Read-at-Home Mom Report: August 2025

August Favorites

No images this month because we just moved, and I'm behind on everything. August wasn't a great reading month, but here are my favorites.

Light in August by William Faulkner
I always love Faulkner. I didn't understand everything in this book, but I followed a good YouTube discussion and really appreciated the excellent, if odd, writing. 

The Bicycle Messenger by Joan Elizabeth Bauer 
I was on the launch team for this beautiful Catholic novel about generational trauma. Chrism Press only publishes five-star books, and this was no exception. 

A Few Fair Days by Jane Gardam 
This vintage middle grade collection of vignettes set in England between the world wars made me laugh out loud, and it's also one of the best-written books I've read in a long time.  Just a delight. 

Kindly Penned by Susanne Ash
I really enjoyed this installment in the Alphabet Sweethearts series. This one involved notes in a Little Free Library, so of course I loved it. 

Family Reading Lists 

M. (girl, 11 years, 9 months)

(She provided the ratings, so I figured I'd share them!)

• Little Men by Louisa May Alcott ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• No Time Like Show Time by Michael Hoeye ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Little House in Brookfield by Maria D. Wilkes ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Little Town at the Crossroads by Maria D. Wilkes ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Little Clearing in the Woods by Maria D. Wilkes ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• About the B'nai Bagels by E.L. Konigsburg ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• On Top of Concord Hill by Maria D. Wilkes ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Black Stallion by Walter Farley ⭐⭐⭐
• The Noonday Friends by Mary Stolz ⭐⭐⭐⭐

C. (girl, 9 years, 11 months)

• Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney 
• Amy and Laura by Marilyn Sachs 
• The Secret of Terror Castle by Robert Arthur 
• About the B'nai Bagels by E.L. Konigsburg 
• The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger
• The Noonday Friends by Mary Stolz 
• The Black Stallion by Walter Farley 
• Doctor Dolittle on the Moon by Hugh Lofting 
• Beyond the Heather Hills by Melissa Wiley 
• High-Rise Secret by Lois Lenski 
• The BFG by Roald Dahl 
• Fog Magic by Julia L. Sauer 
• Underground Alley by William Mayne 
• Black Beauty by Anna Sewell 
• The Gauntlet by Ronald Welch 
• Blue Willow by Doris Gates 

E. (girl, 7 years, 10 months)

• The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• High-Rise Secret by Lois Lenski 
• What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge 

R. (boy, 5 years, 6 months)

• The Happy Hollisters and the Sea Turtle Mystery by Jerry West
• The Happy Hollisters at Pony Hill Farm by Jerry West
• Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint by Jay Williams 
• Danny Dunn on a Desert Island by Jay Williams 
• Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective by Donald Sobol 
• Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch by Donald Sobol
• Ribsy by Beverly Cleary
• The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner 

A. (girl, 5 years, 6 months)

• Bears on Wheels by Stan Berenstain
• Go Dog Go By P.D. Eastman
• Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire 
• Robert the Rose Horse by Joan Heilbroner 
• More Tales of Oliver Pig by Jean Van Leeuwen 
• Johnny Lion's Bad Day by Edith Thacher Hurd 
• A Fish Out of Water by Helen Marion Palmer 
• More Riddles by Bennett Cerf 
• Uncle Elephant by Arnold Lobel 
• Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo! by Rosetta Stone 

My husband 

• Father and I Were Ranchers by Ralph Moody  (this was an audiobook we all listened to in the car)
• A Few Fair Days by Jane Gardam