RAR #158: Adventuring with Your Kids (yes, even now!)

Greta (00:00): We look at people who are doing these grandiose adventures, and they're whitewater rafting, or they're climbing glaciers in Iceland. You're like, "Okay, I can't even hardly take my kids to target without losing my mind." Sarah (00:18): Exactly. Greta (00:19): That's the biggest adventure we're doing right now. Sarah (00:21): We walked to the mailbox and it was a disaster. Greta (00:25): So, I think that it's really important to not compare ourselves and say, "Oh, if it's not something big, if it's not this incredible, life-changing moment or trip, then it doesn't count." Sarah (00:44): You're listening to the Read-Aloud Revival Podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Mackenzie, homeschooling mama of six and author of the Read-Aloud Family and Teaching from Rest. As parents, we're overwhelmed with a lot to do. It feels like every child need something different. The good news is you are the best person to help your kids learn and grow, and home is the best place to fall in love with books. This podcast has been downloaded 7 million times in over 160 countries. So, if you want to nurture warm relationships while also raising kids who love to read, you're in good company. We'll help your kids fall in love with books, and we'll help you fall in love with homeschooling. Let's get started. (01:34): Welcome to Episode 158. For today's show, I invited my friend, Gretta Eskridge, onto the show because she's got a brand-new book that just hit shelves today. It's called Adventuring Together: How to Create Connections and Make Lasting Memories with Your Kids. Now, at Read-Aloud Revival, we are all about connecting with our kids. We're also all about Greta Eskridge because we love her. So, I was delighted that she was up for coming back on the show to talk with me. She's been on the show twice before, once to talk about how children's literature inspires her to be a better parent. That was Episode 42. Then we had her back again, for an episode on inspiring a love of nature through books. That was Episode 62. (02:23): Today, she's going to inspire us all to adventure with our kids, which you might be thinking given the state of the world, "How's that going to work?" But that's one thing I love about Greta and her new book. She shows you how to do small things, moments at home, moments through books; and then when you're able, adventures out in the world as well that connect you to your kids and help you form lasting bonds with them. The show notes for today's episode are at readaloudrevival.com/158. So, you can go there to grab them and get all the links to anything we talked about today on the show. I started our conversation by welcoming Greta back and telling her we missed her. Greta (03:05): Thank you, my favorite place to be. Sarah (03:08): Oh, we love having you here. We're going to put the links to the shows that you've been on with me before in the show notes for this episode, so everyone can go listen to those. Today, I'm so excited because you've got a new book out released the very day this episode is going up actually. So, tell us about it. Tell us about the stuff lasting connections are made of. Greta (03:32): Well, it's going to be hard for me not to cry when I'm talking about this with you on your show, because it just feels like just such an amazing full circle moment. I remember coming on your show for the first time and it was the first podcast I've ever been on. I was so excited and nervous to talk to you, but we have such a great time. When I started to write this book about connecting with your kids through adventures, I thought, "Well, I'm going to have a chapter on connecting with your kids through adventures and books, so that I can go back talk to Sarah." The whole book is about connecting with your kids through adventure, and building relationships, and those lasting relationships through adventures. There's a chapter about doing that through books as well. Sarah (04:27): I know, made me so happy to see it. I think it's chapter 12, right? Greta (04:32): Yup. Sarah (04:32): Chapter 12 is all about adventure and books, yes. I love that the beginning of that chapter, you say that if you were to describe a bookworm and an adventurer, most people don't think of that being the same person. I am so 100% that person, I know you are too. I'm pretty sure that's why we're kindred or at least part of why we're kindred. Greta (04:53): Yeah, I wanted to make sure people knew, you can love books and still crave adventure. Those two things can coexist. Sarah (05:02): They totally can. Sometimes they really enhance one another which we're going to be talking about as well. In that chapter, you say you've had some of the greatest adventures in the pages of books. So, let's talk about that. Greta (05:13): I grew up with a mom and a dad who pursued adventure with us, but in very different ways. My dad loved to... He loves to go new places and do new things. In some ways, he reminds me of Pa from The Little House books just always looking for fun. He craves that, it fills him