Doug writes: "During the mid-80's, I attended a Bible study in the home of a member of the Hunt family. Reading this book was like stumbling upon my friend's private diary and taking a peek. On the one hand, I could not turn away, but on the other, I felt a little guilty with each new revelation. While each of the four families featured in the book had their complexities, clearly the Hunt family story was the most convoluted. In fact, knowing what I learned in the book only deepens my already great respect for my friend, who managed to rise above it all.
Beyond that personal note, the book was absolutely riveting. I literally couldn't put it down, and since it was on my iPhone, I would read a page or two at every stoplight, and then stay up late at night to read a few pages more. As the saga unfolded, I found myself vacillating between the two poles of pride and embarrassment on behalf of my native Texas. In the end, pride won out.
I strongly recommend this book for anyone who wants to understand Texas, oil, or the history of conservative American politics. It is a fascinating story. As big as Texas. "

"In a city ravaged by war, a defiant young musician decides to play his cello at the site of a mortar attack for twenty-two days, in memory of his fallen friends and neighbors." Our daughter Bethany recommended this book to her father, who ordered it on his iPhone immediately and kept our entire family enthralled with a running synopsis over dinner each night. Now, David and Samuel have downloaded it to their phones, and Mom is reading a hard copy aloud to the children. This true account tells how one man uses his gift for music to offer hope and courage to his besieged comrades, even as their enemies strive deperately to silence him.

This book addresses the problems that occur when children are given everything they want, but not what they most desperately need: parents who love them enough to set some limits. Dr. Kindlon writes: "[Children must] learn at an early age, even if it's painful, that their needs don't always come first and that the world does not revolve around them.... [T]his is one of the most important lessons that we can teach them." This book validated a couple of my own long held beliefs; namely, that the family dinner hour is extremely important and should be jealously guarded, and that children grow up to be more successful who are required to do regular household chores. The financial struggles many parents are facing in these hard economic times may actually be one of the best things that ever happened to their children.

I just finished reading Farmer Boy aloud to my children yesterday afternoon. It was my sixth or seventh time to do so, although my youngest children were hearing it for the first time. Probably because I am mother to so many boys, this is my favorite of all the Little House books. It describes the childhood of Laura Ingalls Wilder's husband Almanzo, and is chock full of endearing stories, memorable lessons, hard work, simple pleasures, and lots of mouth-watering descriptions of hot, home-cooked meals. Reading it always puts me in the mood to bake pies and clean house and sew clothes and dig potatos and a hundred other things. What's even better, listening to it puts my children in the mood to help!

Rebekah asked that I include this book on our list of current reads, as she has thoroughly enjoyed working her way through it over the past couple of months (and the rest of us have benefited as eager taste-testers!). The recipes truly are "Quick and Easy," with large, color photographs that provide easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions. She and Rachel can follow any of them with minimal help (I did have to teach them how to properly zest an orange), which was a big blessing during the first few weeks following Abigail's birth.

Subtitled "The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs," this book will help you save money even if you haven't much time to spend clipping coupons. "Busy" shoppers will learn how less than five minutes of planning before a shopping trip can reduce their grocery bill by 20-25%, even if they never touch a pair of scissors. "Rookie" shoppers will learn new tips to shave their grocery bill by 40-50% by redeeming manufacturer's coupons when products are already on sale. And veteran couponers will learn how to combine these saving strategies with advertised specials, electronic coupons, clearance sales, and rebate offers to "make every bite a bargain" and routinely save up to 90% off their grocery bill. The author's methods are very user friendly, no matter what your shopping style.

Do you say you believe in God, but live with worry or guilt or fear? Do you claim to love God, but seldom pray or read His word? Craig Groeschel's book examines these and many other areas of our lives where our walk may not match our talk. Read it, and don't be surprised if you discover a few blind spots yourself.

Doug writes: "I'm convinced [this] is the best book I've ever read, or a least the one I most needed to read right now. I was trying to describe it to another friend and was reminded of a little game I often play to help me clarify what is most important in my life at any given moment. I simply ask myself what I would do if I won the lottery and never had to work again. Then I try to figure out how to do those things without actually winning the lottery. That is how I ended up building a giant treehouse with my kids, and writing the [novel I finished recently], and a myriad other little things. With the success of his first book, Don Miller basically won the lottery. What he has done since then as described in this book is no less than amazing and an inspiration to us all. Keep up the good work and don't stop writing! "

Several of our older kids are working through this book over their summer break. I like the way it is organized. Students are given five new words to learn each day and two or three short exercises to help them do so. A cumulative review every Friday serves to cement the definitions into their long-term memory. This consumeable workbook includes 46 weeks worth of activities, all of which can be completed in about 15 minutes a day.

