Tag Archive for Book Reviews

Gardening Tuesday!

Posted by html404 on July 13, 2010
in Gardening, Health & Garden Tuesday

Those greenhouses we got last week are being put to good use. We already have lettuce, cucumbers, peas and more popping through. It was amazing when some green poked through the soil on day 2!

Summer 2010 185

We have been keeping on top of the weeds in our vegetable garden through the use of straw. The farmer we have rented our growing field from (for free in exchange for organically grown produce) had hay her horses wouldn’t eat so she offered it to us to use as mulch. We are very thankful. It may be itchy and dirty to put down, but how it helps keep the weeds at bay.

Summer 2010 044

The funny thing about our garden is that we got many more tomato plants because of the chicken manure/compost we used. Where lettuce should have grown, we now have those extra tomato plants! We have to get more recent photos. I will check to see what we have on file though.

I have about three book reviews to post on Gardening Tuesday, but have yet to get them written, as I still have to read two of the books. The other is read, but I have to rewrite my review and it keeps being put off to the side for other things.


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Book Review: Feeding Penny the Pig

Posted by html404 on July 10, 2010
in Books, Money & Finances

I received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

Feeding Penny Pig

Money management is an important aspect in life. It takes time to develop the discipline of being good with money. Rare is the individual who is a natural when it comes to money, especially in this over-commercialized world in which we live. As parents, it is a part of our responsibility to teach our children to manage money. How many of you learned money management in school? I know I didn’t, at least until I got to my third year in Bible school/college. They had a course based on Ron Blue’s book, Master Your Money. Well, here is a child’s book to get you started in teaching young children about money and how to be responsible with it and their chores – Feeding Penny the Pig

Feeding Penny the Pig is a whimsical children’s story. Our younger ones enjoyed it, as it is geared towards 4-8 year olds. We all thought it was a cute story to help teach small children about money, as well as chores and work. There definitely aren’t many books on the market that teach children about money management.

The author of Feeding Penny the Pig is Jeannine Fox, who is a Certified Public Accountant and a grandmother who is concerned with the future of her grandkids. She says, “Our country is paying the price now for overspending, credit abuse and other irresponsible money management. If we teach kids at a young age to save money, we can prevent these problems from happening again.”

This book is available at major bookstores and costs around $14.95. For more information about Mrs. Fox, please visit www.mimisfunhouse.com


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Out of the Spin Cycle Blog Tour

Posted by html404 on June 14, 2010
in Books

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

Out Of The Spin Cycle

Out of the Spin Cycle is a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) tested and MOPS-approved book. Author, Jen Hatmaker is also a speaker. This little book she has written is filled with “mom moments” with God – 40 of them to be exact. By that I mean that they are short little chapters that enable a busy mom to spend snippets of time with the Lord.

Jen Hatmaker is very down-to-earth and gets to the heart of mothering in each little snippet she shares. She has been there and done it as a mother. She also shares with great humor her own experiences and for those of us who may be more serious, it definitely helps see the humor in one of the darker moments of our mothering.

I enjoy devotionals like this because it is really easy to grab a couple minutes and read a three page chapter – it only takes three pages or less to get interrupted by one of our children, doesn’t it?

I’ll leave you with a couple of chapter titles to see if they intrigue you enough to want to read the book yourself:

Chapter 1 – I’m Perfect and My Kids Never Fight
Chapter 21 – Egg Salad Sandwich Disorder and Road Rage
Chapter 22 – My Missing Inner Saint
Chapter 24 – SAHM (Sleepy Anxious Hysterical Mama)

There are a few more that I could have added, but I think that is enough of a teaser for now. 😉

“Available June 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”


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Book Review – The Pineapple Story

Posted by html404 on June 5, 2010
in Books

Pineapple Story

I have been wanting to tell you about The Pineapple Story for a while now and am just getting around to it. This is a book, but also a CD set, written by a missionary about his experience on the mission field. It shares how God uses the missionary’s pineapple story to conquer the missionary’s anger. It really reveals how we can all struggle with learning and applying the principle of giving up our rights for someone else.

We really enjoy this book. I think the illustrations are done very well. We also enjoy the CD set of several of the missionary’s talks about his life on the mission field. He tells the story in a very humorous way. The children really seem to enjoy him, at least the older girls. I know the younger children enjoy the book, but I cannot seem to remember their reaction to the audio set. Sorry!


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This Fine Life – Revell Blog Tour

Posted by html404 on May 19, 2010
in Uncategorized

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

This Fine Life

I enjoyed the book, This Fine Life. It is a book about growing up and in Christ. It shows real characters struggling to find out who they are in Christ. The story is set the deep South in the late 1950’s and reveals the struggle of a young lady, Mariette Putnum, who doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life after high school graduation. Each of her parents have their own ideas as to what she should do, but she is quite undecided. The book takes a turn when Mariette is changed by one event. From that point on there is excitement and strain in relationships, which affect each of the characters’ decisions and emotions .