up. My mom, she loves being home. She loves to garden. She loves things to be neat and to have a cup of tea. She loves reading. So, growing up, it was also physically difficult for her to take us out for a hike or a bike ride. So, for her to adventure in the way that you think more traditionally about adventure, those weren't readily available to her. So, we read lots of books together. (06:20): I remember sitting on our big brown velvet couch from the '70s her reading aloud the Yearling, and adventuring to the parts of Florida where the Everglades and just learning all about that, or feeling like we were in the Ozarks, where The Red Fern Grows takes place, tromping through the woods with our Coon dog. We also didn't have very much money, so we didn't travel hardly at all. But through books, we get to see the world. Those are some of the most cherished memories of my childhood. Sarah (07:08): When it's so true, isn't it that when you're reading a book about a place, especially just a really well-written book, you feel like you've been there. I don't remember which episode it's on, which number it is, but we'll find it and put a link in the show notes. I talked to the author Amanda Dykes last year who wrote a historical fiction novel for adults set in Maine. Although she had never been to Maine and we were talking about what an experience it is to try to write a book about a place you've never been but want to go, but all the different resources you can use and things like that. (07:49): The funny thing is I was telling her that right after I finished her book, I was in Florida at a conference and somebody had mentioned that they were from Maine. I was like, "Oh, I just went there." That's the first thing I thought. I have never been to Maine, although I'm going to remedy that at some point hopefully in the near future. But I've never been there, but I sure feel like I have. That's really the experience when you're reading like Robert McCloskey's books, Burt Dow or Blueberries for Sal or- Greta (08:23): Time of Wonder, I remember reading that particular book to my oldest when he was like seven. It was so beautifully written and the descriptions and just the experience or the book, both of us had tears in our eyes when we were done. It's not a deeply moving story, but just the way he wrote about the place and how much he loved it came through. It moved us. Sarah (08:51): Yeah. It really makes you feel like you've been there. So, I think, when I go to Maine someday, I'm going to feel like I'm revisiting an old friend, I think. I love that so much. I love that your mom being more of a homebody was able to adventure with you through books, and then wasn't left out of that really beautiful connection with you to go on adventures together. Greta (09:19): Right. I mean, that carried through from childhood to even when I got married. She gave me The Little House Cookbook at one of my bridal showers because we had spent so many hours of my childhood reading The Little House Hooks together. That it was like the adventures we had together in those books, she was sending me off on my next adventure to carrying those with me. It's incredible how much a book can move you and take you places where you've never been but like you said, you feel like you've been there. They're so fun. Sarah (10:16): What you're talking about really is making adventuring accessible to everybody. Greta (10:19): Yes. Sarah (10:19): So, whether people have a budget to be able to travel or whether there are health issues or whether there's a global pandemic happening, there's a lot of different things that can keep us from being able to go the places we might want to go. Books are such a beautiful way to be able to still go no matter what your constraints are. Greta (10:38): Exactly. They're relational too, which is really the focus of my book, is that you're using adventures. They're your vehicle to build relationships, to build connections as a family. Books are so good at helping us create connections, and just build those relationships with one another. So, there's just nothing like having an adventure together through the pages of a book. Whether it's a mom and a child or the whole family reading a book together, you feel like you have experienced not just the journey, but you've gone through the things that the characters have gone through. You're sharing jokes and memories from that story. Sarah (11:32): What I love and I'm sitting here thinking about connections and relationships like you're talking about, this is the stuff our kids remember and carry with them, right, the books that we shared, the adventures that they had, the memories that we made together, whether it's on a hike or in a new place that you're exploring together or any kind of adventure, or reading a book. I was just mentioning to a friend that my kids will mark sometimes our camping trips based on what we read last. Like this last summer, I read The Wild Robot while we're camping and it's suddenly The Wild Robot camping trip. Greta (12:04): Yes, we do the same. On road trips, we will start a new book and/or a new