Donna Gielow McFarland’s Follow the Star: Christmas Songs for Piano—Level 3 is a fun collection of Christmas songs with a variety of pieces for Christmas presenting different challenges for the Level 3 piano student. The selection is a good one, combining the traditional (such as...

Bonny Albo’s Flip the Single Switch is geared not only for women looking for that special man, but also men who are looking for that special woman. It is honed down to several exercises that will leave you with many “A-HA!” moments. One of my...

There’s nothing like a house full of music to inspire the true spirit of Christmas. As a retired music teacher, I know the value of music and the importance of encouraging young musicians at all levels to learn both the classical repertoire of their level...

From Hill Town to Strieby by Margot Lee Williams is an educational book. In 1879, Islay Walden, once a slave, returned to North Carolina as an ordained minister in Southwestern Randolph County. He was also a missionary for the American Missionary Association, living with his...

Fast Faces by Jonni Good is subtitled Unleash Your Creativity With a Friendly Lump of Clay and certainly lives up to the latter claim. Jonni Good has come up with a brilliant idea to encourage one to take up a lump of clay and have...

Sheena Smith, author of Five Teaspoons of Motivation, has a style of writing that is personal and informative. The book itself is brief and contains within it a plethora of tips, advice, quotes, and exercises to help one’s own self become more than they are...

I chose to read For No Reason by Kathleen Gauer because my daughter has had a similar problem to Jamie’s with a boy in her class. In the book Jamie is being bullied by the new kid. Jamie wants the bullying to stop, but she...

From Bullied to Brilliant: How To Artfully Avoid Fitting In by Karen Clarke handles the relevant topic of bullying and gives good advice to all those who have been intimidated or have faced bullying. The book not only focuses on the problems of being isolated,...

U.V. Gural’s non-fiction book, Film History, is written with film lovers and film students in mind. The 200-page book is composed of a number of chapters that discuss the beginning of film, its evolution and the development of various film disciplines until the present state...

Jodie Renner has done fiction writers a huge favor by compiling her blogs into Fire Up Your Fiction: An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Stories. She covers subjects that can get a story moving and not only draw the reader in, but hold their attention...