I enjoyed listening to Rachel and Rebekah laugh over this book as they read it in their beds before turning in one night recently. Since Doug has always been a huge fan of Lloyd Alexander, he actually read it to me and the older kids many long years ago, but I didn't recall much of the storyline until the girls jogged my memory. They say their favorite part was how the main character "could smell and do a lot of cat things, like jumping over walls and chasing rats, even after he had been changed into a man." Both girls plan to read it aloud to their own children someday, although they "don't know what other people would think about the book, since it has a wizard in it," albeit a wizard who prefers "doing things like cooking the old-fashioned way, instead of using magic."

I know this book was written for fathers, but I'm actually the one who read it in our family. I like the fact that author Mike Farris is the homeschooling father of ten children, and have enjoyed the books both he and his wife have written previously. In this one, Farris suggests practical ways for dads to give their girls the guidance they need and the affirmation they crave throughout their growning up years. Compact and quickly read, it would make a great gift idea for Father's Day....

Debbie Lillard's "Guide to a No-Stress Schedule and Clutter-Free Home" is a great starting place for anyone desiring a more orderly life and home. From scheduling babies to storing beach balls to sanitizing bathrooms, this short book covers all the bases. Plenty of photos, charts and diagrams make it fun to read, easy to understand, and simple to implement.

If our current reading section seems sparcer than in seasons past, it is because the writing and proofreading of our own books has taken up so much of our time the past couple of months. Both Doug and I normally read a book a week, but with multiple edits and revisions we've been doing lately, we've had to devote every other week to (re)reading one of our own. Now mine is finally finished, and I sincerely hope that you will read and be blessed by it, too. The book explores the premise that a wife's self-sacrificing love not only benefits her spouse and her children, but greatly benefits herself, as well, in many more ways than she might imagine!

I pulled this old stand-by off my shelf and began re-reading it last month. Many years ago, when my husband and I were newly married and were living on school loans, I used to subscribe to Amy Dacyczyn's Tightwad Gazette newsletter. It was money-well spent, as her tips saved us a bundle through those lean years. Perusing the book now, I am amazed to see how many of her hints have become second-nature to me now, after twenty-plus years of practice. When the newsletters were later published in book form, I got all three for our library. They are now available in a single volume, and with the economy being what it is, I suspect many would still benefit from reading Dacyczyn's timeless advice.

Our daughter Bethany absolutely spoiled us over the Christmas holidays by baking fresh bread and pastries almost every day, using the recipes in this wonderful book as a starting point. The authors claim their "wet dough" discovery "revolutionizes home baking"—and after tasting the results, we all agree! The "five minutes a day" is no joke, either, although we have to bake so many loaves at a time to feed our crew that we aren't able to put as much dough back in the refrigerator to be pulled out, shaped, and baked before dinner each night.

This series by Susan Wise Bauer is wonderful for teaching World History to multiple grade levels simultaneously. My middle kids love it! We just finished the second of four volumes a week ago, and they insisted on beginning the next book immediately. Volume 1 covers ancient history from the earliest nomads to the last Roman emperor. Volume 2 traces history through the Middle Ages, from the fall of Rome to the rise Renaissance. Volume 3 looks at early modern times. And Volume 4 examines the Modern Age, from Victoria's empire to the end of the USSR. A corresponding Activity Book is available for each volume, chock full of ideas for expanding and enriching your students' study of history.

A neighbor recently recommended this series to us, and Rebekah has taken to them like a duck to water. Joseph is reading them, too. I don't know when I've heard either laugh so much over something they've read. They share their favorite parts with me, which is lots of fun and reinforces reading comprehension through narration.

Here is another series that lends itself to multi-level teaching. Chock-full of fascinating facts, detailed photographs, and easy-to-do projects and experiments, Jeannie Fulbright's science books do a great job of keeping our younger six engaged (okay, so the two-year old is not always rivited, but the rest of the kids are kept begging for more). We're doing Zoology 1 right now, but they were just as captivated by Fulbright's Exploring Creation With Astronomy and Exploring Creation With Botany. Zoology 1 focuses on flying creatures, Zoology 2 deals with swimming creatures, and Zoology 3 covers land animals.

This NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Novel chronicles the story of how officials at George Mason High School deal with complaints from parents about a book on their required reading list, namely The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn It seems ironic that I would feel compelled to censor a book about censorship, but I don't feel comfortable reading some of the language in this Sonlight selection out loud to my kids! Even so, going through it together has provided fodder for some great discussions, which is undoubtedly why Sonlight included it in their own high school curriculum.

