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About six weeks ago we drove an hour and a half to our favourite used book store. They have a month-long, 50% off sale twice a year, and we try to make it to at least one of these sales. Generally I’m busy helping little ones (and sometimes big ones) find books.

This time it was especially hard to talk my seven-year-old into finding a book. I think he’s discouraged about not being able to read. I finally talked him into getting an “I Spy” book and an early reader book that I promised to read to him. He loved both of them, and someday soon he’s going to be able to read them for himself.

Anyway, I was able to find a book for myself in the couple of minutes I had to look. Tisha: The Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaska Wilderness by Robert Specht. This book tells the story of a nineteen-year-old girl who teaches school for a year in the interior of Alaska. This is an amazing story of a young lady with a lot of courage and character. There is quite a bit of swearing which surprised me. Aside from that I was stunned by the amount of prejudice there was against the Indians and “half-breeds” (a despicable phrase, in my opinion). There are all the hardships you would expect plus even more when Anne Hobbs falls in love with an Indian. I’m not going to give any spoilers, but this book was awesome. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

16-year-old daughter – Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

14-year-old son – Apparently he hasn’t read much this week so he doesn’t have a book to recommend.

13-year-old son – Prophecy of Bane by Suzanne Collins

11-year-old daughter – Audrey Hepburn: An Elegant Spirit by Sean Hepburn Ferrer (her son). The girls are into watching old movies right now. I’m glad they’re drawn to the feminine characters who portray women being strong but utterly feminine and elegant in their strength.

9-year-old daughter – Marks of Secret by Suzanne Collins

7-year-old son – Camels Always Do by Lynn Manuel. This is a fun book about the time a group of business men thought camels would be good for packing supplies in the Cariboo gold rush. Let’s just say it was a colossal failure, and you can read the books to see all the reasons why it failed. 

4-year-old son – Sheep Out to Eat by Nancy Shaw. We enjoy the books about Sheep. They always make a mess, but thankfully it also gets cleaned up. There’s lots of rhyming and short sentences in these books.

2-year-old son – Ahoy There, Little Polar Bear by Hans de Beer. We love Lars and all the adventures he goes on. Of course, I may have influenced this love a little bit since polar bears are my favourite wild animal. 

What was on your bookshelf this week?