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Gladys Hunt on Recognizing the Good
Editor’s Note: In our Honey for a Child’s Heart Read-Along this month, we’re considering Chapter 15: “First Books for Readers.” Settle in for some good advice about how to judge literary quality. How to know the best children’s books Originally published on the Tumblon website, September 22, 2009 Good children’s books are usually written by grownups who are still children inside. They aren’t written down to children or written for children. Children’s authors must be people who haven’t lost their childhood. In the best of circumstances, people should grow old from the outside in, not from the inside out. Which led C.S. Lewis to say that any book worth reading…
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Picture Books about Houses: Farmhouse and House Finds a Home
Farmhouse and House Finds a Home honor the ordinary structures that shelter and sustain growing families. Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall. Little, Brown, 2022, 48 pages. Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 4-8 Recommended for: ages 2-10 “Over a hill, at the end of a road, by a glittering stream that twists and turns, stands a house . . .” Thus begins one very long sentence that twists and turns through the history of a single family with twelve children that occupies a two-story white frame house in the country. Seasons turn, the family grows, the little ones get in trouble, the older ones milk cows in the pre-dawn hours, Mother cooks…
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Clara’s Secret Garden by Rosie Green
Water With Love & Care Clara’s Secret Garden by Rosie Green is a perfectly charming contemporary novel and the first book in the Little Duck Pond Café trilogy which promises to be delightful. The novel is written in the first person from the point of view of the lead character Clara. This means that the […]
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The Love Arrangement by Ruby Basu
Absolutely Charming The Love Arrangement by Ruby Basu is an absolutely charming contemporary novel that will warm your heart and make you smile. All the characters are wonderfully drawn and soon become your friends rather than characters in a book. Love and friendship pervade the whole novel, enveloping the reader in wide arms. Family is […]
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The Twelve Wishes Of Christmas by Ruby Basu
Christmas In A Book The Twelve Wishes Of Christmas by Ruby Basu is the most delightful contemporary novel that will warm your heart. It is definitely Christmas wrapped up in a book. As you snuggle into its pages, you will feel the warmth and love. Christmas is snow and candy canes, Christmas trees and hot […]
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Spring Breeze by Angela Barton
The Greatest Gift Spring Breeze by Angela Barton is a marvelous and powerful historical novel. It is heartbreaking too. The novel is set in Paris during the Nazi occupation of World War II. We see the horrendous acts of cruelty towards the Jewish people including the massive round-up in 1942 into the Velodrome. Conditions were […]
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From Now On by Amelia Henley
So Very Beautiful From Now On by Amelia Henley is the most beautiful contemporary novel that totally consumed me. I never wanted it to end. The novel is about love, loss and family. There are many different types of love – friendship, family, partner and more. Each one requires a step towards another, of making […]
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Life Without My Family: Lone Survivor Of Eleven Children: Overcoming Grief With Faith by Sophie Scenic-Daniels
Inspiring Life Without My Family: Lone Survivor Of Eleven Children: Overcoming Grief With Faith by Sophie Scenic-Daniels is an inspiring account of a life lived well, loving God throughout all the challenging scenes of life. The author had a good role model in her Mum. “My mother lost seven children, then lost her husband, but […]
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The Gate In The Fence by Bob Menzies
Unpredictable The Gate In The Fence by Bob Menzies is a contemporary crime suspense that intrigued me from the start. This had a cleverly constructed plotline which I did not predict. The perpetrator revealed themselves at the start but the ‘why’ was not obvious. As the reader hangs on, all will be revealed in due […]
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Bentonsport: A Christmas Story by Lisa Schnedler
An Unexpected Gift Bentonsport: A Christmas Story by Lisa Schnedler is most delightful Christian timeslip novel that enchanted me from the start. The plotline is a magical one, perfectly suited to the snowy setting. Christmas is a time of year for miracles. Our God is the God of the miraculous. Bentonsport: A Christmas Story is […]
