I've been meaning to write a post about The Mistmantle Chronicles by M. I. McAllister~ a wonderful series of books we stumbled upon several months ago. We came across them quite by accident. Kevin and Sydney had finished reading the Chronicles of Narnia and we set off to find another engrossing book full of action and adventure. I was browsing the shelves at the library and ran across the first book in the series ~ Urchin of the Riding Stars.
A few chapters in and they were hooked. Kevin even remarked that the book appeared to be written by a Christian. It turns out the author is the wife of a minister.
Eventually Kayleigh and I began reading the series also. We are getting ready to start book 2 ~ Urchin and the Heartstone.
Other titles in the series include The Heir of Mistmantle,
Urchin and the Raven War,
and Urchin and the Rage Tide.
The characters in these books are squirrels, moles, hedgehogs and otters. When we were at Wildlife Prairie Park in Illinois we saw these statues that reminded us of the beloved characters.
We also saw this stuffed otter....
Kayleigh and I are getting ready to start book 2 and Sydney and Kevin have finished the whole series. Now we have to find another book full of action and adventure....any suggestions?
On a different, yet related note, my reading has taken a recent turn. I am embarking on classical education for the girls this year. In preparation, I've done some research to learn just what classical education is. I decided to give it a try for myself and have begun working through the book list in The Well Educated Mind ~ A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer.
The first book on the list, Don Quixote by Cervantes, is considered to be the first modern novel. It was written in 1605. I'm only a few chapters in, but I'm enjoying it so far. It helps to have a friend tackling this with me.
What are you reading these days?
With my little guys I am using Heart of Dakota. Have you ever heard of that. We do lots of reading.
ReplyDeleteWe love love love Narnia. It is our favorite.
Planning to read Pilgrim's Progress to my children.
We did the Jotham's series at Christmas and this pass Easter we read Amon's Adventure about the Resurrection.
Hugs,
Teena
Teena...I have heard of Heart of Dakota. I have a good friend who was looking into switching from Abeka to Heart of Dakota. We did Five in a Row last year and loved it....we'll probably take some breaks from classical every once in a while and read a book from the Five in a Row list.
ReplyDeleteWe still love Narnia! I think your boys would really like the Mistmantle Chronicles. My husband loved reading them to Syd and I'm enjoying them too. They have a very good message.
Teena, I found a copy of "the family pilgrim's progress' in my church library...it could be a good overview before you read the 'old english version' to your little ones.... it is a really good book, I even tried to buy it...it is out of print and very expensive.... but oh so good! ...u can also get a lot of these classics for FREE on a kindle or kindle app!
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