Our All-Time Favorite Reading Books

Awhile back, one of my first cousins was looking to purchase a book for her nephew for Christmas. She wanted to give him a book that was popular with her age group and asked for our advice.  We thought her suggestion was too mature for his age and level of understanding, so we told her of several other books that we thought would be more appropriate.  That's when I decided to compile a list of our all-time favorite chapter books and I'm finally getting around to it. 😄

(Pssst! Many of them have been made into audio books and movies too. A book and the corresponding CD or DVD  would make an excellent birthday or holiday gift. They can listen to, read and/or watch and compare the story lines. And I was able to find a few free e-books for your I-Pad, Kindle, Lap-Top, Nook, or Smart Phone. They are linked in. Our favorite bookstore is Half-Price Books. We discovered it during our homeschooling days. We also visit our local library and thrift stores for books.)

Author - Book Title(s).
(Many of the books may be appropriate for both boys and girls.)

for boys 

1. Bender, Esther  - Thank God for Rocks.
2. Bowen, Robert Sidney  - Dave Dawson (book series); Dave Dawson on Guadalcanal (audio)
3. Burgess, Thornton W. - The Adventures of Bob White (audio); The Adventures of Buster Bear (audio); The Adventures of Bobby Coon (audio); The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel (audio); The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse (audio); The Adventures of Grandfather Frog (audio); The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat (audio); The Adventures of Johnny Chuck (audio); The Adventures of Lightfoot the Deer (audio);  The Adventures of Mr Mocker (audio); The Adventures of Old Man Coyote (audio); The Adventures of Paddy Beaver (audio); Adventures of Peter Cottontail (audio); The Adventures of Sammy Jay (audio); The Adventures of Prickly Porky (audio); The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum (audio);  The Adventures of Poor Mrs Quack (audio); The Adventures of Reddy Fox (audio); The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk (audio); The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad (audio);  Bowser the Hound (audio);  The Burgess Animal Book for Children (audio); The Burgess Bird Book for Children (audio); Blacky the Crow (audio); Buster Bear's Twins (audio); Happy Jack (audio); How Old Mr. Crow Lost His Double Tongue (audio);  How Old King Eagle Won His White Head (audio); How Old Mr. Mink Taught Himself to Swim (audio); Mother West Wind's Animal Friends (audio); Mother West Wind's Children (audio); Mother West Wind "How" Stories (audio); Mother West Wind When Stories (audio);  Mother West Wind 'Where' Stories (audio); Mother West Wind 'Why' Stories (audio);  Old Mother West Wind (audio); Mrs. Peter Rabbit (audio); Old Granny Fox (audio); Tommy and the Wishing Stone (audio);  Whitefoot the Wood Mouse (audio); Why Hooty the Owl Does Not Play On the Green Meadow (audio)
4. Burroughs, Edgar Rice  - Moon Maid (audio); The Princess of Mars (audio), (book); Son of Tarzan (audio);  Tarzan (book); Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (audio); Tarzan the Terrible (audio); The Land that Time Forgot (audio); 
5. Chesterton, G. K.  - The Wisdom of Father Brown (audio)
6. Cooper, James Fenimore - The Last of the Mohicans (book)
