Two of Our Favorite Read-Alouds

Heidi, by Johanna Spyri is the charming and tender tale of an adorable little curly-topped girl in the Swiss Alps, who is dropped on the doorstep of her hermit grandfather. She soon comes to know and love him.

Through a series of difficult events, God uses her to bring the Gospel to her beloved Grandfather, simply, honestly and directly, just like the delightful child she is.

Carry on, Mr. Bowditch! by Jean Lee Latham Twelve-year old Nathaniel Bowditch is smart, talented and crushed. A whiz at math in his colonial one-room school house, Nathaniel is sold into a seven-year indentureship, so his family can afford food. Will Nathaniel have to stop learning?

Nathaniel learns what it means to sail by ash-breeze. (Ash is the wood oars were made of- oars could propel a ship when there was no wind at all.) He begins to learn without any school at all, and goes on to correct math mistakes in the navigational charts of the day, allowing thousands of sailors to avoid certain shipwreck.

Alright. I could have made these a lot more engaging, because the stories certainly are. But I'm so tired, and I'm not even supposed to be up! I was just brushing my teeth, and came online, and remembered I said I would put up some favorite-book reviews. Here are two.