What we read in 2022

 Since we're almost halfway through May... I'm not behind at all!  :D  I did not read as much last year, as expected.  When I'm not sleeping at night I don't have much brain space to read.  :P  But I still read a fair amount to the girls in the evenings.  I think these are in the order they were read... copied from my Goodreads list; I'm afraid I'm not going to remember all of the things we liked about each book it's been so long.

The Adventures of Nanny Piggins- This book had us all laughing.  It's British, so it's a little weird, but over all is a really fun story of a pig that Nannies for three kids. (Also, she likes chocolate cake.) 

Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates- Certain of my children have shown little inclination to pick up the classics, so I've been trying to read some of the ones everyone should read at least once in their life, if only for the cultural references.  It had been a long time since I have read this book and I don't think I realized how old it really is: 1865.... 😲 I also forgot about how little of the book is actually about Hans Brinker.  Much of it is about a group of his acquaintances who spend a week ice skating around Holland, so the girls got a little bored.  They did enjoy the few funny parts, and Hans and Gretel's story. 

The Boys Start the War (Boy/Girl Battle, #1)- This was a recommendation after I wrote last years list.  :D  They all loved it, and laughed a lot.  A house full of girls (the Malloys) moves in next door to a house full of boys (the Hatfords.... ha!) who want their old neighbors to move back and mayhem ensues. 

A Little Princess- We read an abridged version of this classic.  It's a sweet story and the girls enjoyed it. 

The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom- I read this myself, and loved it.  It's by Andrew Peterson and is almost written memoir style; he tells stories of his life, travels, and trees.  It was really good, and I want to read it again.

The Book of Three (The Chronicles of Prydain, #1)- I read this series by Lloyd Alexander in GS/MS I think.  Maybe more middle school.  I think I found the 3rd book at a book sale once, and got book #1 for Christmas (birthday? It's all running together... I'm still not sleeping all night) so I could start reading the series again.  It's a high fantasy/adventure series and definitely middle grade level, but I wasn't disappointed rereading it as an adult.  :)

Nanny Piggins and the Wicked Plan- I didn't think book 2 of the Nanny Piggins series was quite as fun as the first book, but it was still enjoyable.  There were plenty of funny high jinks for everyone, and the girls liked it. 

The Girls Get Even (Boy/Girl Battle, #2)
Boys Against Girls (Boy/Girl Battle, #3)    
The Girls' Revenge (Boy/Girl Battle, #4) - We kept reading (and laughing)  at the Hatfords and the Malloys... and I had to explain about the Hatfields and Mccoys in real life. 

The Case of the Car-Barkaholic Dog (Hank the Cowdog, #17)
The Case of the Saddle House Robbery (Hank the Cowdog Book 35)- We can count audio books for summer reading at the library, soooo.... we listened to two different Hank the Cowdog books on our way to vacations.  Hank and Drover are hilarious. 😏

 Read All about It: A Kit Classic Volume 1 (American Girls: Kit #1-3)- Cadence got the Kit doll for her birthday so we started reading her stories.  Kit is growing up during the great depression.
Really Truly Ruthie- Ruthie is Kit's friend.  American Girl does such a great job of telling stories about real events without making them seem scary or traumatic. 

Soup- Another recommendation that was a huge hit.  We took this on vacation and I almost fell of the girls' bed I was laughing so hard when the barrel rolled thru the chicken coop... 😂

Thunder from the Sea- the girls seem to like books with adventure and cliffhangers and we all liked this one.

Meet Molly: An American Girl (American Girls: Molly, #1)
Molly Learns a Lesson: A School Story (American Girls: Molly, #2)
Molly's Surprise: A Christmas Story (American Girls: Molly, #3)
Happy Birthday, Molly: A Springtime Story (American Girls: Molly, #4)
Molly Saves the Day: A Summer Story (American Girls: Molly, #5)
Changes for Molly: A Winter Story (American Girls: Molly, #6)- We read the Molly books and learned all about World War II.  They all really liked when Molly uses worms to win the game at camp... of course...  haha. 

Cheaper by the Dozen
Belles on Their Toes- we borrowed these from my Mom.  They are as funny as I remember them being.  They were also written longer ago than seems possible (I'm getting old!) in 1948 and since they are describing their childhoods in the nineteen teens through thirties there was a lot of explaining of what life was like before cell phones.  Ha!  And looking up of pictures of swimwear through the years.  :)   They really liked both books, and I still really want to paint all sorts of educational things all over the walls....

 To the Far Blue Mountains (The Sacketts, #2)- We started listening to this in the car on one of our trips and I finished reading it later at home.  I'm pretty sure I've read all the Sacketts before, but it's always fun to revisit them.  I probably still prefer some of Louis L'amours westerns, but it is a good book.

 Encyclopedia Brown Gets His Man- I remember Encyclopedia Brown from grade school and I still can't figure out who-dun-it without reading the answer to the mysteries in the back.  Oh well.  :P  I'm not sure I would read another one to the girls because it just wasn't a great read-aloud. They're too episodic and don't really have a long 'story' to keep them interested. Definitely more of a book to read to yourself.

Just So Stories- This is a book that everyone should read once in their lives... 😄  So we can all know how the camel actually got his "humph!"  The library had a really beautifully illustrated edition on display that we checked out.  It referenced some of the original drawings, but was definitely more engaging than the black and white line drawings I remember. We all enjoyed most of the stories, some of them were less interesting/ went over their heads a bit but that's ok.   

The Door in the Wall- Classic Newbery book about Medieval England including wars and plagues.  I think they enjoyed it over all.  It has a slower pace and it was about a boy so... haha.  I read it in middle school and still liked it when I read it to the girls. 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever- It's becoming Tradition! (read that in Tevya's voice) to read this one at Christmas time.  It's fun and funny and the Herdmans are as awful as ever.  The older the girls get, the more they are understanding the deeper points the author is trying to get across, so that's fun.

 The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas- We read this because we finished TBCPE and it wasn't quite Christmas yet. :D  Madeleine L'Engle is one of my favorite authors and this is a short, sweet, little book about the Austin family at Christmas time.      

So there you have it... what we read in 2022.  We've made it through a few books already this year, and the stack on my nightstand is experiencing a little bit more turn over the last few months.  I have a bit of a used book problem (I get it honest *cough* Dad *cough* Mom) so the stack to read to the girls and my want to read pile never really gets smaller.  I had a sweatshirt in middle school that said "So many books, so little time" and I feel it.  😝
Blessings.