7. Defoe, Daniel  - Robinson Crusoe (audio)
8. Dickens, Charles - A Christmas Carol (video); Oliver Twist [note: video may be disturbing for young children] (video), 
9. Dixon, Franklin W. - the Hardy Boys (mystery series). (video)
10. Douglas, Lloyd C.  - The Robe (book), (video clip)
11. Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan - The Lost World (book); Sherlock Holmes
12. Dumas, Alexandre - The Count of Monte Cristo (audio), (book) ;  The Three Musketeers (audio)
13. ENGLISH FAIRY TALES - Jack & the Beanstalk (video); 
14. Fleming, Ian - Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang 
15. Field, Eugene = The Poems of Eugene Field (book)
16. George, Jean Craighead - My Side of the Mountain
17. Gipson, Fred  - Old Yeller
18. Grahame, Kenneth - The Wind in the Willows (audio), (book) 
19. God - The Holy Bible (book), (audio)
20. Guest, Edgar Albert - Just Folks (book)
21. Haggard, H. Rider  - King Solomon's Mine (book), (audio), (video)
22. Hamner, Jr., Earl  - Spencer's Mountain,  The (Walton's) Homecoming: A Christmas Story (video)
23. Herriot, James (pen name for James Alfred Wight) - All Creatures Great and Small (series); Dog Stories; 
24. Hope, Laura Lee - The Bobbsey Twins (book); The Bobbsey Twins in the Country (audio); The Bobbsey Twins on the Deep Blue Sea (audio); The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore (audio); Merry Days Indoors and Out (audio); 
25. Lawhead, Stephen R. - the Pendragon Cycle (series)
26. Lewis, C.S.  - The Chronicles of Narnia (series). 
27. London, Jack - The Call of the Wild (audio), (book) (video); Sea Wolf (audio); White Fang (audio); 
28. Kipling, Rudyard  - The Jungle Book (audio)
29. Malory, Sir Thomas  - Le Morte Darthur: King Arthur & His Round Table (book)
30. Marzollo, Jean  - I Spy: A Book of Picture Riddles
31. McSpadden, J. Walker - Robin Hood (audio)
32. Munsch, Robert - Love You Forever.
33. Lofting, Hugh - The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle (audio).
34. Nesbit, E.  - The Railway Children (audio)
35. O'Dell, Scott - Island of the Blue Dolphins
36. Pyle, Howard  - Robin Hood (book)
37. Rawls, Wilson  - Where the Red Fern Grows
38. Sayers, Dorothy - Lord Peter Wimsey (adult mystery series) (book)
39. Scott, Sir Walter - Ivanhoe (audio), (book) 
40. Sheldon, Charles M. - In His Steps (book), (video-1) (video-2) (video-3)
41. Stevenson, Robert Louis (some of his writings are on the dark side, but these are okay) - A Child's Garden of Verses (book);  The Black Arrow (audio);  Treasure Island (audio);  
42. Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels (book)
43. Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel  - The Hobbit; The Lord of the Rings (the movie is too intense for little ones)
44. Travers, Pamela Lyndon  - Mary Poppins
45. Twain, Mark (Clemens, Samuel) - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (audio); Huckleberry Finn (audio), (video), The Prince and the Pauper, Tom Sawyer (audio), 
46. Verne, Jules - 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas (audio); Journey to the Center of the Earth (book) 
47. Wallace, Lewis - Ben Hur (book)
48. Warner, Gertrude Chandler  - The Boxcar Children (audio)
49. White, E. B. - Charlotte's Web; Stuart Little.
50. Wright, Harold Bell - The Shepherd of the Hills (book); 
51. Wyss, Johann David - Swiss Family Robinson  (audio), (book)

