Diary of a Real Payne {Schoolhouse Crew Review}

I value the time that I spend reading books to my children, and I search out high-quality books to share with them when it's my turn to pick the read-aloud. One of the books I read to Lauren recently is Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story written by Annie Tipton and published by Barbour Publishing.

Diary of a Real Payne is the story of EJ (Emma Jean) Payne, an opinionated fourth grade student living in a small town. Each chapter starts with an excerpt from EJ's diary. She writes about her family, her fears about a new school year, the Fall Festival at church, and her favorite Thanksgiving foods. Throughout the book, EJ finds herself daydreaming about amazing adventures she could have as the youngest race car driver, an astronaut taking a space walk, Queen Esther, a beekeeper, a stewardess on an international flight, and much more.

Like many chapter books for elementary students, this book is primarily a play-by-play description of some of the most entertaining aspects of EJ's life. Like many stories for elementary students, the book focuses heavily on description and doesn't have a lot of action. Lauren tends to enjoy this style of book, but I know that Brennan needs to have more action or suspense in the books he reads.

Diary of a Real Payne shows the day-to-day lives of a family not afraid to live out their Christian faith. EJ's father is the pastor at the local Community Church, and throughout the book he finds ways to encourage his children to live out their faith. Similarly, EJ's mom, a second grade teacher, tells EJ in the first chapter, "I also believe that God has plans for EJ Payne that are better than even her amazing imagination can dream up." (p. 24) I found the Christian aspect of the book to flow fairly well with the story. The family's Christianity never came across as forced or fake, and they definitely weren't a stereotypical perfect Christian family. I found it refreshing to find a Christian family portrayed as so normal and quirky.

Lauren particularly enjoyed the scenes where EJ blocks out reality in favor of the more exciting scenario she imagines. In addition, EJ's journal entries in each chapter have inspired Lauren to write in her own diary.

The publisher recommends Diary of a Real Payne for 8-12 year olds. The subject matter would definitely appeal to students in that age range, especially girls. I recommend it as a read-aloud for children in the lower end of that range. Strong readers may be able to read it independently, but the writing style made it a bit more challenging to read than I initially thought. When I calculated the reading level of a few passages, it scored at a seventh or eighth grade level. (The picture below shows Lauren reading a paragraph of a diary entry before she handed the book back to me to read the rest of the chapter.)

Lauren and I definitely enjoyed reading about EJ Payne's adventures, and I suspect that Lauren will be looking forward to the release of the next book in the series. It's rare to find a entertaining book at this level that portrays Christian values in an admirable but not overly sweet manner, and Diary of a Real Payne does that well.

Diary of a Real Payne Book 1: True Story is available in paper back for $4.49. Book 2: Church Camp Chaos is due to be released March 2014.

©2009-2013 Through the Calm and Through the Storm. All rights reserved. Photos and content may not be reproduced. http://throughthecalmandthroughthestorm.blogspot.com

Read Aloud Explosion {Read-Aloud Challenge}

I feel like our wall of read aloud stars exploded yesterday when Lauren added the books we finished lately. She was a bit sick over the weekend and missed a planned outing Saturday night, church on Sunday morning, and our small group gathering on Sunday evening. We spent much of our time together with me reading books to her.

Recent read-alouds:
1. A Big Year for Lily by Suzanne Woods Fisher and Mary Ann Kinsinger, the third book in the Lily Lapp series we love so much

2. Dolphin Adventure and Dolphin Treasure by Wayne Grover, the first one was a Sonlight read-aloud

3. Sophia the Snow Swan Fairy, Cheryl the Christmas Tree Fairy, and Cara the Camp Fairy all by Daisy Meadows (part of the Rainbow Fairy books)

I allowed Lauren to check the fairy books out of the library because they looked like they might be at a level where she could read them independently. I ended up reading them aloud when she was sick. They're not normally what I would pick as read-aloud materials, but I've noticed that Lauren is now more willing to attempt reading them on her own. It was time well spent, even if I can't characterize them as "great literature."


My friend Debra at Footprints in the Butter hosts a semi-weekly read-aloud challenge link, and I'm joining her by sharing some of what we're reading this week.

Reading Stars {Read-Aloud Challenge}

A few weeks ago, I started brainstorming ways to display the book that Lauren and I read this year. I thought of a few cute ideas, and a friend suggested a really awesome diamond back rattlesnake idea (write a book title on each segment or rattle). Realistically, though, I knew that creative ideas were more likely to remain ideas and less likely to become a reality. I found foam star cut-outs at Target the other day (in the dollar spot) and decided that they'd make a cute enough display for us.

