My friend Faith Elizabeth Hough (who blogs HERE) and I decided to create a fun reading challenge called Vintage Kidlit Summer. If you missed any of the details on how this challenge works, just go here and you can catch up! Basically, we’re doing 12 categories over 12 weeks, and each week has its own theme. All you have to do is choose a vintage/classic book that fits that week’s theme, read it, and share about it! You can write about it on your blog, or you can post your thoughts on Instagram (or Twitter) as well, by using the hashtag #vintagekidlitsummer. And if you’re in need of recommendations for each week’s theme, check out this blog post! 

I can’t believe we’ve reached our last week of the challenge, though! There obviously is still time to catch up (for example, you can do this challenge on your own whenever you like!) and then enjoy the archive of blog posts afterward.

Our eleventh week’s theme was Little-Known Newbery, and for this theme I re-read The Golden Name Day by Jennie D. Lindquist. What a wonderful novel! It won a Newbery Honor in 1956, and actually was out of print for some time. I believe that Purple House Press recently brought it back into print, though! My copy is an ex-library edition.

Here’s what I wrote about this book on Instagram a while ago: 

This is such a darling book! Set at the turn of the 20th century, it follows the adventures of a little girl named Nancy, who goes to live with a big Swedish family when her mother is ill. It’s one of the few children’s books I’ve read that explores Swedish culture/traditions (which I love because I’m of Swedish descent). I recently read the sequel, THE LITTLE SILVER HOUSE, which was also a lovely book.

My name day is December 9!

I’ve been reading the lovely Cobble Street Cousins chapter books by Cynthia Rylant lately, and I was struck by how the style of those books reminds me of The Golden Name Day. The elegant yet down-to-earth prose, the sweet adventures of a group of girls, the flowers and the parties … I love the similarities!

Much of the book revolves around Nancy’s wish to have her own Name Day celebration, but she can’t have one because the name Nancy doesn’t appear in the Swedish almanac. Eventually Grandma Benson has to remind Nancy to think about other people’s problems instead of focusing so much on her own small dilemma. By doing this, Nancy discovers new friends and learns an important lesson.

The thing I love most about this book–even more than the gentle humor, the Swedish culture, and the happy ending–is that this is one of the few stories that (for me) truly captures what it feels like to be a child, in such a vivid way. For example, there is a scene where Nancy is reading a mysterious fairy-tale on the staircase, and when the sun shines through the stained-glass window above the stairs, it reflects a rainbow onto the pages of her book, creating an enchanting moment that she remembers forever. (And tries to recreate over and over again.) This small vignette feels so extraordinarily real to me.

What did you read for the Vintage Kidlit Summer this week? Let me know in the comments!

Recently, I announced that I teamed up with my friend Faith Elizabeth Hough (who blogs HERE) to create a fun reading challenge called Vintage Kidlit Summer. If you missed any of the details on how this challenge works, just go here and you can catch up! Basically, we’re doing 12 categories over 12 weeks, and each week has its own theme. All you have to do is choose a vintage/classic book that fits that week’s theme, read it, and share about it! You can write about it on your blog, or you can post your thoughts on Instagram (or Twitter) as well, by using the hashtag #vintagekidlitsummer. And if you’re in need of recommendations for each week’s theme, check out this blog post!

Our first week’s theme was Summer Vibes, and I decided to read Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright. Her books are absolutely perfect for summer! And if you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you know what a major Enright fan I am. I previously blogged about all of her novels here (I’ve read every single one), and I even discovered what appears to be the beginning of an unfinished third Gone-Away Lake book.

Here’s what I had to say about Thimble Summer on my blog a few years ago:

A Newbery medal winner, this slim book is perhaps the most well-known of Enright’s works. There are delicious moments like when Garnet and her best friend get accidentally locked in the library, and when Garnet goes to the county fair. A fresh breeze of a book! This is also her first novel for children.

The fun of this book (and Enright’s writing in general) is in the delightful details. The book opens during the drought that has come to the Wisconsin farm where Garnet lives with her family, so the moment when the rain finally arrives, “heavy and silver as a waterfall,” is a wonderful one. The section that takes place at the fair reminds me of my own experiences attending a Wisconsin county fair, of entering the “barnlike building” to look at “hundreds of jars of jelly and pickles on the shelves … cut flowers in vases and growing plants in pots … dozens of different kinds of cakes … Each had a little card beside it with the name of the lady who’d made it.” These details are so real to me.

Many trademark Elizabeth Enright motifs appear in Thimble Summer: stories-within-stories (where an older person recounts a tale from their childhood), a big local event that takes place at the book’s climax, a newcomer who joins the family, and all the small joys of childhood.

There isn’t much plot in Thimble Summer. Enright books tend to be light on plot, but her well-written characterizations tend to make up for that. The title of the story comes from the fact that Garnet finds a silver thimble right before the rain that ends the drought, and she realizes by the novel’s conclusion that the thimble must be the reason for her glorious, adventure-filled summer. Like other vintage children’s books, most of the chapters follow their own mini plot in an episodic style that I’m quite fond of.

