Sidewalk Flowers – JonArno Lawson and Sydney Smith

I have a special fondness for well executed wordless children’s books.  I love the fact that such a book can serve as a powerful catalyst for meaningful discussion.  Sidewalk Flowers is a winner filled with gentle acts of kindness by a little girl using the small flowers found in the cracks of the sidewalk that so many others would simply ignore or view as weeds that are a nuisance.

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat – Lynne Jonell

Filled with imaginative fun and a bit of mystery, Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat was hard for our daughter to put down once she started reading it.  Emmy is an extremely bright and clever young lady and the rat provides many hilarious moments.  This tale includes a lot of twists and turns for the reader which makes for a highly engaging story.

The Penderwicks: A Summer of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy – Jeanne Birdsall

The Penderwicks series was a delightful recent find during a library visit.  This series which features the Penerwick sisters reminds me a great deal of Little Women.  The stories focus on the adventures of the girls and their very distinct personalities.  There is a wholesomeness about these books that is really refreshing.

The Year of the Book – Andera Cheng

The Year of the Book is excellent.  As the mother of a little girl who loves books, finding a book character who shares the same sort of love helped make this a quick high interest text for her.  The story tackles the subject of young girl friendships and does an excellent job.  The author provides the reader with the opportunity to see the characters grow socially throughout the text.

The Matheny Manifesto – Mike Matheny and Jerry Jenkins

Truth be told, I am not a big baseball fan, but I was interested in reading Matheny’s book after hearing about the manifesto he wrote in response to being asked to coach a youth baseball team for his son.  This book is part Matheny biography and part philosophy of how to help kids benefit from participating in youth sports.  Many sections of the book are very direct about the negative impact over-zealous parents have had on youth sports and what Matheny views as the solution.  The Matheny Manifesto was a very interesting read which I truly enjoyed.

While this complimentary book was provided for review by Random House Publishing, no other compensation was given.  All remarks are my personal and honest opinions.

 

Believe Kid’s Edition: Think, Act, Be Like Jesus – Randy Frazee

Believe Kid’s Edition: Think, Act, Be Like Jesus is a good resource for children exploring the Christian faith and understanding why we believe what we believe.  I felt this book would have been more useful if it had focused on being a Bible study guide book to use in tandem with a Bible rather than including large chunks of Bible passages and paraphrases.  For our family, we modified the set up of the book and used it as a guide with our Bibles which worked well.  The book includes lots of good questions for discussion that demand self-reflection as well as application.

While this complimentary book was provided for review by Harper Collins Publishing, no other compensation was given.  All remarks are my personal and honest opinions.