for girls

Beautiful Girlhood by Mabel Hale. 

1. Alcott, Louisa May  - Eight Cousins (audio); Jack and Jill (audio); Little Men (book); Little Women (audio), (book), (video);  Rose in Bloom (audio), (audio 2); Spinning Wheel Stories (audio)
2. Barnes, Emilie - Sharing a Cup of Kindness with Treasured Friends, The Spirit of Loveliness: Bringing Beauty, Creativity, and Order to Your Life; If Teacups Could Talk: 
3. Brink, Carol Ryrie  - Caddie Woodlawn; The Pink Motel
4. Brown, Ruth Alberta  - At the Little Brown House (book); The Lilac Lady
5. Buck, Pearl S. - The Good Earth.
6. Burnett, Frances Hodgson  - A Little Princess (audio), (book), (video);  Little Lord Fauntleroy (audio),  (book); The Secret Garden (audio), (book); The Shuttle (audio)
7. Childs, Laura =  Cackleberry Club; Scrapbook; Tea (adult cozy mystery series)
8. Finley, Martha - Elsie Dinsmore (book series); Elsie's Children (audio); 
9. Field, Rachel -- Hitty, Her First Hundred Years.
10. Frank, Anne - The Diary of a Young Girl (video)
11. Gates, Doris - The Blue Willow
12. God - The Holy Bible (book)
13. Hale, Mabel - Beautiful Girlhood (audio) 
14. Hill, Grace Livingston - (abt. 100 novels); The Enchanted Barn (audio); The Girl from Montana (audio)
15. Keene, Carolyn  - Dana (mystery series); Nancy Drew (mystery series)
16. Keller, Helen - The Story of My Life (book)
17. Landon, Margaret  - Anna and the King of Siam (video clip; The King and I); Never Dies the Dream
18. Lindgren, Astrid - Pippi Longstocking.
19. MacLachlan, Patricia  - Sarah, Plain and Tall (video)
20. Marshall, Catherine - Christy; Julie
21. Montgomery, Lucy Maud  - Anne of Avonlea (audio); Anne of Green Gables  (audio), (book); Anne's House of Dreams (audio);  Anne of the Island (audio); Emily of the New Moon; Further Chronicles of Avonlea (audio);  Jane of Lantern Hill; Rainbow Valley (audio); 
22. Norton, Mary  - The Borrowers (series)
23. Oke, Janette  - Love Comes Softly (series);
24. Page, Patti  - Once Upon a Dream; This is My Song: A Memoir. 
25. Perrault, Charles - Cinderella (book)
26. Porter, Eleanor H. - Pollyanna (audio), (video clip); Pollyanna Grows Up (audio), (book)
27. Porter, Gene Stratton - Freckles (book); Keeper of the Bees; Laddie (book), (video); The Girl of the Limberlost
28. Potter, Beatrix -  Great Big Treasury (audio);  The Tale of Peter Rabbit (book); Miss Potter (video)
29. Sewell, Anna - Black Beauty (audio), (book) 
30. Shaw, Bernard -Pygmalion (video) (My Fair Lady; Audrey Hepburn version is my favorite)
31. Sidney, Margaret  - Five Little Peppers and How They Grew (book) (video) 
32. Smith, Hannah Whitall -  The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (audio)
33. Spyri, Johanna - Heidi  (audio), (book), (video)
34. ten Boom, Corrie - The Hiding Place; Tramp for the Lord. 
35. Tudor, Tasha - A Tale for Easter.
36. von Trapp, Maria - The Story of the Trapp Family Singers  (video); (movie: Sound of Music) (video clip)
37. Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith - Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. (book); Rose O' The River (audio)
38. Wilder, Laura Ingalls - Little House on the Prairie (series). 
39. Williams, Margary - The Velveteen Rabbit (audio)

MORE:

YouTube Audio Book Playlist. 

From the Paper Trail

✅ 2020 = DISCOVERIES 

I've posted many of our discoveries in articles scattered throughout this blog and on Find-a-grave. Many of the "Documents of..." posts reflect these discoveries and my virtual cemeteries on Find-a-grave also contain some. 

My husband purchased a membership on Ancestry for our wedding anniversary a couple of years ago, so I've been busy filling in a family tree there and making new discoveries through the documents others have discovered for our mutual ancestors. 

* * * * * * * * * * 

✅ 2020 = CONTINUING MY GENEALOGICAL EDUCATION

I continue to pick brains and ask questions of others with more knowledge on a certain subject than I have. 

But I am also watching Ancestry's channel on YouTube, especially Krista Cowan's videos. If you subscribe to their channel, be sure to "ring" the bell and a notification will be sent to your email to alert you that a video has been uploaded to their channel. I often watch and pedal on my armchair stationary bike at the same time, so I get a two-fer in! 😄

* * * * * * * * * *

✅ 2020 = SERVICE

I love transcribing records for publication when someone gives me a chance. I also share my knowledge via my blogs such as this one and my History Nut of Missouri blog (I update them as needed). I also periodically send an email newsletter to interested relatives who are genealogy nuts as well. 😊💁

* * * * * * * * * * 

✅ 2020 = ROUTINES

While I do genealogy most every day, I need to be better at reading those books on my pile. I need to make an appointment with myself and READ! 

