All Hallows Treasure Hunt

We weren't able to get an All Hallows Eve party going this year.  BigBoy is the only one even remotely interested in dressing up (Cupcake won't let me put a bow in her hair much less any kind of costume) so his simple request was for a costumed treasure hunt like we've done before. He's already figured out a costume for Bl. Nicholas Postgate, one of the 85 Martyrs of England and Wales. Yeah... kind of obscure but my BigBoy likes a challenge! Who says saint costumes are boring? 

Since the kids are getting older, I made this treasure hunt a little more challenging. I'm sharing it here because I'm pretty sure it could be used in anyone's house. There are a couple of alternative hiding places if for example you don't have a particular one accessible. The clues are sort-of-kind-of connected to what the different saints are the patrons of. Whether your start your celebration the morning of or the night before, here is wishing you a Happy Feast of All Hallows! Be safe, have fun!

You can download the files via Scribd by clicking the links below:

Clues to Print (The two pictures at the end are optional. They are supposed to be cut up and placed in an envelope for the children to reassemble in order to figure out where to go next. Please excuse the my very unpoetic, cheesy rhymes. I wrote them early this morning.)

Saintly Treasure Hunt Key (this tells you where to hide which clue... don't let the kids see it!)

Treat Bag Labels (I'm making little labels for my kids' treat bags and thought I'd share them too.)

WWRW: The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf

The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf by Gerald Morris
{affiliate link}

The Professor stumbled upon this series at the library last year and loved the first book, The Squire's Tale {affiliate link}, but the second one, The Squire, His Knight and His Lady {affiliate link},  had some odd reviews so I previewed it for him a while back... when WWRW was just a twinkle in Jessica T's eye! One of the reviewers charged the author with being anti-Catholic. I read the second book and my first impressions were that Mr. Morris was trying to show the antagonism between the French and the English knights and maybe some of their customs as well (long standing rivalry there, you know). But then I read a little about the author and found out that he is also a Protestant minister. 

That really did put his comments in a different light. I went back and re-read them. I even had Sean read them and he agreed. While the anti-Catholicism is not the overall theme of the whole book it's sufficient enough that it's noticeable. Was it problematic enough that I didn't feel comfortable letting The Professor read the second book? No. He's 15 and old enough to read and then talk with me about these things. His overall impression was, good book but "Bad form!" His favorite thing to do is to re-read books he loves but this one was only read once. We all felt that the anti-Catholic snideness was unnecessary. Especially his characters' comments on what is supposed to be a portrait of Our Lady, who I know most evangelical Protestants have no love for. Sad, because Christ certainly did. (If I had a copy of the book on hand I'd quote that passage here but I don't.)

Anyway, The Professor was content to just let the rest of the series go, but I decided to pick up the third book, The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf {affiliate link},  and see if the disparaging continued or maybe if the author got the snit all out of his system. I am pleased to say that the 3rd book had nothing in it that caused me pause. It's funny and intriguing especially if you know the story that it's retelling: a light and fluffy Arthurian adventure. The Professor has read it now too and he enjoyed it although not as much as that first one. He has asked me to preview the next one. I have a feeling I'll be reading the whole series since he's interested in the others now. But because of that second one I just don't feel like I can trust the author and so I don't feel comfortable handing him the books without reading them myself. So, I read, he reads and then we discuss. It's not necessarily a bad thing. 

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For very sensitive readers... there is one scene at the end of the book that implies an immodest intimacy between two of the unmarried characters. My son didn't even notice it when he read it because it was only a brief sentence,  but when he'd finished the book and I said, "Let's talk about that one part." We had a good discussion about temptation, how these characters were flawed characters and who the most virtuous characters were. If you want more specifics, email me.

Like fireworks on the Fourth of July...

It's that time of year again, folks! 

The time of year when the Halloween/All Hallows Eve posts starting getting dredged up, passed around or published anew. Since imitation is the best form of flattery, let me just say in reference to that last link, "I'm soooo done apologizing for not liking Halloween!" There I said it. I just don't like it. And it's not because I think it's a secret Satanic celebration. It's not because I'm a helicopter mom who doesn't allow her children to move 2 feet away from her without a bike helmet and knee pads on lest someone skin their pwecious wittle knee. It's not because I think I'm a better/holier/truer Catholic for not celebrating it. I promise it's not. Please believe me, friend. We are on the same team, right?

