I've missed the library

I can't believe I've spent so long without visiting it.

I seem to go in spurts, I'm either there constantly, or don't set foot inside for months at a time.  I know, it's shocking considering my love for books, but in my defense I do get a lot of good reads to review so they tend to keep me busy in the book department.



But I had such a yearning to go there today, just to wander aimlessly through the aisles, to be surrounded by the thousands of spines seeming to peek out from the shelves beckoning you to pick them to take home.

Truth be told, if I could, I would have a huge library in my home, with a fireplace and a huge comfy chair with a crochet blanket draped over the back. A little table nearby stacked with books to read and a good cup of coffee. I think that is my happy place :)

So let me show you what I picked up:

Summer Bridge Middle School: 6th Grade to 7th Grade

Help children maintain skills while away from school with this award-winning series and original summer learning program! Daily activities in reading, writing, mathematics, and language arts with bonus activities in science and geography. Also included are full-color flash cards, incentive contract calendars, a certificate of completion, and the Summer Bridge Kids who guide children though their daily exercises.

Yes school is back in session, but extra work to keep the brain going is always welcomed.

The Everything Homeschooling Book

Homeschooling isn?t about teaching?it?s about learning together with your child. In this indispensible guide, author and homeschooler Sherri Linsenbach provides you with the encouragement, inspiration, and ideas you need to explore this option for your family. It?s packed full of ideas to make the experience easy, affordable, and, most of all, fun. Even veteran homeschoolers will find new ideas and techniques that help keep home education interesting and exciting.

 Third Grade Success

• What your third grader is learning at school and the educational standards to expect in math, language arts, science, and social studies
• Your child’s learning style—visual, auditory, or kinesthetic—and how it affects the way your child learns and processes information
• Hundreds of easy-to-do activities designed to help your child meet specific learning requirements
• Environmental learning sections that identify learning opportunities in the everyday world
• Methods and checklists to assess your child’s academic progress
• Information on how teachers evaluate performance--portfolios, rubrics, test scores, and other tools of the trade
• Recommendations of age-appropriate books and software that will enhance learning

200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws, and Afghans: Crochet Squares to Mix and Match

From Art Deco–inspired geometric designs to traditional checkerboard stripes and elaborate motifs, this guide helps crafters rediscover crochet with more than 200 fabulous block patterns.

The Queen's Governess by Karen Harper

Katherine Ashley is the daughter of a country squire with no hope of a future, until a chance meeting with Thomas Cromwell gets her sent to Henry VIII's court as a waiting gentlewoman to Queen Anne Boleyn and a spy for Cromwell. When Boleyn comes to an untimely end, Ashley becomes tutor and servant to her daughter, Elizabeth, and accompanies the girl throughout her trials and tribulations before she finally takes her father's throne and goes on to become England's greatest queen.

The Aloha Quilt: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini

In this latest entry to the bestselling Elm Creek Quilts series, quilting queen Bonnie Markham explores Hawaii and learns about the islands' quilting traditions while setting up a tropical quilt camp. Weary from a difficult divorce battle, Bonnie leaves beloved Elm Creek Manor and takes up her friend's invitation to start the camp; once in Hawaii, she gets to work on hiring staff and making her version of a Hawaiian quilt. When her mean-spirited ex-husband-to-be demands half her share in Elm Creek as part of the settlement, Bonnie takes drastic measures to protect the estate and her friends. Still, the big changes are hard to take, and Bonnie's not sure she can follow through.

The Union Quilters: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini

In her true-to-form latest, Chiaverini (The Aloha Quilt; etc.) goes back to the Civil War era as the men go off to fight and the women of Elm Creek Valley support the Union troops. While the women struggle with their own problems, updates from the front amplify tensions as the war comes closer to home, leading some to tragedy and others to heartbreaking revelations. Among the many developments, Dorothea sends husband Thomas off to war with her favorite quilt; Constance's husband, Abel, seeks a way to serve a Union that won't enlist him because he's black; Gerda pines for Jonathan, who brings his medical skills to the front; and Gerda's brother, Hans, refuses to fight because he is a pacifist.

I feel like I got a good mix of books in there, didn't go overboard as I usually do because I tend to get too much and then have to return them without even getting to read them.

A little homeschooling help, and some good fiction, I think I'll start with The Union Quilters, it sounds SO good and the cover is just to die for.  :)

Have you been to the library yet?  What are you reading right now?  I would love some book suggestions to help me compile my Fall Reading list which I will be making soon and posting next week.

Quick edit:  If you're wondering what type of genre I usually read, I would say pretty much everything and anything.  My favorites are Historical Romance, Christian Romance but honestly, I read everything, mysteries, autobiographies etc.