What I Read: November 2022
Or, how November is the actual shortest and leaves no room for books.
My opinion from last year on November feeling like the shortest month of the year still stands. It really does go by quickly, and I finished only one paper book and one audio book this month. Yikes!
Here’s what I read in November:
Meet the Austins: A Novel
by Madeline L’Engle
In September, I re-read a perennial YA favorite, A Ring of Endless Light, and realized I had somehow never read any of the rest of the Austin Family Chronicles, so I am (slowly) rectifying that. In this book, narrator Vicky Austin is a few years younger and more immature than in the later book, which makes it less relatable, but it really does set the stage of the family and for their growth as they move through the series. I enjoyed it, even if it was less exciting than A Ring of Endless Light, and I am looking forward to the next in the series when I get to it.
The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden {audio}
by Karina Yan Glaser
This is the second book in the Vanderbeeker's series and I think they are brilliant. Arthur probably listened to this eight times while we had it from the library, and I squeezed the last third of the book in at the last minute before it was due back. It follows the family of five Vanderbeeker children as they navigate summer alongside their beloved neighbor, Mr. Jeet, having a stroke and their sister Issa being away at orchestra camp. The kids are resourceful and smart as they go about a secret project, but also learn some important lessons along the way. The material is appropriate for Arthur at 5.5, but feels more mature in story than most materials aimed at his age group (him reciting a part of the book with the word “abhorred” in it gets me every time!). I really enjoy the series and am anxiously awaiting our turn for the next!
Goodreads | Bookshop | Libro.Fm
That’s all I got to this month. I’m still in the middle of The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr, and am also part-way through Attached to God by Krispin Mayfield, which feels like a good companion to Dr. Becky’s Good Inside that I reviewed in October.
Considering those heavier works, I’ll need to queue up some fiction for December — any good reads for the holidays I should check out?
What I’m Reading with the Kids:
We finished the Bink & Gollie series with Bink & Gollie: Best Friends Forever, and have continued Tales from Deckawoo Drive with Where Are You Going Baby Lincoln? and Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package, and rounded out the Mercy Watson Series with the picture-book prequel, A Piglet Named Mercy. We really do love everything Kate DiCamillo writes! I cannot stress that enough.
And we started The Magic Treehouse series with Dinosaurs Before Dark. There’s only 40+ more books to go in the series!
Our school unit right now is focusing on space, so here’s a list of what we’ve read so far. I’d love a chapter book read-aloud about space — any suggestions for us?
Favorite Christmas Books for Kids
We’ve got a whole big list started over here (and keep adding as we read good ones!) with the books we love and own or want to purchase for our own shelves. And you guessed it: there’s a Mercy Watson Christmas book on the list. ;)
Got a lesser-known Christmas book you love to read with your family? Let me know — I’d love to give it a try.
Need the perfect gift in book form?
I l-o-v-e helping find the perfect books to gift to the people in your life!
You can always hit “reply” to this email and tell me who you are buying for and what kinds of things they like and I can see if I have or can track down a stellar book recommendation for them.
I’ve got some lists by category over at Bookshop, if browsing is more your style.
That’s it for November! I’ll be in your inbox again at end of the year!
We read Patricia Polacco's "The Trees of the Dancing Goats" this week and I loved it. It's just what we need this year, I think, because it's about loving your neighbors practically and without discrimination.