My daughter enjoys this book, by Philip Ward Newton. It's about a hippie homeschooling family that lives on a tugboat and produces their own organic veggies via barge-farming.
The main character, Grace, is a 12 year old – and I thought it pretty cool that a male author was able to capture the voice of a tween girl.
Grace's family love God and are able to reach out to the not-so-conventional people around them by not being overly preachy, but showing the practical love of God in very hands-on ways.
The book is peppered with spelling words, which begin each chapter and lots of useful nuggets of information (like tomatoes) or interesting people and events.
The reading is light, fun, and witty. The Masat family is a wonderful example of being the light of the world in an authentic and unpretentious way. The chapter spelling words are a wonderful addition to our homeschool experience- bringing more vocabulary into play for us.
Furthermore, author Philip Newton appends "chapter challenge questions" at the end of the book. These questions take the reader a step further by exploring ideas, places, people, and things mentioned in each chapter. A few Masat family recipes are thrown in at the very end of the book, which makes for a delightful ending!
My daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed reading (and interacting) with this book! We recommend it, give it all stars, and hope you'll go check out more about author Philip Ward Newton, and consider purchasing his book.