Green Thumbs-Up!
The Friendship Garden Book 1
Jenny Meyerhoff
Eva Chatelain
Aladdin a division of
Simon and Schuster
ISBN 9781481439046
eISBN 9781481439077
ASIN B00TBKUXQG
This is the first book in the friendship garden series and box set. My oldest daughter and I read it together as part of our families summer reading challenge. It is at a perfect reading level for my daughter. Going into grade 5 she was able to read it all with a few minor corrections. When we read together we take turns and alternate pages. And even though she is a reluctant reader she loved this book. Even to the point of often asking for an extra chapter.
As can be guessed by the title this is a book about gardening and about friendship. But it is also the story about moving, getting settled in a new place and finding your place. Anna Fincher has moved to Chicago from upstate New York. It is a big change for her. New School, no yard and no garden. Then by chance she gets assigned to work with 2 classmates on a persuasive speech. While with them and the one girls grandma they begin working at the shoots and leaves community garden. She is working with Reed Madigan and Kaya Reynolds, and the speech soon becomes a goal of getting an adult to join them so they can take over an abandoned plot at the community garden.
This book has numerous illustrations by Eva Chatelain, there are a few every chapter. My daughter loved looking at all the details in some of the illustrations and they add nicely to the story.
The story was wonderfully written. My daughter really engaged with the book and since we have the box set of the first 4 we have a number more to read together. It was interesting as my daughter analysed the story, what was happening and what she thought would happen. It was fun reading about a stay at home dad and a family that moved because of the mother's career. The book kept us going and we are already well into book 2 Pumpkin Spice.
This book is great for those young readers who are struggling. The vocabulary is at an excellent level. The pace of the story is great. My youngest hearing part of the story read is also eager to have the book read to her. So all around it was a win.
In summary this is a good book, and we looking forward to more in the series.
Books by Jenny Meyerhoff:
Friendship Garden
Green Thumbs-Up
Pumpkin Spice
Project Peep
Sweet Peas and Honeybees
Starry Skies and Fireflies
Other Books:
The Barftastic Life of Louie Burger
Third Grade Baby
Queen of Secrets
Class B.U.R.P. (The Barftastic Life of Louie Burger)
Sami's Sleepaway Summer
Attack of the Girlzillas (The Barftastic Life of Louie Burger)
Playing Cupid
A 90 Day program for Christian men with a focus on Prayer, Asceticism, and Brotherhood. From Those Catholic Men.
This is a time to refocus, a time to make gains in the spiritual disciplines and the physical disciplines. For me that means 90 days of:
No television.
No sugar and sweets.
No alcohol.
No meat on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Daily Rosary.
Daily exercise.
From the Exodus 90 website:
The goal of Exodus is to achieve the freedom necessary to fully engage the love of God and the love of neighbor. Exodus is based on a challenging 90-day period of purification, a dying to self, which is supported by a fraternity of like-minded men for greater interior freedom and, eventually, a more purified and selfless love.
Most importantly Exodus is for men who have difficulty finding God and desire to radically unite himself to his Heavenly Father. Exodus is not a program of penance and self-abasement. It is a program for men who seek, together, to strive for more-perfect FREEDOM. This is the cornerstone of the exercise and much will be lost if that is forgotten."
When you register for the Exodus 90 program you get a 30-page manual and 90 days of emails direct to your inbox. Each email has a scripture passage, a meditation, an action list and links to supporting articles.
An special thanks to Dr. Taylor Marshall and Jared Zimmerer who mentioned this program on The Maccabee Society Podcast a few months back.
Horace
Chris d'Lacey
Penguin Random House
RHCP Digital
ASIN B005E87VUK
ISBN 9780440864455
eISBN 9781446480830
In under a year now I have read 12 books by Chris d'Lacey. I have now read from four different series and two standalone books. With each new book I read I am more impressed with Chris's skill, talent and mastery of the art of storytelling. His books are written towards the middle grade and young adult audience but I have loved all of his books that I have read. My only real regret is so many of them are not available electronically, for as a dyslexic that is now my preferred method because of being able to change the font, and color of the pages to make them easier to read.
