Weekly book shelf, 9/28/14 (California edition)

We spent the last two weeks in California. Lots of sight seeing, lots of family time, no formal schooling. Calvin packed three books. Two of them I suggested because of their settings in California, the third he chose from his literature book shelf at home.

By the Great Horn Spoon is an adventure story set during the California Gold Rush. A young boy goes in search of gold to help his family back home. It's full of surprises and excitement, and the writing is good enough to categorize as at least side dish reading, even if it's not quite full meal literature. Calvin read it twice.

Esperanza Rising is the story of a young girl who flees Mexico with her mother and settles in a camp of workers in California during the Great Depression. This is great young adult historical fiction. The characters are fully fleshed out, and great description brings the situation validity. Of the two California books, this was Calvin's favorite.

The Swiss Family Robinson, is the classic Calvin brought on our trip. He'd started it just before we left, and was eager to finish it, as he is with most books. I'm not sure it grabbed him the way the other two books did, but he really enjoyed the descriptions of the family's life on the island. Of course.