Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Books On the Horizon

In the past few days, I have obtained or been given three books that I'm really looking forward to reading:

1)  Tell Me, by Aidan Chambers.  I felt like a kid opening a Christmas present yesterday when I opened my amazon order and found this book inside.  Thanks to Jackie, my faithful blog reader/commenter/suggestion-maker/helper-with-Seth, I've had this book sitting in my amazon cart for a couple of months already and I was so glad to finally order and receive it.  It's the first one on my reading list...in fact, I'll likely start it tonight.  As I understand it, this book is about teaching me to help a child talk about a book, make sense of a string of facts, and understand complicated ideas.  I suspect this will be a helpful tool with all three of my kids.  Here's the link to this book at amazon, in case you're interested (I receive no money for this promotion, or for the sale of any book):  Tell Me, by Aidan Chambers

2) The Whole Brain Child:  Twelve Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind, by Daniel Siegel.  I've been hearing about this book for what seems like a year, and it's been recommended to me by various people.  I've watched a few promotional clips for the book and have intended to purchase it for a while.  But it was my lovely friend Joanne who, having recently attended a conference by the author of this book, thought about me (and my middle child in particular) and bought it for me as a Christmas gift.  She gave it to me last week and I'm really looking forward to reading this one as well.  Here's the link to check out:  The Whole Brain Child, by Daniel Siegel

3)  Give Them Grace, by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson.  This is another book I received in my recent amazon order and one that was newly placed in my amazon shopping cart.  This is a parenting book, but I'm hoping it has more to do with me than it does my kids.  I have been struggling, of late, with giving my kids grace.  Because my two youngest have required more rules and structure than I've historically been used to giving, I've found myself a little caught between where to end the rules and when/how to administer grace.  I'm feeling a little more rigid than I'm comfortable with and need help finding that fine line.  Being a big believer in grace, I'm hoping that this books helps me clarify matters a little.  Here's the link: Give them Grace, by Elyse Fitzpatrick

I've been trying to read a little fiction again of late, but I confess that my urge for fiction has waned a little since Seth and Lizzie came home - first, because of sheer lack of time and energy, but lately more because I'm out of the groove of reading good fiction.  I've read a chunk of Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, which I've been enjoying but just can't seem to finish; and after completing half of The Red Tent a few days ago (by Anita Diamant), a book I've been wanting to read for about two years, I ended up returning it to the library - I just couldn't get into it.

It's hard to believe that this avid book reader has taken a vacation somewhere because I'm reading about 10% of what I used to in any given month.  I'm in a season of life, I guess...though I sure hope that I get back to the book-reading season at some point!

7 comments:

  1. Wow, I really want all of these now! Just looked them all up on Amazon. Thanks so much for the recommendations x x

    Ps ME TOO on the fiction. It breaks my heart- I have always read avidly, my whole life. I really hope this is just a season!

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  2. I'm glad you got the wonderful books! I know what you mean about stopping reading fiction (for whatever reasons). Maybe Aidan's book will inspire you again. It's funny, I was just talking about that book with a colleague today who is a Humanities consultant with the school board. We were talking about how much it inspires us and reminds us about what reading is for and what it can be like. It's so easy to forget about that and (for teachers) panic about children's reading 'levels' etc and then deny them the actual pleasures of books and readings which are much more spiritual. THat book is deceptively simple and actually very deep. I love that he wrote it about working with a group of teachers inquiring together into the best reading and conversation experiences they could create. And I trust him because he's such an incredible young adult and children's novelist, won the Carnegie Medal (like the british Newbery). I think I'll reread "This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn" again over christmas. One of the most incredibly moving books I've ever read, about a teenage girl writing to her unborn daughter about life....
    Happy reading
    Jackie

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  3. Claudia, how interesting that you're going through a fiction phase too... and it IS a sad thing for fiction lovers. I hope your desire comes back too, and in the meantime, maybe you can get these books, too, and we can compare notes!

    Hugs,

    Ruth

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  4. Really and truly, Jackie, I've been checking back here to see if you'd read this post because I was sure you'd comment if you had!! I've kinda been pathetic about the checking! So a double thank you!!

    I'm just about 15 pages in to Tell Me, and have decided that I'm not going to read any more until just after Christmas, when we're going away for a few days and when I'm going to have a little more time than usual on my hands - that's when I'm going to spend some delicious hours delving in....'cause just from the little I've read I know I"m going to love it.

    So thank you. Wow, do I hope I get to meet you some day 'cause you're going to get one big hug from me!!

    Hugs, and with thanks,

    Ruth

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  5. I’m going to have to pick one of these up, I’ve been looking for another one to read! I just finished another fantastic parenting book I’d like to pass along called “Teaching Kids to Be Good People” by Annie Fox, M.Ed. You can check her and the book out on the website http://www.anniefox.com/. It’s a wonderful read and I’d recommend it to anyone. Thanks again for the post and recommendations!

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  6. Hi Amanda -
    Glad you like the sound of these books - I hope you pick one or more of them up and enjoy them! And thank you for the suggestion of the Annie Fox book; I will go to her website and check it out - it's always good to have a recommendation by someone who's already read it!

    Thanks! BLessings,

    Ruth

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  7. Hi Ruth,

    In my work as an author, teen adviser, and parent educator I read a lot of parenting books. I'm grateful to have found your site because I'm always looking for recommendations to excellent books about child development and the unique challenges of 21st Century parenting. I have a podcast series you might be interested in: Family Confidential - Secrets of Successful Parenting. In it I interview parenting book authors. We have great conversations. You can listen in here and get some more recommendations for books. I've read all of these authors' books. Many gems among them! http://FamilyConfidential.com

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