Blog
As a homeschooling veteran, I review middle-grade stories to help parents, librarians, and teachers choose good books.
Look for author news here too!
The Hunger Games movie
My friend Jim Tudor watched the Hunger Games movie with no expectation. Here’s his take on the movie:
The Hunger Games, a review
Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old living in America some time in the future when it has devolved into a cruel empire, loves her little sister more than anything. So when that little sister is chosen for the Hunger Games, Katniss doesn’t hesitate. She takes the sister’s place. She finds herself fighting 23 other teens to the death in a high-tech arena, for viewing pleasure in the ultimate reality show. Only one person can win, and that winner gets plenty of income for life, unlike everyone else in the conquered territories–who is starving or nearly starving.
Free E-book: a tale of untouchables in India
Our featured free ebook today is The Faith of Ashish, a tale of India by Kay Marshall Strom. Published by Christian publisher Abingdon Press, it has gathered 4.5 stars on 11 reviews at Amazon, and 4 stars with 29 raters at Goodreads. It’s the first book in a series.
God rejoices over you with singing
A key scripture in my novel, Winds of Wyoming, is Zephaniah 3:17: “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
Hosea Chapter 11: a window into the mind of God
I was thumbing through my Bible at devotional time and my eye fell on Hosea Chapter 11. Reading it, I was brought to tears by this shimmering glimpse into the mind of God.
Free ebook: a Christian novel of the old West
Our featured free ebook today is Ruby, a historical novel by Lauraine Snelling, published in 2003 by Bethany House. Forty-nine Amazon reviewers give it a composite of four stars out of five. It’s published on Kindle.
Lessons from Fiction by Ada Brownell
Ever been amazed at how a person born in an author’s imagination becomes as real as your next-door neighbor? Novelists’ characters often seem to live and breathe, and many of them miraculously generate faith in the hearts of those affected by their stories—although readers know it’s fiction..
Asking God
If you’re like me most days, you don’t ask God for miracles.You don’t expect them, and they don’t happen.
My arthritis flares up. I mutter and take an aspirin. A lymph node feels enlarged. I make a note to ask the doctor about it. I need to avoid eating wheat, or my digestion is interrupted. And so on.
Free ebook for today: Light of Eidon by Karen Hancock
Light of Eidon by Karen Hancock, a Christy Award winner for fantasy in 2004, is our featured free ebook for today. You can get it on Kindle, where you can read it on the “cloud reader” without a Kindle device. One hundred seventy-five Amazon readers give it a composite of four out of five stars, the same ranking it gets on Goodreads with 688 readers.
Compassion is caught
Do you ever catch yourself saying something, then clamp your mouth shut with the realization you’ve become your mother? Or maybe you’ve glanced behind you to see your child rolling their eyes…just like you…
Miracles in the U.S.
I went to an amazing Global Awakening prayer conference just recently in Orlando. I and others laid hands on a woman and prayed for her back, injured in an accident. She pitched forward suddenly from the waist and then straightened. She had felt the vertebrae in her back realigning, she said. She could bend and twist without pain now. So cool. Thank you, God!
Free ebook: Autumn’s Shadow, a romantic mystery
Autumn’s Shadow by award-winning author Lyn Cote is my featured ebook, available today for free on Amazon Kindle. While it’s the second book in the Northern Intrigue series, I’m guessing that you could start with this book, since it seems to have a complete story arc. Twenty-six readers gave it a composite of four of five stars on Goodreads.