Honestly, I don't like to be scared. I never have and my childhood "friends" can testify to that. (I'm looking at you Stephanie Durocher who used to delight in hiding around corners or behind doors and jumping out at me!) Roller coasters never interested me, spooky houses never even crossed my mind as a fun thing to do and it only took one Freddy Krueger movie to turn me off the whole scary movie genre. And my kids don't like to be scared. They like to be warned when a jump scene is coming up in a movie. They love watching battles but they don't like gore. They like to know where the Halloween section is at the local store so that they can avoid it because it creeps them out and will come back to haunt them at bedtime making their night (and my night) miserable. And frankly, some people, just don't get that or allow for that. They think we are wimps, coddling our girls or raising unmanly/wussie boys. We prefer to call them "gentlemanly" and they can describe for you in detail the differences between the various Gladiators who fought in Ancient Rome. They just don't want to watch Gladiator. Then again,  I didn't either... my dad made me and I kept my hands in front of my face the whole time.

Halloween 1999.
I made the Zebra costume and the pumpkin was a hand-me-down.

We tried trick or treating for the first three or four years of having kids and it just never clicked for us. Now, there are other reasons we don't trick or treat that include reasons like a neighborhood with rolling hills and fast driving teenagers, no side walks and very few street lights. But frankly, I know those are just our preferences and not really arguments. But I'm not here to argue about it. I'm perfectly happy to let you go pound on doors, scoop up all the free candy you want and eat it to your heart's content! In fact, I make sure we set out a bowl of candy no matter what we are doing so that we aren't perceived as spoilsports. If the first kid who comes along grabs all of the candy and runs, he's ruined it for everyone else, not me.

My candy for the neighborhood kids ready to go.
And it's the GOOD stuff!

So, why can't we be left alone to do things our way (usually focusing on getting a jump start on celebrating the Feast of All Saints) without it being implied that we have been influenced by Protestant thinking, are raising spiritual wimps or that we have "mommified" the fun out of this new ancient liturgical celebration of the "Hallowmas Triduum"? Oh my goodness, there is so much bad history there I can't stand it!

Aside... Hallowmas is a real word (it refers to the Mass of All Hallows just like Michaelmas is the Mass of St. Michael and Christmas is the Mass of Christ's Nativity) but there is not and never has been a Hallowmas Triduum! The word "Hallowmas" doesn't even include All Souls Day (which was added later) so how can it be coupled with the secular celebration of Halloween to create a "Triduum"? We are smarter than that, people! Just because someone wrote it on the internet doesn't make it true. /end rant

But it's really no surprise that there is so much bad history behind this holiday since most experts can't even agree on how the traditional American Halloween got started. Yes, Scottish immigrants probably brought over the idea of "guising", dressing up and going house to house performing for treats but that wasn't just an All Hallow's Eve custom.

In our country there are carried on at Christmas time a sport call’d Mummery by the English Borderers and Guisardery by the Scotch. ~Sir Walter Scott, 1826

Yes, people used to go begging for soul cakes in exchange for prayers but all indications say that was done on the eve of All Souls Day because people would have had extra food to celebrate the feast of All Saints and would probably be feeling more generous too, it wasn't an All Hallow's Eve tradition. Yes, it was a night to dress up and play tricks (as seen in the famous scene in Meet Me in St. Louis, but people can't even agree on when and how the treat aspect was introduced.

But it doesn't matter how it got started, it is what it is now. Kids get dressed up in fairy tale or scary tale garb and get to step out into the night (usually with the hand of Mom or Dad nearby) and knock on doors saying "trick or treat" when what they really mean is "Just treats, please!" and it's all innocent good fun and it's relatively easy and one less thing that makes you "weird" because it's something that can be shared and enjoyed with neighbors and friends no matter their political or religious beliefs.  Nobody likes feeling like the weirdo all the time.

