Here we go again with another year of Treasures & Teatime in the books. . . literally! Cuddling up on the couch and losing ourselves in the pages of a book is far and away the kids and my favorite part of our homeschool routine. When I look back on all the places we saw this year, the adventures we took, and the people we met without leaving our living room, I’m reminded of one of Emily Dickinson’s famous poems:
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away,
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears a Human soul.
-Emily Dickinson
Each school year we either travel the globe with books that explore and celebrate cultures around the world, or we tour around our fifty states. You can check out all our past reading treks here.
This year, after finishing our around-the-world book tour with a literary trip to Kenya and a quest for clean drinking water, we returned to the United States where we booked-it through the great states of yesteryear. Without leaving the Montana mountains, we explored Alaska with Gentle Ben, New York State with Farmer Boy, Wisconsin with Caddie Woodlawn, Florida with Strawberry Girl and Winn Dixie, South Dakota with Prairie Lotus, and Maine with Charlotte. Frugal paper chariots may be, but not for lack of value or beauty.
Treasures & Teatime 2024
~what we read, what we loved, and one we didn’t~
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, read by Mama to the Captain (age 9) and Goldilocks (at age 5)
🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉(5/5)
*Age to read aloud: 5 and up
The Little House on the Prairie series is one of our family’s book treasures, and Farmer Boy may be our best-loved gem among them. Reading aloud about Almanzo and his family farm is like a bowl of creamy chowder on a winter’s day; you just can’t beat it. Our kids devoured every morsel of this book as readily as Almanzo devoured donuts. Not a day went by reading it that the plea “please, just one more chapter!” could not be heard from our living room. The cherry on the top this third time of mine reading aloud Farmer Boy was the delight of getting to see Garth William’s beautiful illustrations with a fresh, colorful burst of life breathed into them with this wonderful, full color-edition of the series. Our family gives Farmer Boy our highest recommendation for a read-aloud as warm, comforting, and intoxicating as the Wilder’s kitchen.
Gentle Ben, read by Mama to the Captain (at age 8) and Goldilocks (at age 5)
🦉🦉🦉🦉(4/5)
*Age to read aloud: 7 and up
Some books should be considered preparatory, an easy and affordable means to immerse a reader in new territory, whether geographical or otherwise. Reading is such an accessible means to various worldviews, perspectives, knowledge base, or basic understandings for places and activities that we may encounter in the future.
Then there are books that should simply be surrogates. For places you can’t go, for things you should never do, for the impossible, we have books to fulfill our curious or reckless natures without having to face dire consequences. Gentle Ben is just such a surrogate.
Walt Morey takes his young readers on a breathtaking journey to the Yukon territory and allows them the wild indulgence of befriending and defending a tamed grizzly bear. Although slow and complicated at times, Gentle Ben is a wonderful, triumphant, once-in-a lifetime adventure to take with children.
Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park, read by Mama to the Captain (age 9) and Goldilocks (at age 5)
🦉🦉🦉🦉(4/5)
*Age to read aloud: 8 and up (deals with racism and one frightening scene with attempted assault)
Sometimes in reading life, you just have to stalk a favorite author. Our family has done this with more than a few literary stars from classic bombshells like Laura Ingalls Wilder to modern superstars like Kate DiCamillo and Linda Sue Park. Our family was positively starstruck in reading A Single Shard together last year and we were caught with a serious case of “post-book-blues” when we finished. To try and fill the emptiness left by the shattered vase once called Reading Time, I immediately began scooping up any Park titles I could find including a picture book called Bee-Bim-Bop which features a recipe that is now one of our family’s favorite meals. Talk about fanatics! We even eat what Linda Sue Park dishes up. So, when I got my hands on Prairie Lotus, I moved it right to the top of our stack.
The cover had me at first glance; a half-Chinese American pioneer girl donned in a bonnet on the prairies of South Dakota. Park has a way of forging new paths through old, familiar territories. And new territory it was, from its multicultural lens of pioneer life to the undercurrent of women’s rights desperately attempting to set seeds into the soil of overgrown prairie.
