The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Review Crew was given the opportunity to review the new book, Tales from the Circle C Ranch by Susan K. Marlow from Circle C Adventures. For this review, I received the paperback copy of Tales from the Circle C Ranch and the PDF file of Andrea Carter’s Tales from the Circle C Ranch Learning Lapbook to supplement the book. I had Liberty, 11, and Eden, age 10, read this book. Sterling is 8, an excellent reader, and also read some of the book, but it’s a bit above his comprehension. He enjoys it regardless.
Tales from the Circle C Ranch is Christian fiction – a collection of short stories from Andrea Carter’s (the main character in the Circle C book series) childhood. It fills in a lot of missing information that you don’t read in the other books and answered a lot of questions my girls had about the books. Mystery in the why is good – but so is finding out the answers! The girls had a great time reading more of Andi’s life and learning more about the character they’ve grown to love in the other Circle C books – they’ve read them all and loved them. I’m fairly certain it’s the Circle C books that led Liberty to her love of all things horse.
Tales from the Circle C Ranch was an easy read for both of my girls and they each finished it in a few days. The lapbook was a great addition to further discuss the time period, the way life was, and so much more. Clothing of the time, California history, King snakes, state fairs, limericks, US history, ranching in the 1880’s… so much that was mentioned in the book is further discussed and studied in the lapbook. I love that both book and lapbook don’t just appeal to girls given that the main character is female, but takes many different directions to appeal to both my son and my daughters. We didn’t print out the lapbook since they were reading the book during our recent travels, but they read the information in the lapbook and will likely work through that in the 
coming months. For now, I emailed the lapbook to their kindles and they read through the PDF that way. Both of them were completely interested in learning more and I plan to take advantage of that! There are fabulous pages to print that make a lapbook and fun info to be explored further. While making lapbooks is time consuming for me, they learn so much and walk away with a fun keepsake that they love to flip through again and again. So much better than a textbook!
I’d recommend anything from Circle C Adventures. It’s wholesome reading, adventure, and fun for the upper elementary and middle school crowd. While the lapbook isn’t completely necessary, it turns a fun-to-read book into a whole adventure in learning that can contribute to school and help explore parts of the book that were just read but not necessarily completely understood. It’s worth it.
Tales from the Circle C Ranch is paperback, 150 pages, and costs $7.99, $10.49 shipped. It is $19 for a book and printed lapbook together, or $12 for just the lapbook printed. It is $7 for the PDF version lapbook. You can find all of them here. You can also have your book personalized!
Circle C Adventures can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
For what the rest of the Crew thought of the latest offerings from Circle C Adventures, check out the Review Crew Blog.
So glad the kids enjoyed this newest addition to the CCAdventures, etc. It’s kind of an “orphan” book for me, not quite sure how to pitch it at conventions. LOL It’s not actually part of a series. It’s been fun to learn from other reviewers that it can be read as a stand-alone book, even if you’re not familiar with Andi’s other adventures.
thanks!
Hey, thanks for putting me onto these. I didn’t know about them. I have now bought the first Andi’s pony book to read to my little girls and the first book in the circle C Adventures for Mel for her birthday. I still had not gotten her any horse books etc. and I like this one. She’s a great reader and I can’t seem to keep enough books around for her! We’re talking about getting another little pony this weekend too (I hope!) after we get done butchering broilers etc. Have a great 4th weekend!
You’ll love them! We have a birthday party this weekend for Liberty’s good friend, and when trying to think of a gift, I suggested a book and asked both girls what the best book they’ve read lately has been. Eden and Liberty both immediately wanted to get Thick as Thieves for her. We did. 🙂