Travelling a New Road

31 August, 2008

A few words from Jo:
Remember my February post about simplifying? Well, maybe I got a little carried away, but I decided to simplify my Leatherwood book-keeping headaches….by giving them away. We all know that I do not possess the efficiency gene, and my family certainly know that I become a disconcertingly evil witch when the book-keeping threatens to overwhelm me, which happens oh, about once a week. Yes, it is that bad. So I have literally handed all the book-keeping woes, along with the rest of the trappings of Leatherwood Books, over to my darling sister-in-law, Aly.


Aly and I have been best friends since we were eleven years old. She has been a fabulous and creative primary school teacher for fifteen years, and also did a stint as a teacher-librarian. She now creates delightful arty children’s birthday parties, and runs children’s art classes, while teaching part time as well. As you can see, she is a veritable dynamo. She has been a great support and inspiration to me throughout my homeschooling years, and you can imagine my delight when she agreed to take on Leatherwood Books, and take it to new heights. The great news, for me – I am going to keep on doing my favourite jobs, and will be joining Aly in choosing great books, and my time will be freed up to write more book reviews. I am absolutely looking forward to seeing what wonderful things Aly will do to make Leatherwood an even better place to come and discover great books…


A few words from Aly:
I want to thank Jo for this fabulous opportunity and gift of Leatherwood Books, a website I have been visiting and shopping from for the past five years. I am looking forward to taking on the business of Leatherwood Books (hopefully though, not becoming a disconcertingly evil witch!) and sharing with you my passion for books and reading. Jo has created a beautiful website and launching pad into the magical world of books and it is wonderful that she will still be on board to share her great wealth of book knowledge, offer home education advice, and do what she does best, read books and write about them! I hope that you will come with us on the new part of the Leatherwood journey as we share with you our ever expanding list of favourite books.



Book of the Month (revisiting an old childhood favourite)

Charlotte’s Web


‘Where’s Papa going with that axe?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.


Is this not the most wonderful opening to a novel ever? Try reading that sentence at the breakfast table and have the entire family clamoring for more. Eleanor, eight, and Imogen, three, are completely entranced. It is just so much fun to be reading about Wilbur the pig and his enduring friendship with Charlotte the spider with my youngest children. One of the great joys of my larg(ish) family is getting to read my favourite read-alouds more than once. Reading together brings us into a place that we all share, and the beautiful, funny, sad story of Charlotte’s Web draws us right into the life of the barnyard on a wonderful old-fashioned American farm. I have found it also a really useful read-aloud to go along with an insect study – there is lots of information about the anatomy and life cycle of spiders, as revealed by Charlotte herself. So revisit an old classic with your children just in time for Spring.


New Books for September


We have some lovely new books to share with you for September. My dear friend Angela has just given birth to her first baby, so we have been hunting for beautiful baby board books to share with baby Mark Alexander. Luckily for us, Alison Lester’s little board books have just come back into print, after a long absence. We have Bibs and Boots, Crashing and Splashing, Happy and Sad, and Bumping and Bouncing,. These delightful books tell tales of all the things that happen in a little person’s day and are perfect for babies and toddlers, who will love the simple text and magical border pictures that we have come to expect from Alison Lester. We also have Alison Lester’s abc ,a beautiful introduction to the letters of the alphabet with two of her well known characters, Alice and Aldo. Come on a journey through the alphabet with border pictures on every page for each alphabet letter.


We hope you enjoy browsing our catalogue and take your time to look at the new books we have added this month. Please email us, at any time, with questions or requests, as we love finding books that will become family favourites.
Happy Reading!
Aly and Jo

Archived newsletters

Open for Business 1st July, 2003

Spring into Literacy 2 September, 2003

There Goes October 11 October, 2003

August is Book Week 2 August, 2003

Christmas Newsletter 1 December, 2003

Back at Last! 28 June, 2004

February Juggling 10 February, 2005

Christmas Jingle 4 December, 2005

January Resolutions 11 January, 2006

February Myths 24 February, 2006

Autumn Leaves 30 April, 2006

Whispers of Christmas 27 November, 2007

Simplify Simplify Simplify 26 February, 2008