Blog
As a homeschooling veteran, I review middle-grade stories to help parents, librarians, and teachers choose good books.
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Starr Tree Farm by Ellen Parker, a review
Starr Tree Farm by Ellen Parker Published 2013 by Crimson Romance, 200 pages Genre: sweet romantic suspense Laura has been widowed just a year. She decides to move from St. Louis back to her home town in Wisconsin and finds herself farm-sitting for her uncle and aunt....
What are my idols?
A Bible study I am in has just finished the book of Judges. It's a story of amazing degeneration, as the children of Israel live in the land of Canaan and soon forget or ignore the God who called them there. Of course the root cause of this forgetting is that the...
Joseph tests his brothers
My name is Joseph. I’m a very important man in Egypt now. I am amazed that God has put me here, so far from home, and given me the job of running this country, Egypt. The dreams I interpreted for Pharaoh told of seven years of lots of rain and therefore lots of food,...
Gideon stumbles; Part 5
Part 1 2 3 4 5 I, Elkanah, am exhausted and thrilled, along with the other two hundred and ninety-nine in Gideon's band of men. Surely it is time to go home and rest. Those who have oppressed Israel have destroyed each other, and the few survivors of the midnight...
Gideon’s victory; Part 4
Part 1 2 3 4 5 I am a neighbor of Gideon. They call me Elkanah. I was with the three brothers of Gideon when they were ambushed by the kings of the great army of Midian, who roamed the hillsides with 30 men looking for sport a few weeks ago. I rolled under a bush, but...
What did Abraham know, and when did he know it?
Partway through his earthly ministry, Jesus stands in the Temple exchanging barbs with some naysayers. He drops an interesting comment: "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56 NIV). Believers ever since have...
Gideon, mighty warrior; Part 3
Part 1 2 3 4 5 Alas, the enemies of Israel have come to teach us a lesson. The desert kings of Midian and of the peoples around us have joined together and brought a mighty army moving right into the Jezreel Valley below our hillside caves. We harvested the crops we...
Gideon, man of God? Part 2
Part 1 2 3 4 5 Lying on my blanket in the family cave in the night, I, Gideon, marvel. Today I met the Lord and lived. A god, someone who could work a miracle: consuming the offering I gave him. What else can this tribal god do? Is he stronger than Baal and Asherah? I...
Gideon’s journey begins; Part 1
Part 1 2 3 4 5 I am Gideon. I'm afraid the Midianites will catch me threshing this little bit of wheat that my family was able to grow and harvest. I hate those Midianites, who like locusts descend on Israel at harvest time and take away the crops, leaving...
Jacob deceives his father Isaac
My name is Jacob. I have a twin brother, Esau, who is a few minutes older. Before we were born, God told our mother Rebekah that the older would serve the younger. This means that the younger son, I, Jacob, would some day be the boss over the older son, Esau. I...
Ehud changes his mind
You are Ehud, a timid man with handicaps. You live in Israel during the time of the Judges, when the children of Israel occupy the promised land in a tenuous kind of way, bedeviled by the Canaanites and their tempting fertility worship while forgetting who their help...
God plans ahead
God chose the spot where he asked Abraham to build an altar and sacrifice his son Isaac. God told Abraham to take the boy to “a place I will show you.” It was several days’ walk from where Abraham lived in the Negev desert. When they got close, Abraham laid the...