Our Gabriel loves all things Dr. Suess right now, and One Fish Two Fish is one of his most frequently requested titles. He is also extremely fond of all sorts of "hidden object" books. He is a master at finding all the hidden baby bears in the P.B. Bear series and at locating fireflies, ladybugs, and fireflies in Stewart Cowley's Little Look Around boardbooks.

This book is subtitled "Can Christmas Still Change the World?" The world needs the good news of the gospel now more than ever, but as James admonishes, it's of little use for us to tell the cold and hungry to "be warmed and filled" while making no attempt to meet their physical needs. This small volume encourages us to put our money where our mouth is and to use the abundance with which God has blessed us to improve the plight of those less fortunate. For a 2½-minute synopsis of what "Advent Conspiracy" is all about, watch the YouTube video by the same name.

Do you want to give your kids a gift that will never break, be forgotten, or go out of style? A gift that costs very little, but is of inestimable worth? Then follow the advice in this book. I first read it twenty years ago, then finished it again last month and found its message just as fresh and perceptive as ever: Children desperately need to be assured of their parents' love, acceptance, and approval; this is crucial to their mental and emotional health and well-being. Smalley and Trent give clear directions for bestowing such a blessing on your offspring and offer wise counsel to adults who missed receiving this blessing from their own parents. A must-read.

Tyler was one of the stops Mike Huckabee made on his whirlwind book tour the day after Thanksgiving. As much as we would have liked to meet Gov. Huckabee and to buy an autographed copy of his book, we decided not to brave the Black Friday crowds, but to just order his book off Amazon, instead (at a savings of 43% off the cover price!). The book contains "twelve stories that celebrate the true holiday spirit."

If your stress level skyrockets this time of year, if your calendar's over-committed, if the festivities leave you feeling frazzled, then this is the book for you. Subtitled "Learning to Live within Your Limits', this book offers hope to the weary and worn. The author, who also wrote Margin, as well as one of my husband's favorites, More Than Meets the Eye, is a Christian physician who "provides practical life-changing perscriptions" to the pervasive problem of spreading oneself too thin. That's something most of the moms I know do routinely. How about you?

I've been reading through the One-Year Bible this year, although my copy is the NASB edition instead of the NIV. I fell a little behind with the daily passages back in October, due to the fact that my little Gabriel has been getting up before dawn every morning since Daylight Saving Time ended, insisting that I read him an armload of Dr. Suess before his siblings wake up. Nevertheless, I'm working hard to catch up and am determined to finish the entire volume by New Year's Eve.

Samuel just finished reading Mark Twain's classic for the first time and loved it. He was too young the last time we read it aloud as a family to remember much about it. Tom Sawyer was always one of my father's favorite books, as well. He read it at least once a year for the last 60 years of his life. You may also remember that it's the book Clarence gives George Bailey at the end of the perennial Christmas favorite, It's a Wonderful Life.

I keep this book in the bathroom so I can work puzzles while supervising toddlers in the tub. Our little boys, who love getting extra splash-time, are delighted whenever I get stumped, because they know they'll get to play just that much longer. Lately, our eight-year old Rachel has been volunteering to give the baby his bath, perhaps because she enjoys Sudoku as much as her mother does. She feels she's really accomplished something if she can finish the whole square before the water gets cold.

This book provides practical suggestions for putting Christ back in Christmas. If you find yourself so caught up in the hustle-bustle of last minute shopping, office parties, and holiday cooking that you lose sight of what you're supposed to be celebrating, then reading this book can help return your focus to where it belongs — upon the Babe in the manger, the Word become flesh, sent to redeem us from our sin.

Ever since Doug ran across this devotional book for children in a bookstore this summer, he has been reading it aloud to the family during Bible time each evening. The short Scripture passages are followed by questions which can even stump older kids who aren't paying close attention. If you still have young children at home, you may want to give this book a try. It has been a good fit for our family.

Another short but convicting read from Michael and Debi Pearl, this is the first of three volumes of "No Greater Joy" back issues published in book form. Although we do not necessarily agree with everything the authors teach, we have found their child-training materials to be both Scripturally sound and of tremendous value in bringing up our own little ones. We particularly like what the Pearls have to say about parents' need to be consistant, to be joyful, and to never pass up opportunities to "tie strings of fellowship".

If you have a trivia buff in your family, check out this book. Our boys (including Dad) devour it and can quote its statistics at will. It contains page after page of top ten lists: the ten tallest buildings, the ten highest-paid celebrities, the ten oldest amusement parks, the ten youngest Nobel Prize winners, the ten brightest gallaxies, the ten deepest caves, etc. Myriad photos make it even more interesting. A new volume is published every year, so this one's hot off the presses. It's a fast, fun, and fascinating read.

