I was first introduced to Lynn Austin's books from a cousin of mine, who became friends with Lynn when the Austin family was living in Manitoba. I read the book with no expectations, simply doing so because my cousin had mentioned it. Well I quickly realized the friendship factor aside, why my cousin so loved her books, and I became equally enamored with Lynn's writing.
Christmas is a time for family gatherings, and that's just what one of the latest Chicken Soup for the Soul books is all about...families that is! Accept an invitation to read stories, some which might seem familiar to your circumstances, and others will make you appreciate your family a little more I bet ☺.
Meet Norman PhartEphant. He is what you might call a little "gassy machine". If you give his tail a squeeze, you will hear some "pharting" sounds (and maybe an apology or two!), but thankfully the stink has not quite made it to this toy!
Made by Firece Fun Toys, whose mission is to promote laughter, staying involved in helping others and maintaining the highest quality standards for their products, Norman PhartEphant is sure to get a smile out of the crowd. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if you know one particular person who would fall in love with this toy. Read the full story
With all the book reviews I do on my blog, I'm sure you've noticed I read a lot of different kinds of books.
One series of books, unlike most of the living population, I have not gotten into has been the Twilight series. Personally I just don't see the attraction of vampires.
That being said, a while ago, I won a package of books on someone else's blog from Hachette Book Group, containing a whole bunch of "spooky" books. One of the them was Bram Stoker's Dracula, with the foreward written by Elizabeth Kostova. Read the full story
God's love and grace covers unexpected pain in life. What He does reflects how He created pearls to be formed. He uses the grit and dirt to make a pearl, much like He transforms the pain in our lives into victory.
Margaret McSweeney recognized that many of us can relate to being Pearl Girls, because we've been there ourselves, or we're currently going through it, or we'll be there in the future, and so she put together a selection of stories written by women, many of which you may already be familiar with, to share their "pearl" story. Read the full story
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!
You never know when I might play a wild card on you!
***Special thanks to Lynnette Bonner for E-mailing me a review copy.***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
LYNNETTE BONNER, the daughter of missionaries, was born and raised in Malawi, Africa, graduated high school from Rift Valley Academy, a boarding school in Kenya, and attended Northwest University in Washington, where she met her husband, Marty. A few years after their marriage, they moved to Pierce, Idaho. While studying the history of their little town, Lynnette was inspired to begin The Shepherd’s Heart Series with Rocky Mountain Oasis.
Klutz books has generously sponsored a couple of giveaways on my site, including the latest Draw Star Wars The Clone Wars book, which many of you were hoping to win!
But if you weren't one of the lucky winners, Klutz.com has a BIG HOLIDAY SALE – 25% off your entire order (no minimum!) Read the full story
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!
You never know when I might play a wild card on you!
***Special thanks to Jennifer Willingham of Simon and Schuster for sending me a review copy.***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tammy Maltby is a writer, speaker, and media personality. For eight years, she was the co-host of the Emmy Award-winning television talk show, Aspiring Women. She serves on the board of the National Women’s Ministry Association, Christian Women in Media and Arts, and Women of Courage International. She and her family live in Colorado Springs, CO.
Pages: 300 Home Page: joyberryenterprises.com You Can...Go For It! is a Winning Skills compilation book containing Joy Berry Classics; Be Beautiful, Be Liked, Be Happy, Be A Star, Be A Winner and Have A Great Future. These books are geared for children ages 11-12, or about grades 5-6.
You may be familiar with Joy Berry books from some of her series for younger children like her Help Me Be Good series. We had many of those books for Amber when she was younger. If you are trying to build skills in your tween to overcome and succeed issues like low self-esteem, lack of direction, or the pressure to succeed, among others, the Winning Skills series may be helpful. Read the full story
One of the great things about Hachette Book Group's involvement with blogs, is that I get a chance to introduce readers and myself to previously unread authors.
One of the latest HBG giveaways is the trade paperback of The Gate House. If you are unfamiliar with that book (as I was) it is actually a sequel to DeMille's The Gold Coast, which I also had never read.
I had asked to also do a review on The Gold Coast and the kind people at HBG were willing to let me do that.
The Gold Coast refers to the very upper crust section of Long Island (you know the place of multi-million dollar estates, guest homes and gate houses). So it's no surprise that an interesting storyline was penned by DeMille when he has a Mafia don purchasing the estate next to blue blooded John and Susan Sutter.
