The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry Misty’s Foal by Marguerite Henry Blue Willow by Doris Gates Wizard of Oz series (unabridged) by Frank L. Baum The Green Knowe series by L. M. Boston Heidi Johanna Spyri Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher Movies: The 1987 Hallmark version of The Secret Garden (warning: parents and others in household shown dying in the beginning just start the movie past that part) http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Garden-Hallmark-Hall-Fame/dp/B0000639G3/ref=sr_1_4?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1426293901&sr=1-4&keywords=The+Secret+Garden+in+movies The 1961 movie version of Misty http://www.amazon.com/Misty-David-Ladd/dp/B001E1HCR8/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1426293844&sr=1-1&keywords=Misty+in+movies

These four books will take you off the to the Greek Island of Corfu with Gerrald Durrell, a place of beauty, humor, and laughter. My Family and Other Animals http://www.amazon.com/Family-Other-Animals-Gerald-Durrell/dp/0142004413/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid= Birds, Beasts, and Relatives http://www.amazon.com/Birds-Beasts-Relatives-Gerald-Durrell/dp/0142004405/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y Fauna and Family http://www.amazon.com/Fauna-Family-Adventures-Durrell-Nonpareil/dp/1567924417/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 The Garden of the Gods http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Gods-Gerald-Durrell/dp/0002162687/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 I am seconding Chris in VA's idea to look towad children's lit for happiness! (But not Young Adult lit! Not happy!)

Misty would be our choice with sensitive viewers in the house. It was filmed in the '60s. Keeps close to the book. http://www.amazon.com/Misty-David-Ladd/dp/B001E1HCR8/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1425518330&sr=1-1&keywords=Misty

Have we discussed this? I am sure some small number of books were torn or ruined, but please... How many librarians are unfamiliar with the concept of library book sales or donating to charity? Perhaps the library director and her staff should actually read some of the books in their care. Perhaps the should read some of those"outdated" volumes and gain some wisdom to go with their utilitarian ability to count the number of books that will fit on the shelves. Well, at least the public outcry has probably saved the books in the five dumpsters and has pushed the library to change their policy on discards. http://abc7news.com/education/residents-upset-alameda-county-library-throws-out-thousands-of-books/531951/

Reading aloud to your child. Having him/her read to you. Popcorn reading. Modeling reading. Rereading the same books over and over. All of that, plus you may want to continue reading instruction under the guise of spelling so that the more complex phonograms and spelling rules are added to your child's repertoire. All About Spelling, Logic of English, Spalding all have good programs. Here is a nice introductory lecture by Denise Eide of Logic of English. She has a whole free teacher training program on the Logic of English Channel on Youtube.

She's a "Firecracker!"

"Relax!" says my husband, a former SAT curriculum director for two major test prep companies and current SAT tutor. Nobody has to take the PSAT. It is a PRACTICE SAT. The only reason to take it is if the student has a shot at a National Merit Scholarship. Most students take it just to practice under true testing conditions. It sounds like your child would just have additional stress from taking the PSAT, better to use the time before junior or senior year to shore up her math for the real test. In my husband's opinion (from the samples and the statements of the man in charge of the new SAT) the new PSAT/SAT is a disaster in the making, and the ACT is now the much better test so aim towards that.

David Carroll is a masterful writer and a wonderful artist. I was lucky to meet him during graduate school when he was doing research on a population of endangered Blanding's turtle near our university. He gave a wonderful talk and had turtles rustling in paper bags behind him for the "show and tell" part of the presentation. I was too young and foolish at the time to beg to assist with his research like some of my more savvy friends did. He and his wife have a studio in New Hampshire which is not too very far from me. I hope in the next year to swing buy and purchase a piece of his artwork. The Asian influence in his work makes it very different from most natural history illustration you typically see. Everyone (naturalist or not) who has glanced through my copy of The Year of the Turtle has bought their own copy. It is that beautiful. If you like David Carroll you will probably also like Robert Michael Pyle, but Carroll is definitely the gold standard in the beautiful writing department. Pyle is more jocular and less contemplative, but still a good read. My son and I read Voyage of the Beagle aloud. We loved it. It was a lot more lyrical than Origin of Species which we left for later...

