My husband stumbled upon these books through Alistair Begg’s ministry Truth for Life. He received Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey Part I as a gift for giving. He was very excited about it. He actually read the entire book, all 207 pages, to our son in one sitting. (Our son was 3 at the time!) Little man was riveted. We continued to read that book to him nightly for weeks! I had only read a few chapters to little man when it was my time to do bedtime and most of those chapters had been from the beginning. But the time I had to read about Faithful’s execution I was in tears! (It still gets me!) Li ..read more

What would you do if you discovered an underground tunnel in your backyard? Explore it of course! That is just want brothers Caleb and David do. Little do they know where this adventure will lead. Caleb and David are playing in their new backyard when they discover a hole underneath their trashcans. Being the adventurous boys that they are, they check it out! They can’t believe what they find. Eager to learn more, they share their discovery with their parents only to learn that their great-great-grandfather was a pirate… maybe. The events unfold over the next several weeks and the boys find t ..read more

“Easy to read” and “finance book” are not two phrases that I have ever used in the same sentence, until now! Simple Money, Rich Life is the easiest to understand finance book I have read. It isn’t just a “How-to” but an in depth study of your finances. Bob Lotich really helps you to understand money. I was excited to receive this book because I knew my husband was looking to quit his job this October. I thought the timing was great to learn more about how to make my money work for me and gain some basic knowledge of investing. Fast forward to a few months later, we are in June and my husband ..read more

Calling all Mommas of Dinosaur loving kids. This book is for YOU! (Well, them actually.) Book of Dinosaurs 10 Record-Breaking Prehistoric Animals by Gabrielle Balkan is a fantastic book for dino-fanatics. This book is set up in such a way that you read a biography of the dino in question, see their skeleton, and then have to guess which dinosaur is being discussed. By the third or fourth biography, my son had the pattern down where he would say “What Dinosaur was I?” when I had finished the description. He also enjoyed feeling the texture of the dinosaur. The biographies are short and simple ..read more

One of the many things I love about the seasons, other than the traditions and delights each one brings, is that they are tangible. You can see the seasons changing. It is such a wonderful time to talk about God’s creation with your children. One of the many ways you can engage your children in conversation about seasons is with books! Sue Lowell Gallion has created another wonderful picture book for children. Our Seasons is an exploration into each season. What the environment looks like. What the animals or people may be doing. The illustrations are lovely and really help to give the reader ..read more

We planned a trip to the beach for Memorial Day weekend. And as with most other things we do with our little man, I wanted to prepare him for things he might encounter while at the beach. Helen Scales’ What a Shell Can Tell was the perfect book for this! Each full page spread is filled with delightful facts about the various types of shells and the creature that call those shells home. The information was not so overwhelming that my nearly 4 year-old couldn’t grasp it. In fact, the factual information was fairly succinct and allowed for the beautiful illustrations to solidify that knowledge ..read more

Over the past several weeks, I have really begun to have an interest in cultivating a morning time with my little man. Like most of us, I set out to find a podcast to listen to and discovered Pam Barnhill’s Your Morning Basket podcast. I, of course, begin to binge listen. In episode 20, she introduces Bonnie Ward Simon, founder or Maestro Classics. I was enthralled by what Bonnie was doing. Setting children’s books to classical music? Sign me up! (Did I mention my son is pretty musical and I have also been wanting to find ways to introduce him to that too? Match made in heaven!) I went to Mae ..read more

The Apostles’ Creed for All God’s Children is an illustrated picture book of the Apostles’ Creed. The text breaks down the creed line by line. Then it adds some Biblical truths to that portion of the creed. The additions are written in different ways. Some pages include basic information about what that line means to us and others add some question answer format similar to the Catechism. The book was published this past February. Check it out anywhere books are sold. I liked this book for its simplicity. It easily helps to explain the basic principals of the Christian faith. I liked it, too, b ..read more

For Ruth, India is the only home she’s ever known, but now she must move to America. Ruth is, to say the least, not thrilled. Ruth is feeling angry at her father for sending the family off, sad for leaving her best friend, and disappointed in missing her Spring concert. If all of that was not bad enough, Ruth must ride overnight on a boiling hot train only to be put on a ship bound for England where she will set sail for America on the RMS Titanic. The reader who is aware of the fate of the Titanic cannot help but read with that ending in mind. I actually cheated and read the author’s note at ..read more

Within this last year, I realized that I LOVE to check off things consistently. I want to see how many days I can complete something. 30 day squat challenges? Love them! So when my school began using Beanstack as a way to track reading minutes, I should have known how into it I would get! Beanstack is a platform we use for our students to track their minutes read. As the Library Media Specialist, I set a community goal for the year (which we have already exceeded!) and the kids track their minutes. Our charter ran a challenge for Hispanic Heritage Month to see which school could read the most ..read more