This story has a bit of everything, friendship, the beginning of relationships, police officers, a family struggling financially, and a stuffed bear that is much more than meets the eye. However the main element of the story is the bear Horace 012 a very old bear that young Joel wants to buy from a thrift store but because it has not certification tags they need to throw it out. Joel wants to bear to draw it, so he makes a donation to the thrift shop, and then waits for them to pitch it so he can get it. His younger sister falls in love with it. And the troubles really begin when he takes it to school to have it appraised. Soon one lie about where the bear came from leads to another and another until the police show up at Joel's house. Joel's best friend fancies Joel's older sister, Joel's younger sister fancies this friend. And Joel gets set up on a sort of kind of blind date. Joel's date is a Sikh girl what a more traditional father. And we also have an attempted robbery.
It is a lot of action for such a short book. And the action in this story takes place over a few short weeks. At points the story is very touching and often moving; especially Joel's concern about the bear, where it came from, its true value and where it really belongs. Also his concern for his family and the financial struggles they are having and also finding a way to help the family with them. Overall this was a very surprising read and I truly enjoyed it.
This is a great read. I look forward to reading it with my children as they get a little older. I wish my grandmother was alive still for she would have loved it also. It is an excellent read and I cannot emphasize enough what a good read it is.
Little Bear
Little Bear #1
Else Holmelund Minarik
Maurice Sendak
Harper Collins
ISBN 9780064440042
I recently read this book with my son. In many ways it was like a trip down memory lane. I remember reading these books with my youngest brother. I also remember watching the animated series with my oldest when she was young. My son and I read this book alternating pages. And we would read a chapter or two a day. He loved the stories. And we have read the book through twice now, and will likely read it many times more.
Both the author and illustrator of this book had very prolific output during their careers. And they died just a few months apart. I know that we have read many books illustrated by Maurice Sendak, and his illustrations are wonderful. But after read this one we will need to track down some of the 40 plus books that Else wrote. There is something so compelling about simple fun stories that my son loves. And love this book he did. This volume has 4 shorter stories:
What Will Little Bear Wear?
Birthday Soup
Little Bear Goes to the Moon
Little Bear's Wish
These books are geared to readers 4-8 years of age. At 8 my son could read the whole book but loves sharing stories. But to be honest even as an adult there is something really enjoyable in these stories.
This is a great little read for the young and the young at heart. My son really loved this book. It was one of 6 in a box set he got for reading 10 days this summer. It was really interesting watching how excited he was with the story and the illustrations. And I can give it 2 thumbs up!
Little Bear Books:
Little Bear
Father Bear Comes Home
Little Bear's Friend
Little Bear's Visit
A Kiss for Little Bear
We the Children
Benjamin Pratt & Keepers of the School Book 1
Andrew Clements
Adam Stower (Illustrator)
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
A Division of Simon and Schuster
ISBN 9781416939078
eISBN 9781416999140
ASIN B0070Y06NK
This is the 7th book by Andrew Clements I have read this summer and the first that is part of a series. This one was interesting, first as part of the series it has elements of suspense and wonder that are resolved in the stand alone novels. Second as part of a series it took a lot long to get some stuff up and gives a little more back story. As such it is a great start to a series.
This book really gets a reader's attention from the first chapter, even the first few paragraphs. A secret, a group dedicated to protecting the school, a mysterious gold coin and a promise. What a way to begin a book. Most kids would love the idea of a wrecking ball tearing down their school. But when Benjamin Pratt learns that there has always been a protector of the school, and that the school was promised to the children he soon finds out that he cares. Stuff that had been going on for two years now seems important. Finding out what they really want the school, and if there is any way to save it has become very important to Benjamin and his friend Jill are working to see if they can do what seems impossible and with just 28 days left to follow the clues and hope to find a way to save the school.
This book is well written, as is often the case Clements draws us in with characters dealing with something personal in their life and with life in school. This time Benjamin is dealing with the divorce of his parents and also the god coin he has been given and the promise he gave to protect the school. What is at stake is the future of the school and possibly the town. The current school resides above the harbour with amazing views. But it is slated to soon be an amusement park.
The illustrations by Adam Stower add to the story, and there are many throughout the book. Mostly they are pen and ink sketches. Most done in black and white and a few in greyscale.
