June Books

The total for June was 7 books and 7 magazines completed.

(That makes a total of 102 books and 36 magazines completed, and 5 books abandoned this year.)

Onion John

by Joseph Krumgold

This is another one of those thought-provoking, but a little strange, Newberry Award books.  This one was the 1960 winner. Twelve-year old Andy Rusch, Jr. befriends the town eccentric and becomes the only person who can actually understand what Onion John says.  Onion John is superstitious and seems to have a charm for just about everything, from making it rain to fumigating evil spirits on Halloween.  Andy's dad doesn't mind their friendship, but doesn't want his son to get caught up in believing in all Onion John's ideas.  This is because Andy's dad, who runs the town's hardware store,  has big plans for Andy to go to MIT, become an engineer, and go to the moon someday.  (Remember this was written in 1959.)  When Onion John needs to replace the hinges on the door to his ramshackle house, Andy's dad gets involved, decides Onion John needs a new house and needs to learn to live like regular people.  It turns out that all the "help" the townspeople try to give to Onion John only hurts him. And it turns out that all Andy wants to do is stay at home and be like his dad, working at the hardware store instead of fulfilling his dad's dreams to become an engineer.  I don't know how this story will land on kids, but it is thought-provoking for adults to consider whether, in our efforts to help others, we are really trying to make them be "just like us" so we can be more comfortable with them or to fulfill some unfulfilled dream of our own.   There is no bad language, disrespectfulness, romance, gory details, or evolution.  However, John's superstitions do play a central role in the story and there is a lengthy chapter about celebrating Halloween.  So if these are a concern to you, you may either want to skip the book or be prepared to discuss how it differs from a Biblical worldview.  I wouldn't recommend this for younger children.  For older children, it might work as a read-aloud with discussion.  I personally wouldn't feel comfortable just handing it over to my kids to read on their own.

Bound for Oregon

by Jean Van Leeuwen

Based on a true story of a family traveling on the Oregon trail.  Describes the incredible hardships they faced : disease, Indian attacks, discord and discouragement, lack of food, and just the physical strain of walking so many hundreds of miles for over 6 months! I read this one aloud to the kids.

Why Do Socks Disappear in the Wash?

by Don Glass

Two previously published books in one volume.  Short essays adapted from the radio series "A Moment of Science."  Explains various common phenomena.  Does contain evolutionary world-view when talking about living things, but most of it is fine.

Mr. Pipes and the British Hymn Makers

by Douglas Bond

This is book 1 of the Mr. Pipes series. (I reviewed books 2 and 3 of the series in my April post.) Two American children, Annie and Drew, are stuck in England for the summer while their mother is working or doing research or something. (She doesn't appear much in the story.) They think it will be dreadfully boring to be in this little old English town. But then they meet Mr. Pipes, the organist at the local Anglican church, who teaches them how to fish, row, and sail, all the while telling them stories about British hymn writers.

Wisdom and the Millers

by Mildred A. Martin

A devotional book featuring a Mennonite family discussing various verses in Proverbs and how they can be applied to everyday life.

Peter

by Susan Martin Miller

Historical fiction describing the life of the apostle Peter, based on the accounts from the Gospels and Acts.  It fills in details of his life that Scripture doesn't provide.  That has its pros and cons : it can help the characters seem more real, but it can lead to inaccurate or speculative ideas.

Lily

by Whitney Sanderson

This is book 16 in the Horse Diaries series.  (I blogged about the series last summer.)  This tells the adventures of a Welsh pony in Wales during World War II.  All the books in this series are narrated by the horse and each book is completely independent of the others, so you can read them in any order.  Great historical fiction.  Clean, fun, and educational!  Highly recommended, especially for horse lovers!

And 7 magazines!