Literature

Drover's Road is a sheep "station" set way back in the hill country of New Zealand in the 1920s. Gay (Gabrielle) Allan, who lives at Drover's Road with her cousins and her uncle, writes of their happy childhood, of their adventures on the farm, on horseback, and exploring the hills and caves surrounding Drover's Road, in an "upside-down world" (to those of us from the Northern Hemisphere) where at Christmastime the house can be decorated with fresh flowers from the garden and the weather is very warm. It is a world filled with family, humor, hard work and horses.

This Bethlehem Budget Book includes three titles in one volume. The first, Drover's Road introduces us to the Allan family and their adventures, pranks and mishaps as children. When the scheming Cousin Celia starts to turn her attentions toward their bachelor uncle, the children come up with a plan to "discourage" her after hearing one of the family ghost stories. After Gay and her cousin Merry adopt a good-for-nothing dog, he shows a surprising side in a pinch. And as for cousin Hugh's attempts at raising pigs, well... I don't want to spoil it for you. Let's just say this is a great family story you don't want to miss. In the second book Cape Lost, Gay meets her Great-uncle Garnet and does him a great favor for which he is indebted for life. Uncle Dunsany finally gets married and Gay begins to make plans for her future, but perhaps a little prematurely. Finally, in The Golden Country, Gay inherits some land which calls for lots of patience and some interesting adventures. Although she has a bit of trouble getting men willing to work for her on her farm, she finds herself choosing between an array of suitors.

According to the afterword, "Joyce West spent her childhood in the remote country districts where her parents taught in Maori schools. About her stories she said, 'When I began to write, it was with the wish that I might save a little of the charm and flavour of those times and places for the children of today.'"

Drover's Road is a nice place to escape to for awhile with your family, particularly when the weather is too cold or too hot outside. You can spend many delightful hours with the Allans and still ask for more.

Nancy Carpentier Brown’s newest book, The Father Brown Reader: Stories from Chesterton, is an adaptation of four of G.K Chesterton’s Father Brown mysteries. It’s a delightful and captivating read-aloud, as well as a perfect book to hand to a young child to read on his own. The four stories – The Blue Cross, The Strange Feet, The Flying Stars, and The Absence of Mr. Glass – are all easy reads, short enough to read in just one sitting. And be prepared to do so, because at the end of each chapter I always heard “just one more, please!” I bought the book intending to read it aloud to my 8-year old daughter and 10-year old son, but soon found that my 15-year old daughter always wanted to be within earshot as well.

Mrs. Brown has pared Chesterton’s already short stories down to the bone, and then broken them up into very short chapters of 2-3 pages each, in order to make them accessible to young readers.

However, she has in no way “dumbed them down”. She’s used Chesterton’s own words, including his unique phrasings. One such phrase was “elderly young woman”, which led to an interesting discussion of his use of those adjectives and what exactly Chesterton meant by them.

Mrs. Brown has also kept all the essential details so that even one who has never read the Father Brown mysteries previously can easily follow the clues and enjoy the fun of the surprise endings. She’s also included Chesterton’s subtle but powerful points of theology, including a discussion of the union of reason and faith.

These adaptations do not involve murder or any other truly unsavory situations, though petty theft, a mild chloroforming, and an apparent -- though not actual -- murder do figure into these innocent plots, adding just enough spice to keep the interest of readers (or listeners) of all ages.

There are a few helpful footnotes after each story. In some cases they are simply vocabulary definitions, in other cases pertinent comments on Chesterton’s fictional devices or historical elements of the story.

The black and white illustrations by Ted Schluenderfritz are delightfully charming. They add just the right touch to enhance, and never detract or distract from, the storyline.

This little book is a great way to get children started on lifelong enjoyment of the writing of G.K Chesterton.

A Minnipin is not a pin for miniature bowling.

The Minnipins, or Small Ones, are a group of people who fled the horrible Hairless Ones to the Land Between the Mountains. Gammage, their hero, led them to this "snug and secure valley."

But that was long ago.

Now, that peculiar Walter the Earl digs up his garden in search of ancient scrolls and treasure. He is not the only one who is considered "different." There is Curley Green, who "blobs" pictures onto "stretched reed paper" and that lazy Gummy who spends his time composing nonsense rhymes and often disappears for hours. Then there is Muggles. She isn't exactly like "them," but she isn't like ordinary folk for she is known to wear "a vivid orange sash" on occasion.

Those who are different, however, are not looked favorably on by the village folk. When a mysterious light appears on Sunset Mountains that only they have seen, nobody believes them. What could the light mean? Have intruders entered their peaceful valley. Who will save the Minnipins? Who is brave enough?

The Gammage Cup is a story of courage, not just bravery, but the courage to be yourself, to speak the truth, and do what is right.

The Gammage Cup has a plot full of surprises to keep the reader wanting more, characters that are interesting, yet believable, language that expresses the joy and fun of words, and a theme that provokes the reader to question, "What is the right thing to do?"

A real page turner!

At the rate Laura Berquist is going, homeschoolers are going to need an extra shelf just for her books. Her first, Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum, has already become a classic in its own right. And now Berquist has another book that requires a place in your home: The Harp and The Laurel Wreath. The author begins with the premise that early exposure to poetry encourages a love of the true and the beautiful; memorization of poetry trains the intellect and the imagination; and all of this is good for the soul. Berquist recognized, however, that some homeschoolers may neglect poetry and other fine arts in favor of the "basics". So, she chose over 200 of the most beautiful poems and prose selections in Western Literature, added wonderfully helpful instructor's materials, including discussion questions (with answers), definitions, and indices, and ended up with a work so eminently usable that even the most time-pressed homeschoolers can include poetry in their curriculum.

Her choice of poems is flawless. She has included all those listed in Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum, and leans heavily on the classics, as you would expect (Shakespeare, Browning, Keats, Longfellow), but rounds it out with a variety of other authors and poems (including my mother's favorite, High Flight: "Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth....") In addition to poetry, there are "Selections to Memorize": great works of prose such as Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and Patrick Henry's famous oration. and "Selections for Dictation". She's organized the book according to the stages in the classical curriculum: Grammatical, Dialectical, or Rhetorical. There's even a section for "The Early Years", with lots of favorites from Robert Louis Stevenson and others, as well as a page of Bible verses. And to make this section even more appealing to the littlest homeschoolers, the font is larger there than in the rest of the book.

If this book is a starting point for you, then you'll want to add additional anthologies. To really infuse a love of poetry in your children, and to have a broad enough range of poems for reading aloud as well as memorization, you need work by children's poets such as Dorothy Aldis and Christina Rossetti. In addition, consider purchasing a beautifully illustrated version of Stevenson's Leaves from a Child's Garden of Verses, such as the one by Donna Green (even though many of the poems are reprinted in The Harp and Laurel Wreath), as well as a more eclectic volume such as "Talking Like the Rain" (X. J. Kennedy and Dorothy M. Kennedy).

But even if you already have dozens of volumes of poetry, you need this book. Berquist understands the true purpose of education, she knows what homeschooling moms need, and she knows how to put it all together in an attractive package. Start building another shelf!