As always, Park’s writing is spectacular with unique characters and unexpected scenes. And yet, this has been our least favorite Linda Sue Park book thus far in spite of how much I enjoy and respect the fresh perspective she brings to the prairie. Unfortunately, it was just a little too depressing and for a little too long.
We were anxious to emerge from those deeply rutted wagon tracks and to claim jump a little joy! And yet, I recognize that this was Park’s very mission: to make us walk the impossibly entrenched imprint of a life worn for you, a life worn like a bonnet tied with two tight cultural strings of the American frontier called race and gender.
Prairie Lotus is beautifully composed but just a touch too rugged a road for us optimistic greenhorns.
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, read by Mama to the Captain (age 9) and Goldilocks (at age 5)
🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉(5/5)
*Age to read aloud: 8 and up (many frightening and devastating scenes)
Prairie Lotus did not quench the thirst for adventure, beauty, and triumph which had been forged for us in A Single Shard. Parched for Park, we began A Long Walk to Water through the African savannah. It was indeed a long walk, but we were not disappointed.
Although an endless journey across the savannahs of Kenya and Ethiopia may sound relentlessly dry and hot, make no mistake, this is an all-weather sort of book.
You will require salve to soothe your skin from the scorching rays of anger and revenge that beat down on you page after page, mile after mile . . .
a life preserver for the rivers of disappointment you must cross . . .
a poncho for the cloudbursts of tears that will descend . . .
and bare skin with which to feel the relief and triumph of cool, clean water.
Yes, A Long Walk to Water was a formidable journey to embark on with our kids. At one point, Goldilocks was wailing at the cover of the book, “I give it ONE star. No! I give it NO STARS!” At another checkpoint, the kids were begging for the next chapter as the lost boys begged for scraps of food, and at the last we were all dewy-eyed and shining-smiles, saluting Salva from the sofa.
Our thirst for beauty and adventure had been quenched at last only to leave us hungry as lions for justice, mercy, and valor.
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, read aloud by Mama to The Captain (age 9) and to Goldilocks (at age 5)
🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉(5/5)
*Age to read aloud: 4 and up
Who am I to write a review for Charlotte’s Web? When a book continues to be a bestseller for seventy years, selling forty-five million copies, it has to be doing something right. And in my opinion, Charlotte’s Web does everything right! The Maine farmland setting is painted for you with a simplicity and warmth, it’s as if you’re transported to the very farm of Wilbur and Charlotte.
E.B. White moves his readers with such ease, you don’t even realize you’ve been snatched up until you feel the sun on your face through a south-facing barn door, smell the aroma of sweet hay as it encircles you, and hear the gentle chorus of farm animals greeting you by name. You meet them, each character as unique as he is believable, but twice as enchanting. Then the story begins to trickle out, then pour, until it flows over you like a buttermilk bath.
If you have yet to introduce your child to Wilbur and Charlotte, stop everything you are doing and curl up on a straw-covered couch under the south-setting sun of the world’s most beloved farm.
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, read by Mama to the Captain (age 9) and Goldilocks (at age 6)
🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉(5/5)
*Age to read aloud: 6 and up
Every child should have the opportunity to suck on a Litmus Lozenge to taste the sweetness and sadness of life at the same time.
Because of Winn Dixie is perfectly named as every plot point in the book occurs as a domino effect from the adoption of the beloved dog Winn Dixie. Yet it’s even more prettily done than that. Kate Dicamillo masterfully writes her tale as the reflection of the dog’s character with a story that is charming, restless, and ultimately full of love.
Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenske, read by Mama to the Captain (at age 8) and Goldilocks (at age 5)
🦉🦉🦉🦉(4/5)
*Age to read: 6 and up
Pioneering in palmettos? What a fun twist Strawberry Girl is for Little House on the Prairie fans who want to take a little sojourn to sunny Florida in its wild days. The story may not be quite as compelling as Laura Ingalls’ but the experiences of a Florida farm during the American Frontier days are absolutely worth the journey. Plus, you’ll fall in love with the spunk of Strawberry Girl and fret excitedly over the twists and turns of a good, old-fashioned family feud.
