If You Give a Mom a Book -- Night Tree

Neat, neat, neat book.


Night Tree by Eve Bunting arrived in our mailbox from www.Paperbackswap.com (click on the link to learn more about my favorite and practical recycling website that provides the majority of our homeschooling curriculum for sustainable books).

I think that I put it on my PaperbackSwap wish list last year after scouring the CBD (Christian Book Distributor) catalog. Perfect timing!

I really enjoyed this story because it reminded me of my family. We could relate.


Basically, it is the story of a family who has a yearly traditions (I surmise) of visiting the same pine tree every year to decorate it. They create homemade ornaments comprised of popcorn, apples, tangerines, and cranberries. After Christmas Eve turns dark they venture to this secluded spot and decorate the tree for their forest friends. After pampering their tree, they sit, sip hot chocolate, and sing Christmas carols.


I love it because it is simple. It is a secret. It is their tradition. Their quiet benchmark to honor the season, the birthday of our Savior (though this is not mentioned directly in the book). And it provides a moment of solitude for the family in the midst of an often busy and loud family holiday.

If you see a random tree decorated . . . well, we might just have crept out one night to start our new tradition. I know two little boys who have latched on to this idea. Shh . . . don't tell!

What did you read this week?

If you don't know what a Sustaining Book is check out my first blog post on this topic, If You Give a Mom a Book.

Some things that you could discuss in your blog post would be:

• What is one book that stood out to you this week?
• What was the title of the book, and who were the author(s) and illustrator(s)?
• What conversations did it spark between you and your child?
• Did the book come up randomly in conversation at some point causing your child to create an application on their own?
• Set the scene—where did you sit?
• Did you have anything yummy to eat or drink while reading?
• Was music playing?
• How did reading together help your day?
• What was the story about?
• Did you like the illustrations?
• What was your favorite part about snuggling?
• Why was your book a Sustaining Book?

Guidelines

• Link up 1x a week. My goal is to post every Friday.
• Pick one book—your favorite book from that week.
• Use any one of the suggestions I listed above to include in your post.
• Grab my button on the sidebar to compliment your blog post.
• Enter the exact blog post address in Mr. MckLinky!
• Leave me a comment that you linked up!

I can’t wait to read about your Sustaining Book!

www.PaperBackSwap.com = Free Books! (Kind of)

I hobbled into the store, carrying my heavy load of once prized books. At eight months pregnant, I was large and on a mission. I was anxious to unload these books, as they loomed taller than Pikes Peak on my final pregnancy nesting plans. My hormonal body believed that a child could not be born and brought into our home if these books remained untouched on our bookshelves. They must go. There wasn't enough room for a second baby and a stack of books. To treat ourselves for de-cluttering, this book sale was to be the creative revenue to fund our evening's date. I was sure that they would delight the lucky sleuth who found them at Half Price Books.

We walked out of Half Price Books with about $8.00.

It was hard to not take this as a slap in the face. We would have to share a meal that night. Certainly, no movie or popcorn for us. I felt defeated and rejected. Those books represented several hundred dollars and hours of reading. There had to be a better way to get a return on my collection of words.

Two years later, I found the answer. I was having lunch with Laurel, the classy lady who is hosting my most recent giveaway. We were discussing good parenting books and Bible studies. She mentioned that she would put my recently read books on her wish list through PaperBackSwap.

Tell me more!

Do you have a lot of books lying around the house? The reality is that if you take them to Half Price Books you will probably get $8 for them and if you go to Goodwill . . . . well, nothing but a tiny tax deduction, if you are lucky.

The solution? PaperBackSwap! (No, I am not getting money for this post. But I will receive a credit toward a book when you sign up using the ad at the bottom of this post and you list 10 or more books!) I think that this site is a creative tool to get rid of books you no longer use and gain books that you would like to read. Look at some of the great books I have already swapped!

How do you do it? Easy! You will have over 3,000,000 books waiting at your fingertips!

1. Click on the below, colorful PaperBackSwap blue ad.

2. Post all of the books you are willing to swap. Typically, you just enter in the ISBN located on the back of each book.

3. After you post 10 books, you will receive 2 free book credits as a "welcome to the club" gift.

4. Browse for books that you would like to read or give as a gift using the search page.

5. Order the book or put it on your wish list if it isn't currently available.

6. When another member requests a book from your electronic bookshelf, you will receive an email alerting you. (And don't worry--by signing up, you will not be bombarded by emails, unless you post a lot of books!)

7. Accept the request and mail the book using media mail, which is approximately $2.23 for less than one pound. You can print the wrapper and pay for postage directly from your PaperBackSwap account.

8. Mail the book!

One Credit=One Book

You can even do this for DVD's and CD's!

PaperBackSwap has blessed our homeschooling bookshelf for significantly less than if I had bought everything new or even at Half Price Books.

Happy Reading!