The book is about a family that is kinda of stuck in boredom. The mom travels back in time to the 1950 or 1960 time period where families sat on the porch and drank lemonade and churned ice cream and put puzzles together.

It was such a good booklet!

My daughter is long grown, but I still live children’s fiction best! I would like for my husband and I to read this together. Can you help?

In the distant past I had a "Mom's Bookshelf" feature. Now I post books like that on Instagram (when I think of it)!

We may come back to it in A year or more. My daughter is super sensitive and I probably should have done more research going into it. Personally, I intend to finish listening sans kiddos! I thought it was great. ? In fact that brings me to what you love to read. I've seen some posts about items you read for yourself , not the blog. I'd like to see that sort of post more often.?

Hi Ashley, Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I think I probably did steer you wrong and I am so dreadfully sorry that your son woke up with nightmares!! It's true that I really love this book but now that my younger son is in third grade I question putting it on a list for 3rd graders and I'm going add a note for people to comment. My older son was an "old" 3rd graders and my youngest is a young 3rd grader and I am not yet ready to read Watsons to him. You bring up the scene of Byron's punishment and one of my kids didn't bat an eye, but then I remember we couldn't get through the first chapter of Farmer Boy because of the whipping.

If your son is upset by the scene I would just let the book go for now. If you want to read a book about the civil rights era, you could read "Susan Marcus Bends the Rules" or perhaps just pick up something light and funny!

When Byron gets in trouble for setting Nazi's on fire and is subsequently published, I *almost* turned off the recording. I kept chanting to myself "She (you) has not steered us wrong yet. Hang in there." Yet, I cannot help but feel strongly that this passage contained child abuse.

Obviously, in 1963, no one would blink an eye at this type of moment in a family's lifespan. I don't even think the Department of Children's Services existed in 1963!

But perhaps it should have.

I suppose to many readers this may not have been a passage to struggle over, but as a wife of a DCS worker, this was too real. Of course, as good books do, this scene started a wonderful conversation. But then my 9-year-old woke up with nightmares that night about being burned ...

I haven't turned the book back on! I'm avoiding it. So I'm struggling and you haven't steered me wrong yet. Advice?

One of my favorite books!!

Thanks, Linda. I think the other lists mentioned may be useful for you, too. Happy to jog people's memory anytime!