You'll notice that I am intentionally ignoring all arguments about slutty costumes and freaky weirdos who answer the door with live snakes around their necks because I recognize that those are probably not the majority of the people participating in the kiddie fun.

All I ask is that you all who celebrate Halloween in the traditional American way (because they didn't do it in Europe until we imported it a few decades ago) please ignore the mostly Protestant condemnations of being Satan's spawn. Because, from what I can tell, it's not us, your fellow Catholics who are laying that charge on you. And if it is a fellow Catholic, it's most likely someone from a small group of radical traditionalists. You don't pay attention to them any other time of the year, so why start now? (UPDATE: I have been informed that some fellow Catholics who are not of the the Rad Trad variety are the ones saying that it's a Satanic celebration. Bad history, my friends! It's done so much damage. Don't let it do anymore.)

Halloween 2000
Oh YES I made that Thomas costume and then gave birth exactly 13 days later!
And that was before I started blogging. I did it just for him.

We, those of us who prefer to not trick or treat anymore, who prefer to focus our time and attention on the upcoming feast day for a myriad of reasons, are NOT saying you are bad, evil or less Catholic than us. So, why are we even talking about this? Why is this such a big deal for us to opt out? Nobody complains if we don't go watch fireworks on the 4th of July. Nobody writes posts about how Catholics need to embrace fireworks (um... please don't actually embrace the fireworks, m'kay?) and how celebrating the independence of our nation has religious significance as it represents our celebration of the free will that God gave each of us. Nobody says that people who are afraid of hurting themselves by shooting off fireworks have been secretly influenced by the insurance companies who are only trying to protect their profit margin when they caution people to be careful on the 4th of July. And nobody tries to justify their love of fireworks by making people who prefer to focus on red, white and blue themed parties instead of fireworks feel like they are just weird or wussies.

Just like fireworks on the 4th of July, Halloween is optional. If you want to celebrate it with princess zombies and pirate witches, go for it. Have a blast! But don't bully us for opting out. We promise not to call you Satanists, m'kay? And let's both agree to celebrate the feast day (you choose when you want to start) with just as much gusto and vivacity because that's what's really important, right?

Quickly popping in to say...

Sorry for the dump of coloring pages in your feed reader. There will be more. I'm trying to group all of the saints for a particular month together and then post them all at the same time. This makes it easier to create albums for the month over on Facebook.

This is only half!

Anyway... we are replacing the nasty, stained, matted down, 11 year old used-to-be-white-now-it's-kind-of-grey carpet in the kids' bedrooms this week (who puts white carpet in a kid's bedroom... a batchelor!!! That's who!) along with having baseboards replaced so we are in project mode over here and I don't know when I will get to pop in again. I painted 230 linear feet of baseboards over the weekend and now my back is yelling at me. Just shut up already! Not you... my back.

I did want to share a couple of things that were shared on FB this week because I found them so fascinating. First, teenager Ethan Metzger tells the Bronx Youth Poetry Slam what he responded when told his parents brainwashed him. The video of his presentation is kind of hard to understand at times plus I had to explain the snapping thing to my kids but it's worth watching. Maureen Witmann said, "As a mother of seven children, I can tell you it's pretty hard to brainwash kids. They still have free will. They still have thinking brains. They still see the world outside our walls. We set examples. We show them the world through our eyes. We share values. We demonstrate consequences of actions. But brainwash? As Ethan says here -- it's teaching." Amen!

And also, this photographer is doing something amazing...

It's so easy to forget that some of our feelings are about choice more than impulse. We can choose to love someone that we aren't in love with, choose to care for someone we don't naturally care for. Sometimes, it's a matter of creating the environment and then waiting for the feelings to come. Sometimes, just sharing an experience is what it takes to make a connection. Watch this.

St. Elisabeth of Hungary Coloring Page

November 17

St. Elisabeth of Hungary Coloring Page

~ click here ~

St. Margaret of Scotland Coloring Page

November 16

St. Margaret of Scotland Coloring Page

~ click here ~

St. Frances Cabrini Coloring Page

November 13

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Coloring Page

~ click here ~

St. Martin of Tours Coloring Page

November 11

St. Martin of Tours Coloring Page

~ click here ~

{p,h,f,r} October 17

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~ with the lovely ladies at Like Mother, Like Daughter

{pretty}

Sunshine is almost finished with her test knitting project. Since I took this picture, she's sewed on buttons. Once it finishes being blocked (does it sound like I know what I'm talking about because I totally don't!), she tells me it will be ready for Cupcake to wear! Perfect timing since our temps just dropped recently.

