to hold your literary haul! Just use the code “GIFT” for 20% off all bags!

Tis’ the season of READING!

Best Series for ages 6-9

My newly minted 7 year old has been reading up a storm which is so heartening to see as she was our ‘late reader’! Just proof that whether they begin to read at age 4 or 7, they truly do take off! As my older ones are firmly into middle grade at this point, it was fun to revisit some of the early chapter book series and to discover new ones! I’m often asked what books are perfect for this age group (6-9) and here are our favorites:

Ellie May on April Fools' Day
By Homzie, Hillary
My Happy Life
By Lagercrantz, Rose
Juana and Lucas
By Medina, Juana
Katie Woo and Friends
By Manushkin, Fran
Rock Star #1 (Jada Jones)
By Lyons, Kelly Starling

Top Nonfiction Books for Kids

If you had told me a year and a half ago that I’d be writing a blog post about best bookish homeschool resources for families, I would have laughed! But here we are, and as we close out our homeschool year, I thought it would be fun to share the books that we turned to often, and that, shocker, we already owned! Background: when the writing was on the wall last summer that our local school would be virtual (at least for the fall), we as a family took a variety of things into account when deciding what to do: the ages of our children, how they learn best, my work schedule as well as my husband’s, etc. There are so many variables that factor into school choice, and this year, virtual was an unexpected twist. For reasons I won’t dwell on here (it’s all so personal for each family and I want to honor everyone’s choice), we landed on a homeschool year. I had 1st, 3rd and 5th graders and the beauty of these ages/stages are that there are some subjects you can do together (ie: history, read-alouds and natural sciences-we did the Oceans unit as well as the North American birds unit from Gather Round and later added on the Ideas and Inventions unit from them) and obviously things that need to be individual per their ability (math, language arts, music). We also wanted to prioritize as much as outdoor time as possible (ie: nature study/hikes) and our local county as well as Metroparks programs were amazing at providing hands-on naturalist programs for our homeschool pod.

But clearly we are here to chat books! It dawned on me in May as I reached for Nature Anatomy for the umpteenth time, that while yes, I had to purchase some specific curriculum, many of the books we used on a daily basis where ones that thankfully we already owned. With libraries operating a pretty limited capacity most of the year and my desire to be as screen-free as we could, I preferred the kids to do as much research using books. Here are some that I have collected over the year that basically become our extended curriculum. You may own one or two already, if not, I highly urge you to invest in them, homeschool or not! My kids have enjoyed them many times before this year, but they morphed into valuable resources as well if you are looking for supplemental resources, be it school inside or outside the home!

Amazing World Atlas by Lonely Planet Kids: It’s just good to know where one is right!? Whether we were discussing where historical events took place or current affairs, this is a fabulous atlas that works well for kids of all ages.

The 50 States: This is a trusted favorite of ours, aesthetically the fonts/graphics are amazing, but it’s also informative and very up to date so any kid will enjoy learning fun facts about their state, as well as others.

MAPS: I have a few geography lovers and this one combines informative facts with stellar art/graphics. Whether it’s a coffee table book, or you are using for formal geography, it’s one to own! We host quite a bit and it’s one that every adult has leafed through at some point when they’ve been with us!

Botanicum: I secretly bought this one for myself years ago but it came in handy this year as we joined a Flower of the Month club. And once your kids begin looking up one flower/plant, it’s hard to get this one away from them as they get immersed in all the other beautiful pages.

Animalium: Same as above, a visual feast of all animals. Our Bird and Ocean units had us looking up all manner of unique animals, be they up in the sky or down below!

Nature Anatomy, Farm Anatomy and Ocean Anatomy: The entire collection by Julia Rothman is amazing. We have used these over the years in so many ways, even before homeschool! We love them for nature sketching, for recipes, for pure browsing enjoyment. They are the perfect size for bigs and littles!

How Things Work: Our Ideas and Inventions unit had us turning to this one often! I had gifted it to my eldest years ago and it’s pretty dog eared at this point, but I myself was surprised to see how informative it was on all things physics and science. And who doesn’t love a good lift and flap!? Between that and David Macaulay’s The New Way Things Work, your resident scientist will be all set!

Timelines of World History: My husband and I both did our Master’s in Int’l Relations so history, anthropology and politics are our sweet spot! And so much of that is understanding context! This is a fabulous book that outlines major events from the Ancient World to the 20th century.

Sing a Song of Seasons: Dear friends gifted this one to us over Christmas and since January 1 we’ve started each day off with a poem. It’s a fabulous collection of well-known poets as well as new ones and the illustrations are gorgeous!

