Plumfield Moms

Waiting for the Biblioburro

Reviewed by Diane Pendergraft
Ana has to help her father and mother with the farm work. When it’s hot outside, she wishes she were back inside the cool house reading and rereading the one book she owns. It was a gift from her teacher, but her teacher has moved away and now there isn’t one in Ana’s village at all. One day, a man comes to the village riding on a burro and leading another. Both burros are laden with books, and he carries a sign that says, “Biblioburro.” He tells the children he is a librarian, a bibliotecario, and the books on the burros, Alfa and Beto, are his moving library. Read the full review

Wanda Gag: The Girl Who Lived to Draw

Reviewed by Sara Masarik
“I was born in this country, but often feel as though I had spent my early years in Europe… I spoke no English until I went to school.” Wanda Gág was born in 1893 in the immigrant town of New Ulm, Minnesota, a community rooted in German and Bohemian traditions. The settlers there clung to their language and Old World customs—but in the Gág family, one value stood above all else: a deep, abiding love for art. Read the full review

War Horse

Reviewed by Diane Pendergraft
Two books have made me cry in front of my class while reading aloud. One was Little Britches, the other was War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. It’s not that I only cry about horses. It is the suffering of innocent creatures that gets me. In the case of War Horse, it is also the senselessness of war, WWI in particular. The clash of the technology of two different centuries makes for particularly gruesome situations. My intent is not to make sure you never read this book. It is to try to explain some of its power. I’ve heard different comments about the intensity of the story. I also hope to give you some details to help you discern whether this might be a good fit for you or your family. Read the full review