Book Review: A Little Princess (by Frances Burnett)

What if there were a book that encouraged children to be patient, kind, generous, and noble?  Look no farther; A Little Princess does that and does it effectively.

For length, I estimate that A Little Princess is a bit shorter than Anne of Green Gables, but longer than Little Lord Fauntleroy.  With only a little bit of dedication, anyone could read it in a day.

Girls 7+ should be able to grasp the main ideas of the book, and will surely relate to the seven-year-old heroine.  Sometimes it takes boys longer to be interested in books about girls’, but it’s still worthy ready for a boy if he’s willing.

Find my brief four sentence conclusion at the end or read on through for the details!

Book Review: War and Peace (by Leo Tolstoy)

The year is 1812 and we’re in Russia.  Napoleon, the man, the myth, the legend, is facing off against General Winter.  Here to guide us through the chaos—to lend us eyes that we can see with—is Count Leo Tolstoy with his historical-based novel, War and Peace.

How long is War and Peace?  Well, when you’re scrolling through the table of contents and you see “First Epilogue: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc.,” then you know that you’re talking about a long book.  Page and font sizes vary, and if you’re reading digitally you may never even see a page number, but by comparison, War and Peace is definitely shorter than Les Miserables, and I think a little longer than The Count of Monte Cristo or Little Dorrit.

I’d put the age at 17+.  The language is simple, but the overall style of the book is not likely to be interesting to younger children and the Russian names are a bit of a speed bump.  Also, some of the characters are engaged in immoral behavior, which, although it’s not talked about in an inappropriate way, is not something 13– need to be reading about.

Feel free to skip to the end for my three sentence conclusion on the book, and then come back up for more details if you need them!

Book Review: What Katy Did and sequels (by Susan Coolidge)

After the pattern of Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna, Elsie Dinsmore, Little Women, and such like girl stories, Susan Coolidge brought her own childhood to life with the fictionalized What Katy Did.  How many of the incidents are real and how many fictional I have no idea; but the personalities were evidently inspired by herself and her siblings, and not surprisingly, a practical, down-to-earth, and real flavor hangs about the story as a result.

How long are the Katy Did series books?  They’re pretty brief; each about the length of Pollyanna, or the gospel of Mark.

Girls 7+ will enjoy the books.  It generally takes boys a little longer to be mature enough to want to read a girl story.  Katy has several brothers, however, who will make it a little more interesting for the boys.

You can jump to the end for the concluding remarks and links, and then come back up for more detail if you need it!

Build Log: Classic Pirates Fort

Enjoyed my last fort enough that I decided to do another one – in a very different style.

LEGO Abandoned Gas Station

“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

An abandoned gas station – something I’ve always wanted to build!  Seriously, I have.  I pass quite a few abandoned stations on my way to the grocery store every two weeks.  Granted, they don’t have quite as much random stuff lying around…

Tiny Trailblazers: Fencing

The babies are back… and ready to settle things once and for all!

Eleven Worlds

Today is an exciting day for me as a project I’ve been working on for years finally sees the light!  Eleven Worlds: An Anthology is available now on Amazon!

 

Enter the worlds of nine authors through their eleven stories, ranging from the mysterious to the thrilling, the hilarious to the heroic, from snapshots of ordinary life to tales of a hundred years ago. From chases through the streets of London to the adventures of the dreaded pirate Nebuchadnezzar Pearl, prepare yourself for an epic journey which spans eleven worlds.

This anthology features 11 stories from 9 different authors – read more about the stories on elevenworlds.com.

Build Log: Seaside Fort

I’ve been meaning to build an 18th century fort for over a year now.  Finally got my life together and did it.

Read on for a walk through four days of building!

Build Log: Wading Pool

What’s this going to turn into?

Read on to find out!

Church Building

Here’s another LEGO build from the book God’s Covenants.  This one was used for multiple scenes and I enjoyed building something from a modern time-period!

Read on for more shots of this creation!