Book Review: A Place to Come Back To (1984) and The Love of Friends (1997) by Nancy Bond

A Place To Come Back To and The Love of Friends are the sequels to The Best of Enemies (1978). In book two, A Place To Come Back To, Charlotte, now a teenager, struggles to help her friend Oliver when the death of his great uncle threatens the life he has established for himself in Concord. Charlotte tries to be helpful, but her naivete surrounding family dysfunction frustrates Oliver and strains their relationship. In book three, The Love of Friends, Oliver once again introduces a stressful situation by having Charlotte come to visit him in London without his parents' knowledge. As they masquerade as adults and take a secret side journey to Scotland, Oliver meets with an old friend of his great-uncle (a character the reader has previously met in book one) and Charlotte tries to advise a young woman who has recently discovered she is pregnant.

While I very much enjoy the way Nancy Bond writes, the second book was largely a let-down after the excellence of the first one. Oliver is endlessly frustrating and depressing to spend time with, and though I completely understood Charlotte's lack of perspective about his emotional demands on her, and even his inability to process his grief, it still drove me nuts that he was constantly so selfish and that she never seemed to be bothered enough to say anything. The second book ended on such a sad and uncertain note, however, that there was no way I wasn't going to read the last one. 

Unfortunately, the third book suffers from the same frustrating issues, just on another continent. I am usually not much for books whose sole purpose is to empower girls because they come across as preachy, but Charlotte is so passive and there is so little evidence that she ever figures out how to stand up for herself in her weird friendship with Oliver, that I was almost desperate for a girl power message. Somehow, too, the third book is suddenly very concerned with sneaking in more progressive content, including a gay couple and the possibility of an abortion. These things have no bearing at all on Charlotte or Oliver, so they read like gratuitous pandering to trends in the greater culture in the late '90s. (And this doesn't make much sense, since the first book was published in 1978 and only about three years pass from book one to book three.) The British setting was fun, but all the emotional baggage weighs down the book as a whole. 

Overall, these two books reminded me a lot of Madeleine L'Engle's books about Vicky Austin and Zachary Gray.  The writing is great, but sometimes I had to wonder what the point of this friendship was. The whimsy and mystery of The Best of Enemies is just totally missing from these sequels, and I finished the series feeling more depressed than hopeful for these characters. We own all three books now, so we may hang onto them, but truly the only one I would be likely to give to my kids to actually read is that first book. 

Favorite Authors I Discovered in 2020

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is New-to-Me Authors I Read in 2020. I discovered quite a few authors for the first time last year, and added some new favorites to my list. Here are ten, in no particular order.

• Jan Karon
  I have known of Jan Karon and her Mitford books for a long time, but had always dismissed them, thinking they would be too saccharine or preachy. But someone on Instagram mentioned that At Home in Mitford had strong fall vibes when I was looking for autumn-themed reading material, and I decided to try the audiobook. Between September and the end of the year I ended up reading 8 of these books!
  
  
• Rosamunde Pilcher
  This is another author I'd heard of but had never tried for myself. In September, I read September  and in December, I read Winter Solstice. Both were very cozy, relaxing reads.
  
  
• Anne Rivers Siddons
  I found Colony by this author when I was looking for pre-2000 women's fiction to listen to over the summer. I loved it so much that I bought several others of the author's books, including Outer Banks, which I also really enjoyed.
  
  
• Fredrik Backman
  I wanted to try this author, and I decided to start with Beartown. I loved the writing, and I thought he handled difficult subject matter very tastefully and gracefully. I plan to read more of his books in 2021.
  
  
• Beth O'Leary
  I downloaded the audio review copy of The Switch from NetGalley and really loved the story. I am planning to read The Flatshare by this author in 2021.
  
  
• Katherine Center
  I read Things You Save in a Fire because the description sounded interesting. I then immediately downloaded the ARC of What You Wish For from Edelweiss. I like that these are love stories with some substance.  
  
  
• Abby Jimenez
  The Happy Ever After Playlist was one of the books in the Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Reading Guide. It was the perfect summer read.  
  
  
• Abbi Waxman
  I read both The Bookish Life of Nina Hill and I Was Told It Would Get Easier and then I bought Other People's Houses and The Garden of Small Beginnings for Kindle. I love the way Waxman writes.
  
  
• Anne Tyler 
  Redhead by the Side of the Road from the Modern Mrs. Darcy summer reading guide was my first Anne Tyler and I gave it five stars. 
  
  
• Wendell Berry
  I had been saying for years I was going to try Wendell Berry and in 2020 I decided to read Hannah Coulter. It was beautifully written and it was one of my favorites of the year. 

