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Knots on a Counting Rope tells a story of courage and hope in the face of darkness, in this case, a young boy’s blindness. Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault craft a Native American tale of facing challenges and overcoming them with faith and family.  Ted Rand’s illustrations make me long for Arizona. You can…

Can You Carry My Stuff? When my son attended elementary school, he always tried to get me to carry his backpack home. Nothing doing. Now, he travels light and rarely brings his backpack home at all. His sister, however, regularly hauls her French horn, lunch, and a two-ton backpack.  But what about all of the…

Fourteen year old Peak Marcello has just climbed his sixth skyscraper (illegally) and is busted for criminal trespass, vandalism, and reckless endangerment. To avoid serving time in the Juvenile Detention Center, Peak agrees to leave his New York home and live with his biological father in Thailand. His father, Joshua Woods, a famous climber in…

America a Patriotic Primer by Lynne Cheney inspires younger generations to stand with Americans of the past and to continue their tradition of greatness. America explores American ideals and the men and women who put them into action. Mrs. Cheney packs her primer with a wide range of historical data. Young readers will be hungry for…

Copycat My youngest son looks up to his older brothers. Literally. At ages 20 and 21, they tower over his eleven year old frame. But, seriously, he admires them and you can tell by what he does. He cuts his hair like one brother and plays football like the other. TV shows, music, movies. If…

Johannes Vermeer’s famous painting, A Lady Waiting, has been stolen, and everyone looks suspicious. Can classmates Calder and Petra piece together the clues and find the painting? Blue Balliett’s mystery, Chasing Vermeer, presents a puzzle within a puzzle. Pentominoes, codes, and hidden clues fill this novel. Discoveries await math whizzes and art lovers alike. Illustrator Brett…

“ ‘What is real?’ asked the Rabbit one day, …” and the magic of unconditional love unfolds in the story of The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. Life lessons abound in this little book as Williams teaches us about loving others (even when their outsides look shabby). Conversation starters spring from the pages: What makes…

Biting Back Galatians 5: 14,15 says: “The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” This verse reminded me of a poem my mom read to me when I was…

Land. Character. Self-respect. These are things no one can take away. In Mildred Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Cassie Logan watches her parents model these truths and struggles to understand them in the racially biased South of the 1930’s. Cassie learns to have the courage to stand against injustice and sees the personal…

Artist, sculptor, dinosaur builder, and host of unusual dinner parties. The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins enlightens readers regarding the life of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and his much loved dinosaur friends. In the 1800’s, people knew very little of dinosaurs. Hawkin’s work changed this forever, both in England and in America. Inspired by his story, author…