I had the opportunity to review Susan K. Marlow's new book, Tales from the Circle C Ranch by Circle C Adventures. Along with the book, there was a downloadable activity book, Andrea Carter's Tales from the Circle C Ranch Learning Lapbook.
Susan K. Marlow's, Tales from the Circle C Ranch is a book containing a collection of eleven short stories. Part One: The Early Years contains four short stories and Part Two: The In-Between Years contains seven short stories. Again, we are drawn into the life of Andi Carter, an independent tomboy growing up in California in the 1800's. The inspiration for this book came from fans' questions about Andi and happenings in her book series.
When the book arrived in the mail, both of my daughters were fighting over who got to read it first. It is so exciting to see your child enthusiastic about reading. Marlow's book are wholesome books for the whole family.
The following stories are included in Tales from the Circle C Ranch:
- Britches Are Not for Little Girls
- The Best Gift of All
- Aunt Rebecca and the Hat
- White Christmas
- Prince Loco, Chad's Crazy Horse
- Hurrah for the Forth of July!
- A Matter of Honor
- Snakes Alive!
- Virginia's Riding Lesson
- Where the Trees Meet the Bay
- Adios, Jeffrey Sullivan
My daughters and I read the book. We all enjoyed learning a bit more about various events that took place in the other Circle C Ranch books.
My 6th grader said,
"All of the stories are fun and creative. Some of the stories are short, and some are long. All eleven chapters of the book are very riveting. It is difficult, but if I had to choose my favorite stories, they would be; White Christmas, Virginia's Riding Lesson, Where the Trees Meet the Bay and Adios, Jeffrey Sullivan. The reason that I chose these stories was because they had a lot of action and drama.
My favorite part of the book is the family. I like the old fashion mother and the smart and fashionable sister. I absolutely love the brothers; Justin, Chad and Mitch. Justin is a lawyer and Chad and Mitch run the ranch. I love how the three of them beat up all of the crazy people that cross their family."
My 3rd grader said,
"There are eleven great stories in one book. I cannot believe that they could fit so much greatness into 150 pages! I loved reading the book. It was very exciting. One of my favorite stories was, Virginia's Riding Lesson. In this story I like when Virginia was riding Pal and he ran away.
Another one of my favorites was, Snakes Alive!. In this story it is sad because Andi thought she had killed the snake.
My last favorite story was, Britches Are Not for Little Girls. I felt so sorry for Andi because she has to wear a dress."
LapBook
My 3rd and 6th graders absolutely loved doing the lapbook activities and learning information about the stories they read in Tales from the Circle C Ranch. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the interesting topics which included:
- An 1800's General Store
- History of Photography
- Jingle Bells
- Blizzards
- State Fair
- History of Fireworks
- Limericks
- California King Snake
- Saddles
- Pacific Coast States
- Crabs
- Visiting Cards
- The Apothecary
One of the activities was on limericks. Edward Lear is the man who is credited for creating this type of poem. Limericks are often times funny. My daughter was having a very silly day and created this limerick.
Today I wanted to have a party,
But I was feeling a little farty,
I began to cry,
But my tears were dry,
So I played with my cat, Arty.
Our Overall Thoughts
Susan K. Marlow wrote another great book!!! We cannot wait to read more of her adventures with Andi. My girls absolutely loved the lap books. I would highly recommend Circle C Adventures ~ Tales from the Circle C Ranch to all educators and homeschoolers.
To read more reviews click HERE.
Social Media
Oh, Jennifer! Thanks for sharing that limerick! That activity was the one I felt most children might have the most difficulty with. My 10 year old granddaughter did this book and lapbook for an end-of-the-year literature (after she finished all of the American Girl lapbooks I'd created. She was not ready to make the jump from the reading level of the CCBeginnings to the CCAdventures this year). The limerick activity stumped her and since the family was staying with us for a week, I was able to do a limerick teaching lesson. (6th grade brother had NO PROBLEM thinking up limericks. He did that rather than his own schoolwork. Go figure.).
ReplyDeleteEllie's struggles with that activity made me pause and wonder how many other readers might have trouble with that activity. It sounds like your DD had fun with it, which was my intention: learn while having fun.
Thanks for the great review!