A note on several of these, I’ve used affiliate links here to Amazon (Prime Day is coming up so it’s a great chance to take advantage of these deals) but I’ve purchased them before at local bookstores, Costco (I saw recently that they have a Botanicum and Animalium paired deal), school book fairs and library used book sales (I’ve purchased all our Macaulay’s at these). And know that I didn’t purchase all of above myself, over the years when grandparents asked, I would mention ones we had our eyes on they were gifted for birthdays or holidays. So hope this list helps either add to your kids nonfiction shelf, or get it started!

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Best Audiobooks for Road Trips

With most of our extended family living out of state, we are not strangers to the 10+ hour road trip. While it was pretty grueling when our kids were tiny (stopping to change diapers or spoon feed a baby meant that it felt as if we were inching down I-75 at times!), the upside of logging all those miles is that now we have little road trip warriors. And something that helped them get there? Audiobooks! Yes, we do have a DVD player in the car and of course we’re not against a movie or two but we’ve always felt that a child should be able to do about a 4 or 5 hour car trip before a movie is popped in. We save those for the end of a trip when everyone’s patience is wearing thin but between music, games and audiobooks, it’s amazing how long kids can actually last! I imagine you’ll do a road trip or two this summer, even if it’s a local staycation! I am often asked which are our favorite audiobooks (for reference my children are now ages 7, 10 and 11) and here are some recent favorites (as well as old trusted ones) and know they are fabulous for adults too!

Adventures With Waffles: My kids loved this tale of friendship. Set in Norway you follow the adventures of Trille and Lena and their families as they go through the ups and downs of life.

Angus and Sadie: This was one of the first we did when my oldest was around 4/5. It’s one that every few summers is requested again. After all, who can resist a good story narrated by the point of view of two dogs?

Appleblossom the Possum: Little possums learn to make their way into the world. A quirky story that my kids quickly fell for, and it’s read by Dustin Hoffman who, as expected, does a superb job.

Because of Winn-Dixie: We’ve done this one as a read aloud, audiobook AND seen the film. It’s THAT good.

Brave Like That: A great middle grade listen. Cyrus Olson always wishes he could be brave like his dad (firefighter, town football star), and a few things happen this year that give him the chance.

Echo Mountain: NPR Best Book of the Year in 2020 and for good reason. This is probably best for upper middle grade but it had even my husband and I on the edge of our seats. About a family forced out to Maine to live on Echo Mountain from the city during the Great Depression, it’s a complex story on loss, friendship and how things aren’t always what they seem.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: We had been waiting for my youngest to get a bit older before starting it and right after she turned 7 we debuted it during a recent 10 hour drive back from ATL. All kids loved this strange tale of 3 children who seem to have been raised by wolves out in the British countryside. This is the first in a series so I’m expecting hours of future listens but so far, we love it and the vocabulary your children are exposed to is amazing!

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane: Another one that we’ve done as a read aloud but wanted to do as an audiobook as well. Only Kate DiCamillo can spin a story about a china rabbit who ends up having mishaps and adventures all over the world and leave you with tears in your eyes at the end.

The Mouse and the Motorcycle: I cut my literary teeth on Beverly Cleary and if you want to save Ramona for a read aloud, this is a good one for the car as you get to listen to the trevails of a little mouse putting around an inn on his motorcycle. A great one for the 5 and up set.

The One and Only Ivan: I’ve heard from many who feel that this one is too slow but I’m of the camp that sometimes you need a good slow burner of a story. We’ve actually done this one twice the kids love it so much (and followed-up with the movie which is equally good!).

The Penderwick Series: A story of four motherless sisters who spend the summer in a beautiful estate, Arundel. I started this one out when the boys were young and my daughter was tiny, so for a few years it was non-stop Penderwicks and they sort of grew up as the girls did. It’s too the point that when I catch a warm breeze as we are headed to our local lake, I myself am transported back to Arundel.

Save Me a Seat: We did this one last month and loved this cross-cultural middle grade story of an American boy and a recent immigrant boy from India who seem to have nothing in common at first, except for a

Seekers (series): Three bears (brown, black and polar) set off on a quest where their lives unexpectedly intermingle. My kids aren’t huge fantasy readers so I wasn’t sure how this one would go over and they loved it! We’ve done two books out of the six thus far and I anticipate getting through the entire series before summer’s end!

The War That Saved My Life: During the Blitz 9 year old Ada and little brother Jimmie are shipped off to the English countryside and local townswoman, Susan Smith, is forced to take them in. Warning: Ada’s mother is pretty heartless (Ada has a twisted foot and her mother is ashamed of that) but we used that as a talking point about shame. But redemption is had and it’s a story that had us laughing, and in tears.

