Family Read Alouds of 2020

Here are the books we read together in 2020. I like to be able to remember what year it was that we read a particular book, and how old the kids were. 

A Little Princess

by Frances Hodgson Burnett

We read this at the beginning of lockdown and all enjoyed it thoroughly. It was a neat experience to follow along with the suffering Sara faces while we were going through a difficult time ourselves. Sara endures the isolation and loneliness that we were feeling as well as hunger, cold, and hard labor, and yet still serves others. This book is my number one lifetime favorite.

Heidi

by Johanna Spyri

We loved Heidi so much! Like Sara, Heidi also is considerate of the needs of others while she herself is suffering. The lesson of trusting in God's timing was very applicable to our quarantine life. Evelyn in particular enjoyed Heidi's humorous mistakes. She and Heidi are kindred spirits who have a pure heart but their exuberance gets them into trouble sometimes.

Pippi Longstocking

by Astrid Lindgren

I personally did not enjoy Pippi, but man Evelyn did! She still talks about Pippi months later. We don't drive by the fast food restaurant Wendy's often, but the next time she saw the Wendy's logo after we read the book she said, "THAT'S PIPPI!!!"

Shortly after we finished Pippi, the derecho happened and we didn't do any reading for several weeks. And after our post-derecho life calmed down, Mama was swamped with homeschool planning which didn't leave as much time for reading.

Life of Fred: Elementary

Stanley F. Schmidt, PhD

Someone loaned us the Life of Fred series and we LOVE them. It was a nice short/easy daily reading while Mama's mind was elsewhere. 

All-of-a-Kind Family

by Sydney Taylor

This one was a huge hit. The timing of it was a big coincidence, we just happened to read it during the Jewish holiday season. One of the early chapters of the book describes the family's observance of Shabbat, and the girls were so intrigued. We asked our favorite Jewish friend for more information and loved learning about this aspect of Jewish life! We made challah and held our own Shabbat dinner. Well it just so happened that the particular Friday that we held Shabbat was also Rosh Hashanah. Then as we continued reading in the book, we learned about Yom Kippur and Sukkot pretty much the same weeks that they happened in real life. 

Shortly after we finished the book, we were at Pike's Peak State Park and saw a Jewish family. Probably the first Jewish family I've seen in all my time in the Kingdom of the Cornstalks. I wanted to go over and talk to them so badly, but you can't do that kind of thing during the pandemic.

Miriam now goes to bed about 45 minutes later than her sisters, so at night sometimes she and I read a book together. It started when she received a book for her birthday that I was interested in. It's nice to be able to read things more geared to her interests and have conversations without the distractions of all the siblings around.

Here are my "Miriam and Mama" read alouds for this year:

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

by Jacqueline Kelly

I found the main character to be annoying, but we had some great conversations while reading this book. The book had potential that it didn't live up to. It broached deep topics but didn't handle them well, so we were able to discuss. We could take the ideas the one step further that they needed. At the very end of the book it snows, and the author got the description all wrong. We were able to have a good laugh about it.

Running on the Roof of the World

by Jess Butterworth

My goal was to read books with outdoor adventures that also exposed us to different cultures and ways of life. This book is set in Tibet. I'm so fascinated by the way of life in Tibet and I wished it gave more descriptions. This book also has unrealized potential. Miriam is enjoying it, however.