Good morning and happy Friday!! I am officially on summer break and our first trip of the summer begins TOMORROW! Bright and early tomorrow morning we are headed to Steamboat Springs, Colorado and I am super pumped about it. I am looking forward to some hiking, "exploring" as Lily Grace calls it, and a lot of reading and relaxation. The perfect way to kick off summer!
Today I am linking up with Erika and instead of my typical Friday Favorites post, this week I am sharing the books I read in the month of May. Now, the books I read in May were good, but the books I read LAST month, were GREAT. If you are looking for some good summer reading books, I would check out my post about last month's books. You can not go wrong with any of them!
Here are the books I read in May:
Barefoot and Balanced: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children-- This book was on my Amazon recommendations because of some other parenting books I've read (probably Simplicity Parenting, which I LOVED). I figured I would check it out and I'm so happy I did. This book is written by a pediatric occupational therapist and she talks a lot about the importance of children spending unstructured time outside in nature. The author says how a little time outside each day can help with a myriad of things, including cognitive and physical development as well as help children with ADHD, anxiety disorders, and sensory processing disorders. As a teacher I can attest to the fact that these are all things we have seen a significant rise in the past 10+ years. I really enjoyed this book and recommended it to multiple people. I give it an A+!
A Fine Imitation-- This book would've made for a perfect beach read. Without giving too much away it is about a woman who grows up in a wealthy family in NYC in the 20's and marries well to continue her family's tradition of being a part of NYC's upper crust. She and her husband hire a painter from France to come paint a mural in their building and the story really takes off from there. I loved the glimpse into the privileged Manhattan socialites of the 1920's. This book has the perfect combination of romance, a glimpse into another time period/world, and intrigue/mystery. I give it an A too!
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The Danish Way of Parenting-- Before I started reading this Devin's comment was "How many parenting books can one person read??". I don't know why, but I am so fascinated by how other people/cultures raise their children. I don't necessarily make any changes to how we do things in our house, but I like seeing another perspective and why people do what they do. I have read several international books on parenting: Bringing Up Bebe (An American mom's take on the French style of parenting-- I loved it!), Achtung Baby (same thing but the German version, I was not a fan), and now this one The Danish Way of Parenting. This one didn't really have anything all that new in it, it really could've just been called "Down to Earth Parenting". One thing I really did like though was the focus on having "hygge" together as a family... basically device-free family time together as often as possible. It suggested going outside for a nature walk, staying inside and doing a puzzle together or playing board games. Overall I'd give this book a B, but if you also like reading about how other cultures raise children I'd definitely add it to your list!
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win WW2-- This book was a fascinating look at a female spy who helped the French Resistance throughout WW2. This book follows the life of Virginia Hall during her time helping to turn the tides of the war. Because she was a woman and an amputee, no one expected anything from her, especially not the Germans occupying France. Little did they know the amount of work she was capable of pulling off. Eventually the Gestapo catch on to her and she is referred to as "the most dangerous of all Allied spies". If you love WW2 history or inspiring books about women who rise above their circumstances, this would be a good book for you. I gave it a B+ only because some places were a little wordier than I felt necessary. I understand the amount of research the author did to write this book, but we didn't need every.single.detail.
Those were the 4 books I read this past month! I've already finished 1 for the month of June and have moved on to the next. So far they've both been GREAT! Can't wait to tell you more about them later!
Have a great weekend!!
I try to encourage my boys to get outside all the time. My youngest two often take off for hours in the woods near our house playing together; they're 11 & 13 so I realize this might not last much longer but I know I feel more relaxed after a nice long hike in the woods.
ReplyDeleteThat's so great! I bet they will love looking back on those memories when they're older.
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