The War I Finally Won: A sequel to the above, going a bit more into what it means to be truly loved and to be someone’s daughter. We loved being back with the characters and getting a bit more closure into Ada’s life.

Winnie-the-Pooh (I adore this version read by Stephen Fry)

Anything by Jim Weiss

The Zoo at the Edge of the World: This came recommended by a well trusted friend on bookstagram and in her review she pointed out that she was surprised this one isn’t more visible and she’s right! A mute boy who grows up in a famous zoo resort in the jungles of South America at the turn of the 19th century. Add in a mysterious black jaguar and need I say more?

My Name is Tani…and I Believe in Miracles: True story about Nigerian immigrant 8 year old Tani Adewumi whose family escapes Boko Haram but then struggles to make a new life in New York City…until he’s introduced to chess and becomes a state chess champion. We listened to this on the way out to South Dakota this summer and all loved it! Told from the perspective of Tani as well as his mother and father. Note that the parts about Boko Haram can be intense and may worry younger listeners. Mine were 7 and up and were fine but we stop at times to talk about it.







Poetry Roundup!

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It’s never too early to start reading poetry with your kids, whether you read poetry during teatime, over after-school snacks or in the evening as a poetry family-slam (try it, it’s SO fun-my kids always got very into it and it inspired them to try their hand at their own poems too). There is something simple yet mysterious about poetry and I feel like children are naturally quite adept at understanding the secret meanings and messages embedded within!

Here are some of our favorites to get you started:

Sing A Song of Seasons: This is a gorgeously illustrated anthology of nature poems-366 in all-from a wide variety of poets from Langston Hughes and Emily Dickinson to N. M. Bodecker and Okamoto Kanoko. We kept it out one year by our kitchen table and each kid took turns reading one poem a day. Highly recommend!

The Tree That Time Built: A fabulous anthology of more than 100 poems celebrating the natural world. This is perfect for anytime, but especially spring! This also includes a CD which has many of the original poets reading their poems and that’s been particularly striking for both the kids, and myself!

Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices: This one by Paul Fleischman must be read aloud by two people. It's all about the insect world so I was honestly a bit suspect at first, but so well-written and fun to read together and hear the cadence of the lines along with the two voices in tandem (you see this particularly in 'The Grasshopper'!)

Seeds, Bees, Butterflies, and More!: Another collection of poetry for two voices. My kids just love them and they are perfect for spring!

A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends: I remember that feeling of reading Shel Silverstein for the first time as a kid and thinking: adults can really write silly stuff like this?! And this is actual poetry? As a child I would read these books over and over again (these are my well-worn childhood copies but you can still find them on Amazon) and my siblings and I used to read them aloud to each other, giggling the entire time.  When I showed them to the boys, they had equal reactions; jaw-dropping admiration for the zany wit of Silverstein and unable to put them down.

Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word:This collection of poems takes a word that children recognize, such as 'Pepperoni' and arranges them so that they become a poem of short lines: One / pie / no / pepper / onion. It's genius and it took us a while to get used to author Bob Raczka's style, but we appreciate it and love it!

Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems:Another Bob Raczka one that we love.  This is a collection of visual poems (i.e: the one entitled 'Clock' actually looks like a clock) and it makes the kids think hard about what he's trying to convey with his 'word paintings' as he refers to them.  Even the table of contents is drawn to look like a table! 

When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons: Oh how I love both Julie Fogliano and Julie Morstad! And combined they are a powerful creative duo with this collection of poetry that celebrates the seasons. Each poem is entitled a different day of the year which helps kids connect what is happening weather-wise to their feelings.  From the example below ('march 22') you can see that this is a collection that speaks to adults as much as it does for kids. I have several memorized as do my boys! One special moment came last August when my middle son and I were picking ripe tomatoes out of the garden and he goes "Mom, I get it now! When GREEN becomes TOMATOES".  Ah, YES.

Beastly Verse:This one is new to us this year but boy did it get our attention with the combination of classic poems (Lewis Carroll's 'The Crocodile' and William Blake's 'The Tyger' just to name a few) and bright bold illustrations by JooHee Yoon. So far we've just been checking it out from the library but it's been such a hit here, I have a feeling it'll end up as someone's birthday book gift soon. And the clever British poetry has won us over: 'in what furnace is thy brain?' is now a well-repeated zinger around these parts. 

enormous smallness: This isn't so much a collection of poems as it is a biography about poet e.e. cummings but it includes several of his at the end so I wanted to include it here. It was fun to explain to my kids that it wasn't that long ago that someone decided to break the poetry mold and try something innovative (all lowercase, lots of punctuation, etc). It's a creative and inspiring read!

