Cat Who Wished to Be a Man (April Reads)
We finished reading four books in April, including The Cat Who Wished to Be a Man, by one of our all-time favorite authors, Lloyd Alexander. Read on for our impressions of each.
4 Books we read in April
The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel
Do you say you believe in God, but live with worry or guilt or fear?
Do you claim to love God, but seldom pray or read His word?
Do you claim God’s forgiveness, but harbor grudges and resentment against your neighbor?
Craig Groeschel’s book examines these and many other areas of our lives where our walk may not match our talk.
His point? If we’re going to claim to be Christians, we should be reflecting Christ in the way we think, speak, and conduct ourselves.
Knowing Christ should affect every other area of our life. Read The Christian Atheist, and don’t be surprised if you discover a few blind spots yourself.
The Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half by Stephanie Nelson
Subtitled “The Strategic Shopping Method Proven to Slash Food and Drugstore Costs,” this book will help you save money even if you haven’t much time to spend clipping coupons.
“Busy” shoppers will learn how less than five minutes of planning before a shopping trip can reduce their grocery bill by 20-25%, even if they never touch a pair of scissors.
“Rookie” shoppers will learn new tips to shave their grocery bill by 40-50% by redeeming manufacturer’s coupons when products are already on sale.
And veteran couponers will learn how to combine these saving strategies with advertised specials, electronic coupons, clearance sales, and rebate offers to “make every bite a bargain” and routinely save up to 90% off their grocery bill.
The author’s methods are user friendly, no matter what your shopping style. Read this book, and start saving today.
Children’s Quick & Easy Cookbook by Angela Wilkes
Rebekah asked that I include this book on our list of current reads, as she has thoroughly enjoyed working her way through it over the past couple of months (and the rest of us have benefited as eager taste-testers!).
The recipes truly are “Quick and Easy,” with large, color photographs that provide easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions.
She and Rachel can follow any of them with minimal help from me (although I did have to teach them how to properly zest an orange).
Their handling so much of our meal prep was a huge blessing during the first few weeks following Abigail’s birth.
This Children’s Quick & Easy Cookbook is a great introduction to the culinary arts. Your kids will learn their way around the kitchen in no time!
The Cat Who Wished to Be a Man by Lloyd Alexander
I enjoyed listening to Rachel and Rebekah laugh over this book as they read it in their beds before turning in one night recently.
Since Doug has always been a huge fan of Lloyd Alexander, he actually read it to me and the older kids many long years ago, but I didn’t recall much of the storyline until the girls jogged my memory.
They say their favorite part was how the main character “could smell and do a lot of cat things, like jumping over walls and chasing rats, even after he had been changed into a man.”
Both girls say they plan to read it aloud to their own children someday. But they “don’t know what other people would think about the book, since it has a wizard in it,” albeit a wizard who prefers “doing things like cooking the old-fashioned way, instead of using magic.”
If you aren’t familiar with this author, you are missing out! Should the cat-man story not appeal to you, check out some of our family’s other favorites by Lloyd Alexander. Click on the affiliate links below for more information about each title:
The Iron Ring
The First Two Lives of Lukas Kasha
The Chronicles of Prydain
The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen
Gypsy Rizka
And we also love Lloyd Alexander’s picture book, The Fortune Tellers. I was hesitant to order that one because of the subject matter, but found it made a great teaching tool. And it’s very cleverly written with beautiful illustrations.
Want to inspire more independent reading among your children? Download our free printable reading challenge.
