Wise Home by A.K. Frailey on Amazon
Who remembers cute and quirky little books from their childhood? Books like More Stories from Grandma’s Attic, Bread and Jam for Frances, and all the Frog and Toad books made up many of my dreamy afternoons and long car trips. Books like these are very important in forming character and a child’s overall view of the world. As parents, we often start by giving our children familiar things to read about, like books on dogs and horses, farms and woods and forests and hills. Stories about our family culture, pets, cooking, or any number of interests that we want to foster are some of the first books we read to our children, but then we need the next level up.
I have found a perfect little chapter book called Wise Home by A.K. Frailey. She writes in the vein of older, familiar books that used to fill avid readers’ library hauls. Her story is about a young girl who spends the summer with her Great Aunt Wilda, on a farm near woodlands filled with talking animals.
This girl observes all that goes on around her and gets drawn into the life of a cat with a pink dress and a white apron, named Margaret. And in the way that only children can manage, life with a talking cat as a friend becomes both exciting and completely natural. This book is written in the first person, so the author is the main character. She narrates her time learning about the woods and the animals there, and Margaret’s tragic, but ultimately triumphant story.
There is a dearth of good chapter books for younger readers right now; anime and manga have totally taken over the tween section of libraries. While some anime is good, most of it is to be avoided at all costs (porn and nihilism can really ruin a teen’s life!)
Enter the charming and fun tale of Wise Home. This is my summer book recommendation for ages 10 and up, unless you have a precocious early reader. At 66 pages, it is longer than the easy reader chapter books, and perfect for a car trip. And just in time (starting today!) the Pizza Hut Book It! program is back in business. Just 20 minutes a day, for a month, gets your child a free Personal Pan Pizza. Bon appétit!
Erin Broestl is the author of the award-winning children’s book, God Made the Moonlight.
Eight Hobbits 