Elsie Dinsmore

My girls, especially Campster, LOVE Elsie Dinsmore.  Elsie, if you haven't heard, is a fictional character whose book series was written by Martha Finley between 1867 and 1905.

On the strong suggestion of the Vision Forum catalog, we asked Grandma for the first set of audio CDs a couple of years ago.  At first, Campster was none too thrilled.  But Elsie grew on her as she listened to the story as she went to bed each night.  Last year, I purchased the second and third CD sets for her.  They have become a family favorite - and both girls, now sharing a room, insist on listening to it each night before falling off to sleep.

What I love about Elsie is two-fold.  Firstly, the vocabulary is rich.  Campster's grasp of language is amazing.  She will gently tell me that she does not like my "harsh tone" and "stern look" when I am angry with her.

The second thing I appreciate about Elsie is her meekness.  She loves Jesus.  And while she can be a bit legalistic for my tastes (refusing to read a secular book on the sabbath), her faith and commitment to it is admirable.

The other characters are not all so charitable.  The other day we were listening to Elsie in the car, and Arthur, Elsie's uncle, had gotten into trouble.  The kids noted that he: lied, dishonored his parents, presented false witness against another, coveted and stole.  He broke five commandments!  It was fascinating to me to see my kids coming up with commandments he broke that I hadn't even thought of.  What a great chance to discuss the choices we make and the consequences.  By the way, Arthur was flogged severely, and sent to solitary confinement to live on bread and water for a week.  I thought that made any punishment of mine look very tame in comparison!

Discussing books together is a favorite past time in our house.  Now that Campster is reading better, I hope to get her the set of the Elsie books to read.  I understand that there are several versions - and I will buy the set from Vision Forum as it is the original and not lacking anything.

I am gearing up to get the new MP3's of the next few books in the series.  I haven't done it yet for two reasons: 1) I want to wait for hubby to have employment and 2) The story is read by a different person, and the sound quality is not as good from what I can tell.

If you have girls (or even boys - as Jor Man enjoys it as well) Elsie Dinsmore is a wonderful role model for them.

Wish you were here!