For the past few months, the LK family has been reading lbooks about France. JLK especially is excited about history, and she told me that she likes the books about historical individuals the best. For me, reading books together in the evenings has been the most fun aspect of preparing for our trip. Personally, my favorite books were about the French resistance and the French Revolution. I especially liked "For Freedom, the Story of a French Spy."
Our routine has been to read the books aloud upstairs in our upstairs sitting room in the evenings. Sometimes the girls liked to draw or do puzzles while they listen. RK is our chief reader, but I read sometimes. Often we get interested in a new topic because of something that we discover while reading. Like our discoveries of the marquis de Lafayette and Catherine de Medici -- two interesting figures that we encountered reading about other people. We also got interested in big themes such as the enlightenment, Protestantism, and the relationship between France and the US over time. Still, the best part is the cozy feeling of reading together and learning new stuff alongside each other.

Here are some of the books that we have read:

Eleanor of Aquitaine: Kid book *national book award finalist*: A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver.

Mary Queen of Scots (spent early life at Amboise; kid book: Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, France, 1553 (The Royal Diaries))

Leonardo da Vinci (spent final years of life at Amboise; kid book: Magic Tree House series Monday with a Mad Genius)

French Resistance (adult book: For Honour Alone: Heroic Defence of the Saumur Cavalry School, 1940, story of a group of teenagers who bravely fought Germans on Loire, considered first act of French Resistance; kid book: Vive La France; kid book: 'In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry'; kid book: For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy)
French Revolution 1789. Kid books: The Red Necklace: A Novel of the French Revolution *downloadable audio book from Seattle Public Library*; The Lacemaker and the Princess.
Charlemagne. Kid book: Son of Charlemagne.
Renaissance: Kid book: Catherine de' Medici "The Black Queen"