Friday, May 27, 2011

Read For The Heart: A Review



As a member of the TOS Homeschool crew, this year I am reviewing many homeschooling products that I have received for free. I am not paid to say nice things about the products, but I am obligated to use the product and share my honest opinions with you. In today's review, I was the product tester...

Read For the Heart: Whole Books for Wholehearted Families 
By Sarah Clarkson
Paperback 384 Pages
Published by Apologia for $17.00


Before I even discuss Read for the Heart, I have to make a confession. I am addicted to  children's books. I read them to my children, but I do so, because I enjoy them just as much as they do. I am usually the one who gets excited about starting a new book. My kids humor me and eventually they are drawn into the story.

Because of this obsession, I currently own several books about choosing children's books. I have some that describe books that relate to boys, historical time periods, and illustrators. I enjoy reading, talking about and discovering new children's stories. This book obsession started when I was in college. I had taken a course in children's literature, which turned out to be one of my all time favorite classes. From that moment on, I have always been drawn to children's books.

This is one of the only crew reviews of a product just for mommy! I was thrilled to review it and even more excited as I read it. I discovered the author is the daughter of one of my favorite home school authors, Sally Clarkson. 


What is it?


Read For The Heart is book that answers the question of why, how, and what books will nourish your child's heart. 


With summer reading programs beginning for my kids, this book will be an invaluable tool for choosing excellent books. Little Guy has just begun easy chapter books, so I have started the adventure in fiction for the third time with my kids. I am now armed with an excellent resource that covers over 1000 books.

Sarah Clarkson begins with the chapter: Reading to Live, the testimonial of how she was captivated by books by her family's dedication to great literature. She was homeschooled by godly parents whose priority of wholehearted training is apparent. Her zeal for books, makes Terri G. seem like a dabbler in reading. Read For The Heart's 12 chapters include:
  • Reading Lost
  • How to begin
  • A Roadmap for using this book
  • Picture Books
  • The Golden Age Classics
  • Children's Fiction
  • Fairy Tales and Fantasy
  • History and Biography
  • Spiritual Reading for Children
  • Poetry
  • Music, Art, and Nature
Each chapter begins with her thoughts on selecting books. They include a synopsis, recommendations, short author biographies, and additional books. She also includes numerous lists in the appendix. I appreciate how she added an index, so I can easily search for by book, author or genre. The organization of this book, makes it easy to use. This valuable resource will help me this summer with one of my finicky children

A few things I discovered in this book.

  • Christina Rosetti, a Christian poet, was the brother to artist Dante Gabriel Rosetti.
  • The Wonderful Adventure of Nils is a book I want my sons to read this summer, to become familiar with the geography of Sweden.
  • Walt Morey wrote more than Gentle Ben. I am hoping my boys enjoy his other works.
  • Since we have friends from Bulgaria, I am looking forward to reading Dobry by Monica Shannon.
  • Jane Porter wrote The Scottish Chiefs in 1810. My boys can never have enough of William Wallace. Although it's a famous book, it's news to me.



This book is a thorough reference that has found a new home in my library bag. I was pleased to see that my children have read many of the recommended titles, yet there are still so many treasures to be discovered in Read For The Heart. I highly recommend this book for all families. You don't have to be a homeschooling parent, just someone who desires great books for your children. Don't take just my word for it. See what other crew members thought of Read For The Heart here.

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1 comment:

Tess said...

I was so encouraged by reading this book! I was also encouraged to see so many familiar titles, many of which we've read and thrilled to discover MORE books for us to read. I loved the perspective Sarah Clarkson brought those first four chapters. LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!!