Brighty!

Probably the easiest way to involve my husband in our homeschool over the years has been to provide him with a living book to read aloud to the kids.  If I choose a great title, everyone enjoys and shares in the experience.  He doesn't need any prep time, just drop on the couch and pick up where they left off.  Easy to do even after a long day at work.  A favorite that he read to older boys was Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham.   Most recently, he read Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry .

I chose Brighty because we would be going to the Grand Canyon on our vacation.  I remembered hiking the Bright Angel Trail some 35 years ago, but hadn't read the book back then.  When one homeschools, you get to fill in those literature gaps from your childhood.  Dh finished reading it by the fire the night before we went to the Grand Canyon.

While in the gift shop, I was dismayed to not  see a copy of Brighty.  When I asked the clerk, he said that they fly off the shelf and he had more ordered. "Oh, good!" I thought.  Actually, I think I told him that.  I might have said a few things about the importance of good books, too.

Brighty was based on an actual burro who lived from about 1882-1922.  Named after a creek that flows into the Grand Canyon, he spent his days carrying water for tourists.  The story is a murder-mystery and guess who holds the key to the answer? Brighty, of course!  Mixed in the tale are true sub-stories about Teddy Roosevelt, boys lost in blizzards, and animals on suspension bridges.

All of Marguerite Henry's books are loved around our house.  And the Wesley Dennis illustrations are just classic, aren't they?  If you tell someone who has already read Brighty that you are reading it now, you get the sweetest "Awww...I love Brighty" response.  Brighty even has his own facebook page full of interesting Brighty trivia.  And for those of you following Ambleside Online, Brighty is a YR2 free read.

From joy to joy,
Nancy

P.S. -

Driving back to Mesa that night, we talked about how we were speechless when we first ran up to the rim and viewed the canyon.  Then Marit tried to find words to describe that, while that view was awesome, how much greater God's beauty and love is. Brennan Manning states this fitting quote in The Rabbi's Heartbeat .

"The God beside whose beauty the Grand Canyon is only a shadow has called us beloved." 

- B. Manning