I met Andi Carter today. She is a twelve year old girl living at Circle C Ranch with her family in California. Thankfully because it is already 1880, Andi is not forced to dress only in dresses. At least not at the Circle C!

I've only been with Andi for twenty-eight pages. But I am just too excited about her to not share her with you NOW! Andi is the creation of Susan Marlow (suzyscribbles). I met Susan through a Blogger Classmates Homeschool Memoirs post a month or better ago. Since then we've correspnded and she helped my template A LOT! But before I had the opportunity to converse with Susan, I wanted to buy her books. From her website here I learned a little about Andi. I knew she was independent, respectful, and brave. I knew she would be a solid role-model for my daughters. AND she was from my favorite time period - the mid 1800s!

Andi is not Laura Ingalls. Yet she and Laura have a lot of common character traits. I believe these traits to be common to the time period. I want these traits for my daughters. How can I give Kelly Mae, Rebekah Anne, and Laura Lea these gifts? I can provide for them the basis for these virtues. I can provide for them examples of such girls like themselves.

In Andi's first debut, The Long Ride Home, she comes straight out of the chute without glamour and without perfection. She is tempted just like every little girl. And she is rowdy just like my little girls. And...she loves horses...just like my Kelly Mae. Andi has strong brothers and a kind and firm mother. Andi has Taffy. Taffy is Andi's very own palomino. With all the trust and love of a twelve year old, Andi adores Taffy.

Click over to the Circle C Ranch here and pick up a copy of Andrea Carter and the Long Ride Home and join me as I continue to learn more about Andi, Taffy, Justin, Diego, and Chad. Read along with me and then share the experience with your children. Sharing this incredible book (and those that follow) with my children will be a highlight of our early evenings by the fire as we move into shorter and colder days.  Check out Andi's blog here. Click here to read more about the author, Susan Marlow, on her blog. I believe you'll appreciate her charge: Wholesome books for kids.

Patty

Posted by SuzyScribbles

Well....whoo-hoo for YOU, Patty! Nice job on the sidebar stuff. I learned to do all that stuff by trial and error. And now I'm rather "hooked" on it. I love messing with my template. But remember....if you get going on it, create a PRACTICE blog to copy and paste your working template into to play with. Then if you mess up, no loss. When you have what you like, you copy it from your practice blog and put it into your REAL blog.

Hey, thanks for the stupendous write up on Andi and LRH. You've only read 28 pages and you've figured out the heart of the books already. I sure had fun writing them, anyway. And to think I NEVER intended to have them published (too shy to share, ya know?). I thought people would think they are silly. I guess God knew better. I'm very happy I got talked into trying to find a "home" for the series.

Well...I'm off to check out Homeschool Memoirs.
Have a great day!

Posted by blessedwith2angels

I love Susan's books. They are wholesome and Andi is a wonderful role model for girls.
Susan is such a sweet person too.
Pam