Summer Reading

The kids did not have summer reading per se, this year. Last summer we thoroughly enjoyed the works of Jules Verne read to us on CDs. The kids were fascinated by the stories, and I enjoyed listening with them and knitting, rather than reading aloud.

We enjoyed it so much I wanted to do something similar this year. We started by listening to Les Miserables. I could only find an abridged version, so I assured the Artist she would enjoy the book when she could read it at her leisure. The Engineer suffered through the listening, utterly unimpressed.

Then, while I was planning the school year I found so much literature from the historical era we will be studying --roughly 1600 - 1815-- that there was little hope of reading a nice representative sample unless we read literature 8 hours a day for the entire year. Even looking at the recommended lists, there is more than a family of readers can handle.

I checked the library for books on tape and CD again, this time with the recommended reading for the kids' upcoming school year in hand. I am thankful we got to listen to so much of it during the summer. And I hope we can read a good portion of what is left during the school year.

This summer we enjoyed:

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Rip Van Winkle
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Grimm's Fairy Tales (Abridged)
Gulliver's Travels (Abridged)
Robinson Crusoe

Some stories we missed because my place in the library hold line has not come up yet. Some time soon we will hear The Last of the Mohicans and The Three Musketeers.

Another "WOW!"

Gotta love Daily Lit dot com. I just finished The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, and again I say Wow!
The story takes place in 1870s England. The plot has intrigue, mystery, betrayal, romance, crime and superb development of some of the characters.

While reading I found myself hoping this book had been made into a film. As luck would have it, the DVD is available in my library system. Hopefully I'll be able to watch it soon. I found there were several versions of the audio book available too. That would have made for some compelling story-telling!

Off to browse the Daily Lit Classics section for what ever will be next!