Homeschool Update: Week of 1/18/21

Morning Time 

• Poems from Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year selected by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon (Nosy Crow, 2018): "White Fields" by James Stephens, "A Morning Walk" a Southern Paiute song translated by John Wesley Powell, "Small, Smaller" by Russell Hoban, "Over wintry wind-whipped waves" by Anonymous, "Shell" by Ted Hughes 
• Articles from: National Geographic Explorer: Trailblazer Women in Science Issue 
• Art appreciation: Route 6, Eastham. by Edward Hopper from Come Look with Me: Exploring Landscape Art with Children by Gladys S. Blizzard 
• Singing: Red River Valley, Gloria from Mass VIII (Missa de Angelis)
• Memory work: C.: continents, directions, planets, months, days of the week, "The Tiger" by William Blake; M: marks of the church, 7 sacraments, oceans, Great Lakes, 50 states, 13 colonies, first eight books of the Bible, "A Christmas Carol" by Kenneth Grahame; E: numbers 1-10, letters of the alphabet 
• Catechism: Lesson 14, The Resurrection and Life Everlasting and Lesson 15, The Two Great Commandments from The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism 
• Music Appreciation: "A Midsummer Night's Dream: Scherzo" by Felix Mendelssohn 

Science

This week we learned about the water cycle. We read Water for Dinosaurs and You by Roma Gans and conducted experiments with evaporation as described in Early Elementary Science Education by Shannon Jordan. We also watched several water cycle videos: 

• How Does Water Evaporate? from Plum Landing
• The Great Aqua Adventure from Crash Course Kids
• The Water Cycle from the National Science Foundation
• The Water Cycle from Dr. Binocs

M. did her first mission with her Go Pi Go robot: creating an obstacle course. 

History

M. read Joan of Arc by Josephine Poole and Angela Barrett and Joan of Arc by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel and  she colored a stained glass coloring book page of her image from Shining Light Dolls. She also looked at Rulers of Britain by Peter Somerset Fry, Chaucer and His World by Ian Serraillier, The Canterbury Tales by Selina Hastings and Reg Cartwright, The Canterbury Tales: An Illustrated Edition,  and A Taste of Chaucer: Selections from The Canterbury Tales by Anne Malcolmson. She watched What Was Life Like? | Episode 5: Medieval - Meet a Medieval Monk, What Was Life Like? | Episode 6: Castles - Meet A Medieval Noblewoman, and the three episodes of Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War. She;s also working on memorizing the monarchs of England through the Plantagenets using this rhyme.

C. started reading History Can Be Fun by Munro Leaf, and she was introduced to pyramids, pharaohs and papyrus, Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates and the Phoenicians. She really loves this book and is really excited to read it each day. She reads it aloud to me, and I just jump in to help with tricky vocabulary.

Math

C. has gone back to working on Singapore math. She is working on the money exercises using the skills she practiced in the Complete Book of Time and Money. 

M. took a break from Singapore this week to get some extra practice reducing fractions to their simplest forms. I generated worksheets of 20 problems, and she worked on ten each day. 

Reading and Writing 

M. continued reading Our Little Crusader Cousin of Long Ago to Gran on Skype. (They will finish by the end of next week.)

C. is now reading Henry and Beezus by Beverly Cleary.  

Instrumental Music

Both girls practiced piano and recorder

Other Activities

On Wednesday, the girls painted with tempera paint. On Friday, they had a masked playdate outside with friends.

Homeschool Update: Week of 1/11/21

Morning Time 

• Poems from Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year selected by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon (Nosy Crow, 2018): "Winter Days" by Gareth Owen, "Snow in the Suburbs" by Thomas Hardy, "A Hard Winter" by Wes Magee, "In the Garden" by Anonymous, "Once I Saw a Little Bird" by Anonymous
• Articles from Kids Discover magazine: The Middle Ages (This was much better written than the previous week's issue about bicycles. It was engaging for C., for whom it was new, and M., for whom it was review.)
• Art Appreciation: New York Waterfront by Stuart Davis from Come Look with Me: Exploring Landscape Art with Children by Gladys S. Blizzard 
• Singing: Red River Valley
• Memory work: C.: continents, directions, planets, months, days of the week, "The Tiger" by William Blake, address, phone number; M: marks of the church, 7 sacraments, oceans, Great Lakes, 50 states, 13 colonies, first eight books of the Bible, "A Christmas Carol" by Kenneth Grahame; E: numbers 1-10
• Music Appreciation: Symphony No. 94, "Surprise": Second Movement by Franz Joseph Haydn

Science

We worked some with magnets over the summer before deciding on our science schedule for the school year, so much of this unit was review. We watched a few videos, including some about about maglevs that both M. and C. found really interesting:  

• All About Maglev
• How Maglev Trains Work?
• Suspended Magnet: Attraction and Repulsion
• Science Max Magnets Part 2

C. also did her first Kiwi Crate this week. She made an arcade claw and some pom pom friends to grab with it. She loved this project and can't wait for the next one. 

