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The Rack Pack
The Rack Pack: Kids at Play Saves the Day Before the advent of digital games, kids look forward to playing outdoor games after class. This film takes us into Darrell Rackley’s adventures together with his two brothers and a handful of military kids who formed a troop called The Rack Pack. The story opened showing an elderly Darrell narrating about his great-uncle General Rackley who hired rustlers to hide Yankee gold and heavy pistols in a tunnel during the Civil War. He was riding a horse when the map fell on the road and was picked up by two boys. The tale was that the General fell from the horse and remembered nothing about…
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Coming Home To Wishington Bay by Maxine Morrey
Love Shines Through Coming Home To Wishington Bay by Maxine Morrey is the most delightful contemporary tale about love, loss and new beginnings. Loss can hit hard. “I’d wanted her back so, so much.” The pain of loss radiates outwards. The deeper we love, the harder the loss. Guilt often runs hand in hand with […]
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The Death Beat by Fiona Veitch Smith
The Underworld Of New York The Death Beat by Fiona Veitch Smith is a marvelous cosmopolitan historical novel set in 1921. It is the third book in the Poppy Denby Investigates series but can be read as a stand-alone. Once more the reader is enthralled by the bravery of Poppy Denby as she goes to […]
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The Kill Fee by Fiona Veitch Smith
Following Your Nose The Kill Fee by Fiona Veitch Smith is a fabulous historical novel where amateur sleuthing is the order of the day. It is the second book in the Poppy Denby Investigates but can be read as a stand-alone. It does immediately follow on from book one with the action being set in […]
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The Jazz Files by Fiona Veitch Smith
Light-Hearted Amateur Sleuthing The Jazz Files by Fiona Veitch Smith is a marvellous historical novel and the first book in the Poppy Denby Investigates series. It is set in 1920 as Britain is recovering from WWI and then a flu epidemic. The 1920’s promises to be a glorious new decade but for some there are […]
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Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid by Jeff Kinney
The Wimpy Kid’s long-suffering best friend takes the narrative helm in the latest from the wildly successful book franchise. Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson’s Journal by Jeff Kinney. Amulet, 2019, 217 pages Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10 Recommended for: ages 8-12 For 13 volumes, Greg Hefley (a.k.a. the Wimpy Kid) has had his say about middle school, girl crushes, teachers, stinky cheese, and dumb kids. Now it’s time for Rowley Jefferson to take the stage. If Greg will let him. Rowley, self-dubbed “the Awesome Friendly Kid,” knows he’s awesome and friendly because his dad routinely says so. And Dad is 100% correct: if there was a…
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Dutch Girl Audrey Hepburn And World War II by Robert Matzen
So Much More Than Just Beautiful Dutch Girl Audrey Hepburn And World War II by Robert Matzen is a comprehensive account of Audrey Hepburn’s teenage years in the Netherlands during WWII. It also touches on her life up until her death in 1993 aged just 63 years from abdominal cancer – a cruel end for […]
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The Time Of Our Lives by Portia MacIntosh
Choices And Decisions The Time Of Our Lives by Portia MacIntosh is a feel-good contemporary novel that shows the bond between a group of friends. The action alternates between a present day wedding and 2008. It shows the impact that choices in the past have on present day life. Different choices would have revealed very […]
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Find You Again by Jan Thompson
Delightful And Amusing Find You Again by Jan Thompson is a delightful Christian romance. It is the eighth book in the Savannah Sweethearts series but can be read as a stand-alone. We all have a past. If we do not deal with past issues, they may become present difficulties. The novel shows that if we […]
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The Pilgrim’s Progress Movie
The movie version of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, which included some creative liberties, was faithful to the themes of the classic allegory and fueled a delightful family discussion about the differences between the book and the movie. Can a movie measure up? It can be difficult for me to watch a film version of a well-loved book, because usually the discrepancies are unbearable. My 7yo son expressed his reservations when I bought tickets, but we watched a trailer and I was fairly certain that these producers would handle the story carefully. After an introduction by Kristyn Getty, in which she briefly describes the historical context and the importance of sanctified imagination,…