Based on the description of the book, the story was different than I expected in many ways, so I am hesitant to give away too many details because if you choose to read the book, I want you to have that same element of surprise of the unexpected.

I was able to take something from the real life struggles of the characters in This Fine Life. It really made me think through life’s trials and how we can always see the “finer” side of things if we try, if we persevere and have faith that God has everything under control.

“This Fine Life proves that growing into love can rip one apart, quitting might be the easiest thing, but walking away is out of the question. I bled with these characters as they struggled to become who they were meant to be. So real and so true to life.”
—Lauraine Snelling, author, Daughters of Blessing

Eva Marie Everson is a successful speaker, a popular radio personality, and the award-winning author of Things Left Unspoken. She is coauthor of The Potluck Club series and The Potluck Catering Club series. She lives in Florida.

“Available May 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”


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Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook

Posted by html404 on May 2, 2010
in Books, Business

OrganicFarmersBusinessHandbookcover

I realize this book may not be of interest to some of you, but in case there are aspiring farmers among our readers or in case aspiring farmers come across us via google or other sites, I thought I would share it. Plus, what I read gives you a sneak peek to yet another side of me and my family.

The book I am referring to is, Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook. It was written by Richard Wiswall, a successful organic farmer who worked hard to get to where he is and wanted to share his experience and knowledge with other organic farmers. The book includes a CD with Excel worksheets that farmers may use for their own business.

I found that Mr. Wiswall provided some invaluable information that both beginning farmers and veteran farmers alike can glean from and use. He points out some important tax info and how to make a profit from an organic farm.

Our library ordered this book when I requested it and now owns it, so I have been able to get it out a couple of times this past year. However, I am hoping to add it to our home library at some point, especially once we start our commercial farm as I really liked it and think it should be on our shelf for quick reference.

P.S. I just borrowed it from the library for the third time! 🙂


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How Do You Tuck in a Superhero? – Revell Book Tour

Posted by html404 on May 1, 2010
in Books

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

How do you Tuck in a Superhero

I mentioned that I had started reading a book back at the end of March about Life with Boys and have been trying to finish it up amidst everything else so I can post my review. So here I am on the last day of the Revell Book Tour posting my review. I have thoroughly enjoyed Rachel Balducci’s book, How Do You Tuck in a Superhero? It has been a very good book. Rachel knows what life with boys is really like since she has five sons. In her book, she shares the mysteries of raising a crew of boys.

This book isn’t about her spiritual journey in raising boys, so don’t expect to see great exhortations about how the Lord has inspired Mrs. Balducci to parent boys. It is a book about the nitty-gritty details of boyhood. How Do You Tuck in a Superhero? is a refreshing look at life with boys. As I have stated, I have grown very frustrated with my boys on more than a few occasions. Mrs. Balducci helped me see the beauty and the normal-ness of what if means to be a boy. Like I said in my March post, I grew up with ALL girls. Having an all girl family is much different than having and all boy family or even a mixed gender family – so many differences that affect the dynamics of family life.

I loved the short chapters of the book – I think Mrs. Balducci realizes how busy we parents are! The short snippets of stories about her boys gave me a chance to either laugh or ponder the incredible task we have in raising boys. Her experiences also made my life with my own boys seem almost normal too. I love the fact that Mrs. Balducci has embraced her calling as a mother of all boys because I think it is important for us as mothers, as parents, to embrace the family He has blessed us with. He didn’t make a mistake when He put our families together, but sometimes I think we can mistakenly think that when the going gets rough. If only we could all find joy in the tough, real moments of living together, how much better would those “bad” days be!

I think this book is a must read for anybody trying to figure out the male gender. As Dr. Kevin Lehman is quoted on the back of the book, “This book is a celebration of boyhood in all its glory.”

“Available April 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”


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Knowledge is Power

Posted by html404 on April 24, 2010
in Books

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

Knowledge is Power book

My husband has been quizzing us on the questions from the book Knowledge is Power. Knowledge is Power is a general knowledge quiz book. This book contains some very difficult questions, some questions that are easy and others in between.

Some of our children did get a little discouraged because the questions were hard for them, so my husband just moved on to some animal questions which they could easily answer instead of sticking with only questions they did not know.

Knowledge is Power teaches about countries/geography, inventions, ancient history, mythology, popular foods, traditional costumes, anantomy, and much more. The questions are in fill in the blank, multiple choice or mixed and matched formats. See an excerpt here.

We think it is a great little book, as it is only 70 pages. It is also small in size so will be easy to take with us on long drives.