series and so those different trips. Even ones that we road trip to the same place year after year, but we can recall, "Oh, that was the year that we were doing The Chronicles of Narnia," or "That was the year we were listening to The Green Ember." So, we can even distinguish the year by the book we were reading, because the destination is the same, but the book is different. It's fun. Sarah (12:37): Okay. The other thing I really love are when books and our family adventures dovetail. So, sometimes this happens in the most serendipitous ways. Right now, for example, family is reading Jasper and the Riddle of Riley's Mine by Caroline Starr Rose. It's a historical fiction, middle-grade novel about the Klondike Gold Rush. So, we're reading it aloud. And then not too long ago on a family outing, we went to the crystal goldmine in Kellogg, Idaho. It's this old gold mine that was used like 100 years ago in the Panhandle of Idaho. So, we went there to see the gold mine and I hadn't planned at all. But when we got there, there was a demo where we could pan for gold. They had these big bins where they showed us like the technique for panning for gold. (13:31): We walked through the cave and saw the threads of courts on the... There's a name for it, ribbons, I think? Anyway, it was so cool, because I felt like the book was coming to life in front of us. It was one of those places we didn't even know existed until the day before. And then I went, "Hey, this is very far away. Do you guys want to go to this?" So, we went, and it was like our adventure, and then our adventures and our reading were dovetailing. It's like magic when that happens. Greta (13:59): Right. Sometimes what I found with my kids too is things that we might not have been so interested in. We read a book, and then it hyped. All of a sudden, we've learned more about that. And then when we experience it in real life, we're so much more invested because the book made us care about it. So, one time, we were reading The Little Britches series by Ralph Moody. The second book, he learns all about trick riding. Our family is not a horse family. We don't live near horses or ride horses, except we've done it just here and there once or twice. But I have a niece who is a vaulter which is if you don't know what that is, it's like doing ballet on the back of a horse. It's crazy. Sarah (14:50): Oh my gosh. Greta (14:50): So, we went to watch her do a vaulting competition. Because we had just read all about Ralph Moody doing these tricks on horses, we were so much more excited, because it came alive in a whole another way because we had more knowledge about this subject. We cared about it more. We would have been excited to see her regardless, but it just made it next level. Sarah (15:32): Well, a friend of mine had asked me a year or two ago and she was taking her son to Boston, "Should I read books before, or should I read books after a trip?" I thought before for exactly the same reason that you're saying because the books help you care, you don't even necessarily... Let's say you're in Washington, D.C., and you're looking at one of the Smithsonian museums. You're looking at things in the displays. They will take on a whole another level of meaning for you if you have some context to put them in, which is what books can give us. Greta (16:00): Right. Yeah. You can even do that with museums. I live in Southern California near Los Angeles. There's a beautiful museum here called the Getty Museum, and it's world famous. Somebody wrote called "Going to the Getty. It's a really fun kids book. It just basically introduces you to the museum itself, just the architecture and how they built it, but then also some of the things inside. Reading that book before I took the kids there, they were so much more excited about going to the museum because it wasn't just like, "Oh, well, this is cool." It was like, you start to build some anticipation. Sarah (16:46): Yeah, yeah. Jamie Martin who runs simplehomeschool.net has this whole post. We'll put this in the show notes in case this makes anybody else's heart go pitter pat like it makes my heart go pitter pat. She took her kids on this trip that follows Little House on the Prairie's journey, like the Ingalls family's journey. So, there's places in North Dakota and Wisconsin. Anyway, I'm blanking on the actual town names, where you can sleep in a covered wagon and see a log house that is a replica I think of what the log house would have looked like, those kinds of adventures. I think I could basically get really excited about planning vacations around books, that's how nerdy I am. Greta (17:34): I wholeheartedly agree, and I've actually studied that entire trip. I really want to do it because I was like, "Oh my gosh." You can see the dugout on the banks of Plum Creek. You can go to that spot and there is a replica of the dugout. It was like, "Are you kidding? That would be incredible," or Lake Pepin is there. You could go to the lake where she filled her pocket with stones, and it tore a hole in her dress. I mean, I'm nerding out with you that it just sounds so fun. Sarah (18:12): It totally does. There's a lot of different places I think you could do something. I really think wherever your family is going, you could just sort of do a little online digging and it wouldn't be too hard to find some books that might be related. I think you, Greta, I think you're the one who told me about a book called Cubby, which I still haven't read yet with my kids. Greta (18:33): Yes. Sarah (18:34): But I had said I wanted to take the kids to Yellowstone, which we still also haven't done yet. But you had said, "Oh, yeah, if you go to Yellowstone, you got to read Cubby." Greta (18:42): Yes, actually, I saw that in a magazine. It was an interview with a park ranger who said when he was a little boy, getting ready to go to Yellowstone, his mom read him that book. He was so inspired by it that he thought, "When I grew up, I want to be a park ranger and work at Yellowstone." That's what he does. I was just so touched by that story, talk about a book impacting your whole future. Sarah (19:14): Seriously, yeah. Greta (19:18): I think too even if you're like, "Well, I can't go on to Prince Edward Island to visit and home," which is one of my dreams. Sarah (19:30): Oh, yes. I'll go with you. Whenever you do that, bring me. I'm coming. Greta (19:34): Perhaps we should start taking people on tours, book tours. Sarah (19:38): Oh my gosh. Even if you can't go to a far-off destination, I think it's really cool to find books that take place in your area. Even just like a book that talks about the environment you live in, the plants that are there, the animals that are there, it's so fun for your kids and for you to hear the things that they're familiar with, that they've seen in real life because it's where you live. You're like, "Wow, I know what they're talking about, or "Oh, we've been to that spot. We've been to that beach," or whatever it is. Greta (20:20): I'm thinking of for us the book, The Island of the Blue Dolphins, which takes place off the coast of California and off the coast of Santa Barbara, which is just a little North of us. You can actually visit the islands. But even if you don't visit those islands, the environment she describes is the environment we live in and the plants and animals we know. So, when we read that book, it was so much fun, because we understood, and we knew those things. So, finding a book that is written about where you live, it's a great way to adventure at home with somebody else's eyes. Sarah (21:09): Yeah. I was thinking as you're saying that, so we're talking about reading books about places you've gone or going, reading books that are set in your own hometown or a climate that's like yours or near yours, right? I also think a lot of our kids might be aspiring authors. We have a lot of young aspiring authors who listen to the Read-Aloud Revival Podcast and going to places looking for famous writers homes. So, for example, when I was in Massachusetts last year, I got to go to orchard house, which is the home of Louisa May Alcott. You get to see her desk where she wrote Little Women right there. It's the desk, it's amazing. Greta (21:52): Wow. Sarah (21:53): I know here in Washington State where I live, there is the home of Betty MacDonald. She's the one who wrote the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books. Greta (22:02): Oh, I love Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. Sarah (22:04): I know, me too. The home is actually like a bed and breakfast, so you could stay there. Greta (22:10): Oh my gosh. Sarah (22:11): I know on the farm where she wrote Nancy and Plum, and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and all the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle stories. So, places like that I think could be really inspiring for your book lovers too, We're always trying to connect writing and making stories. It's the thing that you get to do if you want when you're older or now. It doesn't have to be when you're older, but also when you're older. Making it real, putting legs and feet and hands and humanity behind the words that are being written. Greta (22:39): Right. Yeah, a friend went to the woman who wrote The Yearling, Marjorie Rawlings. You can visit it in Florida and go inside and just see where she wrote the books and the environment. This friend even sent me a feather they found on the ground and a rock. That's a total gift that not everybody would understand, but I was dying because it's one of my favorite authors and favorite books. I longed to visit but I can't. So, I visited through the books that she wrote, and then a friend that understood my longing and sent me some things from her adventure there. Sarah (23:32): That's so fun, and that just gave me an idea. I don't know, totally, how it gave me this idea. But as you're talking about how you've longed to go there, but you can't, wouldn't it be fun to let each of our kids like this summer, say, or something... Each of you gets to pick a Read-Aloud or a story that we're going to audiobook or whatever that sat in a place that you wish we could go, because a lot of us are stuck at home. I