<p>Living on the 49th parallel, yes, I can imagine, easily 8 1/2 hours of daylight:D But electricity helps, though getting dark certainly does change your attitude about your day and your activities.</p>
<p>D1 is in grad school in a very cold climate. Fortunately, they get a lot of sunshine nevertheless. She did vote for a tropical vacation at Christmas vs. a ski vacation this year, though. :)</p>
<p>A friend of mine read a history book called “Wisconsin Death Trip” many years ago about all the people who went cuckoo and started shooting during the long winters. The photographs were just haunting. A few months ago I was surprised to see a review of a play by the same name! Who would revive a thing like that?</p>
<p>^^^^^Wow! Reminds me of The Shining. Only with guns, not an axe like Jack Nicholson used.</p>
<p>^^^Actually, Wisconsin Death Trip is much more than that – it was a historical/sociological study of a rural Wisconsin community in the 1890’s – the presence of the mentally ill, criminal activity, child abuse, neglect, etc. It was done with tens of thousands of documents and photographs from the time period. It is considered an important work in American history. It belies the myth of the idyllic rural community and shows the humanity of us all.</p>
<p>People went crazy from the constant wind too.</p>
<p>That was mentioned in The Long Winter, gouf. Pa playing his fiddle along with the howling wind and Ma having a rare sharp moment with him because of it. They were pretty trapped and isolated. Even after the family moved into town, the storms were so bad they could get lost. Have I said, we had one winter like this (not as bad of course) in MN when I was growing up. Blizzards 3 times a week and had to move to town so we could go to school and Dad to work. We weren’t in danger of dying, but it was intense. Makes a good story later.</p>
<p>I remember one story in one of the books of a blizzard which had come on quickly. Afterwards, Laura (or maybe it was Pa) noticed a heard of cattle which appeared to be completely still. Finally, a farmer (or was it Pa) went from cow to cow, cupping his hands against the cows’ mouths, clearing their airways because their breath had frozen over their nostrils! That was a very strange story, and living in a warm climate, hard for me to even imagine how people (or animals) could actually survive in those kinds of conditions.</p>
<p>That was in The Long Winter. I think Laura noticed them and Pa removed the ice.</p>
<p>^^^ Has anyone read “The Children’s Blizzard?” It was about a blizzard that came up very quickly on the Great Plains in 1888. It came during the day, when children were still at school and/or starting to go home, and many were caught in it and died. So sad. A few children burrowed into large haystacks and survived. I can’t even imagine.</p>
<p>^^^^No, I haven’t, but it sounds interesting. There was a story or two along those lines in some of the LH books if memory serves.</p>
<p>Mathmom, I’m thrilled to find not only another K.M. Peyton reader, but someone who has actually read and admired The Riddlemaster of Hed!! Not to mention The Blue Sword, but I’ve found that that one is slightly more likely to be known and admired.</p>
<p>And a shout out to lololu also. :)</p>
<p>I also like Garth Nix: Sabriel, Lirael, et al.</p>
<p>Love Garth Nix! Yes, I meant to shout out to lololu as well.</p>
<p>Has anyone mentioned Pippi Longstocking? My sister and I used to go into laughing fits over those books.</p>
<p>Love this thread! I was a huge reader as a child. Not at all athletic, or even particularly social, so reading was just what I did. The best summer was when my mother got me a huge carton full of second hand books and I could just work my way through them undisturbed. I also remember walking by myself at a young age, crossing several city blocks, to get to public library. So different from my own children’s suburban sheltered upbringing!</p>
<p>Read Little House series and enjoyed but loved Cherry Ames, Mary Poppins (thought movie was sacrilege), Half Magic books, fantasy series by Lloyd Alexander that included The High King (other titles escape me), science fiction Tripod trilogy by John Christopher and especially the What Katy Did series. I’ve never read “a Tree Grows in Brooklyn” (love the movie) but read and reread two others by Betty Smith, “Maggie-now” and “Tomorrow Will Be Better”.</p>
<p>As an adult, I came late to the Harry Potter series but have reread three times. These days, I read a lot of HP fan fiction, some of which is quite good. (Snape/Hermione pairings -I know, I know, but she’s always “of age”. It’s a great mental escape and what can I say, I love Alan Rickman!)</p>
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<p>That book sounded intriguing, so I ordered it online to be delivered to my Kindle. I plugged in the kindle to charge, and when it was ready, I turned it on. The screen was covered with black streaks. I called customer support to ask what to do. Long story short, my Kindle has died.</p>
<p>So long old pal.</p>
<p>Ordered another one, though and got it last night. 
Started reading *The Children’s Blizzard *immediately.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4: And . . . . ??? How is the book??</p>
<p>JZMOM2, Lloyd Alexander’s The Book of Three (the first in the Prydain Chronicles) was the last thing S allowed me to read aloud to him, and the first real “chapter books” he read. He was in K. Actually, we agreed that I would read a chapter to him, then he would read to me, and so forth. I read the first chapter, and then he said he would rather just read the rest himself, thank you very much! :)</p>
<p>In the fantasy realm, Alan Garner wrote some very good books, particularly The Moon of Gomrath and The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.</p>
<p>My now 25 year old daughter was obsessed with all of the Little House books. She read them over and over. She made herself a dress ( all by hand with no pattern ) for Halloween and went out as Laura Ingalls Wilder , when she was 10.
I used to but the little paperback books that were for pre-school age for my youngest daughter.
They really loved those books</p>
<p>My son enjoyed the Triton trilogy by John Christopher. He loved, loved, loved the Adventure series by Willard Price. Our library had a few of the fourteen books, and he took advantage of inter-library loan for the others: Artic Adventure arrived from Alaska. He read all fourteen during his middle school years. They have been out of print for a while but I just checked … you can buy Kindle editions. Highly recommend!</p>