I have to say… Phoebe’s Groom (the title) feels a bit like a spoiler, does it not? Well, it is from the Love Inspired series so… yah… not so much a spoiler as a rather expected progression. Anyway, Phoebe’s Groom by Deb Kastner brings us back to the small town Serendipity. Specifically a part of her series – Email Order Brides, though there was not much of emailing in this book. (my previous review based on this town HERE)

My first, not complaint, but moment of questioning comes from the beginning of each chapter where the main character, pastry chef Phoebe Yates posts a status update (I assume to something like Facebook). Usually there is a corresponding post from her temporary boss in Serendipity and owner of the local cafe, “Auntie” Jo. My question is… do the other main characters (broken hearted widower Chance Hawkins and teenage daughter Lucy) not have accounts as well? Some of her posts are rather obviously about them and if they WERE on the internet too would lead them to quicker conclusions… just a niggle in the back of my brain. 

Now I did find the family interesting. (and yes there is a play on Sadie Hawkins dance and their last name in the book!), having lost wife/mother in a car accident Chance and Lucy are definitely broken spirited individuals. Chance is so traumatized he can’t face getting into a vehicle and Lucy is acting out as she tries to find her way into becoming a teenager. 

Phoebe is at a crossroads, her previous relationship ending because she simply did not feel she was truly in love, a job awaiting her at a rather elite restaurant in New York. But what Phoebe truly wants is to follow her faith and find a love that is sustaining. 

Phoebe and Chance spend a lot of time figuring out where their heads are, where their hearts are and in Chance’s case returning to God and faith. 

This story is actually rather plausible, a death due to a drunk driver leaving a family fractured, a woman on the search for herself takes a temporary position in a small town before her next long term job opens up, the moment of emergency is even something that could happen. (I won’t share and spoil the book) Love and faith and forgiveness, all wrapped up with a wonderful woman whose positive outlook on life is just what Serendipity needs. Do check out this wonderful lighthearted romance. 

Sorry everyone I am not going to link the movies and books… I am rather sure it can all be googled and the Christmas season has me rushed! BUT! Roald Dahl… READ HIS BOOKS!

Roald Dahl’s birthday is celebrated on September 13th. He is best known for his books Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda which have been made into movies. We chose to start reading his books on the 13th of September and then go from there. We managed to find quite the selection of books to enjoy as a family:

• Matilda
• The Twits
• The BFG
• George’s Marvelous Medicine
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Charlie and the Glass Elevator
• James and the Giant Peach
• The Minpins

Our main resource for printables was Activity Village. Lots of colouring pages and even some fun worksheets for a nice portion of our books.

For a more in depth activity I also found this site HERE. They had classroom plans for portions of the different books. Some we skipped and some we leisurely enjoyed. This unit quickly went from a celebration of a birthday week to as long as we can find books to read.

For the kids, while they listened to my reading I had them doodle portions of the book. It was so much fun to see what they picked out as interesting. They all had a different method and style to their pages (though at times Trinity was SUPER resistant to doing a doodle).

There were multiple movies to watch beyond just the original first come to mind ones:

• Matilda
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
• The BFG
• James and the Giant Peach

I came up with some additional activities to go with our books and movies. For The BFG I had the kids write their very own dream labels, and then compare the book to the movie. For Charlie and the Chocolate Factory we did various levels of comparison depending on the ability of the kids – a movie review, comparing the book to the movie, comparing the movies. It was interesting to see who liked what. The same for Matilda. The realization that movies are not identical to books came very quickly to the kids!

Of course we had to do a short insect study for four of the insects included in James and the Giant Peach… We had ladybug, silkworm, glow worm and spider (we went with Black Widow) chosen out of the list (funny how there is no silkworm in the movie). I got some pretty good links:

• Ladybug had all our questions answered with National Geographic Kids HERE.
• I found the silkworm highly interesting. Did you know there are none in the wild and that we have domesticated them so much that the moth that results cannot fly??? EnchantedLearning HERE and Itchy Fish facts for kids HERE.
• Black Widow spider was our distinct spider of choice and we went again with National Geographic Kids HERE.
• Glow worm was a little rough, but we went with the Encyclopedia of New Zealand HERE and A-z Animals HERE.

Roald Dahl’s books are a blast for our whole family. I am so glad we decided to make them a family experience. Even Echo is in on the listen and has her minutes for the BookIt Pizza Hut reading club counted during the time. One of these days I will take pictures of the binder and share it in another post! We really did have fun with this author’s work. 

Well I am not sure why I have adorable Echo pictures sitting here…. but… why not! Happy Wednesday! Enjoy two dashes of cute!

As they are…