The characters and the plot are what always get me with Clements books. He does such a good job of capturing people and events. This book could likely be published in a single large omnibus edition, but I fear that the size would be intimidating to many young readers. It will be interesting to see how the series progresses over the 5 books. I know that I am hooked and will finish this series and also likely many many other books by Andrew Clements.
This was another very good read.
Books by Andrew Clements:
Bird Adalbert
Noah and the Ark and the Animals
Santa's Secret Helper
Temple Cat
Mother Earth's Counting Book
Billy and the Bad Teacher
Who Owns the Cow
Bright Christmas: An Angel Remembers
Frindle
(Adapter)Philipp's Birthday Book
Riff's BeBop Book
Real Monsters Go for the Mold
Things That Go EEK on Halloween
Real Monsters Stage Fright
Music Time, Any Time
Double Trouble in Walla Walla
Workshop
Gromble's Haunted Halloween
Hey Dad, Could I Borrow Your Hammer
The Landry News
Look Who's in the Thanksgiving Play
The Mouse Family
The Janitor's Boy
Circus Family Dog
The Christmas Kitten
The School Story
Things Not Seen
The Jacket
A Week in the Woods
Slippers at Home
Naptime for Slippers
The Report Card
The Last Holiday Concert
Slippers at School
Slippers Loves to Run
A Million Is a Lot of Dots
Lunch Money
Things Hoped For
Room One: A Mystery or Two
No Talking
Things That Are
Lost and Found
Extra Credit
Troublemaker
About Average
The Map Trap
The Friendship War
The Losers Club
...
Pets to the Rescue Series
Ringo Saves the Day!
Brave Norman
Tara and Tiree, Fearless Friends
Delores and the Big Fire
Jake Drake Series
Jake Drake Know-It-All
Jake Drake, Bully Buster
Jake Drake, Teacher's Pet
Jake Drake, Class Clown
Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School Series
We the Children
Fear Itself
The Whites of Their Eyes
In Harm's Way
We Hold These Truths
Reading program Books
Karen's Island
Three Wishes for Buster
Bill Picket: An American Original, Texas Style
Hurricane Andrew
Ham and Eggs for Jack
Life in the Desert
Desert Treasure
Inventors: Making Things Better, Steck-Vaughn
Milo's Great Invention
1700 Posts in Under 11 Years
1700 might not seem like a lot of posts but for a boy who grew up struggling in school and hardly able to read until much later than others my age because of a dual form of dyslexia it seems like a milestone. I never aspired to write, I never expected to have a few hundred book reviews and articles published in newspapers or magazines. I sort of fell into being a writer.
Since I overcame my dyslexia and learned to read, I have always loved books and reading. And when I started getting ARC's (Advance Reader's Copies) of books and was writing what I thought about the book for the publisher or marketers I thought why not try and put them in my University paper, Imprint. And from there it just grew, reaching out to other papers and magazines, reaching out to publishers for review copies, reaching out to authors for interviews.
Now with life changes the number of articles I write has gone up and down. Since that first article in the spring of 2005, I have had 3 children, an injury and was off work nearly 3 years, donate bone marrow, and tried numerous fitness programs to hold at bay middle age spread. I have also gone from a massive collection of books, to about 50 favourites and unread books and read the rest electronically.
Some Random Stats About My Writing:
Most Posts in a Year: 282 - 2010
Fewest Posts in a full Year: 70 - 2014
Reviews and Articled on Catholicism: 296
Reviews of Books by Scholastic: 322
Fitness Reviews or Articles: 97
Author Profiles and Interviews: 65
Reviews about Computer Certifications: 55
Top Ten Lists: 49
Posts about Arthur Slade and his books: 40
Yesterday I saw two very different movies, both were good but not great. First I watched Odd Squad the Movie with my children. They TV series both season one and two are fantastic. The TV show is entertaining, funny and teaches a lot to kids about math, science and other stuff as well. The movie just seemed like it was trying a little too hard. I also went to see Suicide Squad with my father, it was entertaining, but it felt like it could have been so much more. Also there were at least 3 pieces from the trailers that must have hit the cutting room floor.
