Macy & Family

Favorite books of 2021

January 11, 2022March 14, 2024admin

I almost always set my goal at 100 books, I’ve only met it once, and last year was yet another year that I didn’t meet it. I did read 80 books though. Here are my favorite 10 that I read/listened to. A great number of these were audiobooks. I especially love memoirs read by the author and you will see quite a few of those on this list. Here are all of the books I read this year:

1. The Book of Lost Names – This WWII book takes place in France. I just loved this story of a Jewish girl in hiding and a french resistance fighter working together to help get Jewish children to safety.

3. Between Two Kingdoms – If you’ve known anyone who has had cancer as a young person (not child), this book has so much insight into that experience, but can also be very hard to read at times. Suleika is a beautiful writer and I really loved this book.

4. Better than the Movies – This book made me laugh out loud several times and really I find that hard to find in a book. I definitely smiled quite a bit while reading this book. If you like cheesy late 90s/early 2000s rom-coms, this book will give you many reminders of those movies.

5. God Spare the Girls – This is a family drama, filled with secrets from everyone. Two sisters flee to their family ranch to escape much of the drama caused by their father, a local pastor.

6. In the Wild Light – Oh this book (and this new to me author), I just loved it. Two kids growing up in rural Tennessee get the opportunity to attend a very elite boarding school in New England. They both have hard pasts and lots to deal with when trying to decide whether to take the opportunity. This is YA at it’s best.

7. Food Saved Me – I’ve followed Danielle Walker online for years and have tried many of her recipes over the years. This is her health journey in memoir form. While much of her story has been told online over the years, I love reading it start to finish (well to her current situation as she is still alive and doing fabulous). You will learn how Danielle used food to help herself heal. I listened to this on audio, read by the author!

8. Will – Another fabulous memoir audiobook read by the author! Who doesn’t know Will Smith? Well, you will certainly learn much more in this book than you probably know.

9. Broken Horses – I had heard of Brandi Carli before listening to this, but honestly didn’t really know much at all about her or her music. The wonderful thing about this audiobook is at the end of each chapter, she preforms a song! Really fantastic audio book!

10. Hurricane Summer – Another fabulous YA book about a girl and her summer visit to Jamaica to visit her father. Tilla learns so much about her family, herself, and all of their secrets. There are some tough scenes in this book, but it is full of heart and you just want to hug Tilla and help her on her journey.

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Veggie Lentil Chili

March 19, 2021March 14, 2024admin

This has been the year that my kids will actually eat soup. And while chili is not really soup, this particular recipe was something I tried out on one of our soup Tuesdays. Normally we eat beef chili and 3 of the 4 children really enjoy it, but I’ve been trying to replace some of our meat meals with non-meat options. When I saw this recipe I decided to try it. I changed it up a bit and added some extra veggies to get a few extra veggies into our bellies with one bowl.

If you are anything like me, you don’t always follow recipes to a tee and have learned how to take a recipe and make it your own, so definitely do that and let me know what you changed.

Ingredients
1 large onion, diced
1 large bell pepper, diced (any color works)
1-2 T oil
2 cups shredded beets
1 cup shredded sweet potato
1.5 cups dry lentils (I used green)
1 cup dry black beans (or you can add a can of black beans towards the end)
5 cups of broth (I used chicken, because that’s what I have, but veggie broth would make it vegetarian)
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
4 gloves garlic
1.5-2 TB chili powder**
1 TB cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

I make this in my pressure/slow cooker, but it could be adapted to the stove top as well.

Saute onion and pepper until onion is translucent. Add remaining ingredients. Pressure cook for 10 minutes and then slow cook for about 3 hours. I would check on it in the middle if you are home, but otherwise it should be ready when you are ready for dinner.

I serve it with this yummy cornbread (I usually use about 1/2 the sugar and use coconut oil instead of vegetable oil).

I’m happy to report that all 4 kids ate this without much complaint.