Hi Cammie! I was watching a video by the guy who wrote this book( http://www.amazon.com/Mindless-Eating-More-Than-Think-ebook/dp/B000MAHC0E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1424356561&sr=8-2&keywords=mindless+eating) when surprisingly he mentioned that the mindless eating he was warning us all against was often a great strategy to use for kids and others who needed to up their intake of calories or of healthy foods! You don't need the book as it is generally about losing weight, but the upshot was that feeding a picky or underweight child in front of the TV is a good thing. As you know, my daughter is a picky eater in terms of types of food (but not quantity, that girl can scarf down the fries!), she is so much more likely to eat her veggies and eat more of them if they are delivered to her after she is engaged in a TV show or video. I do not say a word, just put the bowl in her lap and walk away. Nine times out of ten the bowl will be empty by the time the show is done. I think having the sole focus be on the food as it is presented at most meals makes it more difficult to eat for some children. Generally, everyone eats more when distracted. Hope you all are doing well! Miss you.

Here are some of my favorites. A little heavy on insects... I am sweet on them. Wild Season Allan W. Eckert (narrative on the food chain) Summer World by Bernd Heinrich Winter World by Bernd Heinrich Trees in My Forest by Bernd Heinrich The Frog Book by Mary K. Dickerson Moths and Butterflies by Mary K. Dickerson (vintage) Adventures in Nature by Edwin Way Teale (mostly insects) According to Season by Mrs. William Starr Dana (wildflowers, vintage) Life in the Soil by James B. Nardi Nature Discoveries with a Hand Lens by Richard Headstrom (vintage) Adventures with Freshwater Animals by Richard Headstrom Discovering Amphibians by John Himmelman Discovering Moths by John Himmelman The Living Year by Richard Headstrom Bringing Nature Home by Douglas W. Tallamy (plants and insects) Swampwalker’s Journal by David M. Carroll The Year of the Turtle by David M. Carroll Following the Water by David M. Carroll The Edge of the Sea Rachel Carson Noah’s Garden by Sara Stein (native plants) Planting Noah’s Garden by Sara Stein (native plants) Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer (moss) Broadsides from Other Orders by Sue Hubbell (insect) Waiting for Aphrodite by Sue Hubbell (invertebrate sea life) Chasing Monarchs Robert Michael Pyle The Thunder Tree Robert Michael Pyle (butterflies and childhood) Walking the High Ridge Robert Michael Pyle (butterflies) Suburban Safai by Hannah Holmes The Life of an Oak by Glenn Keator Near Horizons Edwin Way Teale (insects) Life Cycles of Butterflies by Burris and Richards Whisper in the Pines by Joanna Burger (pine barrens ecology) The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature by David George Haskell * A Guide to Night Sounds CD by Lang Elliot

If you are pleased with the idea of the four year history cycle repeated three times go for it. Just realize that you have a whole calendar year (or more!), not just an academic year to get through each stage. I would highly recommend using the CDs, especially in the car and just let them play over and over. I think my kids internalized more from the repetition of the stories on the CD than when they were read aloud. Pick and choose from the activity guide. My first child was much older when we started and I did the narration and mapwork with him, nothing more. My younger one did the coloring pages. No one here much likes crafts so we skipped most of the activities. It was okay! Anyway, my son only went through two cycles of history (STOW CDs, narration and mapwork and K 12 Human Odyssey texts, narration, and mapwork and many history documentaries) before entering as a freshman at a private high school. He is now taking Western Civ honors. His teacher comments often on his vast knowledge of history. My son has mentioned that the kids who came to his high school from public school have almost no knowledge of ancient or medieval history; they are only solid on American history. So what I am getting at is that even two rotations put my son into a knowledge class far above his peers in history. Don't sweat the timeline! And, seriously, buy the CDs. Or buy two sets of CDs, one for the car and one for home! The repetition is what solidified the knowledge. The repetition of playing the CDs over and over and the repetition of doing 2 or 3 cycles. As SWB says, the first introduction to a topic is setting a peg in the mind to hang all future knowledge on. You don't need 100% retention and understanding the first go around. They will see this material again.