{happy}

The other day Cupcake woke up and asked for muffins and hot tea for breakfast. As you wish! It made her very happy.

{funny}

The Professor took the PSAT yesterday. He's only a sophomore so this was just for practice. It required us to drop him off at the private Christian school down the road. That was the first time in almost 16 years of parenthood that we had dropped a kid off at school. Yeah... I had a moment. And I wasn't even the one dropping him off! He had a lot of test anxiety. A sweet friend's comment on FB inspired me to leave this sitting on his seat when I picked him up...

Harry: And did either of you two, you know, pass out? 
Ron: No... I felt weird though, like I'd never be cheerful again.

He was definitely more cheerful afterwards!

{real}

Today I woke up at 4am and after an hour of tossing and turning and not falling back to sleep, I got up and started painting the hallway. It's done now. I'm tired. My hands hurt. That is all.

P.S. We are in project mode right now and I had planned to paint the hallway today but did not intend to start that early. I am not normally this productive at that hour. 

WWRW: How I Killed Pluto...

I had to stop and think about what I was reading this week because I've hopped around between a few things. I checked my Kindle app on my phone and I realized that I never blogged about How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown {affiliate link}. Melanie recommended this book a while back and I immediately let The Professor read it, being the most avid astronomy buff around here. He enjoyed it so much that we brought it to our teen book club as our suggestion for the coming year. It's the only non-fiction book that they will be reading this year but it's written in such a conversational tone I don't think the kids will think it dry or boring. I'm typing this review up on the fly right now because I can't write a serious review about non-fiction. I just can't. I don't know why. It's an entertaining book to read and definitely keeps you engaged. I think the way Mike Brown interspersed personal accomplishments along with scientific ones kept the book from even the slightest bit of dryness, along with his clever way of explaining science in layman's terms. It's been way too many years since I took college astronomy to follow anything more complex than layman's terms.

I don't want to give away too much but most people know the ending (No, Pluto is not a planet anymore. Yes, it is a dwarf planet. No, a dwarf planet is not just a really tiny planet.) but you need to read the book to follow the intrigue that goes along with the story (sly Spanish astronomers secretly stealing Santa!... read the book!) and the way a scientist responds to sleep deprivation coupled with newborn cuteness! His wife had the presence of mind to put the kibosh on any baby experiments, thank goodness!

    After cat, Lilah next learned flower. Flowers (scrunch up nose as if sniffing) were everywhere, first only outside on plants, but soon she generalized to flowers on her clothes or her shoes, or in pictures in books and magazines. I wanted to hook up wires and do experiments and comparisons and studies to understand it all.
    “You want to do what?” Diane would say.
    But, really, who wouldn’t? In our own house the most extraordinary thing in the universe was taking place, and it was passing by unexamined, unstudied.
    “There will be no Lilah experiments,” Diane declared. 

Brown, Mike (2010-12-07). How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming (p. 198). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Just before I finished the book, I had the opportunity to go back to my alma mater and do some star gazing with Dr. Olenick, my astronomy professor from college, at the Alumni/Family Weekend! He spends his summers with students looking for wanderers in the sky just like Mike Brown. The Professor (my oldest son) got to meet my professor (Dr. Olenick) and was able to see some cool stuff up in the sky through the telescopes there on campus...you know...just the Ring Nebula, some binary stars, cool stuff like that. I had a chance to talk to Dr. Olenick about this book and ask him his opinion on Pluto's status (totally not a planet). He's kind of a quiet man and I don't know if he's read the book or not (probably not) but he did comment on the intrigue when I mentioned the sneaky Spaniards. He said there is a fine line that they walk between trying to be the first to announce a discovery but also wanting to get their information correct. I told him as an outsider, it seemed a little chaotic and disordered. Why not come up with a system for making a claim, submitting research, etc? You know... wanting to organize it (like the mom I am). He just sat there and smiled. I asked, "Or is that part of the fun?" And he grinned even bigger. He's just a big kid, I tell you! (I think most scientists are.)