If you haven’t read this book yet, please give it a try! Read all of Elizabeth Enright’s books! You will love them too. 🙂

Have you started your Vintage Kidlit Summer reading? If so, please leave a comment so we can chat!

My 2019 Reading Challenge was so much fun. I delved into more of the vintage middle grade books I adore, a few classics, a handful of newly-published novels, and some nonfiction as well! So without further ado, here is a general overview of my 2019 reading year. I’ve organized my favorites into categories, starting off with my Ultimate Favorite Books of 2019. Happy Reading!

My 2019 Reading Challenge

I pledged to read 75 books on Goodreads, and ended up finishing 122! I was planning to read a few longer books this year, such as Pride & Prejudice (which I found time to read) and Wives and Daughters (which I did not – maybe next year)! So that’s why I chose 75 for 2019, but I ended up reading a multitude of shorter stories instead.

My 2020 Reading Challenge

My Goodreads goal for 2020 will be to read 125 books. That will be a bit of a challenge, since I did not reach that number this year! But I think it’ll be fun to shoot a bit higher than before.

This year, I discovered several new authors, found myself enjoying nonfiction more than ever, and reread numerous old favorites that made me happy. Like in 2018, I had a fantastic book year, and I’m totally excited for 2020!

What were some books you loved in 2019? (Feel free to pass along some recommendations!

I’m excited to begin week twelve of my #SummerofVintageKidLit! If you haven’t yet heard about my summer reading challenge, you can take a look at my recent blog post that has all the details.

Last week we read Baby Island, and you can read my quick recap in the comments of this post 🙂

This week, we’re reading Edward Eager’s “The Time Garden.” I am such a fan of Edward Eager’s wildly witty stories. He wrote a seven-book series beginning with “Half Magic,” and this is the fourth volume of that series. I’ve been looking forward to revisiting this one – the chapter featuring the Little Women characters is particularly hilarious!

Here’s a summary about this book from Goodreads:

From the moment Roger, Ann, Eliza, and Jack discover the fragrant bank of wild thyme in old Mrs. Whiton’s garden, magic begins. The thyme garden opens the way to olden time, future time, and common time. Though Eliza says time doesn’t grow – it flies – the Nutterjack, the odd creature who presides over the garden, says anything can happen when you have all the time in the world. The four children are plunged into exhilarating, always unpredictable adventures – meeting the Revolutionary Minutemen, Queen Elizabeth I, and even their own parents when they were children.

Happy Reading! Feel free to discuss this book by leaving a comment below, or tweet about it using the hashtag #SummerofVintageKidLit! Or join my Facebook group to be alerted of all the latest posts.

I’m excited to begin week four of my #SummerofVintageKidLit! If you haven’t yet heard about my summer reading challenge, you can take a look at my recent blog post that has all the details.

Last week we read Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Mansion, and you can read my quick recap in the comments of this post 🙂

This week, we’re reading Elizabeth Enright’s Return to Gone-Away, which is the second and final book in the Gone-Away Lake series. I am such a fan of Enright’s masterful writing, and she is the only author in my reading challenge who has more than one book on this list. As much as I love the first Gone-Away Lake book, I might love the sequel a little better! It’s full of delicious discoveries inside an abandoned summer home, and I can’t wait to reread it.

I actually have two copies of this book – one is a sturdy 1990s reprint and the other is a 1960s paperback that I found in an antique store last summer. Which shall I choose to read? 🙂

Here’s a summary about this book from Goodreads:

A wish come true. That’s what Portia thinks when her parents buy Villa Caprice, a tumbledown Victorian house along the swampy edge of Gone-Away Lake. A new house is always full of surprises, but Portia is completely unprepared for the extraordinary things that happen when her family moves into a new old house.

Happy Reading! Feel free to discuss this book by leaving a comment below, or tweet about it using the hashtag #SummerofVintageKidLit! Or join my Facebook group to be alerted of all the latest posts.

I’m eager to begin week two of my #SummerofVintageKidLit! If you haven’t yet heard about my summer reading challenge, you can take a look at my recent blog post that has all the details.

Last week we read Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, and you can read my quick recap in the comments of this post 🙂

The book we’re reading this week is Canadian Summer by Hilda van Stockum. It’s the second book in the heartwarming Mitchells series, and it’s full of beautiful descriptions of the Canadian countryside in post-World War II. The Mitchells are one of my very favorite book families, and if you haven’t met them yet, now is the perfect time!

Here’s a summary about this book from Goodreads:

The large and growing Mitchell family, transferring their location to Montreal, can’t find a house to buy or rent. They settle, over Mother’s protests, for a remote, rickety summer house in the woods near a lake. The dangers, antics, quarrels, and fun which now unroll bring each member of the family into vivid characterization. 

Happy Reading! Feel free to discuss this book by leaving a comment below, or tweet about it using the hashtag #SummerofVintageKidLit! Or join my Facebook group to be alerted of all the latest posts.