Don't know the age of your dd, but once you have a standard field guide for each type of animal or plant and she has made her way through those, you might want to go to the next level of field guides ones with a greater depth on the ecology and natural history of the species (but usually fewer species per book). These are my picks. Many of them can be picked up used. They do not have color photographs as it is assumed you have already identified the animal or plant and want to learn more about it. For standard comprehensive photographic field guides I like the Kaufman series. They are really easy to make IDs with. National Wildlife has some nicely photographed ones too. insects guide: http://www.amazon.com/Kaufman-Field-Insects-America-Guides/dp/0618153101/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423661070&sr=1-3&keywords=field+guide+to+insects Birds: http://www.amazon.com/Kaufman-Field-Guide-Birds-America/dp/0618574239/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423661256&sr=1-1&keywords=Kaufman+guides Mammals:http://www.amazon.com/Kaufman-Field-Guide-Mammals-America/dp/0618951881/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423661330&sr=1-1&keywords=Kaufman+mammals Butterflies: http://www.amazon.com/Butterflies-North-America-Kaufman-Guides/dp/0618768262/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423661358&sr=1-1&keywords=Kaufman+butterflies Wordier guides for older kids who want more than range maps and standard markings: http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Amphibians-Frogs-Salamanders-Northeast-ebook/dp/B00O3ZPK1C/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423661572&sr=1-1&keywords=Discovering+Amphibians http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Moths-Nighttime-Jewels-Backyard-ebook/dp/B002PXSKD4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423661596&sr=1-1&keywords=Discovering+moths Stokes Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles http://www.amazon.com/Amphibians-Reptiles-Stokes-Nature-Guides/dp/0316817139/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423660316&sr=8-1&keywords=stokes+amphibians+and+reptiles Stokes Guide to Nature in Winter http://www.amazon.com/Stokes-Guide-Nature-Winter-Donald/dp/0316817236/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423660712&sr=8-1&keywords=stokes+nature+in+winter John Eastman's Book of Field and Roadside http://www.amazon.com/Book-Field-Roadside-Open-Country-Wildflowers/dp/0811726258/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423660800&sr=1-1&keywords=John+eastman+plants Book of Forest and Thicket by John Eastman http://www.amazon.com/Book-Forest-Thicket-The-Wildflowers/dp/0811730468/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y The Book of Swamp and Bog by John Eastman http://www.amazon.com/Book-Swamp-Bog-The-Wildflowers/dp/0811725189/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1GVGTGYJGEH3SAVFV2F0 (good if you live in New England or the Mid Atlantic states) http://www.amazon.com/Naturally-Curious-Photographic-Month-By-Month-Journey/dp/1570764255/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=08F8E6K07NGGSQ2XMKA8 I also love love love this CD: (all ages) Lang Elliot Guide to Night Sounds http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Night-Sounds-Nighttime-Amphibians/dp/0811731642/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Take a deep breath, realize these tests are designed to test just a few specialized reasoning skills. Nothing this test reveals means your child is an "average" person or of "average" talent or intellect. It is just a tool people have come up with to sort people in a certain fashion for mainly school related activities. Repeat after me: Nothing a school ever says about who your child "is" will ever capture her passions, spirit, intelligence, drive, dreams or wit. Your child is unique in her gifts. Far better than being in a gifted and talented program is having parents that see her as a whole person and can give her the enrichment she will most benefit from. Look to her strengths and interests and enrich them with books, documentaries, musuems, field trips, lessons, and meeting people who do the things she loves. I was in a G/T program until I left public high school for private high school. Trust me, the things my family did outside the school building and the classical education I got at private school far better met my needs than the acceleration and pull outs in public school g/t.

