Free Classic Children's Books Downloads

What a wonderful idea! I often wondered what happens to old children's books once the libraries clean them off their shelves. Now, they can still be read and enjoyed through free downloads available from the Library of Congress here.

Thank you Happy Hearts At Home for sharing the link!

Our Books from the Library this Week

We love going to our local library and getting books! I love to grab cookbooks from the shelves such as What Can I Bring? Cookbook by Anne Byrn. Our little guy, 3, pretty much loves anything with trucks and our daughter is now into chapter books but I usually reserve picture books to keep her interest in reading. It can be overwhelming walking in the library (with kids!) and trying to decide what to get and, if you're like most mom's, don't have long to pick something.

So, my solution is to reserve books online through the library's website. If the library doesn't have it, then I reserve it online through inter-library loan. Within a few days I get a phone call saying all our books are ready at the front desk.. amazing! All I have to do it pick them up and enjoy!

This week I'm reading Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. I first read about it on one of my favourite mommy blogs Crooked House. This book is so scarey. What a perfect time of year to read a spine chilling book. I love a thriller and it's been year's since I've read one.

Our 8 year old daughter's reading The Curious Garden by Peter Brown, Eleanor by Barbara Cooney, The Magic Tree by James & Ruth McCrea, Chanticleer and the Fox by Barbara Cooney, and One Hen by Katie Smith Milway. I read about these wonderful books on another mommy blog Our Home on the Range. She gives great book reviews and we've enjoyed reading many of her recommendations.

Our 3 year old son has a pile of books withdrawn from the library this week but his favourite's are Red Truck by Kersten Hamilton and Elephant in a Well by Marie Hall Ets. Our theme's for the month with his reading are the colour Red, and Mice. I simply do a keyword subject search on the library's website and get all kinds of interesting book suggestions to reserve.

We are blessed with our local library as it's shelves are still full of very old books. Some might see this as a bad thing but I think it's wonderful to take out a book that was first printed in the 60's and have it be an original edition. Our library is packed full of these little treasures.

So, what's everyone else reading this week?

Book Review: Children's Books on China

Our daughter is in 3rd grade this year and one of their main focus of study will be social studies and geography. I hope to enhance her learning by doing some follow-up at home with books from our library.

Next week her class is reading The Ballad of Mulan. This is one of our daughter's favourite stories.

These are the books I've selected to read after school each day.


The Legend of Mu Lan: A Heroin of Ancient China



The Multicultural Game Book: More Than 70 Traditional Games from 30 Countries by Louis Orlando

This is a great book and includes lots of easy games. The games from China are 1, 2, 3 Dragon; Challenge; Dominoes; Fan Tan; Harvest; Nim; Spellicans; Tangrams.


Count Your Way Through China by Jim Haskins
The book counts from 1 through 10 and teaches how to write and say it in "Chinese" and covers topics such as history, geography, religion and traditions.








The Legend of the Panda by Linda Granfield
This is the legend of how the panda got it's black spots. The pictures are so beautiful.

Happily submitted to Works for Me Wednesday over at We are THAT Family.

Children's Book Review: Listen to the Wind by Dr. Greg Mortenson

I ordered this book for our daughter as I'm about to read "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson soon as well. This is the children's version of the journey of Dr. Greg Mortenson. After his failed attempt to climb K2, in memory of his deceased sister, he was lost in the mountains and fell ill. He stumbled upon a poor remote village and these villagers helped nurse him back to health.

He wanted to find a way to thank them and noticed the children attended school on a flat rock with sticks to write in the dirt. He promised to return one day and build them a school. And so the story goes of the "mountainous" challenges he faced to fulfill his promise and the numerous school's he's had built since then. This is an inspiring story and the artwork is gorgeous. It's told in simple terms that children can understand.

When our daughter had a friend over, I had them take turns reading pages then I asked them what they thought about it. They said they really liked the colourful pictures and they thought the people in the village were nice. My hope is the story will make them ponder how other children in the world go to school and what they can do to make a difference.

This year my goal is to have my daughter continue to read the book while I read "Three Cups of Tea". Then, on her own, suggest she participate in Pennies for Peace and approach her school to start a campaign.

I've already received a package from the Central Asia Institute with everything we'll need to start a Pennies for Peace campaign at her school this year. The idea is that the school children collect pennies (achievable for all children) which are then donated to help build schools in impoverished regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Most of these schools are built for girls who wouldn't otherwise receive an education due to cultural beliefs. The villagers themselves are in charge of the planning of the school and build it themselves. This seems to have discouraged acts of terror on these schools as the local villages fiercly protect what they've come together to build. The girls, in turn, become educated and when they become mothers later in life, will be less tolderant should their children take on extreme beliefs.

I ordered our books through the Three Cups of Tea website which links you to Amazon.com. They receive the most money for their cause this way.