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?