Great children's book on dyslexia

Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Ally Nickerson has dyslexia, but no one knows that she cannot read.  Ally can’t figure out why she can’t learn like the other kids.  Going to school every day is torture.  It is the same no matter where her military family moves.  She hides from life in her “mind movies” and copes by escaping from her problems in her very imaginative mind.  Her classmates make fun of her for being dumb.  Her teacher thinks she is lazy and sends her often to the principal’s office.  Her mother is called and Ally vows to do better.

Everything changes when she gets a new teacher.  Mr. Daniels appreciates her creativity and realizes she can’t read and finally figures out she has dyslexia.  With his help and encouragement, she begins to blossom.

I loved this book.  It gives hope to hopeless students like Ally.  Kudos to Mr. Daniels and the many teachers he represents.  I would heartily recommend that school libraries and classroom libraries add this bok to their shelves.

Classic Easter Selections

Easter Stories, Classic Tales for the Holy Season

This book, a compilation by Miriam LeBlanc, contains 27 different selections regarding the theme of Easter.  Contributing authors include C. S. Lewis, Leo Tolstoy, Oscar Wilde, Elizabeth Goudge, and Anton Chekhov with others.

I was anticipating the book as a great preparation for Easter.  In that way, it did not disappoint.  I thoroughly enjoyed many of the selections, but found others to be a bit frustrating if they were part of a larger work, where the context was necessary to fully enjoy the selection.

As a lower elementary teacher, I think most younger elementary children would not appreciate these stories, and I would recommend them for middle school or high school students and above.  I can see much use for this book in a home school setting, where some elements of the stories could be more easily discussed or explained.

I loved the idea of classic tales for Easter, and found some selections that I really enjoyed.  I would recommend this book for older readers especially. 

I received this free copy from the publisher, http://www.plough.com/en/ebooks/e/easter-stories, and this is my honest review.

Chris Fabry Wisdom of Solom

The Song by Chris Fabry

 

Musician Jed King was searching for something—and he found it in Rose, the girl of his dreams.  The song that comes pouring out of him on their honeymoon propels him into the limelight.  He travels to sing The Song while Rose stays behind to raise their son.  The distance between them increases and Jed must decide between the commitment he has made to Rose or his growing attraction to Shelby, his musical co-star who pursues him with a passion.

Chris Fabry, one of my favorite authors, crafted this story based on the movie by the same name, which was based on the Song of Solomon.  Jed, Rose and Shelby flesh out principles that King Solomon wrote about in Ecclesiates and some of the story in the Song of Solomon.

Although there were no plot twists like most of Fabry’s books, it is worth the read.  It lends itself well to a book club discussion or a couples’ study.  In fact, my free copy from the publisher came with a discussion guide and a couple’s five –day devotion in the back.

If you are seeking a typical Chris Fabry novel, you might want to look elsewhere.  If you are looking for a modern-day portrayal of the applied wisdom of Solomon with some good marriage principles embedded, this is the book for you!     

Billly Coffey Mattingly Supernatural Suspense

In the Heart of the Dark Wood by Billy Coffey

Eleven year old Allie Granderson desperately misses her mother who was swept away five hundred forty-two days ago in The Storm of small town Mattingly.  She still believes her mother is alive (only her pink tennis shoe was found) and continues to wear the cheap, plastic toy compass her mother gave her before she disappeared.  It no longer works, but Allie can’t bear to be without it.  Then without explanation the compass begins to work in a magical way.  Allie is convinced that it will direct her to her mother and she convinces her best friend Zach to follow her as it directs them into the heart of the dark woods. 

Coffey’s writing flows, carrying the reader along.  He has a reader-friendly mix of description and action, and the plot of this book is palpable with tension.  I found myself wondering if they would ever escape alive.  I enjoyed his characters and find myself still pondering Zach and Allie and their life after the story.  The conclusion was satisfying and answered many of my questions.  I would heartily recommend this book and any of his others to readers who enjoy southern fiction and reading about small town life.