The Blacker the Berry:  This one is a collection by Joyce Carol Thomas and Floyd Cooper (both Coretta Scott King honorees) about all the shades and hues of the color black. The poems are short enough to hold kids attentions and the illustrations are done in whimsical soft palettes. And while some kids may be too young to comprehend the double entendre of many of the stanzas, I feel like this is a great one to have in a home library as they can easily grow into it. Lots of wonderful themes about self-love, diversity, and acceptance. One of my favorite lines from the book: "colors, without black, couldn't sparkle quite so bright".  

Cast Away: Poems for our Time: This is a fabulous collection for middle grade kids and older about those things that we cast away (plastic bottles, etc). Slightly humorous, a bit provocative at times, this collection is about what we often thoughtlessly toss away (both literally and metaphorically).

A Child's Garden of Verses:Take the liveliness of Robert Louis Stevenson's poems and combine them with the loveliness of Tasha Tudor's illustrations and you can get a fabulous treasury that you'll read over and over again.  This one is oft reached for on our Poetry-Slam Wednesdays when they'd rather recite than write. 

Bronzeville Boys and Girls: I’ve always loved poet Gwendolyn Brooks so I love this collection which is perfect for children as this collection includes over 30 poems she wrote about the lives and dreams of children living in the Bronzeville section of Chicago in the 1950s. The art by Caldecott Honor artist Faith Ringgold is amazing as well!

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Fred Rogers: I must admit I was a bit skeptical of how this would work, but it’s just a beautiful book! I can hardly get through three poems without tearing up and my children love that they speak to the language of their hearts and experiences, nothing less than I’d expect from Mr. Rogers!

Write! Write! Write!: Read enough poetry to the kids and chances are their begging to try their hands at it! I love this collection of poems dedicated to the craft of writing!

Thunder Underground: We love this fabulous collection of poems about life underground (caves, subways, animal burrows, tunnels, etc). It's a unique mix of physical science & poetry and definitely speaks my boys love language! Poems by the formidable Jane Yolen, colorfully illustrated by Josée Masse.

Fresh-Picked Poetry: A Day at the Farmer's Market:Our little small town's farmer's market is right next to our library so some of our favorite weekend mornings spring through fall involve biking or walking downtown, picking up eggs, greens & berries and swinging by the library. This one channels your inner foodie and celebrates all things fresh with poems such as "Is it Ripe" to "Sally's Sweet Corn" and gets everyone in the family looking forward to the next market day.

Miguel's Brave Knight: In this one, author Margarita Engle channels what a young Miguel de Cervantes must have felt like growing up with a gambling father that put the family into debt several times. All this family drama would lead to many daydreams of knights on steeds that would right everything that was wrong with the world. We've read an abridged version of 'Don Quixote' so my children (at least, the boys) are familiar with the basic storyline and were inspired to see how Cervantes dreamed up a story that would essentially become the first modern novel.

I Heard it From Alice Zucchini: Poems About the Garden: Just the title alone endeared it to my kids! Whimsical and playful these are perfect for when you and your crew are ready to dig in the dirt!

I'm Just No Good at Rhyming (And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-ups):  This one is hilarious! Written by Chris Harris, it's full of word play and zany humor and in the right spirit, you'll enjoy it just as much as your kids do!  Lane Smith's illustrations here add the perfect touch.  This is a must-have for your playful poetry nights. 

Sing a Song of Seasons: A dear friend gifted this to us this Christmas and it’s been the perfect way to start each day with one poem. Some are anonymously written, others by well-known poets and many by new-to-us poets. A great introduction to poetry for all ages with exquisite artwork!

The Hill We Climb: One of my few pre-orders of 2021! YES. I love how Amanda Gorman is now a household name and inspiring kids and adults alike with her amazing poetry.

What Are you Glad About? What Are you Mad About? My ten year old devoured this one in two days he loved it so much. It’s quite humorous and a witty peek into the psyche of elementary school children. By Judith Viorst, author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Poetry for Kids Series (individual titles below): OH.MY.GOODNESS.  This series of books is just wonderful. The series began in 2016 with the majority of the titles published in 2017 and most recently, Shakespeare in 2018.  Each book provides a brief bio about the author, lovingly illustrated poems, definition of key words (to help the younger set) and depending on the book, commentary for each poem (for example, in the Whitman book, NYU Professor Karen Karbenier, PhD, explains Whitman's poetry).  You know a series is good when it's hard to choose but trust me, these make a fabulous addition to any home library, kids OR adults. 

Poetry for Kids: Emily Dickinson

Poetry for Kids: Walt Whitman

Poetry for Kids: Robert Frost

Poetry for Kids: William Shakespeare

Poetry for Kids: Carl Sandburg

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