Sounds like a living books approach to science might be called for (maybe with a more engaging text for a spine). There are many lists on here of living science books none of which I have easy access to at the moment. I would also look for hands on work with a professional at a nature center, arboretum, botanic garden, zoo, natural history museum, or land trust. A few of my favorite living science books. According to Season by Mrs. William Starr Dana (botany) The Frog Book by Mary C. Dickerson (herpetology) The Living Year by Richard Headstrom (natural history) Winter World or Summer World or Ravens in Winter or Trees in My Forest or anything by Bernd Heinrich (ecology) Swampwalker's Journal or Year of the Turtle or anything else by David M. Carroll (herpetology) Discovering Moths or Discovering Amphibians by John Himmelman (entomology) The Edge of the Sea or anything else by Rachel Carson (marine bio) Adventures in Nature or anything else by Edwin Way Teale Life in the Soil by James B. Nardi Noah's Garden and Planting Noah's Garden by Sara Stein (botany) Chasing Monarchs or Walking the High Ridge by Robert Michael Pyle (entomology) Basin and Range by John McPhee (geology) Also the CD by Elliot Lang entitled A Guide to Night Sounds (this one, unlike all his others, includes narration)

Not a huge fan of Claire Walker Leslie here. You could use any book on nature journaling in the desert as long as it was instructive on the method, not prescriptive on activities. http://www.amazon.com/Naturalists-Notebook-Susan-Leigh-Tomlinson/dp/0811735680/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423239015&sr=1-7&keywords=nature+journaling http://www.amazon.com/Illustrating-Nature-Right-Brain-Left-Brain-World/dp/0915965089/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423239072&sr=1-9&keywords=nature+journaling General desert resources. I don't know which desert you are in! http://www.amazon.com/Arizona-Sonora-Desert-Museum-Book-Answers/dp/1886679096/ref=sr_1_37?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423238395&sr=1-37&keywords=desert+ecology http://www.amazon.com/Deserts-National-Audubon-Society-Nature/dp/0394731395/ref=sr_1_43?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423238450&sr=1-43&keywords=desert+ecology http://www.amazon.com/Saguaro-Moon-Kristin-Joy-Pratt-Serafini/dp/1584690364/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1423237632&sr=8-2&keywords=desert+journal http://www.amazon.com/Deserts-Activity-Guide-Ages-6%C2%969-ebook/dp/B005HF3PFA/ref=sr_1_50?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423237897&sr=1-50&keywords=desert+ecology+childrens http://www.amazon.com/Geology-Desert-Southwest-Investigate-Projects-ebook/dp/B005J61FOA/ref=sr_1_25?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423238054&sr=1-25&keywords=deserts+activities+children http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Coloring-DESERTS-Peterson/dp/0395670861/ref=sr_1_33?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423238081&sr=1-33&keywords=deserts+activities+children http://www.amazon.com/Scats-Tracks-Desert-Southwest/dp/1560447869/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423238297&sr=1-10&keywords=desert+ecology http://www.amazon.com/Cactus-Hotel-Owlet-Brenda-Guiberson/dp/0805029605/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423238297&sr=1-11&keywords=desert+ecology http://www.amazon.com/Arizona-Sonora-Desert-Museum-Book-Answers/dp/1886679096/ref=sr_1_37?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423238395&sr=1-37&keywords=desert+ecology

