I heard a lot about this novel called The Shack by William Paul Young several years ago but had not read it. I came across an audio copy and listened to it this weekend. The story starts out well with a mysterious note in the...

Like many male and female friendships in high school, Jill Hale found herself in love with her lifelong best friend Brian McConnell. As graduation rolls around, Jill finally gets up the nerve to tell Brian how she really feels. However, as these things tend to...

From the moment humans discovered the magnificence that is the Universe, we have sought to understand its vastness and our roles in it. There have been many books -- religious, philosophical and scientific -- offering explanations to fit each person’s beliefs. But Eugene Fersen offers...

The Demon of Stonewood is the second book in Jeremy Hayes' Stonewood Trilogy. Harcourt the thief, using his magic mask, is now disguised and living as Weldrick, the leader of the Thieves Guild. He has turned the Guild's primary focus on defeating the demonic cult...

As a teacher for 50 years, I found Teaching in Elementary Schools by Regina Long Southall a well written and informative book. The author correctly points out that those who have never taught in a public school or those who quickly moved from the classroom...

What’s In Your 24 by Dana Simone Stovall condenses lots of common sense into just 60 pages. A time management system at its core, it really is so much more. Stovall’s gimmick is to list the hours in a day (12 of them) and provide...

In Dust to Blood: Red Slaves #1 by Tonya Cannariato, Anne Crosby enjoys a relatively free lifestyle travelling the world as a researcher for the Stone Think Tank. A trip to Moscow turns into more of an adventure than she is expecting, though, as she...

Izzy and the REAL! Truth About Moose Boy by Deb Gardner Allard is written for third and fourth graders. Izzy knows as little about boys as boys know about girls at that age. Moose Boy, aka Conrad, is the new boy at school. He is...

The Amish Seamstress, Book Four in The Women of Lancaster County series, written by Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould, is a well-written stand-alone novel. However the rest of the series is great as well. Izzy does not really fit in anywhere, not with her...

A Wedding for Julia by Vannetta Chapman is the third book in her Pebble Creek Amish series and you will be completely engrossed in the story and want to read from start to finish in one sitting! Julia has had changes in her life and...

Most kids love monsters, and I really like that Mark Adam Kaplan’s Monsters Do Ugly Things not only tells about the bad things monsters do, it tells about the good things too. Each page in this little book has a picture of a monster in...

What happened to the missing cake? Stephanie wasn’t too happy about the meat loaf she was having for dinner, but since she loved cake, she was excited about the cake her mom made for dessert. But when her mom took the cover off the cake,...

Are you one of the many Americans who suffers daily from a chronic health issue? Author Kimberly Rea is one of those people, which prompted her to write this book about how to cope with chronic illness. In her book Sick and Tired, Kimberly Rea...

God Calling for Kids is a really neat devotional for small children. The devotions are very short, they can be read in about a minute and there is a Scripture verse, or part of a Scripture verse for each devotion. There are also pictures throughout...

Cathy Faraday was looking to expand her business so when she saw The Old Star, she figured that luck was on her side. Apparently, she wasn't that lucky when she found the door always unlocked and that the top floor was not part of the...

The Unification Symphony by Philip Rhyu is a remarkable story about the stranglehold the Kim dynasty has had on North Korea since the division of the country in the 1950s. We meet Jung Ho and his wife Young Ae, both of whom are young musical...

Dannah Gresh and Suzy Weibel have written A Girl's Guide to Best Friends and Mean Girls which is a primer for mid-grade girls unsure of how to react in tough friendship circumstances. Girls of this age frequently are stymied when it comes to immediate reactions...

Talking with Your Daughter About Best Friends and Mean Girls is a wonderful primer for parents. Written by Dannah Gresh, the book details problems common to girls ages 8-12. It gives practical advice on how parents might approach talking with their daughters about resolving these...

Anne Crosby continues her journey of discovery regarding her apparent transformation into a dragon. Blood to Fire (Red Slaves #2) by Tonya Cannariato picks up with the efforts of Anne, Ivan, Igor, Olga, and the rest of the group to understand the connection between ceramic...

Author Vimal Vaz tells us at the outset that his main character, Ashok Choudhary, has changed his destiny by choosing a very different path than the one he chose in The Kiss of Karma. As a result, he finds himself in a future that is...