Book reviews

Around our home, the way to solving any problem is usually through some combination of hugs, books, and food. Is someone sad? Let’s have some hot cocoa and chat. Are people bickering? Let’s pop popcorn, listen to an audiobook, and hang out. Is someone out of sorts or...

One of the best pieces of parenting advice I ever received was to ‘fill the kid’s well’. It was shorthand for paying attention, interacting with, and spending time with children so they did not feel that they needed to fill their emptiness with things that are...

It’s no secret that I love books. I love old books, new books, even e-books. I have floor to ceiling bookcases in every room in my house, save for the kitchen, which can only fit a small half shelf to cradle my most beloved cookbooks. No one is surprised that I...

I’ve been a fan of the original edition of All Creation Waits for a few years now. In fact, I like it so much that I used it as part of the parent/caregiver book club for our Advent Holy Moments this year. Imagine my excitement when I found out that the...

Anyone who has spent time with young children in the days leading up to Christmas knows the energy that they bring to the season. The wonder with all the lights, the charge as the decorations trim the tree, the excitement while decorating cookies- there’s nothing...

There is a handful of book series that my children adore; The Chronicles of Narnia, The Penderwicks, Harry Potter, and anything by Robert McCloskey and Virginia Lee Burton. They have created many impromptu plays around the stories, recreated the worlds from the...

We all know the pithy saying from Benjamin Franklin about what is certain in life; death and taxes. I would add that pain is something else that is common to the human condition. There are varying sources, degrees, and manifestations of pain, but it comes to us all....

Remember the television show, Cheers? Remember how a certain character would walk into the place and everyone would call out, “NORM!” That’s me when I walk into a library or our local bookstore. I rarely leave home with a book, and that’s because I usually leave with...

There was an episode of The Big Bang Theory where Penny accidentally shot Sheldon’s favorite couch cushion with a paintball. Penny winds up taking the cushion to the dry cleaner, and Sheldon has a hard time adjusting to a different seat while he waits for its return....

I am not a person who lays down rules when teaching a class. I find them to be prescriptive, and not of the behaviors we desire in the classroom community, but of the ones we try to prevent. I also find that they create an environment where children are either nervous...