A Good Book

Today I finished reading Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw aloud to Clay (and Olivia, Julie, Leah and Sam sometimes too).  It is one of our books for Core D/E (American History) in Sonlight.

It is an excellent book!

Moccasin Trail is set in 1844, a time when many brave pioneers braved the elements and numerous dangers to travel west in to the wilderness of the Oregon territory.  Jim is an 18 year old who ran away from his family back east eight years ago.  Following a tragic encounter with a bear, Jim was rescued and then raised by a tribe of Crow Indians.  Later, part of his original family make the difficult journey out west, and Jim joins them for the latter part of their trip.  Most of the story revolves around Jim's inner conflict---is he a Crow Indian or a white man?  Where does he belong?  Does his family really want him back?  Does he really want to live with them?

Throughout the book, many gruesome things are described, but I know that's how life really was for these people.  I am so thankful that I live in the time and place that I do!

If you are studying this time period in your homeschool, or you simply want a good book to read, I highly recommend Moccasin Trail.  I am adding it to my list of all-time favorite books.

A couple of more things--I would recommend this as a read aloud for your children because of the dialect.  My children prefer me to read books with dialect different than ours out loud to them.  Also, there really are some gross parts.  I think this book is best suited for ages 9 or 10 and up.  Clay is almost 13, and he really enjoyed it.

One more book that I have read aloud recently, and LOVED was The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill.  I read this book to Leah and Sam as part of Sonlight Core B.  We all loved this book!  I have a blog post about it due to be published on February 16 over on The Homeschool Classroom.  I will post a link to the article on that day.

Tomorrow, I begin reading Across Five Aprils to Clay (another favorite of mine),and I am currently reading Little Pear to Leah and Sam.  Little Pear is ok.  Not a thought provoking or life changing book or anything.  But we have read worse!

I love, love, love reading aloud good books to my children.  It is my all-time, hands-down favorite part of homeschooling!