April in Review Book Review

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I am enjoying the time that I get to read, and the number of books read that I can list for April is astounding to me. I don’t feel like I read that much. You can also see that many of them this month were books I’ve been reading over the course of the past few months, and many were children’s chapter books.

At the same time, this month I kept finding myself behind in reviewing: I’m consistently at least three or four books behind in getting the reviews posted on Rebecca Reads. I think that means I need to read longer things and just go more slowly, for I don’t want to post more than one review each day and I don’t like having a backlog of reviews.

I’m hoping that after I catch up on these last few reviews and the next few posts I have in the works, it may be a little quieter around Rebecca Reads. There is still so much I want to read, but I’d like to enjoy the lovely spring weather as I read slowly and enjoy what I’ve selected. Time to slow down!

May does mark my one-year anniversary of blogging, so make sure you check back on Monday for information about a special giveaway-contest.

Fiction and Nonfiction Reviews

In April, I reviewed one book I read in March:

Moments: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographs by Hal Buell (240 pages; nonfiction/coffee table book)

I also read the following books. (Note that I have been reading some of these over the past few months.)

Norton Introduction to Poetry (450 pages; poetry/anthology). Read in January, February, March, and a few days in April.
The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (3 ½ hours audio, equal to about 130 pages; children’s fiction). audiobook
Babylon in a Jar by Andrew Hudgins (70 pages; poetry).
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (165 pages; fiction/short stories).
Rose, Where Did You Get That Red? by Kenneth Koch (325 pages of poetry; nonfiction/poetry/anthology). I skimmed some of the child-written poetry sections.
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (280 pages; fiction). I read this in March and April via dailyreader.net.
Perrault’s Complete Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault (190 pages; children’s fiction).
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding (6 hours audio, equal to about 200 pages; fiction). audiobook
Poetry for Little People: Lewis Carroll edited by Edward Mendelson and illustrated by Eric Copeland (50 pages; poetry).
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (340 pages; fiction). I read this aloud to my son in March and April.
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (about 6 hours audio/225 pages; nonfiction). I listened to this audiobook in March and then I read it in April.
The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin (680 pages; nonfiction/history). I read this over the past four months.
Utopia by Thomas More (150 pages; fiction). The introduction and notes were about 40 pages.
Daughter of Destiny by Benazir Bhutto (435 pages; nonfiction/autobiography).
The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston (about 4 hours audio, equal to about 190 pages; children’s fiction). audiobook
Treasure of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston (225 pages; children’s fiction).
The River at Green Knowe by L.M. Boston (about 4 hours audio, equal to 175 pages; children’s fiction). audiobook

Children’s Projects

I reviewed a few children’s books, including a spotlight on Simms Taback’s picture books.

Big Book of Words by Simms Taback
Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
I Miss You Every Day by Simms Taback
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback
Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
Mommy Loves by Anne Gutman
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback
This is the House that Jack Built by Simms Taback
While You Were Sleeping by John Butler

I also finished Robinson Crusoe, as mentioned above, for my children’s literature project.

Challenge Update

For National Poetry Month, I reviewed the an introduction and anthology of poetry, a volume of poetry by Andrew Hudgins, a nonfiction book about teaching poetry to children, and a children’s illustrated book of Lewis Carroll’s poetry. I also shared a Billy Collins’ poem for A Poem in Your Pocket day. The poetry books by individual poets also apply to my personal poetry project.
For the Once Upon a Time III Challenge, I read The Adventures of Pinocchio (fairy tales), Invisible Cities (fantasy), and Perrault’s Complete Fairy Tales (fairy tales).
For my personal How to Read and Why project, I reviewed Invisible Cities, thereby finishing the short story portion of the challenge; I wrote a retrospective of the short story portion here.
For my personal Nobel Prize project (also Read the Nobels), I read Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1982 winner).
For my personal 101 Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers list, I read Lord of the Flies and Robinson Crusoe.
For the Dewey Decimal Challenge, I finished Mere Christianity (200s century).
For the 9 for 09 challenge (“Long”), I finished The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin. I really, really liked it, even if it did take me four months to finish it!
For the Global Voices Book Challenge (I finished a week late) and the World Citizen Challenge (biography category), I read Daughter of Destiny by Benazir Bhutto.
For the Read with Kids Challenge (second half of the month),my son and I read together for 390 minutes, or an average of 26 minutes a day. (More about this later.)

I’m not planning on joining any more challenges this month. I’ve got a lot on my plate right now.

Elsewhere on rebeccareid.com

My other blogs are not very active in comparison to Rebecca Reads, but I have taken the chance to post a few things. I have this vision of being completely balanced (i.e., reading a bit less and doing other things with my life too!)

On my photography blog, I posted a picture I took of Queenstown, New Zealand. It’s one of my favorites. (Photoshop wasn’t working for me for most of the month, so that’s the only one I got up!)

On my writing blog, I tried my hand at a few poems. I’m not a poet by any stretch of the imagination, but I sure had fun trying my hand at poetry this month in honor of National Poetry Month. I may try some more poetry in the future for my “exercises in style” project. My favorite poem I wrote was “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Book,” imitating Wallace Stevens. Maybe you fellow readers can relate!

That’s all for today. I hope May brings you warm weather.

Reviewed on May 1, 2009

About the author

Rebecca Reid

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Rebecca Reid is a homeschooling, stay-at-home mother seeking to make the journey of life-long learning fun by reading lots of good books. Rebecca Reads provides reviews of children's literature she has enjoyed with her children; nonfiction that enhances understanding of educational philosophies, history and more; and classical literature that Rebecca enjoys reading.