Around the World Tea Parties: Scotland

 Our school year is officially done, and we are ready for summer adventures. So, I bring you our very last Around the World Tea Party. In her book, Honey for a Child's Heart, Gladys Hunt says that the books we read aloud together become Shared Family Adventures. These tea parties were definitely shared family adventures for us, and a highlight of our school year this year.

Our final tea party took us to Scotland. We read Wee Gillis by Robert Lawson. I purchased this book used, and I do regret that I didn't spend the extra few dollars to get a newer edition because of this cover.

 

I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but this one is almost impossible to look at without getting a headache. Such a shame, when it's filled with gorgeous pen and ink illustrations by Robert Lawson (illustrator of Ferdinand and the Bull).So my advice, spring for the updated cover because this book is definitely worth reading. It tells the story of a boy who can't decide whether to live with his mother's family in the lowlands who tend long-horned cattle, or his father's family in the highlands who hunt stags. It's a great introduction to Scottish culture.

 

We pulled out all our tartan for this, of course.

 

I had some great leftover plaid wrapping paper that we improvised as a tablecloth and we made Scottish oat shortbread.

 

We also invited some special guests. Did you know that the unicorn is one of Scotland's official animals?

We also really enjoyed reading The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith as a read-aloud. It's a short novel about a family that finds the Loch Ness Monster as a baby and keeps it as a pet. At the end of the week, we watched the movie Brave,  which made my older child cry and my younger child say, "Mom, I wish you would turn into a bear." We're better with drama in books than in Disney movies, apparently.