History 

M. read about the development of Parliament in A Picturesque Tale of Progress. She also read The Bayeux Tapestry: The story of the Norman Conquest: 1066 by Norman Denny and Josephine Filmer-Sankey, The Norman Conquest by Walter C. Hodges, Magna Carta by Walter C. Hodges, and Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz. She watched The Bayeux Tapestry - all of it, from start to finish, The Animated Bayeux Tapestry, History at Home Live! – 1066 and the Battle of Hastings, The Story of Magna Carta, What Was Life Like? | Episode 3: Anglo-Saxons - Meet an Anglo-Saxon Warrior, and What Was Life Like? | Episode 4: Normans - Meet William the Conqueror and King Harold. She also looked at a panoramic image of the Bayeux Tapestry and she visited BayeuxTapestry.org.

C. finished The Big Golden Book of Cavemen and Other Prehistoric People. She watched a few videos to finish out this topic:  

• Cave Art 101
• Lascaux Cave and the Stunning Primordial Art of a Long Lost World
• Ice Age Cave Art

Math

C. finished counting with quarters in the Complete Book of Time and Money. M. continued working on fractions in Singapore 3B.

Reading and Writing 

C. read Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary. M. continued reading aloud Our Little Crusader Cousin of Long Ago to Gran over Skype. She also read Ramona and her Father, Ramona and her Mother, and Ramona Quimby Age 8 on her own. 

Instrumental Music

Both girls practiced piano and recorder every day.

Other activities 

The girls did their exercise video from the Ten Thousand Method  and had a masked outdoor playdate on Friday. 

Read-at-Home Kids Report: Candlewick Picture Books (November 2020)

I fell behind on reviewing picture books at the end of 2020, but even though these have been out for a few months now, I think it's still worth sharing my three oldest girls' thoughts (and mine) about these titles.

Ellie's Dragon by Bob Graham

When she is very small, Ellie, the daughter of a single mom, finds a newly hatched dragon whom she names Scratch. Though none of the adults in her life can see him, Scratch goes everywhere with Ellie - even to preschool. As Ellie approaches the teen years, however, her need for Scratch diminishes until one day he leaves Ellie to find a new friend.

All three girls liked this one. Little Bo Peep (5 years, 3 months), said her favorite parts were when Ellie named the dragon and when the dragon found a new friend. For Little Jumping Joan (3 years, 2 months) ., the best part of the book was the illustration where Scratch first flew. Little Miss Muffet (7 years, 1 month) said her favorite part was when Ellie found Scratch. I thought the story was really similar to "Puff the Magic Dragon" and I went back and forth between thinking the song and story would make a good pairing and feeling like the book was unnecessary since we already have the song.

Mr. Brown's Bad Day by Lou Peacock, illustrated by Alison Friend

Mr. Brown, a tiger who is a very important businessman, has a bad day when a baby elephant snatches his briefcase, sending it on a path that leads Mr. Brown all over town. The briefcase has very important items inside, and Mr. Brown just can't rest until he has them back.

Little Bo Peep enjoyed the fact that different animals kept ending up in the briefcase. She especially liked the baby elephant. Little Jumping Joan liked that the baby elephant hung the briefcase from the ice cream vendor's cart. Miss Muffet said her favorite part was the ending, which got a big "Awww" from all three girls. The ending didn't work as well for me, but I think it got the intended reaction out of the girls.

Can Bears Ski? by Raymond Antrobus, illustrated by Polly Dunbar

Little Bear doesn't know whether bears can ski, and he is tired of being asked, until he and his dad visit an audiologist who helps him realize people are asking, "Can you hear me?" After he is fitted for hearing aides, the answer to that question becomes a resounding yes.

The girls did not get this one. They could not understand that, to someone reading lips "Can bears ski?" and "Can you hear me?" might look alike. The ending was also too subtle for them to grasp and trying to make sense of the last page distracted them from talking about anything else in the book. I tried multiple ways of explaining it, but while they could appreciate that Little Bear could not hear, the story focused their questions on the meaning of the text rather than the implications of Little Bear's discovery.

