Reading about orphans! Another last-minute gift list!
More today for our Library Project series and then probably none until after the holidays — you are pretty busy and I am down to the wire with ovens not quite operational, fridge not installed, and many bits & bobs left to deal with in this endless kitchen thing.
Above is a photo from last year, waaah… Don’t put the Christ Child in yet! But I will leave it like this because this post will be up until after Christmas Day.
(By the way, I keep wondering how much to post about kitchen doings. I don’t want to turn this into a kitchen-obsession blog! Let me know how much you want to read about it!)
Not quite foreseen is how messy all the other rooms are. So I have to tackle that as well, in hopes of putting up the tree, at least!
“Habibti*, is the village out under the piano?” was the question… no… there’s nothing. Not a thing.
*this is what my grandchildren call me — Arabic for “dearest” — often used for grandmothers (Habibi for grandfathers! As you know, my father was Egyptian.)
But I inadvertently came up with another last-minute gift list when I posted a meme on Instagram about how much children love stories about orphans! Well, girls do, and to some extent, maybe not as much, boys — what do you think about this? What is your observation? In this list there are many that would appeal to boys!
I asked people to share their favorite classic orphan stories and books, and they certainly did! Many are books we’ve recommended here before, but there were some that were unknown to me.
It branched out into some sharing their memories of playing orphans in hilarious ways. I will try to make all that a highlight on my IG profile so you can go through it.
If you are a bit frustrated with your children’s lack of imaginative play, you might want to step up the used-and-abused-with-happy-ending part of their book lists! If you could provide a handy abandoned train car out in the back, you might start to see results!
Here is the list! It includes some not technically orphan characters — we allow for those quite separated from parents in some way. Please comment with anything I’ve missed!
(I will provide an affiliate link for the first one and maybe one at the end, but I’m not going to the trouble of doing that for each one. You can open an Amazon tab with that first link and anything you purchase (anything!) for the next 24 hours will result in a small amount of bling-a-ching coming to me, at no cost to you. As always, it’s not at all necessary for you to do this, and I encourage everyone to seek out used copies of these older books — they are usually so pleasingly made, with much more charming illustrations than we get today.)
The Adventures of Perrine (affiliate link — I get a little cash when you buy — thank you for using the link for your shopping! [I have to say this every time, sorry] This particular volume might be found cheaper from a used book dealer, or keep your eye out at library sales) by Edith Malot
American Twins of 1812 by Lucy Fitch Perkins
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink
The Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner
A Brother for the Orphelines by Natalie Savage Carlson
The Chalet School series by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
The Children of the New Forest by Frederick Marryat
Children of the Oregon Trail by Anna Rutgers van der Loeff
The Christmas Doll by Elvira Woodruff
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster.
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
A Family Apart by Joan Lowery Nixon (Orphan Train)
The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson
The Famous Five by Enid Blyton
Five for Victory by Hilda van Stockum
Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter
Good Night Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian
Heidi by Johanna Spyri (unabridged!)
Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden
Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan
The Little Duke by Charlotte M. Yonge
The Little Kidnappers (movie)
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
Little Orphan Annie (movie)
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Madeleine by Ludwig Bemelmans
Mandy by Julie Andrews
The Melendy Quartet by Elizabeth Enright
Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumer Godden and Gary Blythe
My Side of the Mountain by Jean George
Nancy and Plum by Betty McDonald
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus
Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter (also the 2003 movie, highly recommend)
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit (also the 2000 movie, highly recommend)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
The Shoe Books Series by Noel Streatfield
Sir Gibbie by George McDonald
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (affiliate link — a little cash comes to me when you buy within 24 hours of opening the link!)
So there you have it! Some of these books, as I say, we have discussed already in the LMLD Library Project, which I encourage you to peruse!
On to our links! Merry Christmas!
bits & piecesOne follower sent me this funny IG reel of a gal demonstrating “how adults thought little girls played at sleepovers vs how we actually played” and it could not be more spot on! She gets all the fine points of orphan imagination!
We attended Lessons & Carols at the seminary in Boston and one of the motets was by the composer Nicholas Lemme. I encourage you to follow him! Another was by Paul Jernberg, our old friend — ditto!
When we awaken to the spiritual life within, many questions arise. For those living in the world (not tucked away in a convent or monastery), the big issue is with the seeming conflict between the real necessity to make a beautiful and orderly place here on earth and the need for austerity and detachment from worldliness! People can err one way or another. I think Peter Kwasniewski examines the problem with a lot of delicacy and insight about balance in true devotion in this post: Ascensional or Incarnational Spirituality: Threading the Needle. It’s long but I encourage you to read it to the end, maybe over a few days. It’s a good last-days-of-Advent meditation!
An important and, sorry, upsetting look at what gender clinicians say to each other — and what they don’t allow anyone to say. We have to pull back the curtain on the propaganda — that’s literally attacking children. The one thing left out of this article: every person at the conference stands to gain financially from their position on the subject. So what do we expect them to say and think?
I was interviewed by the gracious Helen Roy of the Girlboss Interrupted podcast. We had a good discussion about how fear of the work at home keeps feminism alive, but once we overcome the fear and resolve to gain competence for the sake of others, we are truly set free to make something the world truly needs!
Another posting of mine on Facebook led to a lively discussion about the grammatical errors committed when using the verbs to lie and to lay — errors sadly heard among homeschooling parents all too often, because we, or our toddlers, are the ones most likely to need to lay down take a nap! A friend posted this excellent article about the horrifying gaffe committed by a major news outlet in their reporting of a high-profile funeral — they ought to all resign in shame!
from the archives
The scientific method in your child’s education
Advent is for making. This last week will be more fulfilling if we spend it focused on making and preparing, and less on rushing about and partying before it’s time to do so! Planning on a little time to sit peacefully with children, helping them prepare simple gifts for loved ones, makes the best memories. It’s not easy at all, but it’s worth it. Now is the time to get out the wood burning kit, the potholder maker, the pinecones, and the , which everyone appreciates so much! Not to mention cookie baking and so on! Remember, there are twelve days of Christmas to celebrate — and beyond!
liturgical living
Tonight’s Vespers begin the O Antiphons.
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