Friday, June 3, 2011

Lamplighter Books

A couple of weeks ago my friend Lynn and I attended the annual Mississippi Home Educators Conference at my alma mater, Mississippi State University.  We had a fabulous time---just us girls--and we were joined by Jimmy's cousin for part of the time.  We attended several "key-note speaker" sessions, and I also attended a workshop about preparing your child for the ACT.  We visited with friends, went for a 5 mile run around campus, ate supper at our favorite college restaurant, and stayed up late in our hotel room, talking!

Mark Hamby of Lampligher Publishing was the keynote speaker, and he was excellent!  What a moving speaker.  I was laughing and crying, sometimes at the same time.  He honestly shared his life story and how "good books" changed his life.  I must admit that I had not heard of Lamplighter books before the conference.  I am not sure how I have missed them.  Well, actually, we did own one Lamplighter book, The Three Weavers, but I did not know that it was part of a collection of good books.

I bought 12 books from the Lamplighter Publishing collection of 150 books.  Part of the conference special when buying 12 books was to get one more book free along with two dramatic audio CDs free as well.  So, to the delight of my older girls, I came home with 13 books and 2 CDs.  They have already each read three or four of the new books, and we listened to both of the CDs in the van during our recent trip to visit my parents.

These books and CDs are life changing!  The characters in these books exhibit such integrity.  I know that the books are fiction, but I can't help but think that real people who lived during the time period that these books were written were somehow different than most people who live today.  The "good guys" in these books are moral, courageous, have Biblical knowledge, and they live lives of such integrity. 
We may never again listen to a "book on tape".  These audio drama CDs are just that--audio dramas!  It is not just an interesting voice reading the book.  There is dramatic background music and other sound effects, plus different voices for each character.  The CDs are excellent!

The first Lamplighter book that I have completed is called That Printer of Udell's.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!  
I am currently reading A Peep Behind the Scenes.  I hope to make time to read all 13 of the books that I bought (I have so much Sonlight reading to do too).  I am modifying my "booklist" for 2011 to include these 13 books.

I plan to collect these Lamplighter books for our home.  Lamplighter Publishing offers a bookclub, and I am looking into joining that after my girls have read the first set of books that I bought.

What are you reading?

6 comments:

  1. HI Roan!! I love Lamplighter books and have become an affliate. I haven't put the link on my blog yet but will soon. I think if you go through my link you can get 15% off your order! That's a great deal. The Three Weavers and That Printer of Udell's are two of my favorites! I loaned out The Three Weavers and never got it back. I need to reorder it!

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  2. Just finished "Night Road" by Kristin Hannah....WONDERFUL! Starting "The Glass Castle" now...I've seen the Lamplighter books at our local homeschooling store and always wondered what the big deal was....now I know! Happy Reading to you!

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  3. My dad is really good about buying all the Lamplighter theater books from Vision Forum and also the Jonathon Park adventure CDs. Whenever my parents drive my kids to the ranch (1 hr each way) or to swim meets (2-4 hrs each way) they have good listening material.

    Sounds like you had a fun time!

    Celee

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  4. Roan, thank you so much for your sweet comment! One of my absolute favorite things to do is reading to my kids and I think it is so neat that you read aloud to your kids for 3 hours a day!

    I also found your article about using your time wisely during the school day very helpful.

    Have a great weekend!
    Betsy

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  5. We have also started reading Lamplighter books recently. There are no words to describe how good they are and how different from regular books. So far we have read a character trait book, Helen's Temper and have listened to two audio cds, Basket of Flowers and Sir Malcolm. This summer we will read A Peep Behind the Scenes and listen to The Captive.
    Blessings
    Diane

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  6. I have never heard of these...where have I been? I may have to look into them though!

    (I found you from Smockity Frocks)

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