Book Review Blog
Wild Hope
There are many Lenten devotionals available, on many different topics. The recently published Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing is a unique and challenging one. It was written by Gayle Boss, author of the Advent devotional All Creation Waits, with woodcut illustrations by David G. Klein. Both books feature detailed and fascinating descriptions…
Read MoreSacred Dying Journal
As a chaplain who works at a local hospital and works with congregations, I have sat with many people as they and family members have gone through transitioning from this life to the next, however they view this. Sometimes I have wondered if there was more I could have done. I believe this book, Sacred…
Read MoreTales of the Inner City
If you like the idea of exploring a fantasy world with interesting characters and unique places, then you should enjoy Tales of the Inner City by Scott Bryte. As the title suggests, all the stories take place in the Inner City, but it’s not the typical inner city you might have grown up in or visited.…
Read MoreDrawing God
One of my favorite responses to certain theological questions was from someone who said, “How can anyone know that?” If religious people are honest, they accept that there are many unanswered questions about God and the spiritual realm. A delightful and beautifully written and illustrated new children’s book deals with one of those mysterious questions:…
Read MoreFamily Faith Formation Resources from Faith Alive
When I do in-person Sunday school teacher training (becoming rarer and rarer these days), I like to share a white rope of 168 inches which has one inch colored in black. I ask people if they know what the 168 inches represents. Usually they don’t, so I explain that it’s the number of hours in…
Read MoreBuilding Faith Brick by Brick II
If you’re looking for something different for Sunday school, other church programs, or even family faith formation at home, consider Legos. The book Building Faith Brick by Brick II written by Emily Slichter Given provides all the information you’ll need. The book is subtitled “An Imaginative Way to Explore the Parables with God’s People” and is…
Read MoreI Am God’s Storyteller
I was immediately drawn to the title of a children’s picture book recently published by Paraclete Press: I Am God’s Storyteller written by Lisa M. Hendey with colorful and cheerful illustrations by Eric Carlson. In my work with those in children’s ministry, I often tell them that they are privileged to be part of a…
Read MoreBeating Guns
Beating Guns: Hope for People Who Are Weary of Violence is not just a book; it’s a movement. Authors Shane Claiborne and Michael Martin recently conducted a thirty-seven-city Beating Guns Tour, literally hammering guns into garden tools at each stop, alluding to Isaiah 2:4: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into…
Read MoreThe Dog in the Dentist Chair
Let’s face it – kids and animals have a special affinity and watching them interact brings smiles to adult faces. While pets, usually dogs and cats, provide love and companionship, there is a special class of animals who go above and beyond that. These are service animals and The Dog in the Dentist Chair: And…
Read MoreRetreats to Go
A well planned retreat is a great gift to give your congregation or other spiritual friends. Anyone who has taken the opportunity offered by a retreat to get away and spend some time with God and their own spirit knows the value of retreats. But planning a good retreat is not easy. It takes creativity…
Read MoreCandle Walk: A Bedtime Prayer to God
Children love repetition and ritual and at no time is that more important than at bedtime. Little ones need a calming routine to help them transition from the excitement of the day to a time of rest and quiet. For Christian parents, a bedtime routine usually includes a time of prayer as parent and child…
Read MorePaul and His Friends
I love the children’s book The Day When God Made Church which tells the story of Pentecost, so when a review copy of another book by author Rebekah McLeod Hutto came across my desk, I read it with interest. It did not disappoint. The book is Paul and His Friends: A Child’s First Book About…
Read MoreColoring Women of the Bible
Until a few years ago, coloring was for kids. Then adults discovered that it was a wonderful, meditative spiritual practice which required little preparation or equipment. Now there has been a profusion of adult coloring books featuring everything from animals to mandalas. You may think there’s no need for another adult coloring book, but I…
Read MoreLoving and Leaving a Church
Let’s face it – for many pastors the perception they have of their ministry when they set off to their first pastorate and the reality of that ministry are two very different things. Barbara Melosh’s Loving and Leaving a Church: A Pastor’s Journey tells the story of an older, second career, female pastor and her…
Read MoreMy Favorite Color Is Blue. Sometimes
Life is hard. Sometimes, children find that out sooner rather than later. For a child the loss of a loved one may be difficult to process. Children lack the vocabulary to express their feelings as adult do; their brains are not fully developed so completing the process of reconciling to the death may take years.…
Read MoreCrafting Gratitude