Magic Lens by Michael Clay Thompson http://www.rfwp.com/series/grammar-the-magic-lens-program-by-michael-clay-thompson Image Grammar by Henry Nolan http://www.amazon.com/Image-Grammar-Second-Teaching-Writing/dp/0325041741/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422999725&sr=8-1&keywords=Image+Grammar Grammar by Diagram Second Edition by Cindy L. Vito and Grammar by Diagram Workbook Second Edition http://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Diagram-Understanding-Traditional-Diagraming/dp/1551117789/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422999773&sr=1-1&keywords=grammar+by+diagram http://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Diagram-Workbook-second-Cindy/dp/1551119013/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422999773&sr=1-2&keywords=grammar+by+diagram Drawing Sentences by Eugene Moutoux http://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Sentences-Diagramming-Eugene-Moutoux/dp/1935497154/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422999876&sr=1-1&keywords=drawing+sentences The Elements of Style by Strunk and White (someone one the WTM made a PDF workbook to go with this. I have no idea who.) http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/dp/020530902X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423000038&sr=1-1&keywords=the+elements+of+style Warriner's English Composition and Grammar (the book I used in high school) http://www.amazon.com/English-Composition-Grammar-Complete-Course/dp/0153117362/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423000114&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=warreners+grammar+and+composition

We just had our son tested with the WISC II and the WIAT. The testing revealed than indeed he literally could not attend to the content and mechanics at the same time. For the processing speed tests that involved no motor skills (verbal response only) he tested high average. For the processing speed tests that included any motor skill (including drawing lines between things or pointing out the pattern of lights in some sort of board with holes in it) his processing speed dropped THREE STANDARD DEVIATIONS. He has sensory processing disorder and his issues with proprioception are at the root of the writing failure. His body is not sending the correct sensory information to his mind. He is not receiving the feedback from the pencil pressing against the paper. He is not able to engage the proper muscles to put the parts of the letters together. Yet, his brain tries very hard to do the task with this limited and incorrect information! So it takes up a lot of working memory and reduces his processing speed so much that he literally loses the ability to produce the thoughts he could narrate to you a few minutes earlier. Even typing slows his processing speed as his brain has to work so much harder than ours to get those fingers in the right place. I modified his homeschooling so that all his content areas were separated from writing. He went through various writing curricula at his own slow pace, but as I allowed verbal answers to most everything in content subjects he was not held back in those. When he went back to school, EVERYTHING was tied back to writing and his grades tanked. The teachers knew he understood the material, he just cannot express it in writing. They are suggesting a 504 for motor handicap (proprioception). He will be allowed to use Dragon dictation, record his answers on his phone, or take oral tests if need be. Look up dysgraphia and proprioception and processing speed.

Loved Writing in English. The examples are spectacular and the explanations clear and easy to grasp.

Having two kids on the opposite ends of the sensitivity spectrum, now I can see why some folks find it easy to discuss their way through difficult content in a book while others protect their children from books that would certainly result emotional trauma for them. My daughter can read anything no matter how horrible and react with "It's only a story, mom." Whereas my son is still upset 10 YEARS LATER by a (to him) terrifying picture of a troll like creature he was exposed to in a modern children's series. At the time he was shaking in fear, and he begged me to cut the picture out of the book and remove it from the house! It is interesting to note that he is the imaginative child and his sister is the practical child. This is not the only book I had to watch out for over the years some of which have caused nightmares. I think if I only had my daughter, I too, would have no idea the depths of emotion possible within some children and the way they hold onto negative images for very long periods of time. So my daughter will be reading certain books long before my son was ever exposed to them. There are so many good books to choose from, that straying from the canon is certainly okay if you have a highly sensitive child. They may choose to read these upsetting books on their own or in class later when their ability to cope with their powerful feelings has developed more or they can control their tendency to imagine scenes in lifelike detail. And that is okay. Have fun finding the books that are right for your child!