A magic trapdoor that lets a student visit any time in history, makes learning US history fun!
Tyler Thompson may remind you of a child in your life. A little distracted, not extremely popular, but wanting to do his best despite his self image. A scraggly mutt is the least likely character you'd expect to help Tyler learn and remember US history, but Barnabas Bailey, who hangs out under the magical trapdoor in Miss Trimble's classroom, is indeed the teacher here.
The new book series, Miss Trimble's Trapdoor by Lori Jordan-Rice, is intended to help students learn basic US history and provide a positive message along with it.
Jared Millhouse and his dad plan to spend an uneventful summer on his grandfather's farm in Lone Jack, Missouri. Then Jared runs into the ghost of a Civil War innkeeper and wonders if he's lost his mind. With the help of his grandfather--and some local characters--Jared and the Crossroads Gang uncover the truth about the Civil War battle that trapped so many bloodthirsty ghosts in Lone Jack. They even recruit a pair of eccentric ghost hunters to help. When it comes to facing down the local bully, dodging the power-crazy sheriff, or escaping convicts, Jared can count on his friends. Together, they face haunted baseball diamonds, embattled cornfields and abandoned mines. But when Confederate and Union ghouls line up on the battlefield, the entire town relives the gruesome Battle of Lone Jack, as it was fought in 1862. Then only Jared can save the town from its ghosts.
I really like the idea of fiction books teaching history. This book centers around the battle that took place in Lone Jack during the Civil War, and some of the more noted soldiers who served.
In 1983, November was recognized as National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness month.
As you get older, you may notice a decline in your mental faculties, and that can be because of changed connections among cells in your brain.
Just like exercise keeps the muscles in your body healthy, keeping your brain active seems to help with function and maybe even generate new brain cells.
Crosswords and other puzzles are a great way to keep your brain active and so the Alzheimer's Association presents The Big Brain Puzzle Book with over 200 puzzles from Terry Stickels.
Three levels of puzzles are within this book. they range from basic reasoning to higher level math equations.
Mastering Grammar Usage and the Essentials of Composition
Do you or your student struggle when writing (or talking) with things like, when to use I or me? Is it really okay to start a sentence with and or but? And what about those tricky words that were slipped into the English language just to trip you up such as capitol and capital?
• A humble shopkeeper compelled to leave her tiny village deep in Mexico to preach in America
• A minister wracked with guilt for loving the wrong woman
• An unimaginably wealthy man, blinded to the consequences of his grand plans
• A devoted father and husband driven to a horrible discovery that changes everything
From the high Sierra Madre mountains to the harsh Sonoran desert, from
the privileged world of millionaire moguls to the impoverished
immigrants who serve them, Athol Dickson once again weaves a gripping
story of suspense that spans centuries and cultures to explore the
abiding possibility of miracles.
My Review: I found the Lost Mission difficult to get into at the beginning.
There were so many characters up front with seemingly no relation. Flashbacks merged with present with no definitive break, so that I had to reread a lot of it, to get my bearings within the story again.
This book presents an exciting and intriguing tour through the realm of
chemistry as each chapter unfolds with facts and stories about the
discoveries and discoverers. Find out why pure gold is not used for
jewelry or coins. Join Humphry Davy as he made many chemical
discoveries, and learn how they shortened his life. See how people in
the 1870s could jump over the top of the Washington Monument.
Exploring the World of Chemistry brings science to life and is a
wonderful learning tool with many illustrations, biographical
information, chapter tests, and an index for easy referencing.
Did you know that a feather and a lump of lead will fall at the same
rate in a vacuum? Learn about the history of physics from Aristotle to
Galileo to Isaac Newton to the latest advances. Discover how the laws
of motion and gravity affect everything from the normal activities of
everyday life to launching rockets into space. Learn about the effects
of inertia firsthand during fun and informative experiments.
Exploring the World of Physics is a great tool for students of
all ages who want to have a deeper understanding of the important and
interesting ways that physics affects our lives and is complete with
illustrations, chapter questions, and an index.
If I were to give a grade to these books, this home educator would give them an "A".
As a springboard to a full Chemistry or Physics course, these books are a fantastic introduction to the topics. They are especially helpful for students who have difficulty understanding science. Read the full story
Book Zero: The Beginning and the End
Jacketed Hardcover
By Ted Dekker
AS FORETOLD BY ANCIENT PROPHETS, an apocalypse destroyed Earth during the twenty-first century. But two thousand years later Elyon set upon the earth a new Adam. This time, however, He gave humanity an advantage. What was once unseen became seen. It was good and it was called...Green.
