The House Above the Trees

By the way, I have chosen our new read aloud story for home. It is The House Above the Trees by Ethel Cook Eliot. This charming book has been out of print for a long time. Amazon has only used copies but you can buy it new from A Child's Dream Come True (softcover). I have a brand new hardcover version but I'm not sure where I got it. If anyone knows of another source for this book, please post.

I am fully in love with this old-fashioned tale and I especially am glad that the protagonist is an 8 year old girl, a good fit for Natalie. The child is also dirt poor which I think will help my children as they struggle to understand why they are showered with gifts at their father's house but have very little here. I know that they get angry with me sometimes because I don't have more money -- Leah has asked me why I wasted all my money and can't buy them things or take them places like their father can; how can I tell her that I am paying for a private school education out of my small teacher's salary because I think it's the best thing for them, and that their father owes me $25,000 and has just filed his third fraudulent bankruptcy to try to get out of it? I can't, of course, because that's not a burden that a child should bear -- but in their hearts I know that they are not truly angry but simply confused. To hear that lovely things can happen to poor children too may be soothing in a subtle way.