After a heart-rending discovery of Norbett spending time with another girl, Beany is delighted to have an opportunity to go away on a road trip to California with her brother Johnny and her little nephew. Tight finances and a favor to a friend cause the trip to become harried with a whole array of fellow-travelers (and a horse). Kindly, motherly Miss Opal doesn't have money, but performs near-miraculous feats of producing food and lodging out of thin air (not to mention her tomato plant in the back seat). Cynthia forces herself upon the group through kind-hearted Johnny. While she's great at helping with the horse, she seems to be hiding something. Well, as Mr. Malone said, "Any trip is wasted unless you come home a little different and a little bigger person from the one you were when you started." A fun and satisfying read.

Beany now sixteen, is a junior and busy with the school paper. More than anything else she wants the editor to pick her to go the school paper convention. Norbett Rhodes has moved to Ohio and suggested that Beany could date others. Devastated at first, Beany has made friends with Andy Kern who thoughtfully likes to keep things light (in the dating department). After promising her nice mother, Beany reluctantly befriends a new girl at school, Dulcie, who is a showoff and very flirtatious with the boys. Dulcie soon makes enemies with lots of the girls in school – including the editor of the paper. Beany is caught between a rock and a hard place because, while disapproving of Dulcie's behavior, she sees that underneath the tough exterior, Dulcie is a insecure girl without the benefit of the supportive family Beany has been blessed with. Meanwhile, Norbett Rhodes shows up, mysteriously seeking Beany's help. Martie Malone and his new wife are understanding through all of these escapades, but definitely not clueless. In the end intregrity wins out over trying to be popular for Beany and Dulcie's flirtatious ways cause her to lose the friendship of the one boy she really cared about. This story more seriously tackles issues about dating than the previous books do – especially the dangers of "going steady". The author subtlely (and at times not-so-subtlely) encourages good friendships and fun double-dating in the high school years rather than intense romantic relationships.

Caddie Woodlawn is the story of a young tom-boyish girl who grew up in pioneer Wisconsin during the Civil War (this story predates the first book of the Little House series by about 25 years – but they are quite close geographically). Caddie's father was the grandson of an English Lord, but as his mother was from the lower classes, his father was disowned and the family grew up impoverished. He emigrated to America where he married a charming Boston lady with whom he raised a family of eight children. They moved to Wisconsin when Caddie (short for Caroline) was very young. Soon after their move and still before the story begins, they lost their five year old girl due to her sickly "constitution." Because of this, Caddie's parents decide to let her grow up in the out-of-doors where she spends a great deal of time adventuring in their nearby woods with her brothers. (This was quite uncommon for girls in those days.) There they meet real-life Indians and develop a curious friendship with them. They also hear somewhat wild Irish folktales from their golden-hearted Irish farmhand (you may want to read these tales yourself before presenting them to little ones), and are involved in a real-life "Incredible Journey" when their dog, Nero, amazingly returns to them after being lost several states away. Caddie's mother still does have an influence on her daughter and over the course of the story (in which Caddie is 11 years old) Caddie begins to develop a sense of what it means to be a lady, despite her rough ways. Like the Little House books, this story is neither Catholic nor particularly religious, but full of good old-fashioned family values and a proper devotion to parents – you particularly see the children's strong admiration for their father, who is simple, honest, hardworking, understanding, and plays a very active role in his children's daily lives.

The story is written by Caddie's granddaughter who, orphaned at a young age, was actually raised by Caddie and grew up listening to these stories from her grandmother's childhood. This grandmotherly wisdom shows through in the book in the way the stories were selected and told. Click or tap here for our review of Brink's second book, which contains more of the Woodlawns' adventures.

Our family recently enjoyed visiting Caddie Woodlawn Historic Park, near the Minnesota border in Western Wisconsin. It's a very simple place where you can walk through Caddie's house (no tourist guides or anything – you just walk through the empty house on your own) and visit a memorial to Caddie's sister Mary who is buried in an unknown place on the property. Reading this book (and visiting Caddie's house) were good opportunities for me as a mother to reflect on some of John Senior's ideas from the Restoration of Christian Culture on the benefits of a simpler life.

On a related note: I found the movie (of the same name) done by Wonderworks terribly disappointing. Most notably, they took one of my (and apparently the author's) favorite characters – the noble and loving Robert Ireton, and turned him into a mean and cowardly character.

This is a fascinating and often humorous story of one of the most renowned inventors of all time. As a boy, Edison was fascinated by the world around him and full of questions about everything. Although he had many mentors as a boy, his first grade teacher reacted so negatively to his natural curiosity that his mother took him out of school and taught him at home. His adventures involving chemistry, trains and printing newspapers make for enjoyable and interesting reading. Edison was clearly a boy of creativity and ingenuity and a positive role model for children of today in sharing Edison's scientific interests and natural curiosity. My six year old boy, in particular, was completely enthralled when we read this story aloud.