This little gem was co-written by E.B. White of Charlotte's Web fame. The same tattered copy has served me faithfully since high school, until Doug recently replaced it with a pristine newer edition. He and I both re-read it before beginning to edit the books we wrote this year — an ofttimes daunting task. As wordiness has always been my default mode, my manuscript stood specially to benefit from my emulating White's pointed, concise style. I'd recommend it to any budding author interested in honing his/her craft.

This is the book Doug is currently reading. Although it is a secular title, the author is surprisingly pro-Christian. Beginning in Egypt with "The Wisdom of the Ancients", he moves through the Greeks and Romans, the Dark Ages, the Renaissance, pre-Modern, Modern, and post-Modern thought. Doug has read up through the Industrial Revolution and really likes it. The book is very informative and highly recommended.

I've been working my way through this book, not in the systematic way Julie Powell tackled Julia Child's Mastering The Art of French Cooking, but with an eye toward expanding my bread and dessert repertoires, nonetheless. After using a Sharpie marker to copy a few of our favorite recipes, like Martha's banana nut bread and her spiced pumpkin loaf, onto ziplock bags, I've started measuring out the dry ingredients for several batches at once. This is a big time saver for me on school mornings. When I'm ready to bake, I just dump the mix into a bowl, stir in oil, milk and eggs, pour the batter into my loaf pans, then pop them all in the oven. By the time the rest of the family wakes up, our entire house smells scrumptious.

This is a fascinating look at youth sports in America. It's now available in paperback with a new subtitle: "How the Pressure to Win at All Costs Endangers Youth Sports and What Parents Can Do About It." Ever wonder how something as seemingly innocuous as Little League Baseball or Travel Soccer managed to hi-jack family dinners and games of catch in the yard with Dad? This eye-opening book is full of answers to these and a lot of other questions parents should be asking, like "Why exactly are we doing this?" and "Is it really worth the cost?"

A friend of mine recommended this spelling curriculum to me, and am I ever glad she did! The words are grouped by phonics families, not by grade levels, so it is easy to teach multiple ages at once. I'm using the same book with four of my children this year, and they absolutely love it.

Doug and I have both read and re-read this book recently. This is an especially good selection for parents whose children are in or will soon be entering their teen years. The secret to protecting your kids against the temptation to bail out on their family's faith? Make sure life on board is more genuine and appealing than any alternative. This book gives great advice on how to do just that.

I read the unabridged version of this classic to the children several summers ago while we were living in El Paso, but now Joseph is reading this Classic Starts version aloud to me. The language is less flowery and easier for young readers to follow, although like the Disney movie, it leaves out much of the father's faith: his prayers for God's protection through the shipwreck, his thankfulness for God's provision for them as they begin a new life upon a nearby island, and his reliance upon God's continued mercy and grace as they face the trials that come to them there.

This is a wonderful work of scholarship by Linda Waite and Magggie Gallagher. The subtitle says it all: Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially. Of course, you probably already knew that, but in a culture that no longer values marriage to the degree it once did, it is good to be reminded that there are blessings to doing things God's way that go beyond just living happily ever after.

This is one of our Sonlight books from Level 5. We've had several more children since our older ones did that level in school, so I read this book aloud to the little ones this summer. They thought the stories were funny. Level 5, on the Eastern Hemisphere, is chock full of such titles that I would never have picked on my own, but have been so enriched by reading at Sonlight's suggestion.

My husband spotted this book, another Sonlight title, while perusing the history section of our home library and decided to read it himself. He enjoyed it so much that he is making plans now to read it aloud to the kids in the evenings, one event per day, so that we can discuss it together. That will probably not start until January, after we've finished The Lord of the Rings and re-read our family Christmas letters, which we do every December.

Samuel and David are devouring this book in preparation for taking their SATs on November 7. It includes ten real tests administered by the College Board in years past. If they take one a week through the end of October, they'll get through them all before the actual exam, with a week to spare. They've both taken their first practice test... we'll see if they can keep that momentum!

It's understandable with all that intensive study that the boys would need a break once and a while. Such a break often takes the form of a quick round of Ping-Pong or a game of Frisbee, but as often as not, it just means trading out a textbook for a little pleasure reading. David just finished the Newberry Award winning The Giver, a science fiction book about a society who selects one member to carry all bad memories, so that eveybody else can live at peace. Samuel found some diversion in Spider-Man Adventures: Fiercest Foes. After learning that his father was a big comic book fan as a boy, he thought he'd give that genre a try. He enjoyed this one, but I haven't seen him rushing out to buy any more.

