Best Witches
Last time this year I checked out Best Witches by Jane Yolen and our girls loved hearing the silly poems, and they each picked out one to commit to memory. We got it again this year and it's still a book they love to hear from to get into the Halloween spirit.
 | author: Jane Yolen rating:  asin: 0399215395 binding: Hardcover list price: $14.95 USD amazon price: $14.95 |
The author presents her own poetry on witches, ghosts, magic, and other aspects of Halloween.
Face Painting (Klutz)
 | rating:  asin: 159174430X binding: Spiral-bound list price: $24.95 USD amazon price: $16.47 USD |
Face Painting has become a touchstone of Klutz appeal and quality. With 1.5 million copies sold, we thought nothing could surpass it — until now. This new edition has been completely revitalized, including new paints in bold, bright colors and easy-to-use tear-out cheat sheets. It’s the book that will launch a zillion more faces.
The Cardboard Piano
A story of friendship, with one friend attempting to pass on the passion of piano playing to the other.
 | author: Lynne Rae Perkins rating: asin: 0061542652 binding: Hardcover list price: $17.99 USD amazon price: $32.87 USD |
When Debbie gives Tina a cardboard piano, she is sure that Tina will love it. After all, Debbie spent a long time making it, and it looks just like a real piano. Now Tina can learn to play, too. It will be so amazing.
But just because you are friends with somebody, and just because you are the same in most ways, doesn't mean that you will always see eye to eye.
Friendship can be tricky. Really, really tricky. Even for true best friends. Even for Debbie and Tina.
Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain
Our girls were captivated by this book, especially Ella (then 6) who wanted me to read it again (even though it took 25 minuets to read through just once)!
 | author: Deborah Kogan Ray rating: asin: 0374332630 binding: Hardcover list price: $18.00 USD amazon price: $13.50 USD |
A tribute to an artist unafraid to break with tradition.
In her own glowing paintings and lucid text, Deborah Kogan Ray tells the fascinating life story of the Japanese artist Hokusai (1760-1849). He rose from poverty, taught himself to draw, became the promising pupil of a great master, and then defied tradition to become one of the most important and influential artists in the world.
Ray's paintings are rich with period and biographical detail. The endpapers show drawings from Hokusai's sketchbooks. Also included is one of his famous Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
Half Magic
This book is timeless and hilarious. One of the most wonderful parts of my life is laughing out loud with my children and we did that many, many times throughout this book. Four children find a magic charm that will grant wishes, and how they handle it and the lessons they learn is fascinating. The imagination in this book is inspiring.
 | author: Edward Eager rating:  asin: 0152020683 binding: Paperback list price: $6.99 USD amazon price: $6.99 USD |
Edward Eager has been delighting young readers for more than 40 years with stories that mix magic and reality. Half Magic, the most popular of his tales about four children who encounter magical coins, time-travel herb gardens, and other unlikely devices, is a warm, funny, original adventure. The title refers to a coin that the children find. Through a comical series of coincidences, they discover that the coin is magic. Well, it's not totally magic--it's only (you guessed it) half magic. That means there's a certain logic to the wishes one must make to generate a desired outcome.
Window Art (Klutz)
We lost the book after using it a few times, but then I just printed out more patterns and used plastic sheet covers. The extra paint is expense, but so are all good quality art materials. The girls go on painting kicks 2 or 3 times a year and create some really beautiful artwork.
 | author: Editors of Klutz rating:  asin: 159174167X binding: Spiral-bound list price: $21.95 USD amazon price: $14.93 USD |
Trace. Squirt. Peel. Stick. Making beautiful works of Window Art couldn't be easier. Twenty different illustrators created more than a hundred pieces of easy to trace art. Window Art features a new pallet of great colors including two with sparkly glitter and large scale projects incorporating small pieces that can turn even a sliding glass door into a window art masterpiece. It's simple. It's satisfying. And with glowing results, what more could you want?
Mandy (Julie Andrews Collection)
 | author: Julie Andrews Edwards rating: asin: 0061131628 binding: Hardcover list price: $17.99 USD amazon price: $14.03 USD |
Mandy, a ten-year-old orphan, dreams of a place to call her own. Escaping over the orphanage wall to explore the outside world, Mandy discovers a tiny deserted cottage in the woods. All through the spring, summer, and fall, Mandy works to make it truly hers. Sometimes she "borrows" things she needs from the orphanage. Sometimes, to guard her secret, she even lies. Then, one stormy night at the cottage, Mandy gets sick, and no one knows how to find her—except a special friend she didn't know she had.
This new edition of a classic novel features beautiful black-and-white illustrations that capture the magic of finding a home.
Felicity: An American Girl (The American Girls Collection)
We listened to the audio version of this book and we all really enjoyed it. I love how we are learning about history in this gentle way. This book is just at the eve of the American Revolution and it's fascinating the way people started splitting up, some in favor, some not.
 | author: Valerie Tripp rating: asin: 1562470442 binding: Paperback list price: $39.95 USD amazon price: $38.75 USD |
Welcome to Felicity's World, 1774: Growing Up in Colonial America (American Girls Collection)
A great way to get a glimpse of what life was like just before the American Revolution. We have really enjoyed understanding history with these books.
 | author: Catherine Gourley Camela Decaire Jodi Evert rating: asin: 1562477684 binding: Hardcover list price: $16.95 USD amazon price: $16.95 |
Provides an in-depth look at daily life and historical events in the American colonies during the Revolutionary War, including home life, work, medicine, and play.
Summer of the Monkeys
This book is an absolute gem! We all loved this book as a family. Set in the late 1800s, Jay Berry is a 14 year old boy who has an amazing adventure trying to capture 29 monkeys that have escaped (from a circus trian) and are living in a wild part of his family's 60 acre farm. It is hillarious, it made us cry, it was a little scary at times. At one point I thought it was to scary to read to our girls (then ages 9 and 6) because when Jay Berry is catching a couple monkeys, the rest of them jump on him and bite him and his dog all over. However, they are not seriously hurt, Jay Berry simply lays in bed for 3 days and he's better. Also, know that Jay Berry's goal is to get a pony and gun, it was simply part of the lifestyle of a boy living back then. Overall, this is a fabulous read and I'm sure we'll return to this book over and over again throughout the years.
 | author: Wilson Rawls rating: asin: 0440415802 binding: Paperback list price: $6.99 USD amazon price: $6.99 USD |
The last thing a fourteen-year-old boy expects to find along an old Ozark river bottom is a tree full of monkeys. Jay Berry Lee's grandpa had an explanation, of course--as he did for most things. The monkeys had escaped from a traveling circus, and there was a handsome reward in store for anyone who could catch them. Grandpa said there wasn't any animal that couldn't be caught somehow, and Jay Berry started out believing him . . .
But by the end of the "summer of the monkeys," Jay Berry Lee had learned a lot more than he ever bargained for--and not just about monkeys. He learned about faith, and wishes coming true, and knowing what it is you really want. He even learned a little about growing up . . .
This novel, set in rural Oklahoma around the turn of the century, is a heart-warming family story--full of rich detail and delightful characters--about a time and place when miracles were really the simplest of things...
