Spring Reading

The first "official" day of summer is nearly upon us, and I realized I never posted our Spring reads...but better late than never! One of my biggest complaints throughout this whole pandemic has been lack of access to our library. It finally opened this week {hallelujah!} for curbside pick-up/drop-off only. During the two month shut-down we took advantage of Overdrive a couple of times--we let the kids listen to audiobooks on our long drives to state parks, and I read one e-book via Overdrive...but we are physical book people in our house. Thankfully, the kids have scored big at some of our Little Free Libraries! But we are very, very happy to have our library back albeit in a limited capacity.

Without further ado, here's what we read this Spring...

I really enjoyed all six of these!!! American Royals was such a fun read, and I can't wait for the sequel to release!! I love all of Kelly Rimmer's books, and Undone was no exception. I read Balanced & Barefoot for a Book Talk at Brady's school {held via Zoom}, and I absolutely loved it! I think it's a must-read for all parents & educators...really for everyone. I was hesitant to read Maybe You Should Talk to Someone as memoirs typically fall flat for me, but I seriously LOVED this book & found myself telling Derek about so many parts of it as I was reading. I highly recommend it! When I went to visit my friend Angela back in February, she mentioned The Enchanted Hour to me--I loved it! This was another one where I kept stopping to read aloud excerpts to Derek. And last but not least, A Woman is No Man--I think I found this one via Jenna Bush Hager's Book Club. All six books were winners this time around!

And next up are a few of the books I've read aloud to the kids lately--all of these books were courtesy of Little Free Libraries. Pippi Longstocking, Frindle, and Ribsy were all from the Marvelously Made LFL, but Hadley randomly stumbled upon a copy of Little House on the Prairie from another local LFL...and it was seriously the MOST PERFECT read-aloud during this crazy season. I read it aloud to the kids during the thick of our "shelter-in-place," and it was such a timely read for us. Even Brady was completely into it! The kids watched the Little House on the Prairie movie for Movie Night after we finished the book, and they loved the movie too! During a time when so many people were mourning the events and things they were missing out on, the Ingalls reminded us {mostly me!} that we really weren't wanting for anything. What a simple but full life they had!

All three kids REALLY enjoyed all four of these books! And all of these books were actually new to me--I had started Little House on the Prairie when I was little but never finished it. While we always love re-reading our favorites, it's also exciting to discover new books together when we all just want to read one more page or one more chapter because we're all so eager to see what will happen next! Reading aloud to my kids is one of my very favorite parts of being a mom, which is probably why I enjoyed The Enchanted Hour so much. ;) Thanks again for the recommendation, Angela! :)