Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates

This was read aloud to my 6 year-old.
This was a beautifully written story of a boy growing up in the mountains in a family where shepherding is their way of life. The author has a way with words and is very poetic in the descriptive writing. I enjoyed the reading, but did have to explain things to my 6 year-old, often. Great vocabulary lessons in this reading ( I even learned a new word, cosset, for pet lamb) . It had some sad parts, especially for a sensitive child, but they were handled with tact and led to some deep discussions with my child, which I thoroughly enjoyed. While we are never told the location of the mountains, the story takes us to a place where life is simpler and work is harder.
I recommend this book for a mature age 6 and up.

A Year of Miss Agnes book review

The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill

This was a great book. I read this to my 6 year old son aloud. Be prepared to look up the geography of Alaska as that is the setting of the book. The story is told from the eyes of a school girl who attends a small school where the students are of all ages. They are used to a high turn around of teachers due to their low and sporadic attendance caused by the way of life of the native people and the work they had to do, as well as the horrible fishy smell that permeates the children and their environment. Miss Agnes is an exceptional teacher who truly cares about the children and teaches them the value of an education and gives them hope for a future with many options. She even is able to convince the mother of a deaf girl to allow her to come to school and shows she is capable of learning by showing her sign language. The whole class learns some sign language along with the girl. It is a sweet book with a happy ending. I recomend this book for all ages.