N.D. Wilson has a new book. While I’m quite sure you all know that all ready, perhaps you haven’t heard of the fabulous promos he’s been running. First off is a giveaway for all you Facebookers out there. Just “like” the official Ashtown Burials page here and then vote on which book trailer score is your favorite. You can vote here. Up for grabs are two audio copies of The Dragon’s Tooth and a signed set of the 100s Cupboards books. Christmas shopping at its easiest.

Second freebie is for those of you who have the book already. Simply snap a pic, tweet it with the hashtag #dragonstooth, or post it on the Ashtown Burials page on the Facebook, and you’ll receive a cool-as-can-be boxing monkey patch, the ultimate stocking stuffer and fashion accessory.

The Facebook promo ends Monday so go cast a vote!

I just finished reading My Antonia for the third time. It is a book of many beautiful things. Here are two samples, one describing winter, the other, spring.

“Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen. On the farm the weather was the great fact, and men’s affairs went on underneath it, as the streams creep under the ice. But in Black Hawk the scene of human life was spread out shrunken and pinched, frozen down to the bare stalk.”

“When spring came, after that hard winter, one could not get enough of the nimble air. Every morning I wakened with a fresh consciousness that winter was over. There were none of the signs of spring for which I used to watch in Virginia, no budding woods or blooming gardens. There was only — spring itself; the throb of it, the light restlessness, the vital essence of it everywhere: in the sky, in the swift clouds, in the pale sunshine, and in the warm high wind — rising suddenly, sinking suddenly, impulsive and playful like a big puppy that pawed you and then lay down to be petted. If I had been tossed down blindfold on that red prairie, I should have known that it was spring.”

“Why he objected against religion itself; he said it was a pitiful, low, sneaking business for a man to mind religion; he said that a tender conscience was an unmanly thing, and that for a man to watch over his words and ways, so as to tie up himself from that hectoring liberty that the brave spirits of the times accustom themselves unto, would make him the ridicule of the times. He objected also that but few of the mighty, rich, or wise were ever of my opinion; nor any of them neither before they were persuaded to be fools and to be of a voluntary fondness* to venture the loss of all, for nobody else knows what. He moreover objected the base and low estate and condition of those that were chiefly the pilgrims, also their ignorance of the times in which they lived and want of understanding in all natural science. Yea, he did hold me to it at that rate, also, about a great many more things than here I relate; as, that is was a shame to sit whining and mourning under a sermon and a shame to come sighing and groaning home, that it was a shame to ask my neighbour forgiveness for petty faults, or to make restitution where I had taken from any.”

*want of sense or judgement

My husband cut his teeth on Narnia, for his parents started reading the stories to the kids pretty much as soon as the books were published. And then when our kids were growing up, I don’t know how many times he read them out loud to them. So this book is coming from someone who’s been traveling in Narnia for over fifty years! This is another one of Canon’s fresh pickin’s, due to come out the day after Thanksgiving. And, yes, you can pre-order. Just keeping you posted!

Hat’s off to Canon Press! I hear they are offering free shipping for both Loving the Little Years and for Pretty Girl if preordered. Hope you enjoy!

Years ago Gladys Hunt wrote Honey for a Child’s Heart, which is a book about books, listing suggestions for young readers. I believe it is in its fourth edition now, and it has a great article in the beginning about the wonder of words. Another book along the same lines is The Book Tree by McCallum and Scott. This is based on the same idea, that we want our children exposed to the best sort of books. Both these are great resources for reading choices.

And, how could I forget this one: Books Children Love, by Elizabeth Wilson. I’ve had this one on my shelf for quite a while as well.

Also, I noticed that one of the Femina readers has a blog with book reviews called Written Windows. Check out these sources, because, as you know, Christmas is coming! But you don’t have to wait until Christmas to be shopping for books.

We enjoyed milling about and meeting people and taking it all in. One of the little gold mines we stumbled across (due to a recommend from some friends) was Greathall Productions. Jim Weiss has been recording stories for over twenty years, and he has a great selection of cd’s for kids of all ages. We ordered four, and we took home one (they were sold out by the time we got down to business). Due to arrive soon is “Uncle Wiggly’s Storybook,” and I’m looking forward to that one! Doug and I listened to “Tell Me a Story” on the way home from the airport, and we were very impressed. I know the grandkids will eat this stuff up.

Our kids grew up with lots of stories. My husband read to them, I read to them, and we had (of course) Narnia on tape. Later we bought the Lord of the Rings and listened to that one while we made a cross-country trip. And my son listened to the New Testament on tape for years every night when he was in elementary school.

Jim Weiss knows the importance of stories, and he knows how to tell a good one. So now my conscience is clear. I’ve passed on the hot tip.