Lauren decided that we needed to record both the books I read to her and the books that she reads aloud as part of her schoolwork. A New Home for Lily counts as our first read-aloud for this school year because we finished it on our first day of school.

Our current read-aloud is the third book in the Lily Lapp series -- A Big Year for Lily. It was just released a few weeks ago, and Lauren was thrilled to receive a copy as a back-to-school surprise.

If you're interested in the Lily Lapp books, you can read the review I posted earlier this summer. As you can tell, Lauren's a huge Lily Lapp fan!

I'm linking my post up to Debra's somewhat weekly read-aloud challenge. Interestingly, she's also talking about A Big Year for Lily this week.

©2009-2013 Through the Calm and Through the Storm. All rights reserved. Photos and content may not be reproduced. http://throughthecalmandthroughthestorm.blogspot.com

The Adventures of Lily Lapp {Schoolhouse Review Crew}

One fun benefit of reading books aloud to my children is that the characters become a part of our lives and everyday conversations. Lauren and I have been reading the first two books in the Lily Lapp series for the past two weeks, and I've found myself reminding Lauren of lessons that Lily learned or talking about funny things in the stories.

Life with Lily and A New Home for Lily are the first two books in the charming Lily Lapp series published by Baker Publishing Group. Even though Lily lives in an Amish community, she reminds me of many six (and seven) year old children I know. She's curious about the world around her, she gets into trouble without even trying, and she sometimes struggles to get along with her friends at school.

The stories in the Lily Lapp books are based on Mary Ann Kinginger's childhood in an Old Amish home in Pennsylvania. In the first book, Lily lives on a farm in New York, and the reader gets to see the family farm grow with the addition of a barn and then an assortment of animals. Lauren enjoys all the tales of farm life, but I'm not sure she truly comprehends that they are set in a modern time. I found it particularly interesting to read about how Lily and her family interacted with non-Amish (English) families at times. When I was growing up in Delaware, I often saw Amish buggies and I remember my mother buying baked goods from an Amish lady that came through our neighborhood each week.

In the second book, A New Home for Lily, Lily's family moves from New York to a new Amish community in Pennsylvania. As a family who moves often, we can all relate to the challenges Lily faces in a new place. Perhaps my favorite passage of the book comes when Lily's mother is sewing her a new prayer covering, one that matches the style of the others in Pennsylvania.

Lily asked Mama what difference in made and she had no answer for her.

"It's tradition," she said.

"But why?" Lily said. 

Mama signed. "We don't question why. Each church has their own way of doing things."  

And didn't that just say it all? 

(A New Home for Lily, page 44)   

Sometimes when we move, all we can say is that each community has their own way of doing things. Lily learns to adjust to a different way of doing things, and eventually learns that a new place to live will still bring happy stories and adventures. In time, a new place to live will stop being so "new" and will just feel like home. Those lessons sound awfully familiar for our family.

Lauren has enjoyed reading about Lily Lapp and often begs for me to read "one more chapter." She also often reminds me to make sure I put the Lily book in my purse if we are heading out for an appointment or some other place where we might have a few moments to read. She says that the books are funny and was particularly amused when Joseph broke his arm by trying to fly off the chicken coop. Coincidentally, we read that chapter of the book shortly after Lauren broke her arm.

These books are recommended for children ages 8-12. Prior to the review, I had Lauren read a sample chapter. She reads roughly at a second grade level. The sample was just a bit difficult for her to read independently, but I thought it would be perfect for us to work on together. Unfortunately, Life with Lily is so long (288 pages) that she quickly became overwhelmed with the idea of reading it on her own. Later I did some reading level calculations and found that the books are written on a fourth to fifth grade level. For my seven-year-old, they're perfect to use as read-alouds. I expect that she'll reread them on her own when she's a bit older.

The Adventures of Lily Lapp series would also be perfect for an elementary student with advanced reading skills. I remember when Addison was in first grade and was already reading at a fourth-sixth grade level. It was difficult to find quality books that matched her reading level and weren't too advanced for her maturity wise. These books would have been perfect, and I think Addison would have loved them when she was younger.

The Lily Lapp books are available from Baker Publishing Group for $12.99. The third book in the series, A Big Year for Lily, is due to be released in July, and the final book, A Surprise for Lily will be published in September. Both of the new books in the series are on my list of Christmas gifts to give this year.

Life with Lily and A New Home for Lily are touching our lives. We've enjoyed sharing them as read-alouds, and I wish I could have offered them to my oldest daughter (an advanced reader) when she was in first or second grade.


©2009-2013 Through the Calm and Through the Storm. All rights reserved. Photos and content may not be reproduced. http://throughthecalmandthroughthestorm.blogspot.com