We finished our first read-aloud of 2014 this week - The Story Girl by L.M. Montgomery. This was part of the L.M. Montgomery reading challenge hosted by my friend Carrie at Reading to Know and it is one of my favorite things about January.
This is the second LMM book that I've read with the girls and I think, at 11, 9, and 7 1/2, they have reached an age where they can wade through Montgomery's lengthy descriptions with the best of them and come out the end with the gist of the story. (Obviously, this is with a read-aloud. The little two definitely aren't ready to wade through her works on their own). Our first was Jane of Lantern Hill which just might be my absolute favorite of her books and one that I recommend anyone starting out with when introducing their kids to LMM.
Our diagram that helped us keep the King family straight during our read-aloud time.
I'll leave you my original post on The Story Girl which explains why I love it, and it's sequel, so much. Some of the comments from my girls at the conclusion of this book were quite humorous, and spot of, after this year's experience with LMM.
From the 7 year old: "I like the stories that The Story Girl tells, but not the other parts of the book."
From the 11 year old: while I can't remember her quote verbatim, she picked up quickly on Montgomery's lengthy descriptions of places and scenery and that many more words seemed to be used that were actually necessary.
From the 9 year old: "When can we get to the part where we find out what is in Cousin Rachel's blue chest?!"
Thanks, Carrie, as always for hosting this challenge every January. The big question, now that we've finished The Story Girl, is do we continue on with The Golden Road or save it for later. One sneaky child looked ahead the table of contents and saw that Aunt Olivia gets married so there may be no holding us back because of course (!) we have got to read about that. : )
Can I just say that the family tree is BRILLIANT?!? I could never remember all the relationships.
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