Clara and the Bookwagon: A Level 3 Story About Reading and American History for Kids (Ages 4-8)

Well, mainly my daughter loved it. It’s a wonderful and wholesome story set in a bygone era. The pictures are lovely, and it has a great message. My son didn’t love it so much because I made him read it and read it again, but he swears that this is the book that taught him to read. I’m sure it will be shared with his kiddos in the future!

I was on another app and I came upon this book. Then it all came back to me. I remember reading this in elementary school, back in the early 90’s and loving it. So i decided to look on Amazon. I had to buy it. Probably part of the reason of my love for books.

This was my daughter's (age 7) first "chapter book," and she was so excited to finish reading it. It was really the prefect book to get her, since previosuly she really just was not a fan of reading, even though she could read fairly well.

My daughter wanted this book bc they had it at school. Super cute.

The product itself was fine, arrived quickly and I'm great shape. There were some parts of the story that we didn't like and decided to return it instead of gift it to a child.

I used this book to develop a lesson plan for all core subjects for a class I'm in at UNCG, school of education. I thought the book provided the excited feelings reading can create when it is intrinsically encouraged. Great book!

“Clara and the Bookwagon” is a reader that I recently discovered at my local library. It’s an older book, but one which I enjoyed so much I wanted to recommend it. Clara is a farm girl living in Maryland around 1900. She does not go to school because there are no schools for farm children. Instead, she spends her days working hard on the farm. She has a vivid imagination and loves stories and has a secret wish to learn how to read. When she visits the general store in town with her father, she wants to borrow a book from the free book station located there, but her father refuses, telling her, “Farm people like us do not have time to read.” Some time later, Miss Mary comes to visit her farm with her traveling book wagon. She tries to lend Clara a book, but the young girl remembers what her father said and turns it down. The librarian offers to go talk to her father for her and even offers to teach Clara to read. This wonderful tale is based on the true story of Mary Lemist Titcomb, the head of the Hagerstown, Maryland public library, who started book stations in general stores, churches, and homes. In 1905, she began the first horse-drawn bookmobile.

We loved this book. Emma just turned 9 and loves historical fiction. She like the book and the last page that told about the real life librarian. This is a MUST read.