Charlotte Mason’s philosophy on education revolves predominantly on living books. Over the years we have read so many good books and we also love throwing a party to celebrate a particular book with our friends! I’ve kept a blog post for each special book and you can read more about them in the gallery at the bottom of this page!
I put together a literary analysis guide to use while enjoying a book each month! It has great questions that help encourage discussion as well as hyperlinks to learn more about the 7 common literary elements.
In addition to this literary guide there are other literature options in my shop! If you have a student emerging in essay writing you might enjoy the writing guide available for students who are crafting better written narrations.
Gallery of Book Parties
March 2023
Robin Hood / My Side of the Mountain / By the Great Horn Spoon / Swallows and Amazons / Because of Winn Dixie / Wild Robot / Hobbit / The Timepiece (Traveler’s League) / The Green Ember / Tuck Everlasting / Wingfeather Saga /Sign of the Beaver / Wizard of Oz / Lizzie’s War / Nerviest Girl in the World / Matilda / Mysterious Benedict Society / One and Only Ivan / Farmer Boy / Hobbit 2 / Cricket in Times Square /Jungle Book / The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe / Fortunately, the Milk / Shouting at the Rain / Harriet the Spy / Fish in a Tree / Amos Fortune / Beowulf / Pax / Cricket on the Hearth / Greenglass House / Bronze Bow / Animal Farm / Rickshaw Girl / Where the Mountain Meets the Moon / Phantom Tollbooth / Helen Keller – The Story of My Life / Strong Inside / The Hound of the Baskervilles / Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom / Up From Slavery / Number the Stars / Around the World in 80 Days / Lady Susan / Chaucer Canterbury Tales / Otto of the Silver Hand / Frankenstein / Emma / The Importance of Being Earnest / Silas Marner / Black Beauty / Robinson Crusoe
More Book Party Ideas
If you are looking for more ideas to celebrate your books there are resources like the Wild + Free bundles and BraveWriter issues. To be fair, not every book we read ends in a party, but for those books that lend themselves to group discussions and activities, it’s a lot of fun to put together a celebration! Also, you can check out the amazing book by Wild + Free called Book Club! The ideas in this book and the information from our past book club parties below will hopefully inspire you to create your own celebration!
The purpose of a book party is to ignite a spark in our children to love and enjoy literature and celebrating together!
If your homeschool schedule does not allow you to put on fancy parties, another option to celebrate a book is to have a “No Frills Bookclub”
A story in Jim Trelease’s book “Read Aloud Handbook” was inspirational to me during a school year that we needed to scale back on our weekday activities but still wanted to discuss good books with friends.
Brenda Chapman’s story in the book shared that she started a book club with her son and his friends on a Saturday morning. They met once a month to discuss a chapter book and let the children lead the discussion questions during their meeting. The meetings are free from food, games, and distractions – it is truly “no-frills” and gives an opportunity to connect on a deeper level with insightful discussion. Brenda writes:
“As moms, we feel like we’ve gotten to know our sons better and hear what they’re thinking about, and even struggling with, socially and morally. Personally, I’ve learned about my peers and their parenting style. I think we have a great support system in place as we enter middle school and are faced with decisions on some of those tough social issues.”
Here is a title list of the books we read as our “No Frills Book Club.” Each year we read one book a month for the school year! We met after reading the book to discuss what we learned.
War Horse / Bud, Not Buddy / Nerviest Girl in the World / Inside Out and Back Again / Call it Courage / Esparanza Rising / A Long Walk to Water / Snow Treasure / Birchbark House / Black Ships Before Troy / Wanderings of Odysseus / Walk the World’s Rim / Kim / A Lion to Guard Us / Treasure Island
WAR HORSE
This is historical fiction set in World War 1. My favorite scene is the infamous “No Man’s Land” on Christmas. The book is written from the horse’s perspective and gives insight to the geography and politics during WW1
BUD, NOT BUDDY
This book is set in the late 1930s in Flint, MI. Themes of racial inequalities, bullying, and more provide some thought provoking ethics discussions. We did enjoy some Flint, MI “pop” during our party.
NERVIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD
This book is written by a homeschool mom! We loved the historical references of silent films set in the Wild West of the early 20th century!
INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN
This book was not what I expected. Set in Alabama, it follows a family that escaped Vietnam. It’s written in verse which was something my children had to get used to. They still talk about some of the quotes from the book. I learned a lot about the Vietnam War while reading this account.
CALL IT COURAGE
This book is full of adventure! We brought some of the food that the main character ate during his journey. We had great discussions on bravery, religion, and island culture.
ESPARANZA RISING
This book is historical fiction set in the dust bowl times of the 1930s. Esparanza’s family had to flee Mexico and became migrant workers on a California farm. We enjoyed that each chapter was a type of fruit so we brought some of the fruit to our discussion party!
A LONG WALK TO WATER
A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. I originally had never heard of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” and learned a lot about the history from this time in our country. I later found out that one of the lost boys is a member of our church. He has so many amazing stories. If you are studying modern times, make sure to check out this book and learn more about the history.
SNOW TREASURE
You might see that we have had a theme of historical fiction set in the 1900s. Snow Treasure is about World War II and how gold was smuggled out of Norway under the noses of the Nazi army. My kids loved this book!
BIRCHBARK HOUSE
I had always read that the Birchbark House series was a good companion to Little House on the Prairie because the plot revolves around a Native American family. We really enjoyed this book and researching more about the practices of the Ojibwe people.
BLACK SHIPS BEFORE TROY
This is a retelling of the Iliad by Homer. Rosemary Sutcliff does a wonderful job keeping the qualities of the Greek Epic but writing in a style that makes it easy to read and understand. We had a great time talking about similes and metaphors! Keep a list of the similes as you read the book!
WANDERINGS OF ODYSSEUS
This is a retelling of the Odyssey, similar to the Iliad. We knew a lot of the stories from reading Greek mythology but this book was great for us to follow with a map and learn more about Odysseus’ journey.
WALK THE WORLD’S RIM
This book is part of Sonlight’s curriculum and was a great historical fiction book to go with our current history stream of early America. There is a lot that you can learn from this book, including geography and plants mentioned in the story. We enjoyed our rabbit trails!
KIM
Unfortunately, this book did not go over as well as I had hoped! I love that it is considered a “spy novel” but the writing style was difficult to get through. However, I highly recommend the book and encourage you to do some additional learning about the British colonies in India.
A LION TO GUARD US
Another historical fiction book to fit with our studies on colonial America. This book is short and packed with action! Just because it seems juvenile don’t skip it if your middle school students haven’t read it yet!
TREASURE ISLAND
Such an amazing classic! We all loved this one and had a fun party at the end of the school year with a viewing of the Muppet Treasure Island movie! I loved how my kids were able to discuss what was in the book that wasn’t represented in any theatrical retelling. Kidnapped is next on our list!
KIND + CULTIVATED 