Most of us know that practicing gratitude has many benefits including greater happiness, better health, and increased productivity. Gratitude journals, where you might list five things each day which you are thankful for, are one way to focus on gratitude, but after a few weeks or several months, this practice can become monotonous. If you’re…
Read MoreThe Lifesaving Church
From the title, you might think this book is a how-to for churches and other faith communities on how to prevent suicides. It is that, but also much more. It is the story of the author, Rachael A. Keefe, her struggles in a highly dysfunctional family, her eating disorder, and her own attempted suicide as…
Read MoreThe Pope’s Cat
Children are drawn to animals and find them fascinating, so it’s no surprise that a number of children’s books focus on animals. The Pope’s Cat written by Jon M. Sweeney and illustrated by Roy DeLeon is a little bit different, however. It tells the story of a very special relationship between a cat named Margaret…
Read MoreBruised & Wounded: Struggling to Understand Suicide
I must have been around eight or nine years old when Aunt Mill died; she was my mother’s aunt (my great-aunt) and my mother was close to Aunt Mill, who called the night she died. Aunt Mill had been drinking and had taken pills. She wanted to end her life but had second thoughts, so…
Read MorePiggyback Psalms for Fun and Easy Singing
There’s something about setting words to music which impresses them into our memories. I remember once my husband and I went to visit our two children who were attending the same college. We decided to go out to lunch and, with the parents in the front and the kids in the back, it was a…
Read MoreBooks to Share to Show You Care
It’s hard to watch someone we love going through a tough time. We can offer to listen, pray, and try to help in other ways. Sometimes we might want to share a book which we think would be helpful. Both All Shall Be Well: A Spiritual Journal for Hope & Encouragement and Love Never Fails:…
Read MoreHoly Ground: An Alphabet of Prayer
There’s no shortage of devotionals available. Search for them on Amazon and you’ll find ones for women, men, girls, boys, teens, and even animal lovers. Some of these encourage us to “claim” the promises in the Bible and realize the power of prayer to get us what we’re entitled to. Julie K. Aageson’s book, Holy…
Read MoreEverbloom: Stories of Deeply Rooted and Transformed Lives
Writing can be a solitary business, but the women whose poems, essays, and stories are included in Everbloom: Stories of Deeply Rooted and Transformed Lives have found a way to combat the loneliness of writing while proving that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Everbloom was written by 42 of the…
Read MoreThis Child of Faith
Paraclete Press published This Child of Faith: Raising a Spiritual Child in a Secular World on December 14, 2017. The book was written by Sophfronia Scott and her son, Tain Gregory. It tells the story of their faith journey, which began when Tain asked to enroll in Sunday school. It’s beautiful to watch Tain grow…
Read MoreThat Baby in the Manger
That Baby in the Manger is published by Paraclete Press. The book’s illustrations are fun and child-friendly, while the content encourages families and Sunday school classes to discuss what Christmas means for each of us. The book begins with a group of first grade students entering a church to look at the crèche set up…
Read MoreLook! A Child’s Guide to Advent & Christmas
Look! A Child’s Guide to Advent & Christmas is published by from Paraclete Press and is beautiful both in spirit and appearance. The poetic narration makes difficult concepts, such as “waiting for someone born so long ago,” easier for both children and adults to understand. The illustrations are subtle, as though viewed through a gauzy…
Read More‘Twas the Evening of Christmas
Those of us who work with children in the church are always looking for ways to emphasize the true meaning of Christmas. Often, the message children receive from TV and other media is focused on material gifts and Santa Claus. If we want our children to grow up as caring, giving individuals, we need to…
Read MoreThe Day When God Made Church
I fell in love with The Day When God Made Church: A Child’s Book About Pentecost the first time I saw it. This was shortly after it was published last year with words by Rebekah McLeod Hutto and illustrations by Stephanie Haig. Hutto’s language captures the wonder and excitement of the coming of the Holy…
Read MoreMake Room: A Child’s Guide to Lent and Easter
For parents and Christian educators, explaining to children the meaning of Lent and telling them the stories of Holy Week can be challenging. Christmas emphasizes the birth of a baby surrounded by animals and angels. Before you know it, that baby is a grown man who is arrested, put on trial, and condemned to death.…
Read MoreAll Creation Waits
An Advent daily devotional is a wonderful way to prepare our hearts, minds, and spirits for the coming of Jesus at Christmas. If you are looking for something a little different from the usual devotional, check out a new offering from Paraclete Press called All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings. The introduction…
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