mean, and then you're not even limited to where your budget could have taken you on a family trip. (24:17): You could go anywhere. You could go to Australia. You could go to anywhere in the world. So, that would be really fun. To have them choose with that guiding idea of like, "Where would I go?", and then pick a book based on that might lead you to some different books than you just pick if you were like everybody gets to pick a Read-Aloud. Greta (24:37): Right. And then you could do my next favorite thing, which is to celebrate books. When they're done, they could have a book celebration where you eat food from that place. You could wear clothing from that place, if you can find some costumes, which kids are so creative. They always can rustle something up. You can further experience the place that you went to in the book. We loved to end books with celebrations. So, I think that sounds like a really fun summer project. Sarah (25:12): Oh, I do too. I love that idea. Okay, so your book is about not just adventuring through books, but it's about connecting with our kids. So, let's talk a little more about that too, because a lot of our listeners to this podcast do read with their kids quite a bit or at least they want to read with their kids, right? Greta (25:28): Right. Sarah (25:29): So, if they're also wanting to up the ante on their adventuring with their kids, where can they start apart from getting your book, which I highly recommend? We're going to have it in the show notes of this episode. Do you have some tips for parents who are like, "I want that. I just don't know how to get started"? Greta (25:49): Okay. Well, so I have in my book, for example, you can start outside, adventures indoors, doing adventures that are going to push you, maybe ones that are a little bit harder. But I really suggest that if it's something new to you, you start small. I think it's really easy in our current culture to dismiss small adventures. Because we look at people who are doing these grandiose adventures- Sarah (26:29): That's so true. Greta (26:30): ... and they're taking their kids whitewater rafting, or they're climbing glaciers in Iceland. You're like, "Okay, I can't even hardly take my kids to target without losing my mind." Sarah (26:48): Exactly. Greta (26:49): That's the biggest adventure we're doing right now. Sarah (26:51): We walked to the mailbox and it was a disaster. Greta (26:55): So, I think that it's really important to not compare ourselves and say, "Oh, if it's not something big, if it's not this incredible, life-changing moment or trip, then it doesn't count." Instead, I think we need to just remember that our kids, they're not looking at those things. They're just looking at us and they're saying, "Okay I want to be with my mom and dad, and whatever they plan for us is awesome." So, then we need to just lean into that and not be afraid to start small. (27:34): So, if your kids are not used to hiking or being outdoors a lot and you're nervous, you're like, "I've never peed in the woods. I can't go on a five-hour hike. This is crazy," go to a nature center. Start there where the trails are marked, and they have bathrooms. Let your kids just get comfortable being outside in a place that feels a little safer before you have to go out where you're carrying bear spray or clicking your sticks together, all The Parent Trap. Do you remember that scene in the movie The Parent Trap? Sarah (28:12): I do, I do. Greta (28:15): You don't have to start there, it can be more low key. I was talking about museums. I always envision, "Oh, I want to take my kids to museums. I want them to love going to museums and having the adventure of going to museum. Going in it just being a flop because one kid was bored out of their mind and laying down on the floor and moaning loudly. This is boring, and then the other kid climbing out of the stroller and streaking, and people giving me dirty looks." It was not anything other than sweaty and stressful. (28:58): If instead what I did was I took the time to, like I said, read a book to prepare us for a museum that we were going to. We read some books about one artist that we were going to look for, and we did a scavenger hunt at the museum. We looked for just a few pieces of art instead of just wandering from room to room until you have art overload. It made going to the museum accessible and actually fun. It's okay to start small it. It's a great place to start actually and to build from there. Sarah (29:40): Okay, so this reminded me of Sally Clarkson. I remember hearing her say at one point that... For any of our listeners who aren't familiar with Sally, she raised and homeschooled four kids who are all adults now, lovely adults, in fact. She would say that now at a dinner, her kids when they come home for Christmas or something, they'll have all these fond memories of dinnertime growing up. Her memories of dinner time when they were growing up were not so fun. There was like somebody slamming a door, getting sent to their room, or snipping at the other one, or not being very kind, or complaining about the food, or