Favorite Books for Boys {Episode 60 with Wendy Speake}
Hi Friends!
My friend Wendy Speake is back with us for another episode, and this one is SO. MUCH. FUN! 🙂
This is an episode we’ve been looking forward to for a long time! Wendy and I love to talk about our favorite books for boys, and I know a lot of you do, too! We hope you feel like you’re hanging out with us, sharing a cup of coffee (or running errands together!? I don’t mind! :)) and taking notes on what our boys have loved to read. And the good news is — you don’t need to take notes because I’m doing my best to link to all of the books we mention in show notes below. I hope you enjoy this episode!
SHOW NOTES:
Amazon Links * to BOOKS MENTIONED:
ELEMENTARY BOYS range:
- Classic Starts Series (Starter Library here) Also can from buy individual books.
- James Herriot books — All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Things Great and Small..(collection).
- Billy and Blaze (by Alladin) (whole collection of Billy and Blaze books here.)
- Where the Red Fern Grows.
- My Side of the Mountain.
- Amon’s Adventure
- Jotham’s Journey
- Christian Heroes Then and Now (YWAM) (there are lots!) Four Book Starter Set here.
- Hind’s Feet on High Places (Children’s edition.) (Adult edition.)
- Saved at Sea (the one Levi read :)) (Lamplighter’s Publishing)
- Lamplighters “Heroes of the Faith” collection.
OLDER BOYS (Middle- High School)
- Hatchett
- Chronicles of Narnia (Series)
- Left Behind Series
- Shaken
- Wild at Heart
- Becoming the Next Great Generation // Guiding the Next Great Generation
- Finish First
- Love Does
- Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry
Find Wendy on Boy Mom Podcast Episodes: 3, 4 26, 29
Jonah and my episode (# 23) on his favorite books and podcasts.
Thank you to this episode’s sponsor, the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). For 25 years IEW has offered an effective method for teaching writing that encourages and inspires students and molds them into confident and competent communicators and thinkers. IEW offers language arts materials to students of all ages, K-12.
Whether you have a student who loves to write, hates to write, or a student who has some special learning needs, you can find success with IEW. Try the free lessons at iew.com/monicaswanson
Also big thanks to SURFACE Sunscreen for teaming up as a summertime sponsor, offering a DISCOUNT to all Boy Mom listeners (USE CODE: BOY MOM for 20% everything on their site!) and giving away a BUNDLE of SURFACE Suncare PRODUCTS to one of you at the end of June!
Surface has redefined sunscreen. Fusing essential sun protection and ultimate comfort into a line of sincere products using the highest quality ingredients to better protect you, the oceans, and the ones you love from the everyday elements of the sun. ALL Surface products are reef safe. No oxybenzone or Octinoxate is used in any Surface suncare products. And all Surface products are proudly made in the USA. Find out more about Surface at their site.
Enter to win at the VERY bottom of this post! (note– I have special question related to skincare at the bottom, I’d love to hear from you today, even if you answered last week’s question!)
You can find the Boy Mom Podcast on all of the podcast platforms…here are just a few of them:
Wendy Speake is the mom of three boys (not to mention the wife of one man), and co-author of the popular parenting book, “Triggers: Exchanging Parents’ Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses.” Other books include Parenting Scripts and Life Creative. Wendy is also host of the annual “40 Day Sugar Fast.” Connect with Wendy online at Wendyspeake.com or on Facebook or Instagram.
By the way– > JOIN WENDY in her summer 40-Day Sugar Fast which is beginning right NOW!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WendyJSpeake/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wendy_speake/
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Thanks for reading these show notes! If you enjoyed this podcast episode, please share it using social media links below!
I’m grateful for my listeners and readers, and would love to connect. You can subscribe to my blog for a weekly update on anything new I’ve published, say hi on Facebook , or find me on Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.
My book, BOY MOM, was released in August of 2019 (Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers) and is full of practical advice and helpful resources for raising boys. It’s a great study for small groups!
Order it here: Boy Mom: What Your Son Needs Most from You
*I am an IEW affiliate and if you click through my link to their site and purchase, I will make a small portion of the proceeds (at no extra cost to you!) Thank you so much!!
ENTER TO WIN AN INCREDIBLE BUNDLE OF SURFACE SUNCARE PRODUCTS! Simply leave a comment below, telling me how careful you are in the sun?//what your skin type is! Do you burn easily? Do you have naturally dark skin? If you don’t burn, do you still use sunscreen? (We have a special SKINCARE episode coming up on the podcast soon and I’d love to hear from you on this for the sake of the interview!!)
We’ll do a giveaway each month of the summer!
Hi Monica,
I cannot remember which recent podcast it was when old time movies were mentioned, but wanted to share that over the last few months we have now watched “Escape to Witch Mountain” (1976), “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (~1956), “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (~1950ish), “Swiss Family Robinson” (original version) and of course, Star Wars in chronological order. The old Disney movies are actually really good and tell good stories…and without the crude language and sexual content so prevalent in today’s movies. My boys are 12 and almost 15 and it’s been a great way to spend family time, exploring these old-timey movies! Our next one is going to be the 1916 “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, which apparently is the very first movie to be filmed underwater! And for the record, I am not a “movie” person 🙂
Books though…our house LOVES books! The Billy and Blaze books are fantastic. For probably 9-13 year olds, we really enjoyed Jeff Probst’s books (yes, of Survivor) 3-book “Stranded” series. For cookbooks, the Sesame Street “C is for Cooking” book is awesome and has great easy recipes. We still cook out of it! DK publishers has a great book called “Children Just Like Me”. When our kids were young, we would go through it and just read different parts of the pages to the boys. It has great pictures and information about kids and how they live from all over the world.