Besides teasing our brains, another nice thing about Knowledge is Power is that fifty cents of every book sold is being given to a children’s charity.

About the Author

Satvinder Kaur was born in Penang. Malaysia. Her primary, secondary and tertiary education was in Penang, and later she went on to teach History in a secondary school in Penang.

She moved to Vancouver, Canada in 1990 but her passion for reading about ancient civilizations and cultures aroudn the world continued. The quizzes in her book reflect the wide knowledge and interests Satvinder has about different places, their historical and cultural diversities.

Currently she is working in Health care. It is here she’s received first hand experience on the importance of keeping mentally active. Her interests and work experience has motivated her to write this quiz book which she feels will test your knowledge, entertain you and keep your brain alert at the same time.

To learn more about the book, please visit http://www.knowledgequizbook.com/index.htm


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In Harm’s Way – Revell Book Tour

Posted by html404 on April 18, 2010
in Uncategorized

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

In Harm's Way

In Harm’s Way was another suspenseful book that was a good read. I found it a bit more predictable than I did Too Close to Home, but it was a good story line with a bit of romance tucked in for the romantic at heart.

This book is actually the final in a series called, Heroes of Quantico, but each of the books can be read without reading the others, so it wasn’t like I felt I was missing any details. It was about another FBI agent who is hard pressed to solve an uncanny, yet intriguing mystery. All because of a rag doll. I loved how the author wove the story line of this together. She did catch me off guard with the spin she put on one aspect of the story.

What struck me in this book was how badly some people want children, but cannot have them. One character in this book wanted children so badly she was willing to do anything to have a baby. It is sad and I realize how much I take for granted my ability to conceive. Not that I haven’t had my own difficulties with our losses, but still I have seven children here with me. The rest just happen to be waiting in heaven.

Another topic of interest In Harm’s Way deals with is the intuition between twins. I find that intriguing and I know that this isn’t just some phenomenon, like ESP, which is touched on in the book as well. Before I even told my mother I was expecting again, she outright asked me if I was pregnant. I was taken aback and asked her what made her ask and she said she just had a feeling. Now, that doesn’t happen all the time or with every pregnancy and is certainly of a different calibur of intuition that that of twins; which I happen to believe in because I don’t doubt God’s ability to give such close siblings the ability to feel and “know” something about a person who was knit together with them in their mother’s womb. Intuition is just one of those uncanny things you just cannot explain. And it is one aspect of the story that the main character must deal with too.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a change of pace in their normal reading. It is another good, clean mystery that I really enjoyed.


“Available April 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”


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The Twilight Gospel – Litefuse Book Tour

Posted by html404 on April 15, 2010
in Books

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

The Twilight Gospel

First, I want to clarify that I have not read any of the Twilight Saga book series. I am not really into those kinds of books, so you might wonder why I chose to read Twilight Gospel and right a review of it since it is based on the Twilight Saga. I decided to opt in for this review to have an open mind and because I wanted to see what author, Dave Roberts, had to say about these best-seller books.

I don’t agree with everything Mr. Roberts had to say. In parts, I could see his reasoning but other times I found this book hard to follow, even with the details Mr. Roberts shared about the characters from the Twilight series. There were times I just couldn’t get the connection between the scripture he used and the storyline of the Twilight books.

To me, it seemed like the author was almost justifying allowing Christian young people to read these books by trying to counter them with biblical insights. But I honestly don’t think Christian young people should be reading books like Harry Potter and the Twilight Saga. Yes, I am one of those Christians, but hey, I am admitting it!

Perhaps for those who have already read the series, this book could be a useful tool. However, based on the limited details provided about the Twilight Saga book series in The Twilight Gospel, I wouldn’t allow my teenager to read this book. She already asked and the answer is no, absolutely not.

No matter how people try to justify their reading material, reading about sex, vampires, and the occult has an affect on the way we think and act. Reading about sex at any age has the potential to arouse and awaken feelings that otherwise would lay dormant until the right time (marriage!). To be honest, I don’t think Christian young people need anymore temptation in today’s world. God’s Word, the Bible, is clear on what we, as Christians, are to think on:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8 King James Version of the Bible.

For me there’s no question as to why I cannot recommend The Twilight Gospel, read the verse above again if you still wonder why, unless you have already read the Twilight Saga book series. Maybe then it might be helpful. Maybe…

About the Author:

Dave Roberts is the author of the best-selling The Toronto Blessing and Red Moon Rising with joint sales in excess of 100,000. He is a former editor of Christianity and won awards for his work on Renewal magazine. He is a local church pastor and conference director for three major annual conferences on worship, children’s ministry, and women’s ministry.

Resources:

http://www.litfusegroup.com/Blog-Tours/the-twilight-gospel-by-dave-roberts.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100414/ap_on_en_ot/us_challenged_books


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