Families

Imagine having twelve siblings, or having to live for a year with a grandma who’s known for shaking up her neighbors! After reading these books, you won’t have to imagine: you’ll know. It gets pretty crazy in the Gilbreth family, a family with a dozen kids, when the dad decides that, in order for everyone to learn Morse code, he’s going to tape morse code clues all over the house (including in the bathroom) and the first child to decode them all wins a prize. It doesn’t stop at the kids, either; it turns out that grandmas can be just as exciting. Let’s read about it!
 
Day and Time: Thursdays, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM ET
Class Duration: 4 Weeks
Dates: January 9-30, 2025
Recommended for: Ages 11+ / Grades 6-7
Teacher: TTK Faculty
Required materials: 
Cheaper by the Dozen, by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
A Year Down Yonder, by Richard Peck
 
Cheaper by the Dozen, by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
What do you get when you put twelve lively kids together with a father—a famous efficiency expert—who believes families can run like factories, and a mother who is his partner in everything except discipline? You get a hilarious tale of growing up that has made generations of kids and adults alike laugh along with the Gilbreths in Cheaper by the Dozen.
 
A Year Down Yonder, by Richard Peck
Mary Alice's childhood summers in Grandma Dowdel's sleepy Illinois town were packed with enough drama to fill the double bill of any picture show. But now she is fifteen, and faces a whole long year with Grandma, a woman well known for shaking up her neighbors-and everyone else! All Mary Alice can know for certain is this: when trying to predict how life with Grandma might turn out . . . better not.
 
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