Tales from the Circle C Ranch~A Schoolhouse Crew Review

Earlier this year my daughter Rachelle and I reviewed a book by Susan K. Marlow titled Thick as Thieves, a book based in California during pioneer times. Well, we were given the opportunity to review another book from Circle C Adventures, titled Tales from the Circle C Ranch, as well as a corresponding lapbook, Andrea Carter’s Tales from the Circle C Ranch Learning Lapbook.  At the time of posting, the book is $7.99 plus shipping, and the lapbook cost varies from $7 for the download to $12 for the print version. You can also save a little money by purchasing both the book and lapbook together for $19!

Tales from the Circle C Ranch is a fun little book. It’s not an actual story, but rather a collection of short stories that were inspired by questions from readers of the Circle C book series. I’ve only read 1 book in the series so far, and none of these short stories corresponds with that book. The short stories are add-ins for some of the earlier books in the Circle C Beginning and Circle C Adventures series.  Tales from the Circle C Ranch is 150 pages long and broken down into two parts: Part One, the Early Years- and Part Two, the In-Between Years. Part 1 contains 4 short stories whereas Part 2 has 7. The first 4 stories are: Britches Are Not for Little Girls, The Best Gift of All, Aunt Rebecca and the Hat, and White Christmas. The last 7 stories are Prince Loco: Chad’s Crazy Horse, Hurrah for the Fourth of July!, A Matter of Honor, Snakes Alive!, Virginia’s Riding Lesson, Where the Trees Meet the Bay, and Adios, Jeffrey Sullivan. All of the stories are less than 20 pages long, with the shortest being 5. Don’t let that fool you, though, because these stories are full of laughs and suspense! Once I started reading the book I couldn’t put it down. Even though they are add-ins to current books as opposed to stand-alone, they are still engaging to read, and I enjoyed every word of them. You can go here to download and read Britches Are Not for Little Girls to see what I mean. Andi’s age goes from 5 in the first story, on up to 13 in the final one. We get to meet Andi’s father, who died when she was very young.

The lapbook has enough content to make 2 lapbook folders. While we haven’t put one together yet, it was fun to read through all of the information inside. Did you know that many years ago, both boys and girls wore dresses until sometime after toilet training, when boys were “breeched?” I had no idea! There’s also lots of information about 1880s general stores, photography, the song Jingle Bells, blizzards, state fairs, fireworks, limericks, snakes, saddles, Pacific coast states, crabs, calling cards, and apothecary shops. All of these are topics within the short stories, so the lapbook is the perfect companion to Tales from the Circle C Ranch. There’s even a mini coloring book with pages taken from the book. The lapbook activities are in the same order as the stories in the book, so you could read one and then complete the lapbook work.

 

We had so much reading Tales from the Circle C Ranch. It was so engaging for me. Once I started reading, it probably only took me around an hour and a half to finish it. I’m a pretty fast reader most of the time. Rach took a bit longer, but she doesn’t read as much at once as I do. I really want to get my hands on the rest of Susan’s Circle C books. This was a fun and easy read. It would also be a great read-aloud book for younger kids.

 

Be sure to read reviews from my fellow Crew Mates. Thanks for stopping by!