Christian Fiction for Girls {TOS Crew Review}

My daughter was so excited when she learned we’d be able to review Tales from the Circle C Ranch by Susan K. Marlow.  We’d reviewed Thick as Thieves by her earlier this year and my oldest loved it!  Circle C Adventures has a great variety of Christian fiction for girls and my daughter has quite the wish list!  We also received a download of the lapbook to go with this book entitled Andrea Carter’s Tales from the Circle C Ranch Learning Lapbook to review.

This newest work of Christian fiction for girls from Susan K Marlow is geared towards ages 9-14 and will take you on a journey back to 1880’s California.  This book is unique to the others in the series as it is a collection of short stories that were inspired by fans questions.  If you have ever asked a question about the Circle C books you just might find your answer in this one!  

My daughter was very excited when this book arrived in the mail and I handed it over to her.  She’s 10 and loves to read.  She gets that from me.  We’re both always reading.  She gave this book back to me the same day I gave it to her.  She read it that fast.  She loved it and really wants the rest of the series.  I guess I’m going to have to start looking for them!

As with the last book we reviewed, I’m using this as a read aloud for the other kids.  Being farm children they already know about life and death on a farm, childbirth, and the other things that some parents might be cautious about letting their young children hear about.  

Each short story starts with a one sentence description of when it takes place in relation to both time and the other books.  For instance, Prince Loco Chad’s Crazy Horse(short story title) says “June 1880 This story takes place a few weeks after the events in Andrea and the Long Ride Home.”  So you not only know what time period you’re dealing with but you can go back and think about what happened in that book or go find the book and read it to tie it in.  

My daughters favorite chapter was the one on teaching Virginia how to ride.  Lots of laughs could be heard in that one!  She knows how to ride and is learning to trot and more these days.  And she wears jeans for her riding.  Though she has seen riding habits and sidesaddles(I have one) that’s not how she wants to ride and she couldn’t imagine Virginia being able to ride.  It’s a great short story but now she’s begging me for the book it corresponds to!!  As you can see, this might not have been the best book for my avid reader to read because she has a long list of ones we now need to add to our library!

But I’m not too opposed to getting these books as they truly are great works of Christian fiction for girls to read.  There is nothing in them that I don’t want her to learn or read.  I’d love to see lapbooks available with all of the Circle C books as well.  They really do help with comprehension and retention of the important facts.  

The lapbook goes along with the stories in the book but helps your child move to a deeper level of comprehension and understanding.  It’s a great way to tie together history and literature in an easy to understand way.

Please hop on over to the Main TOS Crew Review blog to see what everyone else has to say about this book and lapbook.  You can also reach out to the Circle C Adventures on Facebook and Twitter.