I could go on and on about books…but I will take a break here and wish you and your family a happy 4th of July!
Thanks,
Beth LaFleur
PS-I always listen to your podcasts via the link in the email but have not figured out where the 5 starts are to rate it…
Tbanks so much Beth!! Love your suggestions and adding them to our list! 🙂
And I’m pretty sure you can only leave ratings on your phone app for podcasts. (It’s still a bit confusing to me! haha) But thanks for trying!! xo
I am so careful in the sun now but I was not as a young lady. I was a sun worshiper and tanning bed queen. Now I wear long sleeves, sunscreen all over and a hat. My skin is medium so I can burn and then tan. As much as I prefer my skin darker it is just not worth the risk. This episode was so fun! I always enjoy your chats with Wendy. I feel like you two are kindred spirits. Already adding some of the elementary books to my amazon cart. Thanks for all you do!
We looove the surface anti-chafe stuck! Would love to try all the sunscreen? We have skin that burns a little and then tans. But we always wear sunscreen. I always struggle to find a sunscreen that doesn’t make me break out.
Fabulous episode as usual, Monica! I can’t tell you how much of a blessing you are to my mama heart! So life-giving! Xoxo
I would say my skin type is light, as is my family. We live in a desert so we are careful about too much sun exposure, wearing protective gear(hats, sunglasses, rash guards, etc) and sunscreen with solid ingredients. Because of where we live, (and how much time we spend outside😆) we usually have a base tan and don’t burn especially easily. I would Love to give surface a try! 😉 ☀️
I enjoyed this weeks episode and loved adding some books to my “must read” list. I wanted to add that the other books in the “Jotham’s Journey” series are really great too. Our family has read all 5 of them. 4 of them are Advent Books (Jotham, Bartholomew, Tabitha, and Ishtar) and the 5th is Amon’s Adventure: A Family Easter Story. All of them are available on Amazon. I highly recommend them and my boys do too. We read them as a family and from the preschooler to the high schooler, as well as my husband and I, we have all enjoyed them (and the grand parents too that have visited during Advent).
Our family doesn’t burn easily, and we live in WI… so ya know we don’t have a lot of opportunity to burn lol! But I know that sunscreen is important and we should use it, but we don’t very often. My moisturizer has sunscreen so I am the only one that gets any protection at all.
I am pretty careful in the sun. I love to find the best sunscreen that stays on well, rubs in easily and does not have a white residue. Sunbum is my new favorite but I love learning about other safe and effective ones. I always put sunscreen on my kids and myself when we are going to beach, pool, or just out in direct sunlight for a bit. I have pretty good skin that doesn’t burn too easily but as I’ve gotten older I notice I have to be more careful.
Hi Monica! I loved this episode so much. Thanks to you and Wendy for sharing so many wonderful books – my amazon cart is full! I am excited about your sunscreen giveaway – my skin type is light in the winter and medium in the summer. We live in Michigan so there isn’t much sun for a good part of the year! The first couple days of spring I wear sunscreen, but then after that I stop. I try to absorb as much natural vitamin d as I can! I do not burn easily.
Hi Monica! I have light skin and tan easily, but usually burn if I don’t wear sunscreen. Melanoma runs in my family- my great grandma, grandma, and now my mom has had early stage and of skin cancer. So I am worried about it, naturally. I am way more careful about wearing sunscreen now than I ever have been! And also with my boys! Thank you so much for your wisdom and sharing your love for Jesus!
Monica,
Firstly – what a divine listen!! The biggest down is that I was taking a ‘mom break’ on my bike in the woods and couldn’t take notes… so very grateful for Show Notes. Thank you for being so thorough and detailed and to both you and Wendy for sharing your love of reading and books that are enriching and character building. Amazon Prime delivery will be with me tomorrow and I feel inspired to read some more to my 12 year old who still loves me reading to him. 👍🏻
Monica, your family are absolutely not too old to watch Swiss Family Robinson (the original). My 20 year old would watch it again. It ranks as one of our best movies! We don’t watch a lot of movies ourselves, but one that did come to mind on my ride, was MacFarland USA. It’s a true story and has such a strong message of overcoming obstacles. Being a ‘sporting’ movie, I think your family would enjoy it. Thanks again to both you and Wendy.
I love your podcast! I look forward to the new one each Tues morning. Thank you!!!
Thank you for the sunscreen reminder. I often forget.
Thank you so much Leigh!! That makes me so happy. 🙂
Monica- question for you- for the Surface sunscreen- do you use the sheer touch, dry touch, zinc/mineral based or CBD infused products? Just wondering which product is the best to start with. Thank you!
Hey Holly, great question!! Hard for me to choose since I use them all. 🙂 I love the sheer touch because it goes on so smooth and silky, however the zinc based products are really good for coverage (so my husband prefers I use those for best protection.) The CBD are newer so I haven’t used as much, but my folks love them! 🙂 I also love the spray because I try to re-screen my back and hard to reach areas and hate to always have to ask other people. 🙂 Not sure if that helps much! You might have to try a couple!! (My boys use the stick sunscreen for their face which stays on really well in the water!)
Thank you!
I have fair skin and burn easily. I can’t wait to try Surface sunscreen to see how it works. And to see how it smells! Lol.
We apply sunscreen regularly, but we still burn. It might help if we didn’t use expired sunscreen! Lol. Thank you for letting us know about this product.
My boys all have their grandfathers Greek skin so they don’t burn…but that makes it east for me to forget about sunscreen. 🤦♀️