Check out what everyone else remembered they were reading this week over at Housewifespice!

P.S. For moms who want to know... part of this story includes dating, vacationing with and then marrying his wife. While they don't make a big deal out of it in the book, it is obvious to discerning readers that they moved in together before they were married. Nothing intimate is ever discussed. It's a minor blip in the story for most people today, but it might provoke a question or two.

New St. Teresa of Ávila Coloring Page

St. Teresa of Ávila coloring page

~ click here ~

Book Club 9-1-1: Sir Lancelot the Great

"Book Club 9-1-1, what is your book emergency?"

My three oldest kiddos participate in a teen/tween book club once a month that is hosted at a friend's house. I could tell that BigBoy was kind of in need of a little something similar to do that was geared more towards his age group. Remembering the fun book clubs we used to have here for the older ones when they were about his age, I decided to jump back into book club hosting mode and put out the call to our local homeschooling group to find some like minded friendly readers. 

We got a good response and had our first meeting last week discussing The Adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great by Gerald Morris {affiliate link}. This was BigBoy's pick. He loves this whole series {affiliate link}. I asked him to recommend something short and fun for the first meeting since we didn't quite have a full month to read the book. We are calling the group "Book Club 9-1-1" because it's for 9-11 year olds specifically. We have a few 8 year olds who are strong readers and who will be turning 9 this year and I'm sure if we had a 12 year old who was really interested in joining I wouldn't say no, but for the most part, the 9-11 crowd is a good age range to work with. I'm following a basic format of discussion, craft/activity & themed snack.

 ~ Discussion ~

My primary focus is on discussing the book. I even told the parents that if their child doesn't read the book, they shouldn't come to book club. (I hope that's not mean.) This is not just a play date or a social club, it's supposed to be about the books first and foremost and getting kids exciting about reading and exploring them. I came up with talking points and led the discussion. (I have uploaded all of my documents to Scribd so you can use them if you wish for your own personal use.) The talking points are a rough outline of things we discussed starting with discussing the book but then focusing mainly on the Papal coat of arms in order to lead into the activity. I printed out a copy of the three most recent ones and explained what each symbols meant and why it was chosen by the Pope who chose it. (Those can be found on the Symbols document. Sorry it's not better organized. I didn't think of sharing the documents until after the fact.)

~ Craft ~

Warning: terrible picture thanks for the impending downpours that day

For an activity, each child made their own coat of arms. They each had a shield that they glued onto black card stock. There are tons of free templates out there. I used one similar to this one. I printed out lots of different symbols and decorations for them to glue on to their shield also mottos to choose from. I also cut strips of construction paper in different colors for anyone to add. Colors are very important in heraldry as each color has its own meaning. (Some of them I kind of fudged a little to fit the colors I had.) I glued a strip of the construction paper next to the word I thought it represented on this sheet.  They also chose a motto from some that I found here and printed up. Once everyone was finished, I had their last names already printed out for them to glue at the top and they shared with the group why they chose the symbols they did. BigBoy said he chose a shell because it reminded him of Cupcake's Baptism. (Melt my heart! Don't worry, he also chose a Badger because he's a Hufflepuff, so he's a real kid too.)

~ Snacks ~

Croissants ~ from France, like Lancelot!

For snacks, I chose three themed based snacks (although two would have been fine). Everyone knew that Lancelot was from France so I prepared some simple cheese croissants (stick a piece of cheese in a croissant, yeah... that simple) to represent France. 

Pears ~ No poisoned ones!

Since one of the stories involved Guinevere accidentally giving a poisoned pear meant for herself to another knight and being charged with murder, my girls sliced some pears (non-poisoned ones). 

Acorns ~ Please don't drop them!

There is also a story in the book about Sir Lancelot plunking acorns down from a tree onto the head of another knight so we thought these little candy acorns would be kind of fun. (I used butterscotch chips for the top and extra melted butterscotch chips to glue them together.) 

