Sept. Free Books!
I think for most of us September means one thing. School. I remember the excitement of shopping for school clothes and new notebooks, pencils and rulers. I also remember the butterflies of that first day, back with old friends and a new teacher. My favorite part of the new school year was receiving our reading books. I usually read through all the stories within the first week or so of school. And then I was bored.
When I was in fifth grade, two wonderful “book” things happened for me. First, my grandmother and grandfather sent me my first Laura Ingalls Wilder “Little House” book for Christmas. That tradition followed me all the way through grade school and high school and through the whole series, one or two books a year. What joy! The second wonderful book thing was that my parents agreed to enroll me as a member of a children’s book club. Every month I received two classics – Tom Sawyer, Water Babies, The Five Little Peppers, Treasure Island… Talk about treasure!
In that fine tradition of classic children’s books, our September Free Books are THE CURSE OF TREASURE ISLAND by Francis Bryan and THE SECRET GARDEN by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Wait a minute Sue, you might say. Wasn’t TREASURE ISLAND written by Robert Louis Stevenson? Yes, you’re right. Our “Treasure” book is a sequel written in 2001. Don’t worry. If you haven’t read TREASURE ISLAND, you can go ahead and read this book anyway. It’s a great stand-alone sequel, written in nearly the same “voice” as the original and in the point-of-view of Jim Hawkins, the cabin boy narrator of the first book.
From the cover: When Jim Hawkins “returned [from sea] to live in the English countryside . . . he swore that ‘oxen and wain-ropes would not bring me back again to that accursed island.’ But one day ten years after his return, a beautiful stranger and her young son come looking for Jim Hawkins, and he is led back to the South Seas, to even greater danger than before, to violence and a mystery…”
THE CURSE OF TREASURE ISLAND is a new hardcover edition.
THE SECRET GARDEN is a children’s classic written in 1911. From the cover: “When Mary Lennox is orphaned, she’s sent to live with her reclusive uncle at his once-beautiful estate. Mary is a sad little girl until she discovers the Secret Garden and her whole life changes for the better. For the first time ever she finds out what it’s like to feel joy and to care about other people.”
THE SECRET GARDEN is a new Children’s Book-of-the-Month Club edition (Large Print).
To be included in this month’s drawing, let us know something you loved – or hated – about school! We will draw the winning names on Thursday, September 30.
Blessings and Happy September!
Sue Harrison
My favourite time at school was getting into a library and finding new books.Hated sewing days YUK!! Trish
Me, too. I definitely loved Library time. (But I also like sewing! Maybe because we had a great teacher.)
ahhh…..first day of school. Even though it has been YEARS since I have had a ‘first day of school’ or even my kids have had a ‘first day of school’, somehow it still brings back that same feeling when this day rolls around – especially when I see the bus stop at the neighbors house for the first time in the fall!!
I always loved getting to see my friends again when school started as back then we didn’t get to see some of our friends all summer long!!
Another one of my favorite memories is having you, Sue, for a friend from Sunday School & Kindergarten all the way through high school graduation!! (and of course, still)
It was always fun to see who would be sitting next to you in the classroom.
Also, I loved school shopping and picking out what to wear on that first day!!!
Well, it looks like this could go on & on……I guess I liked going ‘back to school’ a lot!!! 🙂
We do have some really great shared memories, Lynn! When you have the privilege of attending a small school with many of the same classmates for years, it’s really like being part of a family. What a joy!
I adored going back to school. Learning was my favorite thing to do (and still is)! I had my first day of school as a high school teacher this year. Talk about butterflies! I hope my kids are as excited about learning about the things we’re reading this year as I am about teaching them.
The “Little House” books are also some of my favorites. I started reading them in kindergarten and flew through the series as fast as my little eyes could go. I am an avid re-reader as well, and I just finished going back through those books again. They’re still great!
Speaking of books that I started at in elementary (5th or so grade) and continued reading over and over again (actually, just finished them again about a month ago), your “Mother Earth, Father Sky” trilogy are some of my and my mother’s absolute favorites. Thank you for such beautiful stories!
Thank you, Deidra! I’m rereading the Little House series to my mother. She’s 82 and due to a stroke is not as able a reader as she once was, but she still loves books, so we are both enjoying this ‘reread’. Good luck with your first year of teaching high school, a most challenging and rewarding career! You have all my admiration.
Kindergarden through the third grade bring me some of my fondest memories. I went to a small school not too far from where I lived. It was an old school, and it seemed like everyone knew each other.
When we would line up at the door and a teacher would bring us into
our school room you could smell lunch being prepared in the
basement. Everything was home made back then. The playground
was small, but there were swing sets and a good old fashioned merry
go round, and a slide that looked so huge, I remember being afraid to slide down it. Many good friends were made at that little school. After the third grade I was transfered to a larger school in town, but
my fondest memories are of the little school house not far from where I lived.
Beautiful memories, Deb! One of our school cooks was an expert bread baker. Once or twice a week she made enough bread for the whole school. Two of her granddaughters were in our class. I still remember the smell and taste of “Grandma Stirling’s” bread.
It is nice to read your writings, when I was a child, september was new books, too. The same thing was as a teacher.
…now it means last times at the boat.
Hi Maarit! Welcome all the way from Finland! We put our (very little) boat away in September, too. Last boat ride, last time to go fishing. Always a little sad!
I loved the sewing classes the most, i was always amazed by what my teacher could make, i really looked up to her and thought she was a goddess.
the little house on the praire series also has a cookbook… i have tried a good few recipes from the book. it is really lovely to bake those authentic recipes together with my little daughter on a rainy afternoon.
I didn’t know there was a little house cookbook! Sounds wonderful. Is there anything better than cooking with your daughter on a rainy day? I don’t think so, unless it’s cooking with your granddaughter! Thank you, Jackie! Stay warm and dry in Ireland!!
I loved doing large projects and reports! I even played school my older sisters and would create reports on countries, habitats anything. I loved doing the research and making props to go with it. Book reports that were not just written paper especially! I hate how my kids now don’t do anything like what we did, school has changed and I see how their love of school is just not the same as mine was!
I was a “report” lover, too, Meghan. I absolutely loved doing research for term papers.
Well, my parents were both teachers at my school. As you can probably guess, this was both a curse and a blessing.
My dad was the cool gym teacher/coach, and my mom was the strict librarian.
I had a great time in school. I was in every sport and stayed busy all the time.
I have no idea where all of that energy went!
From one “T.K.” to another, I understand!! (About the energy levels, too)!!