**The first time I put 2 TB chili powder and they thought it was a little spicy, but did still eat it. I cut it back the next time and we are happier with 1.5 TB in our house.

Have you had lentil chili before?

Best books of 2020

January 8, 2021March 14, 2024admin

As I’m sure you’ve seen mentioned a time or two, 2020 was a different year and it affected every aspect of our lives. For me it definitely affected my reading life. I read less than in the past years and listened to far fewer audiobooks, especially in the second half of the year. I also definitely had trouble focusing on books and mostly read fluffy books with happy endings. I normally love memoirs when the author overcomes something great, but didn’t read very many of those this year.

I’ll post the screen shots of all the books I read and then talk a bit about some favorites (in no particular order). Some of these books seem like I read them years ago.

1. White Bird by R.J. Palacio – This is a graphic novel that my older two had read and loved. It’s by the author of Wonder and is the story of Julian’s grandmother in World War II in France. It was heartbreaking and so, so good. It’s on our list to purchase.

2. The Dutch House by Ann Pachett – This book was on every reading list last year and it was great. I listened to the audiobook read by Tom Hanks. It is long and a little slow to get started, but I really enjoyed it. It’s a family drama that takes place over many decades. I’ve heard good things about Ann Pachett for years, but had never read any of her books. I’ll definitely be adding some of her others to my list to read this year.

3. American Royals and Majesty by Katherine McGee – These are totally cheesy, but fun books about the Washingtons if we still had a king and queen and a houseful of teenage royals. Definitely a good escapist read.

4. This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger – A beautiful story about a boy and his brother traveling down the Mississippi during the Great Depression. They escape from an Indian School where they have been living since their parents died and are on the run from the authorities most of the book. They meet some wonderful characters along the way.

5. This Promise of Change by Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy – Jo Ann was one of twelve students at the first integrated high school in the US South, before Little Rock. It’s told in verse and just so wonderful. While this is a middle grade book, I enjoyed it the most at our house!

6. When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed – This is another middle grade graphic novel that is so well done. Both Eloise and Great enjoyed is immensely and I think they convinced my sister to read it when she was here this summer. Omar and his nonverbal brother are Somalian refugees living in a camp in Kenya. Omar has the opportunity to go to school, but worries about leaving his brother. I love that there are so many wonderful true stories for my girls to learn about the world around us.

7. Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris – This is a followup book to the Tattooist of Auschwitz, which I also read and enjoyed last year. I think I liked Cilka’s story a bit better. Her story takes place in Auschwitz, but the bulk of it takes place in a Soviet gulag, after the war is over.

8. They Went Left by Monica Hesse – As you will notice there are several World War II novels on my list and this is another one. This one takes place mostly after the war has ended and Zofia is searching the continent for her brother, the only member of her family she thinks has survived.

9. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center – This is just a clean, fun love story about two firefighters. Cassie moves to Boston to help her sick mother and so has to start at the bottom rung in the firehouse again. As you can imagine, she is not very welcome as the only woman in the firehouse and so is put through some torture. I really liked her writing style and have read several books by her since.

10. Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar – I listened to this on audio and it is read by the author, which is my favorite! This book definitely had some graphic (and unnecessary)scenes I skipped over, but it was a fascinating story. The especially interesting thing is that it is part memoir, part fiction (and you really don’t know what is true). It is the story of Akhtar and his father’s journey as Pakistani Americans and whether they truly feel at home in America. It covers many decades and brings up many questions about it means to be an American. It would be a great book club discussion book, so much to talk about.

Did you read anything fabulous this year? Or any of these?

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#snippetsquarantine

June 10, 2020March 14, 2024admin

As I mentioned before, we started a kid-run newspaper in April. In our last issue, we published a story from surveys of kids around the world and what quarantine was like for them. Since the publication of our last issue we have been posting profiles on our facebook page of all of the kids who sent in the survey. I know some people aren’t on facebook and so I thought I would post them all here now that we done posting on facebook. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed them. It’s so nice to see a little snippet of what life is like elsewhere in the country or world.