Those two moves got me thinking about my reading and my writing. Up until about 10 years ago if I started a book I always finished it. However once I started getting most of my books free to review, I no longer felt the need to finish a book. Life is too short to waste on a book that is not doing it for you. If either of these two movies had been a book I likely would not have finished them.
Sometimes we do not know the places we will end up. But now I cannot imagine myself not writing and reviewing and look forward to the next 1700 posts.
Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments would love your feedback.
Hope for Hard Times
30-Minute Read:
Scott Hahn
Our Sunday Visitor
ISBN 9781612782317
eISBN 9781306067782
This is the second book I have read in the 30-Minute Read series from Our Sunday Visitor, and the 7th book I have read by Dr. Scott Hahn. And I must say I am loving this series of quick reads. The two I have read so far are excellent and can be read a few times over in a short period to really help the information sink in. This little volume by Dr. Hahn is an excellent resource. Dr. Hahn reminds us that all people will have trials and struggles in life, but if we persevere in faith, and trust in God we will get through it.
Scott Hahn begins with a quote from St. Teresa of Avila, found on a book mark in her breviary: "Let nothing disturb you; Let nothing frighten you. All things are passing. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Nothing is wanting to him who possesses God. God alone suffices." And what a reminder it is at the beginning of a book on hard times.
The chapters in this booklet are:
1. Is This How You Treat Your Friends?
2. What Are We Waiting For?
3. How Our Father Loves
4. Testing Our Faith
5. Complaining to God
6. Power Made Perfect
7. The Escape Route
8. The Touch of the Cross
An Act of Hope
Each chapter has a main teaching section and a brief one or 2 line take away. And those take away's can really pack a lot of punch. Of the Take Away's my favorite three at this point are:
"Saints and Scriptures teach us that hardship need not make us unhappy."
"All love requires sacrifice."
"The sacraments provide our way of escape through troubles."
There are many things to love about this little book. First Scott Hahn writes in such an accessible fashion, even with his theological background. Second ever chapter he proves his points from scripture, quotes from saints or quotes from popes. And finally being fewer than 65 pages the book can be reread when trials and hard times come. It can serve as a reminder time and again on our journey here on earth, on our journey home to Heaven.
This book ends with a prayer, an act of hope:
"O my God, relying on your almighty power and infinite mercy and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of your grace and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen."
And this book helps remind us where that hope comes from, who that hope is in and on what we trust and believe.
An excellent read, thank you Dr. Hahn and Our Sunday Visitor.
Books by Scott Hahn:
A Father Who Keeps His Promises
A Pocket Guide to Saint Paul
A Pocket Guide to the Bible
Angels and Saints: A Biblical Friendship with God's Holy Ones
Answering the New Atheism: Dismantling Dawkins's Case Against God
Catholic for a Reason
Consuming the Word: The New Testament and The Eucharist in the Early Church
Covenant and Communion
Evangelizing Catholics: A Mission Manual for the New Evangelization
First Comes Love: Finding Your Family in the Church and the Trinity
Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of GodHoly Is His Name
Hope for Hard Times
Joy to the World: How Christ's Coming Changed Everything and Still Does
Kinship by Covenant: A Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of God's Saving Promises
Letter and Spirit : From Written Text to Living Word in the Liturgy
Living the Mysteries - A Guide for Unfinished Christians
Lord Have Mercy: The Healing Power of Confession
Many Are Called: Rediscovering the Glory of the Priesthood
Ordinary Work, Extraordinary Grace
Politicizing the Bible: The Roots of Historical Criticism and the Secularization of Scripture 1300-1700
Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Faith
Rome Sweet Home
Scripture Matters
Signs of Life: 40 Catholic Customs and Their Biblical Roots
Swear to God : The Promise and Power of the Sacraments
The Creed: Professing the Faith Through the Ages
The Fourth Cup
The First SocietyThe Kingdom of God As Liturgical Empire
The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth
Understanding "Our Father"
Our Sunday Visitor 30 Minute Reads:
Simplify Your Life - Woodeene Keonig-Bricker
Why me? When Bad Things Happen - Mike Aquilina
Hope for Hard Times - Scott Hahn
Stress-Proof Your Marriage - Cory Busse and Heidi Busse
(Note: this books is part of a series: A Year of Reading Intention - Catholic Reading!)
