Blog
As a homeschooling veteran, I review middle-grade stories to help parents, librarians, and teachers choose good books.
Look for author news here too!
Archive, a devotional
Those messy piles are the remnants of my childhood home. I’m compiling the material into an archive, and each time I dig in I learn something new.
Dandelions, gifts from God
Most of all I loved taking my toddlers to the park to pick dandelions. In the spring, there were lots of beautiful flowers in neighbors’ yards that they longed to touch, pull, pick, and generally destroy. I had to steer them away. They couldn’t admire them without touching them, so we had to go somewhere else.
Free e-book: Code Triage (Mercy Hospital) by Candace Calvert
Our suggested e-book for today is Code Triage (Mercy Hospital Series) by Candace Calvert, free both at Kindle and Christian Book Distributors.
Spring has sprung
Deuteronomy 32:2 says “Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.” Even though we didn’t have an intense winter this year in Georgia, I am thirsty for what spring has to offer. Spring makes me want to write and read and socialize and do all sorts of neglected projects around the house. God’s spring (His teaching) waters my soul just like the real dew nourishes the grass and plants.
Book of Days by James L. Rubart, a review
Cameron Vaux has lost both his father and his wife, Jessie. Now he fears he’s losing his mind, the same way his father’s mind went, one memory at a time. He latches onto an idea mentioned by both his father and Jessie: God’s book holding all memories. Problem is, Cameron doesn’t believe in God.
Football, a metaphor for the Christian life
In my small group studying Romans, we grappled with Romans Chapter 7, where the Apostle Paul describes his struggle with sin. He switches from past tense to present tense and launches into a confession: “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. …I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.”
Hunger Games books 2 and 3: discussion for Christians
I’ve had a chance now to read Catching Fire and Mockingjay, books 2 and 3 in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy.
There are questions you could ask your children, to help them consider the works from a Christian point of view.
Aslan is on the move
You may not be aware of it, but there are a lot of miracles going on now, many more in this past decade than in the previous one. They are happening all over the world. If you’re interested, take a look at this video by Randy Clark, a healing evangelist.
Against the wind
Biosphere 2 is massive and interesting, but it was the discussion of one seemingly insignificant tree that got my attention. Just a twenty-plus-year-old tree, growing under glass. The tour guide alerted our attention to the bracing on its limbs.
The Hunger Games movie
My friend Jim Tudor watched the Hunger Games movie with no expectation. Here’s his take on the movie:
The Hunger Games, a review
Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old living in America some time in the future when it has devolved into a cruel empire, loves her little sister more than anything. So when that little sister is chosen for the Hunger Games, Katniss doesn’t hesitate. She takes the sister’s place. She finds herself fighting 23 other teens to the death in a high-tech arena, for viewing pleasure in the ultimate reality show. Only one person can win, and that winner gets plenty of income for life, unlike everyone else in the conquered territories–who is starving or nearly starving.
Free E-book: a tale of untouchables in India
Our featured free ebook today is The Faith of Ashish, a tale of India by Kay Marshall Strom. Published by Christian publisher Abingdon Press, it has gathered 4.5 stars on 11 reviews at Amazon, and 4 stars with 29 raters at Goodreads. It’s the first book in a series.