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink, *began* by Mama to the Captain (age 9) and Goldilocks (age 6)
🦉🦉🦉(3/5)
*Age to read aloud: 7 and up
Unlike with Strawberry Girl, our family did not fall in love with Caddie Woodlawn! I know this is a devastating statement for many a family, and all I can say is I’m sorry, we tried! In fact, we read half the book waiting on the seeds of hope that had been sown for us by so many blogs and friends alike, but in the end, we just had to close the book on account of the fact that we honestly couldn’t stop yawning. Yes, Caddie was spunky it’s true, but the rest of the characters and story fell flat for us. We just couldn’t get close to Caddie’s family or feel connected to her Wisconsin home the way we so easily could with the Ingalls and Wilders.
Gooseberry Park by Cynthia Rylant, read by Mama to the Captain (age 9) and Goldilocks (age 6)
🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉(5/5)
*Age to read aloud: 4 to 10
How do you know a great read-aloud? When it’s on the list every year.
No, you’re not experiencing déjà vu; this one was on last year’s review too! The kids love this read-aloud so much, I’ve lost track of exactly how many times I’ve read it to them. And now the Captain reads favorite parts and chapters to Goldilocks throughout the year.
From last year’s review: I read this aloud to the Captain at least twice some years back when he was maybe four years old. Ever since I had been trying to get my hands on a good hardcover copy and finally found one earlier in the year. The Captain snatched it up without hesitation and read the whole thing through in a few consecutive mornings as the rest of us normal people slept. When he was done with it, I picked it up to read aloud to Goldilocks thinking that the Captain would do something else with his time. But no. He plopped himself on the couch next to us and wouldn’t miss a morsel.
Goldilocks was in love at the first glimpse of sweet Stumpy the squirrel and then once we met Murray, the world’s most side-splitting bat, it was all over.
I ended up reading almost the entire thing in one go a particularly awkward morning where we found ourselves stuck in the truck waiting for Papa to finish a lecture he was giving. I nearly lost my voice after reading about seven chapters without a break, but the kids didn’t complain all that time trapped in a stuffy car.
As far as read-alouds go, Gooseberry Park is among the top of her class.
Mercy Watson Series by Kate DiCamillo, read by the Captain (age 9) to Goldilocks (age 6)
🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉(5/5)
*Age to read out loud with ease: about 3rd grade
*Age to be read out loud to: age 3 and up
Sibling read-aloud times are a benefit and blessing to the entire family. The reader gains narration and fluency practice, the readee gains additional story time and print-exposure, and the parent-on-duty receives a free window to get things done or take a shower! Best of all, kids who read together bond deeply and uniquely.
Each book our kids share just between the two of them adds to this secret language they speak as they go about their day. They relate real-life moments to books they’ve read together, they giggle over inside jokes, and they play make-believe from a shared shelf of literary worlds.
Mercy Watson is a perfect series for sibling read-aloud time. The books are easy to read aloud and are positively bursting with humorous characters that come to life in vivid dialogue and lavish, full-color illustrations. It’s no wonder this series is a long-time favorite among children.
The Deckaw00 Drive Series by Kate DiCamillo, read by the Captain (age 9) to Goldilocks (age 6)
🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉(5/5)
*Age to read out loud with ease: 4th or 5th grade
*Age to be read out loud to: age 5 and up
This sequel series to Mercy Watson does what few can manage: it tops them. Kate DiCamillo keeps her fans reading along Deckawoo Drive as their reading ability improves with a set of new, more detailed, more elaborate stories than the first. Each short chapter hits the mark for the fun and contrasting characters caught in hilarious dynamics your child came to love in Mercy Watson, but with simpler black and white illustrations, at a whole reading level or two beyond. Our fifth-grade son, the Captain, enjoyed reading Mercy Watson to little sister Goldilocks, but he LOVED reading her The Deckawoo Drive Series. In fact, quite often I found him reading them just to himself.
Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl, read by the Captain (at age 9) to Goldilocks (at age 6)
🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉(5/5)
Snickers and giggles come from the direction of the couch every time Fantastic Mr. Fox makes an entrance.
The Captain reads and rereads this favorite and he loves to share it with very eager little sister, Goldilocks. It’s a delight to hear our son try on so many different character voices when he reads this aloud. Fantastic Mr. Fox is an excellent choice for kids to develop their narration skills and try on a bit of readers’ theatre.
The Children’s Bible by Golden Press, read by Mama to the Captain (age 9) and Goldilocks (age 6)
🦉🦉🦉🦉(4/5)
Age to read aloud: age 5 and up
This wass our second time reading through The Children’s Bible. Each year we alternate between it and the Ergemeirs’ Bible to start our Tea & Treasures Time.
Our review from 2022: Children’s Bibles are my new favorite thing. I think my husband put it best. A few months ago, after reading through some of the Old Testament stories with the kids, my hubby asked me “why don’t they illustrate adult Bibles like this?” I laughed, then stopped short. Why, indeed? We may age, gain wisdom (or not), expand our worldviews . . . but we never, ever outgrow picture books. Illustrations are often as magical as the stories themselves and work synergistically to communicate their shared significance to our lives.
Our Salt-of-the-Earth-Storytime often impacts my and my husband’s biblical education as much as it does our kids’. Every new child’s Bible we read through together provides yet another layer to our understanding of God’s Word in much the same way that every trip to the garden, mountains, or forest reveals yet another mystery of our Creator.
Out of all the children’s Bibles we have, this one wins the award for best illustrated. While the stories themselves are often written a bit strangely, even skipping important details from time to time, the rich, authentic illustrations wash away much of my criticism. My opinion is that as a part of a children’s Bible collection, The Children’s Bible certainly earns its place on the shelf.
The Aesop for Children by Checkerboard Press, read by Mama to the Captain (age 9) and Goldilocks (age 6)
*Age to read aloud: age 5 and up
🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉(5/5)
We read through this favorite collection of Aesops’ Fables each and every year. We consider Aesop a crucial part of our children’s upbringing and wisdom training; a lens of literature through which a child can better understand the world and become better equipped to make astute decisions in tight spots.
From last year’s review: This was truthfully our little Goldilocks’ (age 5) favorite book of the year, chapter book or otherwise. She couldn’t get enough of Aesop! When I asked her why she wanted me to read it to her again and again and again, she replied “I like how there’s so much death in it!” At first, I was a bit taken aback and slightly concerned, but then I started to get where she was coming from. Usually, our little love hates stories with any sort of sad ending, with death topping the list. But death in Aesop is palatable. The tales are so short that you hardly have time to grow attached to the characters for it’s not really about the characters at all. Fables are, after all, all about the morals they tell. For Goldilocks, the Aesop’s Fables fill that curiosity cavern involving death and destruction but administers it in doses she can handle. It is my hypothesis that these daily doses of reality are helping her to build up her immunity to such dark content.
You can read our full review of the Aesop for Children here, but this basically sums it up:
Want your child to grow into an adult who can spot a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Or one who is willing to slow-and-steady win a race? Or one who understands that one in the hand is worth two in the bush? Or one who recognizes that unity is the only way to protect against a third enemy? Or one who knows from the mouth of Aesop himself, an islander slave taken to Greece, that freedom is worth more than all the riches in the world? READ AESOP’S FABLES.
Favorite Audiobooks of 2024 (as chosen by the kids!)
The Captain (age 9)
- Basil of Baker Street Series by Eve Titus
- The Boxcar Children Series by Gertrude Chandler Warner
- The Barbara Robinson Collection (The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Best School Year Ever, and The Best Halloween Ever)
- The Poppy Series by Avi
Goldilocks (age 6)
- Thornton Burgess Animal Stories
- Uncle Wiggly Tales
- The Boxcar Children Series by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Download our FREE Color-Me Reading Log Bookmark & Book-It Play Jar printables here!
Thanks so much for reading! May many beautiful books bless your home this year!
Love, ~Candace Arden~
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