But the evil Teeleh bided his time in a Black Forest.
Then, when least expected, a twenty-four year old named Thomas Hunter fell asleep in our world and woke up in that future Black Forest. A gateway was opened for Teeleh to ravage the land. Devastated by the ruin, Thomas Hunter and his Circle swore to fight the dark scourge until their dying breath.
But now The Circle has lost hope. Samuel, Thomas Hunter's cherished son, has turned his back on his father. He gathers the dark forces to wage a final war. Thomas is crushed and desperately seeks a way back to our reality to find the one elusive hope that could save them all.
Enter an apocalyptic story like none you have read. A story with links to our own history so shocking that you will forget you are in another world at all. Welcome to GREEN. Book Zero.
FOUR NOVELS. TWO WORLDS. ONE STORY.
I was intrigued by the idea of being able to read and review Green. I have only read one other Ted Dekker novel, "In the Blink Of An Eye", and I finished that one very quickly.
I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from this fantasy novel (and fantasy is a genre I'm largely a fan of), but this one had me a bit unsettled. Read the full story
Freed with a thought, the greatest menace to
humanity, the Borg, are gone, absorbed into the Caeliar gestalt. But
are they? Can this deadly menace that has hovered over humanity for
decades truly be gone? Might some shadow of the Caeliar remain? The
Federation decides that they have to know, and Starfleet is ordered to
find out.
The Starship Voyager leads a fleet into a region
of space that has lived in fear of instant annihilation for
generations: the Delta quadrant, home of the Borg. Afsarah Eden — the
new captain of Voyager — is charged with getting answers, to reach out to possible allies and resolve old enmities in the Delta quadrant.
The
perfection that was given to the Borg was withheld from Seven of Nine.
Left behind, she is living a twilight existence — neither Borg nor
human — and slowly going mad. The whispers of the Collective,
comforting murmurs she has always known, are replaced with a voice deep
within her that keeps insisting she is Annika Hansen. Chakotay, the
former captain of Voyager, offers to help Seven rendezvous with
the ships that Starfleet Command has sent into the Delta quadrant, the
probable destination of the mysterious Caeliar.
These are not the friendly stars of the Federation; the unknown and the unexpected are the everyday.
While I haven't yet finished the book (I scheduled this post to run a few days before this blog book tour) Unworthy, from what I have read so far is excellent.
Kristin Beyer writes at a quick pace that leads you through the story line without you getting lost (this is the second book Kristin Beyer has written in the Voyager line, Full Circle being the first). Read the full story
Meet Norman PhartEphant. He is what you might call a little "gassy machine". If you give his tail a squeeze, you will hear some "pharting" sounds (and maybe an apology or two!), but thankfully the stink has not quite made it to this toy!
With all the book reviews I do on my blog, I'm sure you've noticed I read a lot of different kinds of books. 
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!
LYNNETTE BONNER, the daughter of missionaries, was born and raised in Malawi, Africa, graduated high school from Rift Valley Academy, a boarding school in Kenya, and attended Northwest University in Washington, where she met her husband, Marty. A few years after their marriage, they moved to Pierce, Idaho. While studying the history of their little town, Lynnette was inspired to begin The Shepherd’s Heart Series with Rocky Mountain Oasis. 
Tammy Maltby is a writer, speaker, and media personality. For eight years, she was the co-host of the Emmy Award-winning television talk show, Aspiring Women. She serves on the board of the National Women’s Ministry Association, Christian Women in Media and Arts, and Women of Courage International. She and her family live in Colorado Springs, CO.
The stop-motion animation adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book “Fantastic Mr. Fox” is out now in theaters!
Home Page: joyberryenterprises.com
One of the great things about Hachette Book Group's involvement with blogs, is that I get a chance to introduce readers and myself to previously unread authors.
Did you know that a feather and a lump of lead will fall at the same rate in a vacuum? Learn about the history of physics from Aristotle to Galileo to Isaac Newton to the latest advances. Discover how the laws of motion and gravity affect everything from the normal activities of everyday life to launching rockets into space. Learn about the effects of inertia firsthand during fun and informative experiments.
Star Trek: Voyager: Unworthy
**About Reviews