From the Bookshelf

   One of my favorite books when I was a young girl and one that our children now love as well, is the Old Squires Farm by C.A. Stephens. It's about six cousins that went to live with their grandparents in Maine, after the civil war had wrought sad havoc on their families.
     It's excellent as a read aloud since each chapter focuses on its own adventure the children had experienced. Stories of things like Grandma's dreaded vermifuge bottle she brought out when ever someone wasn't feeling quite right, and how they came up with a plan to make it bearable, which worked until the visiting minister arrived.
    A sleepwalking incident that went horribly, and yet hilariously wrong. A particularly cantankerous bull, a giant sled they built, how they had convinced a stranger to practice shearing sheep until Grandpa discovered what they were doing, and many, many more delightful tales of what life was like back in the 1800's.
    It holds a special place in our home library as one of the books that gets read and reread.