refusing to eat. Yet their memories are not all that tedious stuff that feels really big and like, "Oh, we're failures." (30:24): So, as you're talking, I'm thinking, "This is exactly what happens." We take our kids to the beach or to the pool or to a museum or on a hike, and they're complaining. We think you're supposed to be having fun and making memories and they are. So, they're not going to remember it all, because I don't know. It's hard to transcend to the experience far enough to realize their memories of this can still be good, even if in the moment they're complaining. Greta (30:52): Right. I have a chapter in the book about misadventure and how misadventures are actually a wonderful thing, because they stretch us, they grow us. They pull us together in ways that are actually often more powerful than when everything goes right. We have a thing in our family for when misadventures happen, because they always do, that it will make a great story later. It does help in the moment because you're like, "Man, everything stinks right now. This is not going according to plan." Sometimes it takes a little while to get to the point where you can say, "It will make a great story later," or you might say it through gritted teeth, like "This is going to make a great story later." (31:47): But really the truth of that it's so evident, because you'll go back and you'll say as a family, "Oh, remember when this happened? Oh my gosh, we were so stressed, or we were so scared, or we were so wet and uncomfortable," or whatever, but you laugh about it. Those things stick out and it shows you that you can survive difficult things. You can pull together for each other, or you can just laugh about things that went wrong and that's okay. Sarah (32:38): Yeah. Will you tell the story about your first trip to Yosemite you told in the book? Greta (32:46): Yes. Well, okay. I'm enneagram seven. I'm a huge dreamer. I make big plans, and I just have such high expectations. So, it was our first family trip to Yosemite and all the expectations of what it would be like. We got there hours and hours late, because of mudslides and traffic jams. We got into our little tent. It was a tent cabin for all six of us, which was basically a canvas tent. (33:21): But in the middle of the night, we woke up with... It sounded like fireworks were going off in the tent. It was a huge, huge thunder lightning and rainstorm and hail. It was kind of terrifying. We couldn't get out of our tent. I hope it's okay that I tell the story, but I had to pee really bad. I couldn't leave the tent because lightning. I had to pee in a trash can in the tent. One of my kids heard and was like, "What are you doing?" I'm like, just peeing in the trash can, just go back to sleep." (34:01): And then the next morning, everything was wet. Everything was raining. It was raining still. There was mud and none of my plans for beautiful hike, nothing was working. I kind of had a temper tantrum. Everyone could see how mad I was. I'm sure if someone said, "This will make a great story later, Mom," I would have probably glared at them or said, "Now's not the time. Don't throw those words back in my face." But my husband, he kind of saved the day. We went into the one hotel that's in Yosemite Valley, and it's this big, beautiful historic hotel. He said, "We're going to have lunch here." (34:47): I, of course, thought we couldn't afford it because we had sandwiches back in our cooler. He's like, "No, I think we need to do this, and you need to just enjoy the moment even though it's not what we planned." It was beautiful and it was humbling. None of us will ever forget it, even though it was not at all what we had in mind. Sarah (35:13): So good. I love that because it's true that on a big trip like Yosemite or on a tiny trip like a hike at a local trail that didn't take you very long to get to, things can go wrong, but remembering that you aren't going to think it's so funny, but this is going to make a great story later. But it really does make a great story later. Greta (35:34): Yeah, one of my greatest moments as a parent was when my boys... A couple years ago, they went on to scout. They're Boy Scouts. They went to camp out. It was a summer camp out. We don't get much rain here in the summer, so they didn't bother to pack their ponchos. And then there was like this random huge rainstorm, like flash flood level. I just felt terrible. I was like, "Oh, they don't have ponchos. They don't have the right clothes. They're going to be freezing and wet. The whole weekend is going to be so rough and terrible." (36:08): They came home and they said, "Man, it was so awesome. We are right in the middle of the storm. We had to stand on a picnic table to keep our legs from getting soaked and we still get soaked anyways." We said, "This is going to make a great story to tell mom." I just thought, "Oh, they get it." Sarah (36:30): They get it. The funny thing is 20 years from now, those are going to be the trips they're remembering, the stories they're telling their kids and their grandkids in the future, right? Not about all the