Will proclaims the Latest Wingfeather "A Winner"

A Critic's Review of The Monster in the Hollows

The following review was written by a guest author, Will Silander (11 yrs).  Will is an avid reader who also enjoys strategizing and implementing various forms of battles, creating all things electronic, playing the piano, and spending hours in the creek behind his home in Charlotte, NC.

     Andrew Peterson is one of my favorite songwriters. I was SO excited when I found out that he did not only write songs, but was also an author and had written two books, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness and North! Or Be Eaten. These books, also called The Wingfeather Saga,  were suspenseful, fast-paced, and cleverly written. I sped through both in less than a week. After reading the books, I had several unanswered questions, and was hoping he would write a third book that would answer at least some of them.

Andrew Peterson and the Silander kids at "Meet the Author"

         This past Spring, I was fortunate enough to meet Andrew Peterson when he came to Charlotte to speak about his writing. He showed some of the sketches he had made of various creatures, people and places from the first two books. The drawings of The Fangs (villainous reptilian creatures) looked almost exactly like I had imagined them from his description in the books. I was thrilled when he announced that he was almost done with a third book, and that it would be available in May.

         The third book in the Wingfeather Saga, The Monster in the Hollows, was even better than I had hoped. It tied up many loose ends left dangling from the first two books, and also introduced some interesting new characters such as Guildmadam Olumphia Groundwich and Madam Sidler, the Librarian. This book is packed full of action, adventure, and suspense, while weaving humor and lighthearted fun throughout. If you like reading the books of C.S. Lewis, JRR Tolkien, or Edith Nesbit, I would highly recommend The Wingfeather Saga. 

Will is also the creator, producer, and musician for the following promotional video:

 Hop on over to www.rabbitroom.com to place your order!

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One More Reason I Love What We Do...

I tripped and fell into homeschooling my younger children.  It wasn't planned, wasn't the long-fulfilled desire of my heart, and wasn't the knee-jerk reaction to a terrible school situation.  More on what brought us to this place on another day.

But I do love what we do (most days) and am constantly reminded what a privilege it is to be the one who gets to discover and explore this great big wonderful world with my children.  Last week, we had our year-end state-required testing.  They did well, although I'm convinced that "the best" of what we do will never be measured by or demonstrated on any test.  More on that another day as well.

The remainder of our school year will be much more laid back - we're done with Spelling, Math, etc.  We've been freed from the "must-do's" in order to enjoy more of the "can't wait to-do's".  I must admit that as we enter this phase of the school year, I wasn't sure what our days would hold.  More serious practice of instruments in preparation for recitals, finalizing details for our eldest daughter's wedding, and freedom to enjoy our history reading at a more leisurely pace were what we've all been eagerly anticipating in these last weeks.

The fruits of additional free time always catch me off guard - in the best sense of the term.  Today, Will (my 11 yr. old) disappeared for a substantial period of time.  This was no great surprise, as he is my avid and somewhat obsessive reader.  However, he finally emerged from his solace not with a conquered book in hand, but having created the following:

Although we never gave a test in history, never required a project, and rarely adhered to the "lesson plan", I think we actually learned something this year!