I've made a Google Library filled with books I have read and want to read. I need to make a list of books that I need to read from my personal library and add their titles to my google library. And as I finish them, as a person with ADD, I know I will get great satisfaction in checking them off the list. 

I also need to visit the local courthouses, historical sites or societies, libraries, and museums that might have some information about my ancestors. Need to get with hubby and map out plans to do so and put it on the calendar. Time's a wasting! 😄

New Year's Resolutions by Dolores J. Rush, updated 1/1/2020.

Adding in Names, Dates, and Places to Your Scans

I recently read somewhere that when a person dies, a whole library is lost too. Think of all the knowledge and experience the person had acquired during their lifetime. Did they pass on any wisdom to  the next generation, including knowledge of their family tree? Hope so.  

Speaking of the library you carry around in your head,  some things will out-live you, so make sure you pass on what you know about your family. Write down and share some of the best stories of you and your family, things you would be happy for your descendants and extended family to know. Along with that should be paper copies of photographs with labels as to who is in the photo, when it was taken, and where it was taken.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." ~ Philippians 4:8

My husband and I enjoy adding to our knowledge of history by attending events at local historical society museums and genealogical libraries. At one such lecture, the speaker, David Jackson, said we should make paper copies of all our history to preserve it as technology changes way too fast. As an example, he asked everyone in the audience if anyone remembered reel-to-reel audio tapes, 8-tracks or VHS video's and nearly all the mature set raised their hands, while most of the youngsters only looked puzzled. Yeah!

However, it is easier to swap information by email with distant relatives and scanned photographs through attachments in email. Before you share, consider adding in names (take care to spell names correctly) and dates to photographs, either with a permanent blue photograph pencil (most hobby stores carry these in the scrapbook or photograph department) before you scan OR digitally enhance  the scan afterwards by using the Paint or photograph editing program that came with your Windows computer package. You can also use Photoshop or any other photograph editing program, but I can't tell you about how to use those other programs as I self-taught myself to use the Windows Paint program that came with my computer and I am happy to share what I know. Be sure to preserve your original photos in acid-free document sleeves, photograph albums  and/or boxes. DO NOT put them in those cheap magnet albums as the "protective" plastic attached to the pages off-gass and will fade your photos. Ask me how I know this! 😒

This is what the Paint program looks like open. Click on photo to enlarge.

1. To import a scan into the program, click on  "File" and "Open" on the left-hand side of the screen. Select a scan from  "File Explorer > This PC > Picture > Folder"  saved on your computer's hard drive.  Play around with your Paint program. Push buttons and figure out what they do. That's how I learned.

2. You may use the "select" button to crop or delete the scanner bed from the sides of your photographs. You can also resize photographs or rotate them around here also. 

TIP: Create a new photograph from the original by clicking on "File", scroll down to "Save As", find the folder you want to save it in, in "Pictures" on your computer and renaming it before editing. When I save ancestor's photos, I usually name them first with their surname (last name), then a dash or dot - and next, the proper name (first name) and a year date (if I know it)," so the photo at the end of this article of me, would be "Rush-Dolores" in the .PNG file extension or .JPEG format as those seem to be the most used online. 

Keep the original file as a back-up, in case something goes hay-wire in the paint program or you hit the wrong button accidently and the photo goes, poof!, off into cyber-space. Apparently that has happened to quite a few of us. 😬  After you get done with the editing of the second photograph, you'll be saving all the edits you have added to it.

3. The rest of the buttons are the "Tools," "Brushes," "Shapes," "Lines," (gauges thickness of lines), and "Colors" (I wrote an article on my craft blog here on how to figure out the digital color formulas of popular marker colors.)

4. After you have imported your scan into the paint program, click on the "Select," then scroll down to "Transparency" and click on that (I like the transparency as it allows the background to show through the additions to my photographs.) Then move over to the "A" on "Tools", click on it and then move the cursor to a point on your scan to open an "enter" box to add in the information you want (the above sample of my stick figure shows an "enter" box).   You can put the information in anywhere on the photograph, but it's best to stay away from your main focus, usually the face.

