Anyone's kids read The Lighthouse Family series of books?

[Corie]

I just saw them recommended in the new Chinaberry catalog.

How are the books? They seem really cute.

Also, how many books are in the series? Is it 4 or 5 books?

[egoldber]

Are these the books by Cynthia Rylant? If so these are wonderful, wonderful books. Beautiful, gentle stories with lovely illustrations.

Another wonderful series by her is The Cobblestreet Cousins.

ETA: I'm pretty sure there are 5. The Storm, The Eagle, The Turtle, The Octopus and The Whale. Not in that order.

[caleymama]

Are these the books by Cynthia Rylant? If so these are wonderful, wonderful books. Beautiful, gentle stories with lovely illustrations.

ETA: I'm pretty sure there are 5. The Storm, The Eagle, The Turtle, The Octopus and The Whale. Not in that order.

Yes - we read them all and loved them. I adore Cynthia Rylant and agree wholeheartedly with Beth's description of this series.

[thomma]

Love Rylant!
Just an FYI - I picked up most of this series on sortfloorbooks.com for less than $2 a book.

Kim
ds&dd 5/03

[Corie]

Love Rylant!
Just an FYI - I picked up most of this series on sortfloorbooks.com for less than $2 a book.


Thanks for the info! I've never purchased anything from
sortfloorbooks.com. It completely overwhelms me!

[LBW]

It looks like they only have one of this series on sortfloorbooks right now. But, they do have her Poppleton books and her Henry and Mudge books - we love both of these series!

[caleymama]

It looks like they only have one of this series on sortfloorbooks right now. But, they do have her Poppleton books and her Henry and Mudge books - we love both of these series!

Those are great, too. I think our favorite is the Mr. Putter & Tabby series. Mr. Putter & Tabby Stir the Soup gets my girls howling! I don't buy books very often (:heartbeat: the library) but this was one we bought.

The Lighthouse Series is one we've been meaning to start again now that DD is reading well on her own. It's been a while since we read it the first time. Both DDs also enjoy the Cobble Street Cousins series mentioned by Beth. We read the first 2 this summer and have the third one here to start soon.

[Corie]

I'm having a very hard time figuring the order of books in the
Lighthouse Family series.

I have figured out the first one is "The Storm".

Not sure after that. Where can I find this information?

[Asianmommy]

Answers.com will tell you this and more:
http://www.answers.com/topic/cynthia-rylant-children-s-author


"Lighthouse Family" Series

* The Storm, illustrated by Preston McDaniels, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2002.
* The Whale, illustrated by Preston McDaniels, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2003.
* The Eagle, illustrated by Preston McDaniels, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2004.
* The Turtle, illustrated by Preston McDaniels, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2005.
* The Octopus, illustrated by Preston McDaniels, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2005.

[egoldber]

The Storm is definitely first. I think this is the right order:

http://www.lookingglassreview.com/html/the_lighthouse_family_books.html

[Corie]

Thank you so much!!

I just reserved "The Storm" and "The Whale" from my library. :)

[egoldber]

You may want to just go ahead and reserve them all. They are pretty short.

Another book by her that I love is "When I Was Young in the Mountains". It's a picture book and I think it won a Caldecott medal. But it was such a beautiful story and reminded me of many stories my parents told about growing up in Appalachia.

[Corie]

Beth,

Do you have any other book suggestions?

Our girls are so close in age. I always value your ideas. :)

Have you ever heard of "Big Susan"? I also saw this book
in the Chinaberry catalog and it sounded good.

[egoldber]

I've not heard of that one.

We are doing the Little House series right now. We've read the first two and Sarah is loving it.

Before this we read Nim's Island (like the recent-ish movie) and the sequel Nim at Sea. Nim is like a modern day Pippi Longstockings. Sarah is all about girls having adventures.

Before that we read Ella Enchanted. It is such a fabulous book and nothing at all like the movie with Anne Hathaway.

[Corie]

Thanks so much, Beth!

