Read-at-Home Mom Report: July 2024 Wrap-Up

July Favorites

Voyage to Alpha Centauri by Michael D. O'Brien
This fantastic Catholic sci-fi novel is a real page-turner. I almost chose not to read it for book club due to the length, but then I couldn't put it down. It felt like the perfect mix of The Sparrow and Canticle for Leibowitz. 

Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan 
This novella about the last night at a closing Red Lobster was recommended by Ethan Joella when he appeared on the Book Bumble podcast. I really enjoyed the writing style. 

Abominations: Selected Essays from a Career of Courting Self-Destruction by Lionel Shriver
I admire Lionel Shriver because she has the courage of her convictions even when they're unpopular, and because I think her concerns about first amendment rights are valid and important. 

The Feather Star by Patricia Wrightson 
My husband recommended this vintage Australian middle grade coming-of-age novel, and it was the perfect summer read. I really loved the introspective, descriptive style.  

Read-Aloud and Homeschool Books

• Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (with E., age 6) (4 stars)
• Over the Blue Mountain by Conrad Richter (5 stars)
• Katie John by Mary Calhoun (4 stars)
• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (with C., age 8) (5 stars)
• No Boats on Bannermere by Geoffrey Trease (5 stars)

Sequels and Series Books

• At First Spark (The Spark Brothers Book 4) by Liwen Ho (4 stars)
• An Extra Spark (The Spark Brothers Book 5) by Liwen Ho (4 stars)
• Murder at the Lakeside Library (Lakeside Library Mystery Book 1) by Holly Danvers (3 stars)
• Summer Ever After (Falling for Summer Book 1) by Kortney Keisel (3 stars)
• Beachy Keen (Falling for Summer Book 2) by Kasey Stockton (4 stars)
• Summer Tease (Falling for Summer Book 4) by Martha Keyes (4 stars)
• Love is a Roller Coaster (Sunkissed Summer Book 1) by Marie Soleil (4 stars)

Stand-Alone Books

• Not If You Break Up with Me First by G.F. Miller (4 stars)
• The Summer Book Club by Susan Mallery (3 stars) 
• The Same Bright Stars by Ethan Joella (3 stars)
• No Way of Telling by Emma Smith (4 stars)
• The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann (3 stars)
• The Unbearable Likeness of Bean by Dianne R. Thomas (4 stars)
• Hearts Overboard by Becky Dean (4 stars)

Family Reading Lists

M. (girl, 10 years, 8 months)

• The Black Riders by Violet Needham
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling 

C. (girl, 8 years, 10 months) 

• Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
• The Perilous Road by Willam O. Steele 
• Kathleen, A Yankee Girl at Gettysburg by Alice Turner Curtis
• The Wound of Peter Wayne by Leonard Wibberley

E. (girl, 6 years, 9 months) 

• Clover's Luck by Kallie George 

R. (boy, 4 years, 4 months) 

Independently, he read these easy readers: 

• Father Bear Comes Home
• Barkley 
• A Fly Went By
• The Happy Birthday Present
• And I Mean It, Stanley
• This Is the House Where Jack Lives
• I Am Better Than You!
• Little Bear’s Visit
• More Tales of Oliver Pig
• Johnny Lion’s Bad Day
• Johnny Lion’s Book
• Johnny Lion’s Rubber Boots
• Chester
• Little Chick's Big Day
• Red Tag Comes Back
• Robber Raccoon
• Love is in the Air 
• Who's a Pest?
• Stop, Stop 
• What Have I Got? 
• Mr. Pine's Purple House
• Mr. Pine's Mixed-Up Signs 
• The Last One In is a Rotten Egg 

He also looked at/listened to:  

• The Bustletown series by Rotraut Susanne Berner 
• Big Stuff: Dozer, Excavator, Mixer & More! by Joan Holub 
• Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life by Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan
• An Anthology of Aquatic Life by Sam Hume
• An Anthology of Intriguing Animals by Ben Hoare 
• Little Miss/Mr. Men series by Roger Hargreaves 

A. (girl, 4 years, 4 months)

She has started reading consonant-vowel-consonant words grouped into families.

She looked at/listened to these books: 

• The Cats' Museum by Viviana Falleti 
• Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy
• Baby Dear by Esther and Eloise Wilkin 
• Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCamillo 

My husband 

• The Feather Star by Patricia Wrightson 
• Conversations with Maurice Sendak by Peter C. Kunze
• Lands End by Mary Stolz