I went back up to the tools and chose the font I wanted for the name and date, then went back down to the "enter" box and began typing in the information I wanted to use on the photograph. Since my "photograph" of the stick figure's background was white, I used the contrasting color of black to type in the name and date. But you can choose another color if you so desire, by clicking on the color menu on the toolbar. 

If you decide you want a different font or alpha color, you don't have to erase the current wording (before the dotted enter box disappears). Just highlight the words and change to to the other font or color.  If you make a mistake as you type, you can hit the backwards arrow at the very top of the toolbar to delete it. 

5. If you are happy with everything on the scan, click again on "File," scroll down to "save" and you will have a lovely photograph to share with the relatives through email or at your next family reunion (printed copies). Great-aunt Jane won't have to roll her eyes upwards, tap her cheek with her finger and try to remember who you said that was in the photograph, because the person's name will be right there on the photograph in front of her.

This photograph was taken at the New Santa Fe Historical Society Trails Center after an event there.  Do you see where I placed my name?

Article written by Dolores J. Rush

Yes, Library Cards Can Be Genealogical Documents!

As we've moved into the digital age, library cards have become a thing of the past. Someone asked me just the other day if a library card could be considered a genealogical document and I said, "Why, of course! If it has a name, date, & place on it, then I would consider it a genealogical document." Just think of all the library card treasures that could still be floating around out there! Please rescue them for future genealogists.

For example, a girlfriend gave me a book out of her homeschool library her children had read, because I am studying about steamboats on the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. She must have picked it up at a book sale somewhere as it was stamped with the name of the former repository -- Saint Augustine School, which has since closed.

Although there are no family members of mine or my husband's on the library card below, I have transcribed the names and dates for a future generation to find. The stamp inside the book cover has given the school's name and address and the little card inside the library card pocket has given clues to a child's name, when the child attended school there, what they were interested in at the time, and what classroom they were in.

Due Date -- Borrower's Name -- Room Number

5-22-1966 -- Mike McMurray -- 205

1-19-1968 -- Joe Davis -- 206

11-25-1968 -- Tom Turner -- 205

2-5-1969 -- Marie Brancato -- 206

10-27-1971 -- Mark Seilold -- 205

no date -- Shahon -- no room

Library Card for: Frontiers of America Series: Steamboats to the West. By Edith McCall. Children's Press, USA., 1959.

Repository: Saint Augustine School, 1800 East 79th St, Kansas City, Missouri.

Update (9-21-2016): This library card has been added to the Jackson County, MO USGenWeb site and approved here! My very first contribution!

More to Read:

1. I have found many of the riverboat pilots mentioned in the book on Findagrave and added them to a virtual cemetery here. I eventually hope to find information about a ferry and/or other boats my 3rd great-grandfather may have traveled on.

2. "Finale: St. Augustine's, KCMO" By Curmudgeon. Blog post.

Weekend Ramblers

One habit that remains with us is the learning lifestyle from our former homeschooling days. Long extended vacations remain out of reach of our pocketbook, so we watch armchair travelogues on our three channels of the local PBS TV station KCPT of faraway places and take weekender holidays to explore our home states of Missouri and Kansas.
 

Kansas City's Passport to Adventure



Locally, there is a Passport program called "Kansas City’s Passport to Adventure" we have participated in several years in a row (fully completed one year), the Missouri state parks had a passport patches program we almost completed, and the Missouri Conservation Department had a Lewis and Clark Passport Pin Program we completed two years running. My husband would like to do a Orienteering geo-cache program next.

Missouri State Parks Passport Program

We pack in as much as we can in one weekend, visiting historical sites and cemeteries for family research as well as hitting thrift stores along the way. I take a journey bag with me which includes a travel diary (spiral notebook) and pen to record when and where, a camera, state and county maps, passport program booklets, scissors to trim the grass around flat gravestones and a large paintbrush to brush it off. Also included are mosquito and tick spray, bottles of water, our laptop, and change for photocopies if we happen to stop in a library or historical/genealogical society to do a little research. It is fortunate for us that most of my husband's family resided in central Missouri and some have only recently began to emigrate to the larger cities of Missouri.

