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Seeking Ayita by Lin Stepp
Heritage & Roots Seeking Ayita by Lin Stepp is a fabulous Christian novel and part of the Mountain Home series. This book concerns roots and heritage as a daughter fulfills her mother’s dying wish to return her ashes to her Cherokee homeland. The mother also desires that her daughter and granddaughter spend time with the […]
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Lighten My Heart by Lin Stepp
Delightful & Heartwarming Lighten My Heart by Lin Stepp is the most delightful contemporary Christian novel. It is the second book in The Lighthouse Sisters series but can be read as a stand-alone. I recommend reading book one first for maximum enjoyment and for character progression. Lin Stepp always produces tales that draw the reader […]
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His Fatal Legacy by Heather Atkinson
Chilling His Fatal Legacy by Heather Atkinson is an historical novel that gripped me from the start. It is the third book in the Alardyce House series but can be read as a stand-alone. The tale is set in Edinburgh in the late nineteenth century. It has elements of the Gothic tradition with large houses, […]
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Daddy’s Girl by Michael Schnabel
Live, Love, Hope – So Inspiring Daddy’s Girl by Michael Schnabel is a powerful book that is truly inspiring. The author wrote thebook for his grandson in order to journal his (the author) daughter’s cancer journey. What should have been the happiest time, the birth of a grandson, became the start of a rocky roadas […]
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The Doctor’s Daughter by Shari J Ryan
Life, Death & Hope The Doctor’s Daughter by Shari J Ryan is a powerful, heart-breaking and inspiring historical tale that completely consumed me for a few hours. The story is set during World War II in Poland as we move from the Warsaw ghetto to Auschwitz. It is told in alternating points of view in […]
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CSK Illlustrator Roundup: Standing in the Need of Prayer, Me and the Boss, and The Talk
The Coretta Scott King award, an prominent part of the annual ALA Youth Media Awards, honors African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children. This year’s top CSK illustrator award went to Standing in the Need of Prayer: A Modern Retelling of the Classic Spiritual by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Frank Morrison Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 4-8 Recommended for: ages 8-12 “It’s me, it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” The author applies this simple sentiment, with its repetitive lines and rollicking melody, to the history of experience of black people in the US. From chains and slave ships to separated families and…
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Bright Island by Mabel Robinson (Retro Reads)
In this “Retro Reads” book, homeschooled Thankful Curtis must leave her beloved island to brave the mainland and boarding school. Bright Island by Mabel Robinson. Random House, 2012 (75th ann. reprint). 288 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended For: Ages 10 and up I really appreciate it when publishers re-issue older books. The market isn’t as wide, no doubt, for these old-fashioned favorites, but they’re worth reading and keeping in print. Bright Island is a great example; this 75th anniversary edition is now 10 years old itself! One of my favorite books growing up was Ruth Sawyer’s Roller Skates (another 1930’s Newbery title); Bright Island reminds me of that same type of old-fashioned fiction.…
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Ten Dates by Rachel Dove
Still Me Ten Dates by Rachel Dove is the most beautiful contemporary novel that warmed my heart and soul. The story is told in the third person from two alternating points of view. The reader becomes well acquainted with the two lead characters. Both of which are easy to empathise with. Love completely radiates from […]
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The Mozart Question by Michael Morpurgo
Powerful The Mozart Question by Michael Morpurgo is a powerful children’s novel. It is perfect for ages ten years and over. This is a tale simply but powerfully told. It introduces the reader to the power of music, memories and the holocaust. It is written in such a way as to inform but not to […]
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Princess of the Wild Sea by Megan Frazer Blakemore
A twist on Sleeping Beauty, Princess of the Wild Sea explores the concept of heroism and the danger and reward of risk-taking. Princess of the Wild Sea by Megan Frazer Blakemore. Bloomsbury, 2023, 303 pages. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 A Curse and a Promise Princess Harbor Rose’s 12th birthday was supposed to bring significant changes to her restricted life on Small Island. The story of her situation is well known: how she was cursed at birth by a disgruntled magical aunt, who predicted how a prick to the girl’s finger before her 13th birthday would precipitate death and destruction to her homeland. But another…
