If you stay with me to the end of this post I’m going to be announcing a giveaway to celebrate our 100th Library Time post.

My older children are at a church snow camp. They’re coming home today but not in time for me to ask them what they’ve been reading. So I want to elaborate a bit more than normal on what I’ve been reading for myself and to my little boys.

You know how you eat comfort food when you’re feeling emotional? I find certain books to be the equivalent of comfort food, and lately I’ve been reading a lot of E. Philips Oppenheim’s books. Just a few months after I started this blog I wrote a post about Oppenheim because I was so excited to share this author.

I have to admit I no longer read a book of his every week. It has taken me nearly five years to work through all of his books that I have on my Kindle. Out of the dozens of his books that I’ve read only one had a (to me) disappointing ending and one I quit reading after a few pages because I just couldn’t get into it.

I enjoy the fact that these books are clean – something that’s becoming harder and harder to find with books nowadays. I’ve had to give up so many books in the past couple of years because of language or content or both. It can be very discouraging.

So I just finished reading Anna the Adventuress about twin sisters and their adventures. I love how in the end everything works out, and the sister who thought she had murdered someone finds out he’s going to be okay. I know life doesn’t always work that way, but I’m okay with that. Sometimes it’s nice to read a book where everything works out as you want it to.

On Thursday my three youngest sons and I went to a bookstore where Micah promptly broke a glass that was on a table. Why do bookstores have so much stuff now? His bulky winter coat brushed the table and a glass fell off and broke.

Anyway, we eventually made it back to the children’s section. I wanted to buy a new book to read to them at night – we have just finished Farmer Boy. This brings me to my next question. Why is there so much junk being produced for children now? Just as I was about to give up in despair I saw Ginger Pye and Pinky Pye by Eleanor Estes. No childhood should be considered complete unless you’ve read something by Eleanor Estes. She captures childhood so well.

The boys are enjoying Ginger Pye. I had forgotten how Estes rabbit trails through the wanderings of a child’s thoughts. So while Rachel starts out wondering how they could earn a whole dollar to buy the dog her brother Jerry wants she had wandered on to thinking about her father who loves and studies birds and how she wants to be like him and then on to her brother’s love of quartz until Jerry calls her back to reality.

I like Ginger Pye, but my favourite of the two is Pinky Pye.  I can hardly wait until we get there. Reading to the boys is such a lovely way to end the day with them. It also helps them to clean their room because they know I don’t like to come into their room if it’s a mess so there’s that added bonus too.

Now on to the giveaway. I’m going to keep this really simple. All you have to do is comment on this post. That’s it. You could literally just say “hi” and you would be entered to win two books. Next Friday I will take all the names of those who comment and enter them into a random name picker and announce the winner on next Saturday’s Library Time post. So now on to the prize. There are two…

First is the book The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. I LOVE this book. In fact I love it so much I did a whole series about it. You can find the series at the top of my blog under the button Special Series. I have read this book many times and found it helpful in my own goal of having a welcoming home.

Secondly is your choice of one of these three books – Finding Winnie by Lindsay Mattick, Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes or The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.

So to recap the person’s whose name is drawn will get the book on homemaking and their choice of one of these children’s books.

Do you have a favourite book that you think has helped you to be a better homemaker?