This post contains affiliate links. We finished up our very last book of the year on New Year’s Eve. In December, we read six books.
The Best Book(s)
We had two favorite books in December:
Holes by Louis Sachar
Hands down, Holes was our favorite read this month. This quirky story is about Stanley Yelnats, who is falsely convicted for stealing a famous athlete’s shoes. He ends up at Camp Green Lake. His punishment is to dig one five foot deep by five foot wide hole a day in the Texas heat. The story goes back in time about a hundred years, and soon, that story line merges with Stanley’s.
Holes is 233 pages long.
A Ceiling Made of Eggshells by Gail Carson Levine
PB & J Girl has chosen to read books as part of her geography studies. A Ceiling Made of Eggshells is set in Spain during the Middle Ages. We soon found out the book didn’t give us a lot of material for the geography of Spain, but it taught us a great deal about Spain during the Middle Ages, especially the country’s treatment of its Jewish residents.
A Ceiling Made of Eggshells is 371 pages long.
Other Books We Read
Red Stocking Society by Ace Passmore
In Red Stocking Society, Bub no longer believes in Santa, so he tells his younger brother there is no Santa, ruining his Christmas. However, Bub soon secures a job at RSS, Inc. Once there, he learns the true meaning of Christmas and that there is a Santa after all. This is a fun book that helps revive the holiday spirit.
Red Stocking Society is 172 pages long.
The Birds’ Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin
Written by the author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Birds’ Christmas Carol is about sickly Carol who was born on Christmas Day. Carol, confined to her bed, wants to have the neighbor children over for a Christmas celebration. The neighbor children are all part of one big, poor family. The day goes wonderfully, until the unexpected happens at the end. This book was written in 1886, and I could tell. It was overly sentimental and sappy, but Cuddle Bug liked it.
The Birds’ Christmas Carol is 69 pages long.
Tabitha’s Travels by Arnold Ytreeide
Tabitha’s Travels is one of four books that Arnold Ytreeide wrote about children who are able to welcome Jesus shortly after he’s born. While we enjoy all the books, Tabitha’s Travels is our least favorite because even though it’s set in Biblical times, Tabitha acts very much like a modern girl and is outspoken and bossy. If you want to read one of these books, I would suggest Jotham’s Journey, Ishtar’s Odyssey, or Amon’s Adventure.
Tabitha’s Travels is 157 pages long.
The Worst Book(s)
We had one worst book in December:
Three Keys by Kelly Yang
Saying that Three Keys is the worst book we read this month pains me because the first book in this series, Front Desk, was our favorite book a few months ago. However, Three Keys suffers from a know-it-all narrator, Mia. In Front Desk, Mia is a new immigrant from China trying to help her parents run a motel and make her way through the school system. However, in Three Keys, Mia is the force behind everything in the book while the adults around her bumble and make mistakes. We all found it implausible that Mia would be the mastermind behind all the good decisions made in this book.
Three Keys is 271 pages long.
DECEMBER STATS:
Books read: 6
# of pages read: 1273
Audios listened to: 0
# of hours listened: 0
2021 STATS:
Books read in 2021: 52
Audios listened to in 2021: 4
Total books read or listened to in 2021: 56
Total pages read: 10,666
Read More
The Best (and Worst) Books for Ages 8 to 12 {January 2021}
The Best (and Worst) Books for Ages 8 to 12 {February 2021}
The Best (and Worst) Books for Ages 8 to 12 {March 2021}
The Best (and Worst) Books for Ages 8 to 12 {April 2021}
The Best (and Worst) Books for Ages 8 to 12 {May 2021}
The Best (and Worst) Books for Ages 8 to 12 {June 2021}
The Best (and Worst) Books for Ages 8 to 12 {July 2021}
The Best (and Worst) Books for Ages 8 to 12 {August 2021}
The Best (and Worst) Books for Ages 8 to 12 {September 2021}
The Best (and Worst) Books for Ages 8 to 12 {October 2021}
The Best (and Worst) Books for Ages 8 to 12 {November 2021}
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