Written by a mother of ten, this book is chock-full of practical tips for running a busy household. I love reading this sort of book, because it is fun for me to see how similar the strategies other big families use to maintain order in their homes are to the things we do ourselves. I felt the same way reading Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's book, 20 and Counting! What works, works: it's as simple as that. Even so, both books have given me plenty of food for thought, and I'd recommend either to any mom who wants to streamline the tasks we all must do to keep life at home loving and lovely.

This is a look at the big-family-Christian-home-schooling culture, from a non-Christian perpective. Doug and I both read it, curious to see what people on the outside think about families like ours. The author paints an fairly accurate and balanced portrait, readily admitting that some of the fringe views of those she interviewed aren't representative of the "quiverfull" movement as a whole. One night while we were discussing the book, Doug remarked, "I don't think our family is extreme, do you?"—meaning, I suppose, that we still eat sugar, birth our babies at the hospital, and send our daughters to college. Even so, I had to laugh, as anyone who can count our eleven kids would have a hard time believing that we're moderates, in any sense of the word!

David and Samuel just finished the last installment of Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain. These books were favorites of Doug's growing up, and he passed that love on to the rest of us by reading the entire series aloud to the family many years ago. Our older ones were ready to hear them again, but since Dad is currently reading The Hobbit at bedtime and plans to read The Lord of the Rings aloud after that, the boys decided to just read them on their own. If you're interested in reading the Prydain Chronicles, you should begin at the beginning with The Book of Three, or try one of our other favorites by Lloyd Alexander, such as The First Two Lives of Lucas-Kasha or The Iron Ring.

I just finished re-reading this one out loud to the children at lunchtime. It is one of their all-time favorites and mine, the first of an eight-book autobiographical series by Ralph Moody which Sterling North says "should be read aloud in every family circle in America." We whole-heartedly agree. There's a little mild language (direct quotes from a cowboy) in the first book, but it can be easily edited out, and the character lessons conveyed through these stories are well worth the effort it takes to do so. Other titles in the series (in order) are Man of the Family, The Home Ranch, Mary Emma & Company, The Fields of Home, Shaking the Nickel Bush, and The Dry Divide.

I finished this book in about two days and immediately passed it on to Bethany to read (hint hint), which she graciously humored me by doing this summer. Candice Watters, together with her husband Steve, wrote another book entitled Start Your Family: Inspiration for Having Babies which I loved, although my husband wondered why I even bothered reading it, since Jon and Matti have obviously wasted no time in starting their family, and my own interest in having babies certainly shows no signs of flagging!

David and Sam have also been working their way through REA's CLEP American Government this summer. They are trying to rack up as many college credits as they can before high school graduation next spring, taking CLEP exams and dual-credit classes in order to do it. They love the REA study guides, as most of them include several sample tests on CD-Rom. The boys study the material until they can consistently pass the practice exams, then go take the real thing. They've already used this method to CLEP Psychology and Freshman College Composition in addition to the College Algebra and Advanced Math CLEPs they passed after completing those courses using Saxon Math.

Doug finished this book just this afternoon and says it was fascinating. I doubt the rest of us will read it right away, as we have too many other books in play right now. I will say, however, that David, Bethany, and I have read several of Doug's past recommendations in this genre, including Steven Levitt's Freakonomics, and Malcolm Gladwell's Blink and Tipping Point, and we thoroughly enjoyed all of them.

I'm reading this classic to the kids at lunch time now. Even our littlest ones have been sitting quietly through it. That's probably because they think it's funny to watch their mommy cry, which I can't help but do all through this particular book. It's such a touching story! Even the first chapter chokes me up.

David, Sam, and Ben were assigned this book for a woodworking class they took this summer. Korn presents a wealth of information on working with hand-tools, with clear descriptions and detailed photographs. The boys learned to make beautiful dovetail joins in class, but after reading through the steps and examining the pictures of the process in their textbook, I'm ready to give it a try myself now.

Doug hasn't read much of Stephen King's fiction, but he sure enjoyed this autobiographical account of how King plies his craft (although it would've been even better without all the curse words). Intent as Doug is on finishing his own first novel this year and despite the fact he's writing in a different genre, he was inspired to learn about the author's methods for churning out bestsellers: King writes as fast as he can and edits later (check), he works at a small desk in the corner of his bedroom (check), he listens to music to block out distractions (check), and he has a red-headed wife who offers unfailing encouragement (check, again)...so Doug should be good to go!