~ Extra Activity ~

I had planned about 2 hours of time for book club and I think that was a bit ambitious on my part. I've told the parents that next month will only be an hour and a half. We had some extra time at the end and since the rain hadn't started yet, we played a little bit of Blind Man's Bluff which is a medieval game!

I hope to be better organized about sharing our book club plans in the future. Maybe it will inspire someone else to start up a club for their kids. It doesn't have to be elaborate. I did all of the prep work of for the craft a couple of weeks before. And having my big kids on hand made it even easier!

Links to all of the documents:
Talking Points
Heraldry Symbols (with Papal Coat of Arms)
Meaning of Colors
Heraldry Mottos (the formatting looks a little wonky, don't know why... hmmmm)
Snack Labels

Slow Cooker Chicken Broth

I can make chicken broth in my sleep! 

That sounds like some sort of weird domestic boast, but I mean it quite literally. I made chicken broth overnight in the crockpot while I slept! Whoo hoo!!!

I've heard about people making it this way, but this is the first time I've ever tried it. I followed this recipe except for using parsley instead of basil and adding a bay leaf and some peppercorns in the last few hours. Also, I used about 2 chicken carcasses I has saved and I left the skin on my onion quarters. That makes the broth a deeper golden yellow. (I learned that from all the natural Easter egg dyeing I've done.)

It was really good and so much better for you than the boxed stuff or the cubed stuff (which I admit, I will use in a pinch, I just hate myself later). I used it yesterday to make some Butternut Squash Soup. I used my small crockpot and the recipe yielded about 6 cups of stock. I might try doubling it in my big crockpot especially next summer when the house is too hot to have a pot simmering all day but I want to start stocking up on my stock (hah hah).

{p,h,f,r} October 10

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~ with the lovely ladies at Like Mother, Like Daughter

{pretty}

 You are never too old to get your face painted!

My beautiful big girls! I spied them from the kitchen window sitting on the porch swing talking like sisters tend to do.

{happy}

 The previous pictures were taken while we were back at our Alma Mater for their Family Day kick off to Charity Week. Sean had an errand to run with a friend's son who is a freshman there this year so the kids and I hung out and enjoyed the fun. The big girls got their faces painted just for fun (and charity!) but the littlest one was having none of it. We did buy her a couple of balloons which she was delighted with and she LOVED the Braniff water fountain. It was one of my favorite places too, Cupcake!

{funny}

 This little girl was so silly when she wanted to count (not eat) the chocolate roses and tried to keep her Daddy from stealing some!

And she loves to put on everyone else's shoes. These would be her big brother's giant tennis shoes. The two books {affiliate links} that are lying off to the side are also her big brother's but I think he's cleaned them up by now. Or at least relocated them. It's rare to see them alone like this because they are usually attached to him in some way or another.

{real}

Um...anyone know what this is? It's growing from a vine (?) or branch that is coming over our back fence. I don't think the people behind us have a garden or anything so I'm not quite sure what this is or how it got there. Thoughts, ideas? Just curious.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Coloring Page

Our Lady of Guadalupe coloring page

~ click here ~

Sorrowful Mother Coloring Page

Sorrowful Mother coloring page

~ click here ~

Our Lady of Sorrows Coloring Page

Our Lady of Sorrows coloring page

~ click here ~

Holy Name of Mary Coloring Pages

Holy Name of Mary coloring page

~ click here ~

Marian Names coloring page

~ click here ~

Queenship of Mary Coloring Page

Queenship of Mary coloring page

~ click here ~

Immaculate Conception Coloring Page

Immaculate Conception Coloring Page

~ click here ~

Mary, Mother of God Coloring Page

Mary, Mother of God coloring page

~ click here ~

St. Agnes Coloring Page

St. Agnes coloring page

~ click here ~

WWRW: Moon over Manifest

Brief blog business... if you prefer to use FB as your feed reader in these post Google Reader days (wah-hah-hah!), I have created a page for this here little blog. I will be posting links to my posts and albums with links to coloring pages as a little reminder of what's available. 

You can find me by clicking here.