Thank you so much to all of the kids who participated. We are still accepting stories, photos, etc for our next issue of our newspaper, so get busy and send us something at snippetsnews2020@gmail.com We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Snippets

April 29, 2020March 14, 2024admin

I keep meaning to do a full post about how quarantine is going, but I never seem to get around to it. So for now I wanted to at least post our big project, which has been a digital newspaper, Snippets News.

You can read all the issues here.

Here is first issue and the front page.

The second issue is posted here.

Here is our third issue!

The biggest excitement has probably been around the fact that we submitted it to the Washington Post and it appeared in both the print and digital version of the article!

And now a few weeks later, our first issue was spotted on CNN! To watch the whole segment that it appeared on, click here.

If anyone reading this wants to submit something our email address is listed in the newspaper, so click through and read all about it there. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed making it.

Favorite Family Audiobooks

July 4, 2019March 14, 2024admin

My girls listen to audiobooks pretty regularly. Some listen when they are falling asleep at night (always to the same story, so it doesn’t keep them up waiting to find out what happens next). They also listen if we have rest time or when they are cleaning their rooms or sometimes just hanging out. We also started listening to them in the car on longer drives. Our daily short distance drives are usually reserved for podcasts or music. I’ve made a list of some of the ones we listen to on repeat and have all enjoyed as a family.

1. Henry Huggins — We listened to this last year on the way to and from Niagara Falls and we all loved it, especially the ones that are read by Neil Patrick Harris. I don’t know that Matt or I had ever read the Henry Huggins books and we enjoyed them just as much as the kids. While we initially borrowed it from the library, we now own it so we can listen to it again and again. You can purchase the whole collection together from audible.

2. Ramona Quimby — This is another collection of all of the Ramona books and the girls listen to this over and over again. We started listening to it on the drive home from Niagara last year and have continued to listen to bits and pieces on other drives this year.

3. Molly, the American Girl — While we own almost all of the American Girl books and audiobooks, Molly is by the far the most popular in our house. Felicity listens to it every night before bed and always is asking questions about the story. It has definitely taught them some history as well as their favorite “I see London, I see France, I see Ricky’s underpants.”

4. Pippi Longstocking — We all love Pippi and all of her antics. We have read the chapter books aloud (although I don’t think Felicity remembers them) and watched the 1980s version of the movie. The audiobook is great and it’s a favorite around here. My only request is that they make the rest of the Pippi stories available on audio!

5. Anna Hibiscus — Anna Hibiscus is another favorite book around here, both as a read-aloud and an audiobook. Anna lives in Africa, amazing Africa and experiences live with a loud, large African multi-generational family all living together.

6. Beverly Cleary Audio Collection — Can you tell we are Beverly Cleary fans? This collection has most of her other books that aren’t part of a full series. The girls favorite is probably Mitch and Amy, but they listen to a variety of them.

Do you listen to audiobooks? I always check our library system to see if they are available and borrow from there first. If there is an especially good audible sale then I might buy before listening. We signed up for a free audible subscription just to get Henry Huggins and Ramona Quimby since they are pricey and not often on sale.

What are your favorite audiobooks to listen to as a family?

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2019 Summer Reading – 7 year old

June 24, 2019March 14, 2024admin

It’s time for another summer reading list, this time the 7 year old version. Beatrice is a strong reader, but doesn’t read nearly as much as her sisters. She would rather be playing with her younger sister. She also really enjoys being read aloud to. She also enjoys reading picture books to her younger sister.

1. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – This is a newly published book. We first borrowed it from the library, but she loved it so much we decided to purchase it. It has lovely illustrations to go with each Mr. Rogers’ poem.

2. Weird School – The other two girls have loved these books as well. There are tons in the series and the titles always rhyme, such Miss Daisy is Crazy and Mr. Sunny is Funny.

