It’s been a while since I updated about the chapter books we’ve been reading. Books we’ve read with Anna since my last update include Mary Poppins, A Bear Called Paddington, Winnie the Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner, Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Read-Aloud Treasury, The Lighthouse Mystery, Mountain Top Mystery, Schoolhouse Mystery, Caboose Mystery, and Houseboat Mystery. The last five are Boxcar Children books, and David has been reading those with Anna. That has become their special thing. I read the others, usually right before nap time. I used to put Sarah down for a nap earlier than Anna and then read with Anna, but lately Sarah has joined us and has done pretty well.

I’ve been a fan of Pooh for a long time, but I just discovered Paddington. He’s wonderful! We’ve only read one book, but there are lots of them and we plan to read more. The Raggedy Ann and Andy stories were sweet, a little sappy at times, but still pretty good. Anna liked them, and she and Sarah got a special surprise when I gave them my Raggedy Ann dolls (I had two) from my childhood. Mary Poppins is very interesting—pretty different from the Disney movie. There are actually several books in the series; I’ve read the first four myself, but only the first one with Anna so far. While I find the movie’s portrayal of Mary Poppins’ personality more likeable, the books include many magical moments that I’m glad I didn’t miss—P.L. Travers had an amazing imagination!

I seem to have a new habit of collecting book lists. As I muddle my way through children’s literature, thankfully there are many who have gone before me who like to publish online their lists of favorite books for children. There is a lot of overlap, of course, but with each one I seem to find more books I want to check out. We won’t run out or reading material for a while! Or ever, really. There are more good books out there than we could read in a lifetime—and most of them FREE electronically or through the library. It’s astonishing.

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