Homeschool Update: Week of 1/4/21

Morning Time 

• Poems from Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year selected by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon (Nosy Crow, 2018): "January" by Winifred C. Marshall, "Birch Trees" by John Richard Moreland, "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost, "Diamond Poem" by John Foster, "Snowflakes" by Leroy F. Jackson
• Articles from Kids Discover magazine Bicycles issue 
• Art appreciation: Day and Night by M.C. Escher from Come Look with Me: Exploring Landscape Art with Children by Gladys S. Blizzard 
• Singing: We Three Kings  
• Memory work: C.: continents, directions, planets, months, days of the week, excerpt from the Gospel of Luke; M: marks of the church, 7 sacraments, oceans, Great Lakes, 50 states, 13 colonies, first eight books of the Bible, "A Christmas Carol" by Kenneth Grahame; E: numbers 1-10
• Music Appreciation: Amahl and the Night Visitors 

Science 

We moved things around in our schedule for this second half of the school year, so now we're doing science immediately after breakfast instead of after lunch. This week, we revisited magnets, which we covered over the summer, but which came up again in BFSU and EESE. We reviewed the first two parts of the lesson in EESE and then watched some videos: 

• Fun with Magnets from SciShow Kids 
• Magnetism 
• Magnetism from Dr. Binocs 
• Magnetic Fields with Iron Filings 

The favorites for both girls were the SciShow Kids and Dr. Binocs videos. They actually retained everything we covered over the summer, too, so I think that added to their interest in the videos. 

E. opened her first Koala Crate, the theme of which was rainbows. She made a rainbow pillow, a tie-dyed tote bag, and a stained glass window craft. She absolutely loved it, and has been sleeping with the pillow every night. 

History

C. finished her Sticker Histories book about the Ice Age and went back to reading from The Big Golden Book of Cavemen and Other Prehistoric People. 

M. finished learning about medieval Spain by reading about the Alhambra. She then discussed it with Gran, who has been there. Then she started on medieval England with the story of Beowulf in A Picturesque Tale of Progress.  

Math

C. spent some time with real coins reviewing their values and continued workings with dimes, nickels, and pennies in The Complete Book of Time and Money. We had been having her fill out the worksheets on the computer, but because so many of the pages started involving coloring and matching, we printed out a few of them for her to be able to work on without having to master the stylus. 

Reading and Writing 

C. continued reading Twig, and after finishing it, drew a picture of the characters. M. zipped through two Ramona books: Ramona and her Father and Ramona and her Mother. She has been enjoying reading in my bedroom closet, and if she isn't interrupted will happily sit in there and read an entire book in a single afternoon. M. also worked on her Christmas thank-you notes and continued reading Our Little Crusader Cousin of Long Ago on Skype with Gran. 

Instrumental Music

M. and C. both practiced piano and recorder daily.

Art

Of her own volition, M. drew a picture of an ear cleaner (called "CleanEar") that she invented.

Other Activities

We had a masked playdate with the grandkids of our next door neighbors. We also attended a Latin Mass at a new parish, and M. followed along with the Latin. 

An Open Book: January 2021

This year, I've decided to join in each month with An Open Book, a link-up hosted by Carolyn Astfalk at CatholicMom.com and My Scribbler's Heart where everyone shares what they and/or their families are currently reading. I'm getting this one in just under the wire, but hopefully I'll be better prepared for next month.

I recently stayed up until 2 o'clock in the morning to finish the latest middle grade novel by Gary D. Schmidt, Just Like That, which just came out January 5th. Something horrible happens to a beloved character from one of Schmidt's previous novels in the first chapter, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to enjoy the book after that, but happily that was not the case. This was a definite five-star read for me. 

This month I'm also slowly working my way through The Heart of the Family by Elizabeth Goudge and a re-read of The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as the audiobook of The Late Show by Michael Connelly, which has a really interesting female detective as its lead character and an obscure 1990s middle grade novel called The Love of Friends by Nancy Bond. I've also been reading aloud to my three oldest girls at lunch time and right before bed. We just finished Nancy and Plum by Betty MacDonald and now we're reading Felicia the Critic by Ellen Conford. 

My husband is reading Bartholomew Fair by Mary Stolz. I haven't read it yet myself, but it's a middle grade novel that follows several characters, including Queen Elizabeth, as they attend London's Bartholomew Fair in 1598. He says it's pretty disappointing because while the author is an excellent writer, historical fiction is not her forte.

My daughter, M., age 7, is  getting back into the Ramona series. She was very early to learn to read and read several of the books when she was 5, and we cut her off for a while and said she needed to be a bit older to appreciate the others. She now has the green light to finish the series. She has been holing up in my walk-in bedroom closet to read, and so far this month she has finished Ramona and her Father and Ramona and her Mother. 

My daughter, C., age 5, has been reading Twig by Elizabeth Orton Jones. At first she had trouble getting into it, and then suddenly she had only a few chapters left. Her plan is to read Henry Huggins next. 

My daughter, E., age 3, is really into the Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCamillo. She loves that Mercy likes to eat toast "with a great deal of butter on it" and she enjoys looking at the illustrations to retell the story after it is read aloud to her. Her current favorite title from the series is the final book, Something Wonky This Way Comes. 

My twins, daughter A. and son R., age 9 months, have been listening to nursery rhymes in the board books by Claire Beaton that they received for Christmas. I also recite nursery rhymes to them, and R. has taken a particular liking to "Doctor Foster went to Gloucester."