Button Box
Mama worked in a factory sewing by day and sewed custom clothes at night. She saved everything, but particularly fabric scraps and buttons. Her daughter would sit on the floor and dig through the button box and ask to hear stories about buttons. "Well, jerk out my heart and stomp on it! Baby that's the button off your first birthday dress!" This collection of stories are often hilarious, especially at the end where we hear how Mama sang in church....
 | author: Barbara McBride-Smith rating:  asin: 0874837626 binding: Audio CD list price: $14.95 USD amazon price: $12.11 USD |
Mama believed the woman who dies with the most fabric scraps wins. She saved scraps from odd sewing job for neighbors. She saved buttons from old winter coats and birthday dresses. Mama had a button from Daddy's first uniform and another from Grandma's cloth coat and every button in the box came with a story. In her trademark Texas twang, award-winning storyteller Barbara McBride-Smith recounts stories from her family that speak to all of us.
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...
Lotta on Troublemaker Street
Lotta on Trouble Maker Street was a amusing short chapter book about a mischeivous 5 year old. We have loved many books by this author Astrid Lindgreen, and this book is short and sweet. Note: In this book, Lotta swears - "Damn it" throughout the book, and it is really hilarious, but still, you may not want to read it to your younger kids who tend to repeat things. Lotta does have consequences for swearing, but nothing so bad - no mouth cleansing.
 | author: Astrid Lindgren rating: asin: 0689846738 binding: Paperback list price: $7.95 USD amazon price: $7.95 USD |
Little Lotta has Big troubles
Poor Lotta is having a very bad day. First, she wakes up mad because in her dream her older brother and sister were mean to her. Then, Mother expects her to wear a sweater that "scratches and tickles." Madder than ever, Lotta decides to run away and find a new place to live. After all, everyone at her house is mean, so she won't miss her family at all -- will she?
This hilarious and authentic look at a very bad day in the life of a very spunky five-year-old is sure to resonate with every reader.
A Walk to the Great Mystery: A Cherokee Tale
 | author: Virginia A. Stroud rating: asin: 0803716370 binding: Hardcover list price: $14.89 USD amazon price: $14.89 |
Thunder Cake
 | author: Patricia Polacco rating:  asin: 0698115813 binding: Paperback list price: $7.99 USD amazon price: $7.99 USD |
Oma's Quilt
 | author: Paulette Bourgeois rating: asin: 1553376250 binding: Paperback list price: $5.95 USD amazon price: $5.95 |
The time has come for Emily's grandmother to move. But it's hard to leave her house on Maple Street, filled as it is with a lifetime of cherished memories. At the retirement home, Oma complains about everything, from flowers in the hallway to crooked bowling lanes!
Mr. Putter & Tabby Paint the Porch (Mr. Putter & Tabby)
 | author: Cynthia Rylant asin: 0152024743 binding: Paperback list price: $5.99 USD amazon price: $5.99 USD |
Mr. Putter wants to paint his porch. He has a bucket of pink paint, a big brush, and some rags. And he has Tabby to keep him company. Everything is perfect, until a squirrel scampers onto the porch and catches Tabby’s eye. . . .
Nim and the War Effort (Sunburst Book)
Nim's story takes place in China town, San Fransisco, 1943, during a competitive paper drive for the war effort. I really love how she stands up to the bully! Tender and humourus.
 | author: Milly Lee rating: asin: 0374455066 binding: Paperback list price: $6.95 USD amazon price: $6.95 USD |
"Details place the affecting story in a real, not idealized, America." --Kirkus Reviews
"It’s the last day of the newspaper drive and Nim, a Chinese-American girl in San Francisco during World War II, is determined to win. Her nearest rival has cheated. Undaunted, she leaves Chinatown and walks up Nob Hill after school, determined to find more scrap newspaper. Nim’s sweet seriousness and ingenuity are captured in the text and in the luminous, grave illustrations." --The New York Times Book Review
"Based on the author’s childhood memories, Nim’s story celebrates the patriotism of Asian family members in embracing their new home and country and their efforts to maintain their cultural traditions. A fine addition." -- School Library Journal
Dance at Grandpa's (My First Little House)
 | author: Laura Ingalls Wilder rating: asin: 0064433722 binding: Paperback list price: $6.99 USD amazon price: $6.99 USD |
The Little House books tell the story of a little pioneer girl and her family as they traveled by covered wagon across the Midwest. Laura Ingalls Wilder's classic books, illustrated with Garth Williams' timeless artwork, have been cherished by millions of readers ever since they were first published over sixty years ago.
The Relatives Came
 | author: Cynthia Rylant rating: asin: 0689717385 binding: Paperback list price: $7.99 USD amazon price: $7.99 USD |
In a rainbow-colored station wagon that smelled like a real car, the relatives came. When they arrived, they hugged and hugged from the kitchen to the front room. All summer they tended the garden and ate up all the strawberries and melons. They plucked banjos and strummed guitars.When they finally had to leave, they were sad, but not for long. They all knew they would be together next summer.