2005 MO Conservation Louis & Clark Passport Program





If we are planning a weekend jaunt, we usually make a trip up to the Missouri Tourist Welcome Center off of I-70 highway (Exit 9, 4010 Blue Ridge Cut-off) above the Kansas City Ball Stadiums for FREE tourist brochures along our route and to pick up a new Missouri Vacation Guide. There are a couple of little free advert-papers like "Discover Mid-America" that cater to shopping locations that we also take. Recently while attending an Order No. 11 Memorial Marker Dedication at the Butler, Mo courthouse lawn (3-22-2014), we learned of a new tour guide by Diane Eickhoff and Aaron Barnhart called "The Big Divide." It features historic and Civil War sites in the Missouri-Kansas Border Region. We found a hard copy that we can order through our local library, but I also found a couple of copies on eBay for sale. 

2006 MO Conservation Louis & Clark Passport Program



And speaking of weekend jaunts, the annual Rush Reunion is coming up the second weekend of July. We still snail-mail out reminder sheets every year to the event. If you aren't on the list and would like to be, please leave a message in the comments below. I have comment moderation set up on this blog so unless I have your permission to do so, I will not publish your home or email address under this article.

[Postscript: I found this article on cleaning gravestones along with a list of supplies needed.]

Family Interviews

Having trouble coming up with questions to ask during family interviews? There are a couple of resources one can use to pick your relative’s brains for facts about their family to move forward in your research.

One is a little spiral book called “Mom Share Your Life With Me.” By Kathleen Lashier. PO Box 821, Marshalltown, IA 50158. @ 1993. It’s a one-memory-question-a-day (365) book. There is also another book in the series called “Dad, Share Your Life With Me.” I found my unused Mom book at a thrift store, so it might be available online.  (check out my google library link)

If you are/were a homeschooler like we were, our support group passed around a list of questions that we could use to jumpstart our young student’s daily journaling (creative writing practice). Teacher mama or Principal Daddy would photocopy the questions, cut the questions into strips, then place them into a decorated jar. If the pre-teen/teenager was stumped for a subject to write about on a particular day, (s)he withdrew one question to write about. The following sample questions can be reworded to your particular need and most can be used as a beginning point to document your family history.

Journaling Jar Questions

1. Are there any family heirlooms in your possession? What are they?
2. Describe a favorite childhood friend and something you did with her or him.
3. Describe family traditions you remember from your childhood.
4. Did you go to Sunday school? What did you do there?
5. Did you have a close relationship with any of your grandparents? Tell about it.
6. Did you participate in any summer camps or mission trips?
7. Did you receive your education somewhere other than public school?
8. Do you regularly attend weekly church services? Where? Are you a member?
9. Do you know where any family members are buried?
10. Tell about ancestors you know about--names, dates, history etc.
11. Tell about any conditions surrounding your birth that you are aware of. Tell any interesting stories about your beginnings, how your name was chosen, etc.
12. Tell about your mother, characteristics, talents, temperament, family stories, and her role.
13. Tell a courtship story about your parents, how they met, etc.
14. Tell family stories about your Dad. What was his role in your home?
15. Were there any events national, global or local that changed your life?
16. Were you baptised or dedicated as an infant? If so, where and by whom?
17. What is the spiritual heritage you've inherited from your ancestors?
18. Have you ever stood up for what you believe, even when it was very hard? Tell about it.
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I love Mary Engelbreit's art work. She is a St. Louis, MO. artist and have several books of hers as well as many of her collectibles like cards, coffee mugs, fabric, stationary, rubber stamps, teacups, tins, and so forth. Most of the items I find junking at thrift stores, garage sales, and at flea markets. David recently unearthed a 1993 book for me she illustrated called “A Mother’s Journal: A Collection of Family Memories.” It’s a fill-in-the-blank scrapbook with many questions to jog mom’s brain cells, help her organize her collection of family memories, and to present to her descendants. There are even pages for photographs.

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