If by Common Core you mean Pearson created language arts materials (they are the company in charge of the PARCC test) and math in which students must explain their answers in writing, my daughter far exceeded what was being done in 4th grade in both of these. This is because she is a bright, FLEXIBLE child with a solid foundation in math and reading from homeschool. However, at least 50% of my daughter's grade (we are in a 60% free and reduced lunch district) is struggling with the Pearson materials and the writing part of the mathematics as well as the multiple steps required to do simple calculations (they just aren't ready to keep all those steps in their head and lose track and then make mistakes). The self esteem of these kids is decreasing as the demands ramp up. A lot of my daughters classmates believe themselves to be stupid based entirely upon the fact they are being asked to do tasks far ahead of where they are developmentally and where their most basic skills are (if you are still struggling with writing counting the "writing" portion of math against you may kill your grades in the one subject that was a success for you). While many of the Common Core standards are fine in isolation, THE GRADE LEVELS AT WHICH they are expected to achieve them are laughable. Clearly, no child development experts were consulted when assigning the standards to grade level. In our school, it is not uncommon for children to finally achieve basic reading fluency around the beginning of third grade (meaning they can read a chapter book at a reasonable pace and understand it). Well, that is not enough for PARCC testing. They must be able to find supporting evidence for every decision they make about the meanings of words or the themes in the story. Take a look at the link below. http://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/english/ I believe if they had left elementary school alone and brought in the standards relating in middle school after children had mastered basic handwriting, keyboarding, writing and reading skills they would be much more of a help to the students instead of a great obstacle to many. Of course, my disclaimer is that I am a great believer in the grammar stage. It really is okay to leave abstract thinking to logic stage.

I wondered if they might! Your work is lovely! Are they publishing the one you submitted to the contest? I am sure if you announce it here your "homeschooling mothers between 20 and 60" demographic will give your sales numbers a big bump.

Have you looked at Exploration Education? Physics and chemistry heavy but that will go along with Hakim well. The experiments included all materials and they all worked. I believe ALL the materials are included. The instruction is slideshow based on the computer and there is a workbook to go along with it. It has 144 experiments and is fairly reasonable in terms of price (about $150). I would purchase the Advanced Version for your kids as the experiments in each kit are similar, just modified for different age groups. http://www.explorationeducation.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Alejandros-Gift-Richard-E-Albert/dp/0811813428/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422124594&sr=1-1&keywords=alejandro%27s+garden

I just completed girl scout leader training. Our trainer from the state council told us (when I mentioned the innumerable complaints online about the journeys) that it was perfectly legitimate to rewrite the journeys to meet our troops needs or not to do the journeys at all. So if the journey is about conserving water, come up with an equivalent number of water activities and call it done. So that is what we will do! I am a rebel and I can do a far better job than what is presented in the journeys.

The excerpt makes me want to read the book! Of course, I am a naturalist and I wish I could spend time lying on the ground gazing at sweet ferns and smelling pine sap! However, if it was an equally long description of a fancy parlor I would be asleep by the second line. I think active engagement in descriptive passages depends on the individual reader's interest in the subject matter. I also suspect that our collective cultural patience for description is much lower than the norm for the population when most "classic" literature was written. It may be possible that in the time before television, that the descriptive passages were the only vehicles for "travel" to other places and times for a great many people. So an elaborate description of the summertime woods and fields might be like watching a PBS documentary on the north woods today. In order to expand their knowledge of places their readers couldn't ever visit or see, the author included long descriptions. Now that we can see photos and videos of almost every corner of the earth and even of different time periods (old photos, film, or reenactments), and have the pictures in our head or can easily view them, we tend toward impatience with elements of story that are not plot pushers or action oriented. Modern writing classes tend to encourage the writer to jump right into the action or dialog rather than set the scene so most books are written this way and it has become a publishing standard that the reader's attention must be captured on the first page or forget it, you won't be published! This is not necessarily better, just different. Making the shift into heavily descriptive literature takes a bit of slipping out of the 21st century "get to the point" mindset and back into a time where "drawing the picture" for the reader was key. So to adapt you might choose to slow down or to skim the passages that don't interest you or even skip whole books if they are too slow for your taste. Either strategy is fine. Just don't give up on the first one!