Books: Another Random Reading Day selections

We had such fun during yesterday morning's Random Reading day that the kids and I decided to do another, shorter one today. Here are the books we got through this morning:

The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup by Rosemary Sutcliff and illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark – is a great story about the relationship between a person and his pet. In this case, the pet is a dragon pup that only knows the minstrel and the minstrel’s kindness. A villain (the illustration is even VERY sneaky, skunky looking) steals the pup and sets in motion many events.

Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe by Vera B. Williams – is a wonderful overview of a family’s trip in a newly purchased, used red canoe. The narrator writes in her journal from the moment she sees the canoe for sale, through the preparations for getting the boat and themselves sea-worthy, on the river for three days and then back home again. The cover even looks like a child’s composition book. This is definitely a read for getting the kiddoes rather for summertime fun!

Stringbean’s Trip to the Shining Sea by Vera B. Williams and Jennifer Williams – is about a trip from Kansas to the Pacific ocean. The neat thing is that the story is told through a series of “postcards” from Stringbean and his brother Fred back to their Ma, Pa and Grandpa. It’s a great overview of the geography and history between Kansas and the Ocean, with lots of nice side-notes on brotherly love and brotherly spats.

The Train of States written and illustrated by Peter Sis – is a lovely tribute to the 50 states as well as the Nation’s Capitol! Peter Sis is an immigrant from the Czech Republic and has really embraced his new homeland. This book is a lovely tribute to each of the 50 states – each state is its own train car with details of state nicknames, state flower, state tree, fun fact and other information packed into each train car illustration. The cars are in order of statehood. This is one of those “gaze at the picture for an hour and find more and more interesting things” kind of books. The pictures are fun – almost cartoony – but never lose sight of the respect Sis has for each state and America. The last page shows all the train cars gathered together and it’s fun to pick out the different states by their “symbols”. This is a great way to introduce American geography and state-history to children!