camping trips that were exactly how they were supposed to. So, it's that stuff. Greta (36:48): Yeah, misadventures are really a gift. Sarah (36:53): So good. Well, I cannot believe our time has already flown by. I want every listener to know I've read book. I love this book. It is called Adventuring Together: How to Create Connections and Make Lasting Memories with Your Kids by Greta Eskridge and it's available today. So, get your hands on it. Greta, you need to write another book so you can come on back, or you don't have to write another book. You can come on back anyway. Now, it's time for Let the Kids Speak. I love this part of the podcast because kids share the books that they've been loving lately. What's your name? Jack (37:38): Jack. Sarah (37:39): Where do you live, Jack? Jack (37:41): In Michigan. Sarah (37:42): Michigan, and how old are you? Jack (37:43): Four. Sarah (37:44): You're four. What is your favorite book? Jack (37:47): Magic Tree House, because it is a lot of stuff, a lot. Sarah (37:53): Okay, what's your name? Jet (37:54): Jet. Sarah (37:56): How old are you, Jet? Jet (37:57): Five. Soon I'll be six. Sarah (38:01): What state so you live in? Jet (38:03): Michigan. Sarah (38:04): What is your favorite book? Jet (38:06): Magic Tree House. Sarah (38:07): Why do you like Magic Tree House? Jet (38:08): Because it has a lot of stuff I like. Sarah (38:14): What's your name? Evie (38:18): My name's [Evie 00:38:16]. I am seven years old. My favorite books are Magic Tree House, Little House in the Prairie and [inaudible 00:38:22] Children. Sarah (38:21): [inaudible 00:38:23] Children. Evie (38:26): I love them because they're adventurous and some of them are very funny. Sarah (38:30): What's your name? Speaker 6 (38:30): [inaudible 00:38:31]. Sarah (38:33): How old are you? Speaker 6 (38:35): Two. Sarah (38:36): What's your favorite book? Speaker 6 (38:40): Magic Tree House. Sarah (38:41): Tree House? Speaker 6 (38:42): Yeah, and Critter. Sarah (38:45): Critter Books? Speaker 6 (38:46): Yeah. Sarah (38:47): What's your name? Isaac (38:48): Isaac. Sarah (38:49): How old are you? Isaac (38:50): I'm four years old. Sarah (38:52): Where do you live? Isaac (38:53): In Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Sarah (38:57): What's your favorite book? Isaac (38:58): The Trumpet of the Swan. Sarah (39:03): Why do you like that book? Isaac (39:03): Because I like Louis' wife. Sarah (39:09): What's your name? Caleb (39:10): Caleb. Sarah (39:11): How old are you? Caleb (39:14): Four. Sarah (39:15): Where do you live? Caleb (39:16): In Oak Creek. Sarah (39:18): What's your favorite book? Caleb (39:19): [inaudible 00:39:20]. Sarah (39:23): Not The Road That Trucks Built? Caleb (39:24): Yes, The Road That Trucks Built. Sarah (39:28): Why do you like that book? Caleb (39:29): Because [inaudible 00:39:30]. Lucas (39:31): Hi. My name is Lucas, and my favorite book is the Jesus' story in the Bible. Caleb (39:38): Why do you like it? Lucas (39:39): Because it's the best. Caleb (39:42): How old are you? Lucas (39:44): Four. Caleb (39:44): Where do you live? Lucas (39:48): I'm close to six. Caleb (39:50): Where do you live? Lucas (39:52): In Pennsylvania, Yardley. Sam (39:55): My name is Sam and I am nine years old. I live in Yardley, PA. My favorite book is Robinson Crusoe and I like it because of the fighting and the adventure. Jack (40:11): Hi. My name is Jack and my favorite book is Action Bible by David Cook. I like this book because it's told through a comic book style. It has amazing illustrations. Caitlin (40:29): Hi, my name is Caitlin. I am 15 years old. I live in Yardley, Pennsylvania. My favorite book is The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. I like it because it includes horses. My favorite character is [Essie 00:40:43] because she is brave and kind. Sarah (40:45): I love The Goose Girl too, so good choice. Great recommendations, kids. I always love to hear from you. Hey, Greta Eskridge's brand-new book that we talked about in this show is available today anywhere books are sold. I highly, highly recommend it, whether you're able to get out of the house for your adventures or you're going to be doing your adventuring through the pages of a book. It's a one that you're going to want for your own shelves. If you'd like a peek at what it looks like inside RAR Premium, you can go to readaloudrevival.com/insidepremium for look behind the scenes. (41:19): RAR Premium, of course, helps your kids fall in love with books and it helps you fall in love with homeschooling. We've got master classes, professional development for homeschooling mama's family, book clubs, writing workshops for kids taught by their favorite authors. Oh, my goodness, it's amazing. So, many new members have said, "I cannot believe how long that I've resisted joining you for so long. This is amazing." So, come on over and take a peek, so you can see what's behind the curtain there. That's readaloudrevival.com/insidepremium. All right, that's it for today. You know the drill. Until next time. Go make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books.