3. Mercy Watson – A cute pig who becomes like a child to Mr. and Mrs. Watson. He is always up to something funny. These books have lots of pictures, which Beatrice always loves.

4. Princess in Black – The princess in black is a regular princess who sneaks out a trap door, puts on her disguise, and goes rescue someone.

5. Be Quiet – This is a picture book we recently discovered and fell in love with. The first time Matt and I both read it we were both laughing out loud, along with the kids. It’s definitely a keeper and one we added to our home library.

6. Mr. Putter & Tabby – Mr. Putter and his favorite friendly cat, Tabby, are a fun beginning reader book. They have pictures, but longer passages of text.

7. Bird & Squirrel – These are a series of short graphic novel about a scaredy squirrel and a bird who doesn’t have a care in the world. These are relatively short, but she enjoys them.

8. Kylie Jean – Kylie Jean is a newish series about a little girl who lives in Texas and wants to be the queen of everything. She learns lots of lessons along the way. Beatrice has read a few of these so far and just picked up Summer Camp Queen today.

9. Dog Man — Eloise really loved these books and now Beatrice has been reading them over and over. They are a graphic novel series by the author of Captain Underpants.

What are your 7 year olds favorite books?

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2019 Summer Reading – 5 year old

June 21, 2019March 14, 2024admin

Last year we made summer reading lists of some of the girls’ favorite books, and this year we have some new lists. Next up is Felicity’s list. Felicity just finished up preschool and is a non reader. She doesn’t really have the attention span for chapter books yet, although we will try again this summer, so it’s lots of favorite picture books on her list. Here is her list from last year if you are looking for some other books in the 4-5 year old range.

1. Hula Hoop Queen – This has been a favorite of just about every member of the family for a while around here. After checking it out of the library several times, we purchased it. Kameeka loves to hoop with her friends and hopes to become the hula hoop queen of her block, but first she must help her mom prepare for a party.

2. Charlotte the Scientist – Charlotte is tired of being squished in between all of these siblings. She just wants her own space. After an experiment, she learns that maybe she does like being squish, but just needs a break sometimes.

3. Lola Dutch – Lola Dutch is just a little too much. She is full of big ideas and has her friend Bear along for the ride.

4. Wordy Birdy – Wordy Birdy talks A LOT, and sometimes that gets him into trouble, but as we see in the second book, sometimes talking all the time can be a good thing.

5. Mother Bruce – Both Beatrice and Felicity wanted Be Quiet on their list, but I was able to convince Felicity to add some of Ryan T. Higgins other books, which are just as loved here. Mother Bruce (and the other books in the collection) is about a Bear who suddenly becomes a mother to some baby geese. No matter how hard he tries, they just won’t leave him alone.

6. Hello Lighthouse – This was the Caldecott winner this year and it is just so lovely. The pictures are beautiful and we love the story of a lighthouse keeper and his family.

7. The Bear’s Song – There are several books in this series as well and Felicity loves them all. One they are oversized books, which is always fun. Two, you have to find the bear on each page and sometimes he is quite hard to find. We have checked these out from the library several times.

8. Storm Whale in winter – This is the second book in the series, but the first we read and it’s a lovely story about a whale who rescues a boy out at sea. I love the illustrations!

9. Dandy – Dandy is the story of a dandelion that is very loved by a little girl, but not so much by her father, who is after the perfect lawn. This is a great book for dads and about a dad’s love for his children.

10. Lambslide – This books has lovely illustrations by Robin Preiss Glassner, who also illustrates Fancy Nancy, so the illustrations are of course beautiful and detailed. A little lamb learns how to go about convincing his farmers to build a lambslide.

Do you have other books to recommend for 5 year olds?

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2019 Summer Reading – 9 year old

June 14, 2019March 14, 2024admin

Last year we made summer reading lists of some of the girls’ favorite books, and this year we have some new lists. Next up is Eloise’s list. Eloise is finishing up 3rd grade and is a voracious reader. There is no way I can keep up with her. She tends to enjoy more fiction than anything and mostly will chose different books from her sister. Most often if I suggest something she isn’t that interested and many of the things she loves aren’t my cup of tea. But I mostly let her pick what she wants to read. Here is her list from last year if you are looking for some other books in the 8-9 year old range.