Southern Crimes Series book 3 romantic/suspense

Hidden Agenda by Lisa Harris

 

Michael Hunt, an undercover agent in the Mexican drug cartel has just hours to live.  He is shackled, questioned, beaten and left on a remote island resort of the man who wants him dead.  Another agent has been killed before his eyes.  He doesn’t know what the cartel has learned about his true identity and has no chance of escaping a certain death—until he is rescued by Ivan and Olivia Hamilton, the children of the cartel leader.  Even if Michael, Ivan and Olivia manage to escape from the island, there is no guarantee they will survive.  They may be tracked down and killed at any point by Olivia and Ivan’s father or one of his henchmen.  Olivia and Ivan are just now learning that their much absent father is not the business man they thought he was.  What other lies have they been told by their late mother and why?

Harris writes a fast-paced, “don’t blink or you’ll miss it” suspense with a rather predictable romance intertwined.  The pace, as well as the questions the storyline continued to raise kept me reading.

The characters were revealed more by their actions than thoughts, as an action-packed story would demand, but I found myself not missing them too much when the book ended, which is one of the true tests of character development for me.  However, I might have felt differently had this not been the first book I read of this series.  That being said, the author did convey pertinent information regarding the plot of the preceding books so that even if the characters were new to me, I knew the important pieces of their pasts.

The plot left enough questions unanswered regarding Michael and his family, Olivia and Ivan, that I would probably read a sequel.  Readers will probably enjoy the whole series—especially those who like romantic suspense.

 

Unusual fiction/fantasy

Both of Me by Jonathan Friesen

In an accidental exchange of backpacks on a flight, Clara’s life takes a surprising turn.  She must find her bag and in the process meets Elias Phinn, a wonderful, confusing, creative, gentle, demanding schizophrenic.  He captures her imagination and persuades her to join him in his quest to find the Light keeper.  He somehow knows her past and her Great Undoing, which has sent her running away from her family.  In order to find out what Elias knows and how, she goes with him, but soon discovers that there are two Eliases.  She hopes to help him complete his quest, to destroy the Light keeper and in the end to unite her two Eliases.  Along the way she must come to terms with his past and hers and how the quest     will either heal or destroy the both of them.

Friesen writes an unusual story.   I found the story line a bit confusing at times, finding it difficult to reconcile some of the details with reality.  However, I couldn’t give up on the book.  I found it fascinating to try and figure out what Clara’s Great Undoing was and why Elias needed to find the Light keeper.  The supporting characters made the  story that much more interesting and was another factor in keeping me reading, although again, there were many details regarding them that seemed rather unrealistic.

I found the story’s ending to be satisfying and looking back on the book, saw the pattern of redemption, which I wouldn’t have predicted.  The fact that this book was listed as a children’s book concerned me a bit.  As an elementary teacher, I would not recommend this book to my students and would have preferred to see it listed as a young adult fiction.  It contains some thematic elements that younger children may find confusing.  I did enjoy reading it and would recommend it to a high school student.  I received a free copy from the publisher and this is my honest review.

 

 

Seek and Hide, Haven Seekers Book 1 by Amanda G. Stevens

Marcus Brenner lives in a time when Christianity is outlawed.  The MPC (Michigan Philosophical Constabulary) hunts down Christians to “re-educate” them.  Despite the danger, Marcus feels obligated to warn and protect his fellow Christians.  His unwitting informant is Jason Mayweather, an MPC who drinks too much and mentions that he has a warrant for two of Marcus’ friends.  Although he does his best, Marcus can’t prevent them from being arrested.  His failure to save them makes him more determined to help their friend Aubrey and her infant son.  Will he be able to help Aubrey regain custody of her son Elliott and keep out of the reach of the MPC?  Can Marcus rescue Elliott and still protect those he loves?

These questions are answered in Seek and Hide.  The characters are well-developed and yet have very real flaws, which cause them to depend on their relationship with God.  The plot moves quickly and keeps the reader involved.  Because this is speculative fiction, the reader feels tension between what is and what could happen in the future.  The reader who enjoys suspense with a fast-paced plot and some very human characters will enjoy this book.