I knew you would have some other great book recs. :)

[caleymama]

Not Beth (obviously!) but I hope you don't mind if I throw a few ideas out there too . . .

We also enjoyed the first 2 little house books but have since stalled on the series and will pick back up when DD is interested. I also love When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant and we enjoyed another, longer book by her in the same vein: The Blue Hill Meadows (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Blue-Hill-Meadows/Cynthia-Rylant/e/9780152024673/?itm=115).

Kate DiCamillo has some nice books - the only one we've read is The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Miraculous-Journey-of-Edward-Tulane/Kate-DiCamillo/e/9780763639877/?itm=3) but I've heard great things about The Tale of Despereaux (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Tale-of-Despereaux/Kate-DiCamillo/e/9780763625290/?itm=1) too. She also wrote Because of Winn-Dixie (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Because-of-Winn-Dixie/Kate-DiCamillo/e/9780763616052/?itm=5), but I thinks that's for slightly older kids.

Both DDs enjoyed (thinking of Knox here too :)) My Father's Dragon (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/My-Fathers-Dragon/Ruth-Stiles-Gannett/e/9780394890487/?itm=1) and the two books that follow when I read them aloud over a year ago, all by Ruth Stiles Gannett.

Older DD also loved the Kit (American Girl) books - we read the first 3 this past summer but I'm trying to hold off on the rest b/c she's getting them for Christmas :wink2:. Both DDs also enjoyed Charlie and the Choclolate Factory by Roald Dahl. I've heard good things about the Fairly Realm (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Charm-Bracelet/Emily-Rodda/e/9780060095833/?itm=20) series by Emily Rodda, but have not tried them myself. I know my library has the whole series.

Some others, off the top of my head:
The All-of-a-Kind Family books - Sidney Taylor
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books - Betty MacDonald
The Betsy-Tacy (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Betsy-Tacy/Maud-Hart-Lovelace/e/9780064400961/?itm=1) books - Maud Hart Lovelace (I adored these as a kid - they start when the girls are 5, I believe)
Misty of Chincoteague (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Misty-of-Chincoteague/Marguerite-Henry/e/9781416927839/?itm=1)
Redwall (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Redwall/Brian-Jacques/e/9780142302378/?itm=5) by Brian Jacques (part of a long series, I only read the first 3 as a kid)
Books by Edward Eager: Half Magic, Magic or Not?, Seven Day Magic, Knight's Castle

[egoldber]

I've heard good things about the Fairly Realm series by Emily Rodda, but have not tried them myself. I know my library has the whole series.

Sarah read the first 6 of these and enjoyed them. But then she said the next one was too scary and stopped reading them.

Another fairy series more for newer readers are the various Rainbow Magic series by Daisy Meadows. Not the same quality of book as the other stuff we're talking about here, but great for girls who can't get enough about fairies. ;)

Sarah devoured Half Magic the other day and I just picked up tbe other books in the series from the library yesterday.

The Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCammilo is great for younger readers. Cute stories with hysterical illustrations!!

[sunriseiz]

Another fairy series more for newer readers are the various Rainbow Magic series by Daisy Meadows. Not the same quality of book as the other stuff we're talking about here, but great for girls who can't get enough about fairies. ;)

The Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCammilo is great for younger readers. Cute stories with hysterical illustrations!!

My DD has definitely enjoyed these. Nothing deep or serious, but she reads them by herself and loves them.

We have also recently tried the Nancy Drew Notebook series (Nancy is very young in these) and they seem to be a hit.

[caleymama]

The Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCammilo is great for younger readers. Cute stories with hysterical illustrations!!
We do like the Mercy Watson books. I forgot about those!


We have also recently tried the Nancy Drew Notebook series (Nancy is very young in these) and they seem to be a hit.
I'll have to look for those. I loved Nancy Drew books and am looking forward to DDs discovering them.

Sorry to take over your thread, Corie! :oops:

[Corie]

Sorry to take over your thread, Corie! :oops:


No need to apologize!! I love hearing all these book suggestions!
The more the better... :)