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The first thing we're reading this week is a delightful new e-magazine published by a couple of very talented young girls. All of my big kids read the first publication and can't wait for the second. Shortcake, my resident writer, especially loved it. It's called Tale and just a slight word of caution, they have no control over the other e-mags that are advertised by their host publisher below their magazine or on the side bar. Be careful if you go clicking around. 

I thought that Josie's review of the second Percy Jackson movie (haven't seen it but read the book) was very well done...clever and funny. The article by C.M. Davidson on dystopian fiction made me consider looking into reading some good dystopian fiction to see if bad dystopian fiction had unfairly colored my perception of the whole genre. But it was her book review of Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool, that saved me from getting trapped in another book series. Unfortunately, our library doesn't have Navigating Early so I decided on Vanderpool's other novel, Moon over Manifest (2011 Newbery Medal book), which turned out to be a great pick!

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
{affiliate link}

Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was. Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.”

 ~ from Amazon 

This book is not an action packed adventure story so compared to what I had been reading it was noticeably slower paced, but not in a bad way. It was interesting and captivating but not in a "sit down in an evening a read the whole thing" kind of way. In fact, the whole story moved like the train that first brings Abilene to Manifest... slow and steadily building up speed as it pulls away and takes you on a ride. This is a book you want to savor! I really didn't want it to end.

The present day story draws you in and unfolds. Soon, it becomes entangled with a story from the past and both stories draw you in like a warm, comfy sofa and and a soft blanket on a cold rainy day as you read to find out how these two tales finally merge. You might have your suspicions, but you don't really know for sure so let them go and just enjoy the stories. It's a wonderfully rich piece of historical fiction giving you glimpses of a tiny immigrant town in Kansas during both The Great Depression and WWI. Abilene's journey searching for a connection to her father in this town he once called home is filled with intrigue and fascination. The newspaper clippings reveal life in a small town through the eyes of a plucky young wanna-be journalist. The letters written by the young doughboy, Ned, who is fighting in France to his friend back home shift slowly from humorous to heartbreaking.

What I didn't expect from this book were the tears. Real tears. Gentle tears. Healing tears. Were they happy tears, you ask? All I will say is that a book with two stories can have both a joyful and a sorrowful ending.

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A couple of points for very sensitive or concerned readers. There is a character who is a "diviner" or fortune teller but only in the sense that she's an old Hungarian woman who the girls think of as a gypsy. Miss Sadie knows a lot about bugs, herbs and telling stories.  In fact, Abilene comments several times that "Miss Sadie was an awful purveyor of the future, but she sure knew how to spin a tale from the past." There is no actual divination or practicing the occult in the book.

Also, since Manifest is a town made up mostly of immigrants, there is also quite a lot of mention of different religions (including a Catholic nun school teacher) but the author is very respectful to all of the religions mentioned. I loved when they were looking for a big enough "trough" like container to use (I won't give away why)...

“But why can’t you do it at the Catholic church? Or the Methodist church?” Mrs. Larkin asked. Shady answered. “Their little fonts wouldn’t do much good. They’re just for sprinkling. It’s the Baptists who enjoy a good full-body dunking.”

Vanderpool, Clare (2010-10-12). Moon Over Manifest (p. 223). Random House Children's Books. Kindle Edition. 

 Because the story is told through the eyes of young Abilene, there are some rather humorous observations about the nun especially when the girls spy her without her veil on (she doubles as the town's midwife to assist at difficult deliveries) and the various religious people in town but like I said, nothing ever disrespectful. Age level recommendations: 10 and up only because it does deal with some heavy subjects like WWI, death, the Spanish Flu Epidemic, alcoholism, the KKK and The Great Depression. All of my big kids (oldest three) have read it and enjoyed it.

Advent?

I wasn't even thinking about Advent yet until Miss Jessica forced me encouraged me to commit to another Jesse Tree Swap. I've done TWO already. This will be the third. But really, it's so much fun to get your box and unwrap each ornament with the kids as they try to guess which symbols the ornament represents. Anyway... if you are interested in a Jesse Tree swap, then head on over to Karen's and sign up quick before Jessica cons anyone else  the spaces are all gone.