Read Aloud Thursday–July 2015

Hello!  How are you all doing these days?  I feel like I’ve been away for most of the summer and only slowly began making my return this month.  We have been in a fairly consistent read-aloud routine, so that‘s something to smile about.  🙂

This has been the summer of Elizabeth Enright.  We have read both Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away.  We just finished Return to Gone-Away on Tuesday night, so I’m just now sharing my thoughts.  (Do go back and read my short review of the first book in order to get the characters in order.)   This story picks up where the first books ends, more or less, with the Portia and Foster’s family deciding to purchase one of the grand old homes at Gone-Away, the Villa Caprice.  Return to Gone-Away, then, is about their experiences in fixing up this old house, which is full of antiquities and oddities.  There are quite a few adventures and even a mystery, all of the rather mild sort, with just a teensy bit of the creep factor (this being a very old and derelict house).   My favorite part of the story is when Julian and his cronies decide to spend the night in one of the grand old deserted houses (unbeknownst to their families, natch) and spend some terrified moments when their campout is crashed by none other than a billy goat named Uncle Sam (who manages to finish off the tottery old staircase with his clattering and climbing).  Yes, it’s as funny as you might imagine. Another favorite episode is when Portia finds a treasure trove of seashells in the attic of the Villa Caprice, but that’s mostly because we have a resident conchologist at the House of Hope.  In fact, Louise’s bedtime reading this week has been this book, so the obsession runs pretty deep:

Reading of Portia’s discovery was one of those delightfully serendipitous “Oh!  You, too?” moments.  Both girls cited the end, which is a very satisfying conclusion to the mystery of the story, as their favorite part.  Really, the best thing about reading this book for us is the fact that it deals with houses and home, which has been the overarching theme of our summer.  The end of the book says it best:

So at last the new old house had  a new old name to be called by.  Mr. Blake painted the name on a signpost to stand at the entrance of the drive; and Mrs. Blake had it printed at the top of all the letter paper and on the flaps of all the envelopes.

Gradually people began to speak of the place as Amberside, though there were a few diehards who never stopped calling it the Villa Caprice, or, as in the case of Eli Scaynes, the Villa Cay-priss.

But Julian and Joe and Tom and Lucy and Davey never called it anything except “the Blakes’s house”; and Portia and Foster never called it anything but “home.”  All their lives they knew that one of the best things that ever happened to them was to be able to call it that.  (211-12)

{Happy sigh.}  🙂

As always, the very best thing about Enright’s books are the description and characterization.  I shared a quote here that showcases that.  Do we recommend the Gone Away Lake pair?  Yes!  Is it my favorite of Enright’s books?  No.  I will forever and always love the Melendys best.  Any time spent with Enright, though, is time well spent!  (Harcourt, 1961, 1989)

Other Enright reviews here at Hope Is the Word:

• Thimble Summer
• The Saturdays (quote)
• The Four-Story Mistake (quote–look down at Q)
• Then There Were Five (quote, and the funniest one, here) <——— THIS is my favorite of the Melendy books, and it’s definitely worth reding the series just to read this one in its proper order.  <3
• Spiderweb for Two (quote; Christmas quotes here and here)

Steady Eddie is in the middle of reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe aloud now.  I started it after realizing that the DLM is roughly the age Louise was when I first read it aloud to the girls.  Plus, July is the month for Carrie’s Narnia Challenge, and I wanted to get in on it.  After the first chapter or so, though, I decided to invite Steady Eddie into the fun.  He read the whole Narnia series for the first time earlier this year (!!!), so he was happy to jump in.  Our read aloud routine has almost always revolved around our school day, so it hasn’t always been possible for him to participate.  Now, though, we’re busier than ever during the day, so bedtime is the most consistent read-aloud time for us.  (I’m sure we’ll move back to lunchtime reading, too, as we settle back into a school routine.)  I’ve been in and out of the room, busy, during the reading this time, so I can’t say for sure how well it’s going over, but I’m pretty sure it’s a hit.  😉   Just when I think the DLM isn’t listening, he prostrates himself across Steady Eddie’s back (as he‘s lying in the floor) and asks a question, so yes, it’s an unqualified success.  🙂

Picture books aplenty have been consumed this month, but I haven ‘t made note of the more popular titles.  In fact, just as I’m writing this, I hear the DLM “reading” Barnyard Dance aloud to one of the girls (something he loves right now–reading aloud to us!)  Benny just brought Freight Train to me to for us to share, so of course I stopped writing about reading aloud and actually did it.  🙂

I know Steady Eddie has been reading from a collection of Beatrix Potter tales at night to the boys, too, while I’ve read to the girls, and that makes me happy.  🙂

Just when life reaches its craziest, thankfully things (usually!) begin to settle back into place.  That’s the way it has been here, with reading aloud being one of the routines we’ve returned to first.  I’m so thankful for it!

What have you been reading aloud this month?  Please share in the comments!