Do you read more than one book at a time? I do. And apparently, I’m training my kiddos to as well! {grin} We’re reading books for school projects (American Heritage speeches coming up in November!), books for family read-aloud time, books for one-on-one time…and of course, this Momma is reading books on farming, books on parenting and marriage, books I want to preview for my crew, and books that are just for fun!

Here are 10 books lying around our house right now in progress by someone!

1. Viking Quest, #1, Raiders from the Sea. This is our current family read aloud. I pulled this recommendation from a Veritas Press catalog and we love it! The main characters are young (8-14 yo) Irish Christians kidnapped by Vikings. I’m as sucked in as the kiddos and I just found out that our library carries them so we won’t have to wait until Christmas for #2! {smile}

2. Kathleen’s Shaken Dreams. We got the Kathleen 4 book set for the Ladybug for her birthday in August and they are a treasure! She and I are reading this together when we won’t read Viking Quest because we aren’t all together for read-aloud time. This is our “girl time.”

3. Pioneer Plowmaker, John Deere. This is what the boys are reading if we don’t have everyone together to read Viking Quest–like when I’m helping the Ladybug late with her homework and Mr. Fix-It is putting the boys to bed. I find it ok, but the boys are really enjoying it–Mr. Fix-It even told me he read a little bit ahead because it was so interesting.

4. Peleg Chronicles. This series is something new to me and I’ve been reading through it before we decide if the kids will like it or not. In times past, I was a big fantasy fan (although these days not as much). So the idea of fantasy that included “no magic, no humanism, no evolution” (according to the book cover) was both interesting and confusing to me. I mean, what’s left?

Well I have to say, this stuff is FUN! I’m almost done with Book 2, and can’t wait until we can fit this into our family reading rotation. Vision Forum describes it as “…a world of mystery, adventure, and danger in The Peleg Chronicles, a gripping fictional trilogy set in post-Babel times. Paganism abounds, but a remnant of families still believes in Noah’s God.”

5. Childhood of Famous Americans. We’re using this series to help us in research, writing, and prep for the crew’s upcoming American Heritage speech competition. The Ladybug will be Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Cowboy will be Davy Crockett. We have Davy Crockett, Betsy Ross, and Laura Ingalls Wilder from this series and I’m quite pleased. The books are a pretty easy read for 3rd/4th grade and they encompass the person’s entire life within one book. You’re not going to get the breadth and depth of understanding as if you, say, read the entire Little House series. But you’re going to get a good feel for the big picture–which is all you need for a 30-second speech in Kindergarten!

They’re also not completely non-fiction. Here’s how they’ve been described:

Each book in this series includes historical facts with fictionalized details and dialog. Not all of the actions, ideas, and principles of the men and women featured in this series were based on God’s Word, and parents should make this clear to their young readers.  However, positive character-building lessons such as perseverance, courage, and determination are illustrated throughout each biography, and readers will find their interest piqued for future in-depth studies.