1. Series of Unfortunate Events – Greta started this series but didn’t stick with it because it got too scary, but Eloise has loved it. She is on book 11 of 13. Matt describes it as being pretty dark at times. Three orphans are trying to figure out how their parents died, but they often run into bad luck.

2. Cupcake Club – In the first book a Cupcake Club is created at school and each subsequent book focuses on one club member and some problem they are dealing with. I think there are 11 books in this series.

3. Land of Stories – Greta has this on her list as well. I will say that I bought the first book in the series years ago for Greta and she wasn’t interested in it. Then I suggested it to Eloise this year and she loved it (she tends to love fairy tale type stories), so then Greta had to try it.

4. Whatever After – Siblings have a magic mirror that transports them into fairy tale lands, but they accidentally mess up the story. There are 13 books in this series so far.

5. Who Was – These are biographies that are very popular with younger grades. I love that they are making biographies to accessible and enjoyable for kids.

6. Thea & Geronimo Stilton – This was on her list last year as well and she still loves them and continues to read any new ones our library gets in (there are tons of books in this series). We will also be visiting other libraries in our county system this year and I’m sure she will grab more.

7. Weird but True – These are books by National Geographic that contain tons of pictures and facts. Both the older two love these books and spouting off endless random facts to us.

8. The Critter Club – A couple of girls who love animals and save animals and help them get back to health.

9. Big Nate – A hilarious series about a middle school kid who gets lots of detentions.

10. Because of Winn Dixie – Everything changes for 10 year old Opal when she meets Winn Dixie (a dog). Eloise recently joined a book club and this was the first book she read. It had been sitting on our shelves for years and she never picked it up, so I’m glad that she was encouraged to read it.

Do you have other books to recommend for 9 year olds?

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2019 Summer Reading – 11 year old

June 7, 2019March 14, 2024admin

Last year we made summer reading lists of some of the girls’ favorite books, and this year we have some new lists. First up is Greta’s list. Greta is finishing up 5th grade and is a voracious reader. There is no way I can keep up with her. She likes a variety of books, including books above her grade level and below. Any good story will do! Here is her list from last year if you are looking for some other books in the 10-11 year old range.

1. Chasing Vermeer – Petra and Calder try to solve a mystery without getting killed. Greta loved the codes and clues in the pictures in the book.

2. Land of Stories – A set of twins falls into a fairy tale world and has to defeat the evil there. This is a six book series and each book is pretty sizable.

3. The Sports Beat – Two kids are chosen as winners of a sports writing contest and get to solve sports mysteries.

4. Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales – Graphic novels about history told by Nathan Hale. These books bring history to life in an exciting and sometimes humorous way.

5. Sisters 8 – Eight year old octuplet ‘orphans’ use their powers that they gain throughout the series to get their parents back safely. This is an eight book series.

6. Click – Graphic novel about a girl who does not know where she belongs in the talent show.

7. Zlata’s Diary/ Anne Frank – Both girls grow up during a war and keep a diary, so they are similar, but one takes place in the 1990s and one in the 1940s.

8. Cilla Lee Jenkins – A girl who wants to be a writer details her experience at school. This is so far a three book series, but Greta thinks there will be more.

9. Mr. Lemoncello – Mr. Lemoncello is an eccentric inventor who creates a library for kids in his hometown. Kids get invited to the library to play games that Mr. Lemoncello has invented. So far this is a four book series.

10. Nick & Tesla – Twins are sent to live with their eccentric inventor uncle. They solve science related mysteries. This is a six book series.

11. Ban this Book – A shy girl speaks up and forms a secret banned book library when her favorite book is banned from the school library.

Any recommendations for her to try? What do your 11 year olds love to read?

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